Save the Date: Monday, June 22

 Monday, June 22–come to Bushwick to support work for pay.

7-10pm @ Tandem

236 Troutman

Brooklyn, New York

Sign Language on TV

Here is a link to a TV segment on Sign Language, the TRYST project I helped out with this winter. Skip to the 30 second mark for English!

Call to Unemployed Artists

Choreographer/artist Lydia Bell is hiring 3 unemployed or underemployed artists to work as dancers in a new performance piece, “work for pay.” The choreography will be made collaboratively over the course of 4-6 weeks, and performed as an installation at FEAST, an ongoing art/dinner event in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. NO DANCE EXPERIENCE NECESSARY. The dancers’ marketable skills and resumes will be used to build the choreography so that the final performance will in some way advertise the dancers’ skills to the audience. The piece will continue to be performed at various Brooklyn events until dancers have found employment. Dancers will be paid $8/hour for rehearsals in Bushwick (approx 4-6 hours a week for the next month). Read more about the project here and contact lydia.m.bell at gmail dot com if you are interested in participating.

Sha Xin Wei & Clarinda Mac Low at Roulette

I’m participating in this workshop/performance tomorrow night:

HARVESTWORKS INSIDE CONCERTS: Gestures and Responsive Media            Friday May 15 – Zach Layton / Sha Xin Wei, 8.30PM

ROULETTE, 20 Greene Street, (between Canal & Grand)
$15 General Admission, Roulette members FREE
$10 Harvestworks members, students, seniors and under 3

Sha Xin Wei, with Clarinda Mac Low, will present, Ouija, an open workshop/seminar experiment with dancers in responsive media. Ouija is a phenomenological experiment about gesture, intention and collective vs. individual agency. It uses the forms of a contemporary dance and movement art workshop to explore the medium of movement and media.

www.harvestworks.org

“work for pay” is runner-up at FEAST!

On Saturday at FEAST, work for pay was awarded $400 in funding! Thanks to all who came and supported the project. Now I am moving forward with finding the rest of the funding ($300–read full project description and budget here) and 3 unemployed or underemployed artists to hire as dancers. Please, send me your fundraising ideas and jobless friends!

Sign Language opening party

This winter I assisted TRYST with their project Sign Language–a six-week workshop with fifth-graders from PS 124, in Chinatown. The students designed temporary new awnings for businesses on Doyers Street, as well as a permanent new awning for the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. The temporary awnings are made up of photographs the student-designers took on Doyers Street–not your typical business sign! I love how the images they picked for the signs reveal little surprises about the street. Read more about this project here and come to the opening party on May 16, 3-5pm at Columbus Park (67 Mulberry St)

support “work for pay” at FEAST

Please come to FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) on Saturday, May 9 at 6pm where I will be presenting a proposal to fund a new dance project called “work for pay.” From the FEAST website:

FEAST is a recurring public dinner designed to use community-driven financial support to democratically fund new and emerging art makers. At each FEAST, participants will pay a sliding-scale entrance fee for which they will receive supper and a ballot. Diners will vote on a variety of proposed artist projects. At the end of dinner, the artist whose proposal receives the most votes will be awarded funds collected through the entrance fee to produce the project. The work will then be presented during the next FEAST.

I am proposing a project to use unemployed artists as dancers–check it out below and then come eat delicious food by One & Supp and cast your vote! As part of my presentation I will be leading a 10 minute DANCE WORKSHOP, which I’m sure you won’t want to miss.

Saturday, May 9
6-9pm (no reservations, come early to ensure entry)
$10-20, no one turned away
Church of the Messiah
129 Russell Street on the west side of McGolrick Park
Greenpoint, Brooklyn

work for pay

This is a new project I am working on called work for pay. Read description below and help me raise money by attending a benefit at Tandem on Monday, June 22, 7-10pm.

PROJECT SUMMARY

I will hire three unemployed or underemployed artists as dancers in a new performance piece. The performance piece, titled work for pay, will be made collaboratively over the course of 4-6 weeks. I will recruit artists through an open call–no movement experience necessary.  The dancers’ marketable skills and resumes will be used to build the choreography so that the final performance will in some way advertise the dancers’ skills to the audience. 

WHERE CAN I SEE WORK FOR PAY? 

work for pay will be performed at the next FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) Dinner in August 2009. We will continue to have work for pay showings at public and private settings in Brooklyn until all the dancers have found employment. Please contact me if you are interested in hosting work for pay at your home or venue. 

HOW WORK FOR PAY WILL USE FUNDING *updated 5.17.09

The primary use of funds will be to pay the dancers $8/hour for 30 hours of rehearsal.

30 hrs/person x $8/hour = $240/person x 3 dancers = $720 (dancer fees)

30 hours of $5/hour rehearsal space = $150 (rehearsal space)

props and miscellaneous = $30 (materials)

= $900 TOTAL*

*as of 5.17, $400 of funding has been secured through FEAST. 

 

WHY SHOULD I SUPPORT WORK FOR PAY?

work for pay is a critical project in the discussion of sustainable tactics in art. It aims to create a discreet economy in which artists are paid for creative research—the artists I “hire” as dancers are deepening their creative process by engaging in mine. I believe that dance is a uniquely valuable tool in creative research—it helps artists explore concepts with their physical body so as to establish an emotional and physical connection. work for pay suggests a new model of connecting artists to resources by using the art itself as a means of communication.

“Beneath the Skin” collaboration

Photo by Gabi Schillig.

The exhibit at Van Alen Institute has closed, but photos from Gabi Schillig’s “Beneath the Skin,” are on her website. It was great collaborating with her as a dancer –and I am eager to find out ways to do it again. If anyone knows of grants or opportunities specifically for visual art/dance collaborations, let me know.

Also there is a great interview with Gabi & more photos here.