Critical Conversation with Justin Tornow

A conversation is taking place with Justin Tornow, MFA canidate at UNCG, regarding her MFA Thesis concert. Please visit Meditative Hush on facebook to read while it unfolds, or check back here for the complete posting.

Upcoming Critical Conversation with Tricia Zweier

Stay tuned this week and read the conversation unfold on facebook with Tricia Zweier.

Congratulation to Tricia on a successful thesis concert!

Critical Conversation with Amanda Diorio

Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 10:12pm |

Meditative Hush to @Amanda Diorio

First I would like to congratulate you on a very successful weekend!! As I watched the performance, a few themes began to emerge and I found myself taken most by the idea of “three”. You represented, in detail, three forms of dance, jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary, you presented three versions or “layers” of one work, and you used three colors, orange, purple, and yellow, in your posters, programs, and costuming. Can you talk a little bit about the “tri-themes” I identified in your concert, and perhaps some that I have not?

Amanda Diorio

Thank you for this opportunity to reflect. The use of three was present for me in two ways, that I did not consciously connect. The first was the fact that I was working with three dance forms, hip hop, contemporary and jazz, and because of that I wanted to have three images on my promotional material, one to represent each form. These images are what caused me to work with the tri-colored theme (purple, orange and yellow). When brainstorming ideas for costumes I spoke with the designer of my poster (he was finishing it up at the time and needed to know what colors I wanted) and he suggested the three colors I mentioned above. I liked the idea so I decided to use them not just for the costumes and posters but also the programs and the lighting. Consequently my dancers gave me gifts in those colors as well :)

The second trio them was, as you mentioned, I presented three versions of one work. This trio of dances had threes all up in the creative process, many that the audience were unaware of (or maybe not). I had three pieces, each had three dancers and was set to music that was approximately three minutes. When creating the movement that dancers and I worked with three separate phrases that were each created on a different surface. One was made barefoot on the beach, another on a sprung floor in a gymnasium and the last in sneakers on gravel. As a result in rehearsals we referred to them as, sand, sprung and sneakers. For instance we would say "let's do sneakers half time before we go into sand which leads into spring in unison."

Meditative Hush

Thank for elaborating on that. I'm now going to move from 3's to 2's. In "The Duet", you fused two forms of dance, jazz and hip-hop. I'm wondering if you could speak about the relationship between the two dancers. What really stood out to me was the way the two dancers interacted. When seeing two such forms displayed side by side, I might expect to see the dancers battle, but instead I sensed a mutual respect from the dancers both for each other and their dance form.

Amanda Diorio

When I first created the piece the relationship between the dancers had not been established. We actually began separately and I set movement on each of the dancers solo and then brought them together. After the skeleton of movement was set with the two of them we talked in more detail about their relationship. I think the sense of respect you saw is due to the fact that both dancers, Tiffany Burnette and Kimi Cibery,did (and still do) have a great amount of respect for each other and for the project. I believe from the beginning the two of them were able to see what it was I wanted to present, a place to show these forms sharing the space with their own individuality and see what connections there are.

Meditative Hush

I would agree that I sensed that, and to take that further, I felt that they not only found individuality and connections within the movement, but with each other, as dancers and fellow human beings. This feeling was not only prominent for me in this piece, it also seemed to be a strong factor in "Pulse", where you not only mixed styles, but also a multitude of dancers at different levels in their training. Did you have something in particular you wanted to convey or achieve with this "fusion of fusions"?

Amanda Diorio

In the beginning I wanted to see for myself what connections occurred when I had all of those dancers in the same space. I also wanted to express that the individuality of each dancer. Many times the dancers are lumped together as one instead of having their personalities highlighted. Throughout the process it was daunting to try and find those connections and to make all the diversity fit into one space. Here again I will credit the dancers for their patience and creative input in the process. I am still not sure if I accomplished presenting these individualities to the audience but I tried :)

Meditative Hush

Well I think it's important to keep it in perspective. You were presenting 40 individuals to 170 people in 90 minutes! That certainly is a daunting task. I found the dancers personalities to read most clearly in "Pulse" as I felt the dancers relax in a an almost community-like setting. They seemed more relaxed and carefree and therefore there individuality seemed to protrude past the stage. Additionally, we heard sound bites from the dancers, which was a reminder to me that I wasn't just viewing dancers, but that these dancers were people with there own individual story to tell.

Another personality that was very evident was YOURS! :) You were present before the show started, at intermission, and throughout the entire concert. Can you talk about your decision to have a strong presence, in a number of capacities, throughout the entire concert?

Amanda Diorio

Before I speak about my role I want to comment on what you said above "I found the dancers personalities to read most clearly in "Pulse" as I felt the dancers relax in a an almost community-like setting". I am very happy to hear this because I tried to create community atmosphere for them in rehearsal. Many of them have said that although they are glad to have their sundays free from rehearsal hey miss each other :)

My role was essentially to enhance the audiences experience of the work by revealing a little more about myself and the process during the show. When deciding what role to play in my show I thought about all the questions the dancers and I would get after the show and I thought, why not answer some of those questions before they are asked.

Even though I was "performing" I really considered myself more of an interpreter of my work and I felt the best way to keep the lines of communication open with the audience was to spend time with them by hanging around before the show and at intermission. There were several benefits to this. It distracted me from how nervous I was :) , I was able to connect with (even for a second) the people who came out to support me, and I got stopped by several family members of dancers to congratulate me and I was able to thank them and see the extended community of my dancers.

Meditative Hush

Thank you for answering these questions and engaging with me. For my final response, I'd like to give you the opportunity to share final thoughts about the concert, process, etc, that you would like to share with audiences and/or readers. (Please imagine that these readers may or may not have attended the concert).

Amanda Diorio

Well if you were not able to make the show the videos are now available on my profile :) I am just so happy how the show went and I want to again thank my dancers, the UNCG community and any one who came out to the performance for all their support. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback and am glad so many people enjoyed it. When I stated this process I told myself I wanted to enjoy it and having that attitude going into the process made it a lot easier to put so much work into. Thanks for giving me this opportunity to reflect!

2nd Critcal Conversation with Loren Groenendaal

On March 26th and 27th, Loren Groenendaal will be presenting her MFA thesis concert at the UNCG Dance Theater at 8:00pm. This will be my second opportunity to engage in a dialogue with a choreographer about their work. Please be sure to follow the conversation as it unfolds on facebook or read about it right here.

Make sure to attend Loren's concert as well and click here for more details!!

1st Critical Conversation with Amanda Diorio

On March 19th and 20th, UNCG Grad Student Amanda Diorio will be presenting her MFA thesis "re:Forms" at the UNCG Dance Theater at 8:00pm. In the days following the performances, she and I will engage in a dialogue about her work. Watch it unfold on facebook or see it posted here!

Click here for information about the concert and be sure to come out and support if you are in and around the Greensboro area!

First time blogger

Well, I never thought I would find myself typing on MY blog. I didn't even like using the word "blog", but alas, here I am, typing my very first blog entry. Perhaps I didn't have anything interesting to say before. I can't guarantee I have anything interesting to say now either, but I do have interesting questions and I hope to not only share my thoughts, but more importantly, soak up all the interesting things I can learn from others. I am currently a graduate student and teaching assistant at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, studying choreography. It is awesome to be back an environment where I am surrounded by great intelligence and creativity. I look forward to sharing my thoughts, questions, and ideas.