Peter Sparling - Current Work Entries http://www.petersparling.com/index.php en petespar@umich.edu Copyright 2023 2023-09-30T16:40:07+00:00 Autumn ‘23 News http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/autumn_23_news/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/autumn_23_news/#When:16:40:07Z I created and directed Dance the Rainbow… Or Dismantling the Patriarchy to Make Way for Free Expression in September at a new live-work & performance  space, Commongrounds/The Alluvion, in Traverse City, MI. Joining me were dancers Ben Cheney, Katie Dorn, Yali Rivlin, Finley Van Patten and Leslie Williams,  with double bass player Paul Erhard…

]]> 2023-09-30T16:40:07+00:00 New Screendances and Paintings 2023 http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/new_screendances_and_paintings_2023/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/new_screendances_and_paintings_2023/#When:14:45:57Z Screendances 22-23

Created for the Martha Graham Dance Company’s April 2023 season at the Joyce Theater in NYC, this video tribute honors distinguished company alumni over 80: https://vimeo.com/807937854 
The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival presented my screendance, “Winterreise”, with live performance of the Schubert score at Detroit Institute…

]]> 2023-04-26T14:45:57+00:00 2022 Wrap-Up/2023 Prospects http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/2022_wrap-up_2023_prospects/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/2022_wrap-up_2023_prospects/#When:17:25:59Z 2022 Wrap-Up/2023 Prospects

2022 came with its delights and daily wonders despite it being a war zone. After much gnashing of teeth, our fair state of Michigan went BLUE in the mid-terms.  My husband John & I fitfully ventured out of the nest to encounter a supposedly post-COVID world. We’ve been lucky to have evaded the plague so far, and every…

]]> 2023-01-13T17:25:59+00:00 Summer 22 Update http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/summer_22_update/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/summer_22_update/#When:12:01:30Z July 23, 2022 Update:

5/16-29: Miami City Ballet  As co-regisseur with beloved dance pal Peggy Lyman Hayes of Martha Graham Resources, I had the pleasure of teaching Graham’s 1948 buoyant and love-filled work, “Diversion of Angels” to two casts of terrific dancers. Miami Beach is a trip…another world compared to my last visit there in 1978. The…

]]> 2022-07-23T12:01:30+00:00 February 22 update http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/february_22_update/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/february_22_update/#When:13:55:19Z Work continues on all fronts, despite the pandemic! I have recently restaged my choreography on the Crooked Tree School of Ballet (The Goldberg Suite) and Ballet Chelsea ("Spring" from The Four Seasons). My film, "The Man I Want to Be', will be screened on opening night (March 22, 2022) of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. I will join my dear friend…

]]> 2022-02-24T13:55:19+00:00 Fall 21 News: Paintings, Videos, Dance! http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/fall_21_news_paintings_videos_dance/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/fall_21_news_paintings_videos_dance/#When:15:18:55Z Motion Pictures: New Paintings by Peter Sparling at 22 North Gallery, Ypsilanti, MI Oct. 1- Nov. 7 
Link to video tour of exhibit: https://vimeo.com/622716319

The Motion Pictures Project: A residency at Riverside Arts Center in nearby Ypsilanti, MI during August provided me the space to videotape eight terrific dancers improvising to the sme set…

]]> 2021-10-05T15:18:55+00:00 Update Summer 21: Celebrating Age vs. Ageism http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/update_summer_21_celebrating_age_vs._ageism/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/update_summer_21_celebrating_age_vs._ageism/#When:12:11:40Z July 22, 2021:
An article posted on Facebook that originally appreared in The Observer (https://observer.com/2021/07/ageism-dance-older-dancers/) writes about ageism and dance. My comment to that post, followed by a selection of links to recent videos:

These articles drive me nuts. At 70 and still an active mover for the camera and maker of…

]]> 2021-07-22T12:11:40+00:00 Last Dance                   by Peter Sparling (from Confessions of a Dancing Man) http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/last_dance_from_confessions_of_a_dancing_man_by_peter_sparling/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/last_dance_from_confessions_of_a_dancing_man_by_peter_sparling/#When:11:20:40Z


I danced with Martha Graham for 15 years. I danced with Bianca Jagger for 40 nights. 

New Year’s Eve, 1978. Studio 54.
The cranked-up crowd momentarily pauses in its disco finery as Donna Summer croons her sultry, swooning recitative.  Tulle, Spandex and oversized baubles mingle with the celebrity couture. I stand bathed in a swirl of artificial…

]]> 2021-05-14T11:20:40+00:00 October 2020 Update http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/october_2020_update/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/october_2020_update/#When:11:48:38Z These are rough times to feel justified in making anything other than protest art or rallying against racism, fascism and Trump's dismantling of democracy. I've continued to address these and pandemic issues in recent work:

Weather Man 2020 was built upon Aaron Copland's angular, forceful "Piano Variations" and became a rant against climate change…

]]> 2020-10-23T11:48:38+00:00 September 2020 Update http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/september_2020_update/ http://www.petersparling.com/current_work/post/september_2020_update/#When:13:47:05Z Are simplicity, concentration and focus luxuries we cannot afford in these complex, fucked up times? Must my continued and vigilant awareness of and engagement with the pandemic, government corruption and blatant racism override or make irrelevant my need to make art? Or am I compelled to make art that addresses these overriding issues, and must I…

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