Antaeus Dance Company

ASDI: Week One Summary

2011-08-21T19:11:00.011-04:00

A wonderful group!

Side lifts...

...and slicing through space...

...and some much-needed constructive rest.

A hibiscus from Scott's front yard. There are dozens of these beautiful flowers, in both white and red, all of them as big as my head.

This is where we relax and share meals after a day of teaching.

A view of the corn field and hills behind Scott's house.

Wednesday night's bonfire.

The neighbor's cat that bit me at Wednesday night's bonfire. I guess I'm not a cat-whisperer afterall.

All in all, a great week. Carla arrived this evening and we start Week Two tomorrow morning.

Updates to follow,

Joan

Photos by Marissa Gloriosso & Joan Meggitt

Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive: Week One Coming to a Close

2011-08-19T22:09:00.011-04:00

Today marks the official end of Week One of the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive; although I do have one more class tomorrow morning. The students have been great! As movers they are enthusiastic and have committed to a rigorous schedule. As observers of one another's work, they are well-spoken, thoughtful and detail-oriented.

The Ladies of Antaeus - Heather, Sherri & Marissa - left for Cleveland this afternoon. It has been really nice to give/take class with them this week. Sherri returns for Week Two and Carla joins us from New York City.

We had a lovely evening by the fire on Wednesday, and enjoyed what is fast becoming a tradition for us - regaling one another with stories while consuming s'mores. Many thanks are owed to our friend and host, Scott, for indulging us. I look forward to more stories with Sherri and Carla next week. In the mean time, I am making final preparations for the fall semester at Kent State University. My colleagues are in meetings this week and I will join them next Saturday for entrance auditions.

During the intensive, I am re-mounting FFA: Fairy Flight Academy by Holly Labbe Cole on a double-cast of Allegheny College students. I will be doing the same with a single cast from the Kent Dance Ensemble in October. The former will perform in PA in December and the latter at KSU next April. The Allegheny students have learned half the piece in three short rehearsals (roughly 4.5 hours total). This is no mean feat considering their rehearsal comes after a full day of dancing and I am one for making frequent changes. They are patient with my mistakes - it's been a while since the last FFA - and are keeping up with the material. Working with two casts [plus two understudies] can sometimes be messy, but everyone has been gracious and attentive.

Until next week,
Joan

Photos by Heather Koniz

Day One...again

2011-08-15T22:11:00.005-04:00

Aside from my single most recent blog - full of promises as of yet unkept and otherwise unmet - it has been one year since my last post. I feel a bit like I am confessing this: Forgive me followers, for I have sinned; it has been one year since my last post...

I am once again in Meadville, PA directing and teaching the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive with Antaeus Dance. It is a delightfully cool evening and I am living in a place where there is neither light nor sound pollution. This year I have 28 students, many of them new to me. They are a lovely group and day one has left me exhausted - happily so.

I always get a bit nostalgic here at my Alma Mater; but the real joy of being here is being with the students. Time was when I really knew who these kids were. I was one of them after all. But that was 20 years ago now and walking into the studio today is like walking into a new country, or even onto a different planet.

What I truly relish is being in that moment of knowing what my intentions are but not knowing how they will take shape. At one point, I told the students that we are all professional improvisors. We do it everyday in our speech and meeting of one another and think nothing of it. It is the same with teaching - the improvising that is. At our best, students and teachers alike, we meet one another and participate in dialogue. We receive, consider, ask and respond equally. Today, I was aware of it - riding the wave and seeing myself riding the wave all at the same time - and in that millimoment there was true bliss. And then I named it, recognized it, tried to catch it and it was gone.

But I am still remembering that moment, when I veered away from the plan but stayed true to the intention.

There was laughter, in me and the students. Not in knowing or claiming to know or in holding on to what was happening, but simply in being in that moment.

Joan

Wanton Hours

2011-04-23T13:26:00.008-04:00

I am experiencing an unexpected windfall today - TIME. Unscheduled. Unstructured. Uninterrupted. UNBELIEVABLE! If it weren't for all of the work that needs doing, I wouldn't quite know what to do with myself. I always think that, when I get time, I will use it to reflect...on teaching, creating, living, etc. Most often, though, the reflection happens while driving to work each morning and home again each night, while doing the dishes or sweeping the floor or wrapping up the garbage, while trying to fall asleep at night or desperately clinging to sleep the next morning. I look at time with a kind of nostalgia. It always seems like I had so much more of it once. This cannot be true though, because I cannot remember a time when I was not engaged in more than enough for two or three people.

Of late, my time has been devoted to: teaching and all of its related responsibilities, including the creation of an on-line course that I will teach at KSU this summer; and completing Prospect & Refuge for Antaeus Dance, which premieres May 19-22, 2011 at CPT. Of course, there is being a wife, daughter and sister - somethings which never get enough time and which are sweeter, truly, than anything else here mentioned.

Obviously, blogging falls far down on the list of things that get a piece of the time pie. My last entry came at the end of the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive, something for which I am once again preparing.

Over the next several days, and then weeks, I will be reflecting on the final days of Prospect & Refuge. It has been a lengthy and, at times, complex process. My hope is that you will make time to see the dancework in Cleveland Public Theatre's Gordon Square Theatre May 19th through 22nd.

Until next time,
Joan

Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive: Eleven Years & Running

2010-09-06T19:15:00.007-04:00

Two weeks ago I completed my eleventh annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive as director and lead instructor. I took the intensive in 1993 and started teaching it in 1999. The first year was a solo endeavor, and quite a challenging one. Wherever did I get the energy for that? After that I worked with a number of different fellow dance artists, each usually for a couple years at a time. This summer was a transition year. As I mentioned in a previous post, Antaeus Dance bid farewell to founding company member Shanna in May. While Sherri has been teaching a variety of classes for the past five or so years (anatomy, yoga, massage), Heather and Carla were new faculty. I was impressed with their inaugural work in the program, and the students truly appreciated what each of them had to offer.

While the faculty has changed every couple of years, the student body remains fairly consistent. They are young, curious, intelligent, full of energy (though all of us tend to have a little less starch by the end of the first week), and lovely all around. I am returning to Allegheny this weekend to rehearse Recent Deviations, a dance that nine intensive participants will perform as part of Antaeus Dance's fall concert, October 16th at 8:00pm in Montgomery Performance Space. I must say that these young dancers impressed the heck out of me. They learned a rather complex piece in 8 short rehearsals, on top of taking classes all day and attending evening sessions as well. I am really looking forward to their performance!

Joan

Photo from the end of Week Two by Joan Meggitt

ASDI - Final Night

2010-08-20T01:09:00.005-04:00

We began with a fire and s'mores...and so we ended. This evening Scott built another lovely fire and we gathered around it for company and conversation. Scott, Sherri, Carla, Doug and I spent the better part of the evening enjoying one another's company and a beautifual evening. The following is a sample of what every night here sounds like.

Tomorrow we conclude the intensive and go our separate ways. Sherri and I will see one another again soon in rehearsal. Carla and I say farewell for another year. As with Heather and Marissa, it has been such a pleasure to spend time with these women. I look forward to next year!

Joan

Video by Joan Meggitt

Prospect & Refuge: Moving In

2010-08-17T19:23:00.018-04:00

Doug and I walked through the old factory this afternoon. Today, I was struck by the windows - cracked, broken, stained. Each pane is such a simple, beautiful statement, complete and evocative on its own; and all of it simply by chance. There is a lot of debris in the building. It is an odd assortment of old materials from the production of woven rayon parachute cords, and miscellaneous other implements that have landed there over the years. There is a great amount of detritus from the building itself - rust, glass, metal pieces, wood. There are also many signs of new/continued life - vines, moss, leavings from birds and small animals that roost/live there, etc.

We found a door with a metal piece sitting out in the middle of the roof outside of "the penthouse." Between the penthouse, the farmhouse and the woods, the dancers are in for an adventure.
More to follow,
Joan

Photos by Joan Meggitt

Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive: Week One

2010-08-14T19:24:00.016-04:00

We have just finished the first week of the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. The students are lovely, the instructors are great (of course), and the schedule is full. We run two different technique classes daily, a combined improvisation and composition class, and a rehearsal for participants who will perform with the Company in our fall concert at the College. There were also masssage workshops two evenings this week. Several mornings have been spent practicing yoga and/or cycling the 7 hilly miles to the dance center. It was a great pleasure to welcome Heather to the faculty and to, once again, work with Sherri. This year we were joined by company member Marissa. I know that the students enjoyed dancing with the ladies.

I taught the final technique class of the week this morning; after which Doug and I walked the woods where Antaeus Dance will be filming for Prospect & Refuge in two weeks. One bit of bad news: The farmhouse we were planning on using was torn down. It was falling down, to be sure, and had been standing for decades; but we were hoping to get one more year out of it. Doug is scouting a new location.

Tomorrow, former company member Carla arrives, and we jump back into classes Monday morning. Nine students are learning Recent Deviations, a piece I choreographed for the KSU Dance Division in 2008. The Allegheny students are enthusiastic and we covered a little over half the choreography in our first four rehearsals. We will finish the piece on Thursday and share it with the group on Friday. I will come back to rehearse them in the fall before their performance with AD. They are doing well and I am excited to see them perform!

Right now, I am enjoying some quiet at the home of a friend, to both me and Antaeus Dance. It has been really nice to have a home to return to each night, and to be in such good company...a place to prepare and share meals together, a place to rest and rejunvenate at the end of each day. Our first night, Scott built a great fire and we sat around it talking and roasting s'mores. I can't tell you the last time I did that. What a way to start! It is wonderfully quiet here at night and truly dark save for the stars. There is a great view from the swing out back.

I am looking forward to the second week of the intensive!
Joan

Photos by Joan Meggitt

Much to Report

2010-08-04T19:09:00.007-04:00

There is much to report on the Antaeus Dance home front. Summer classes come to an end tomorrow evening. FALL CLASSES BEGIN AUGUST 24th and run through October 28th. These mixed-level classes are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 to 7:30pm in the beautiful Antaeus Dance studio at Pilgrim Church in Tremont.

The Company leaves for Pennsylvania this Sunday for the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive at Allegheny College in Meadville. I have been directing this intensive for the past 10 years and look forward to it every year. This year Heather Koniz, Sherri Mills and former company member Carla Monzo will be teaching classes along with yours truly.

The Company returns to PA a week after the intensive to film for Prospect & Refuge (more on that below).

Catch us at Pandemonium at CPT on Saturday, September 11th. If you've never been, you must. It's a great party for an even greater cause.

Participants from the summer intensive will perform in Antaeus Dance's annual fall concert at the College, this year on Saturday, October 16th. We will be performing much of the work from our recent Home Front concert, featuring dances by Jenita McGowan and Marissa Glorioso.

After that the company focuses on the Prospect & Refuge project with dance maker and performance artist Doug Lodge, film maker Cynthia Penter, and composer Bill Sallak. Parts of the work were unveiled in Cleveland Public Theatre's DanceWorks 2010 series. The full premiere will be in the Gordon Square Theatre May 19-22, 2011 as part of DanceWorks 2011.

Last, but not least, Antaeus Dancers Shanna Sheline and Sherri Mills are featured in photographs by Rev. Tricia Gilbert at Truffles Pastry Shop (11122 Clifton Boulevard). They will be up through August 2oth.

More to come!

Joan

Photo: Dancing Windows by Tricia Gilbert

Shout Out to Dan

2010-07-18T10:07:00.002-04:00

Antaeus Dance is entering it's 10th season! We began with an evening-length dancework, Inherent Vices, back in November of 2001; and we're premiering our fifth, Prospect & Refuge, at Cleveland Public Theatre May 19 -22, 2011.

There have been many, many wonderful people who have been involved with and helped Antaeus Dance over the years. One of those individuals is Dan Kilbane. I met Dan at CPT some years back and we continue to meet there over and again. He has guided us through many a performance with a combination of talent, charm, humor and professionalism. Dan is good people.

Dan, it was a pleasure to see you yestereday and I look forward to many happy returns.

Joan

The WHY Collective

2010-05-18T23:50:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, May 9th Antaeus Dance appeared with The Why Collective, one of Cleveland's foremost anarco-dadaist neoclassical free jazz revolutionary electronic crypto mystical open form collaborative arts ensembles. Antaeus Dance has participated in two Why Collective events. The most recent was Blind Alchemy. I have included a video of our performance. Blind Alchemy III. "Blind Alchemy" is composed/performed by Greg D'Alessio (Why Collective guru), Alexander Bonus, Paul Cox, Jenna Lyle and Antaeus Dancers Amy Compton, Joan Meggitt and Sherri Mills. The dancing begins around the five-minute mark. Greg had this to say about the work: "This is a piece built around some improvising Greg, Paul and Alex did, that we will meta -improvise on tot he improvised singing and dancing of Jenna and Antaeus..."

Enjoy!

Joan

Video courtesy of Sherri Mills and posted with permission from Greg D'Alessio.

Summer Classes

2010-05-05T18:27:00.020-04:00

Antaeus Dance will offer summer classes in modern dance technique on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6:00pm to 7:30pm in the Company's studio in Pilgrim Congregational Church. Classes begin Thursday, June 3rd and will run through Thursday, August 5th. These are company classes which are open to the public (intermediate/advanced level movers).

The Antaeus Dance studio is, hands down, the most beautiful and inspiring dance space in Cleveland. A gorgeous rose window graces the upstage wall, and the downstage wall offers a view of the sanctuary through a set of four arches. To see some other spaces around Pilgrim Congregational Church, an historic landmark in Tremont, look below! Cleave is a film by Cynthia Penter featuring Doug Lodge and me, with original music by Bill Sallak. Verge is the live dance that accompanied the film at Antaeus Dance's recent premiere at CPT in April.

Prospect & Refuge: cleave/verge from Bill Sallak on Vimeo.

But I digress...

I will be teaching the summer classes. My training has been devoted to the modern dance technique of Erick Hawkins, which I have studied under numerous Hawkins company members, most notably Kelly Holt, James Reedy, Cynthia Reynolds and Gloria McLean. The modern dance technique of Erick Hawkins integrates strength and vulnerability, cultivates grounded elegance, and embraces dynamic subtlety. Classes will utilize Hawkins' principles, including his innovative relationship to time, through athletic phrases that develop out of concise floor and center work. I like to call this work: Living out loud by dancing from within!

Also on the horizon is the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive in Meadville, PA. I have directed this intensive since 1999. Sherri Mills has been an instructor for several years now, most recently offering classes in yoga and massage. We are delighted to be joined this year by Antaeus Dancer Heather Koniz and former Company member Carla Monzo.

Antaeus Dance will be making appearances with the Why Collective this Sunday, May 9th at 8:00pm in Drinko Recital Hall on the campus of Cleveland State University, and with trideaDANCE on Saturday, May 22nd in Tiffin, OH. After that, we begin work on Antaeus Dance's 10th Season!

I hope to see you in the studio this summer!

Joan

Photo of Antaeus Dance Studio at Pilgrim Congregational Church by Joan Meggitt.

Cleave used with permission from Doug Lodge, Joan Meggitt, Cynthia Penter and Bill Sallak.

Photo of Sherri Mills and Heather Koniz in Meggitt's Prospect & Refuge: Stray by Matt Bliss.

Two Weeks Past

2010-04-26T18:32:00.007-04:00

Antaeus Dance premiered select excerpts from its ongoing evening-length collaboration Prospect & Refuge at Cleveland Public Theatre at the close of DanceWorks 2010. The performances were well received by the public and the work was reviewed by Plain Dealer critic Donald Rosenberg. The dancers are on a well-deserved break before preparing for our next performance. The Company will make a guest appearance at the trideaDANCE concert in Tiffin, Ohio at the historic Ritz Theatre Saturday, May 23rd at 7:30pm.

Once that is complete, the Company will continue work on the Prospect & Refuge project, heading out to Pennsylvania for more filming. Cynthia Penter's first film, Cleave, will soon be available for online viewing. It was a great pleasure to work with dancers Amy Notley and Desmond Davis again! The last time I worked with them together was on a project called Burn the Heavens. Also, new to the group was guest artist Sara Lawrence-Sucato. It was wonderful to work with her as well. All three will be continuing to work on the project, as well as Amy Compton, Marissa Gloriosso, Heather Koniz and Sherri Mills. The company is preparing to say farewell to founding member Shanna Sheline.

More on P & R as it happens. More on Shanna as I am able to speak of her without being overcome with emotion. Coming up: Summer Offerings.

Joan

Photo of Shanna Sheline supporting Marissa Gloriosso by Joan Meggitt

Two Weeks Out

2010-03-29T16:03:00.020-04:00

Antaeus Dance's performance of select premiere excerpts from Prospect & Refuge opens in two weeks. We are part of a double-bill with Travesty Dance Group/Cleveland, a local company directed by friend and colleague Kimberly Karpanty. TDG will premiere Kim's full-length work Dawning. The companies are a good match in several ways. Kim and I definitely overlap in aesthetics, yet we have distinct voices and very different ways of speaking. The intersection of individual and community is important to both of us and serves as a fairly consistent theme in our work.

Kim is a marvelous choreographer, creating extended, complex movement phrases, seemingly in the blink of a eye. I have always been more of a slow-cooker myself, taking time to develop movement ideas and, of late, working closely with the dancers in finding and exploring movement. These different personalities and approaches of the two companies yield a rich diversity in the works.

Prospect & Refuge is an ongoing evening-length project that will premiere in full in the spring of 2011. It began, rather unexpectedly, with Verb Ballets in early 2009. I had been developing ideas and movement for a new evening-length, already bearing the given title, when I was invited to be a part of the Cleveland All Stars concert (more recently called Fresh Inventions). I decided to use the opportunity to explore one idea, Stray, in advance of working with Antaeus Dance. The eight dancers of Verb Ballets were lovely and I enjoyed the time I spent with them.

After that, I continued to develop Stray into a longer piece for the twelve members of the Kent Dance Ensemble at Kent State University. At the same time, I began work with long-time dance partner and fellow dance maker Doug Lodge in rural Pennsylvania, brainstorming and visiting potential film sites, including an abandoned factory and a condemned farm house. In October of 2009, while the company was in Meadville for it's annual fall concert at Allegheny College, we filmed the dancers over the course of two days in site-specific improvisations on a theme. I returned to PA in January of this year to work with Doug on a duet that was later filmed in the bell tower at Pilgrim Congregational Church by media artist Cynthia Penter.

Having finished my work with the Kent Dance Ensemble, I then began to rework Stray for the eight dancers in the Antaeus Dance Prospect & Refuge project and have been running both versions (similar though not identical) in their respective venues. The KSU students contributed greatly to the work, willingly exploring ideas and successfully meeting challenges that I put before them. They have my hearty thanks for bringing the work forth so clearly!

While all of this was going on, I was endeavoring to move other parts of the dance forward. This turned out to be a challenge given that my entree into the work had been so highly structured and I was attempting to engage the Antaeus Dancers in a more collaborative process while also working with a second dance artist and a composer and a film maker. All of this brings us to Cleveland Public Theatre's DanceWorks 2010. The Company will premiere four sections of Prospect & Refuge. The overarching idea for me has been the creation of a thematic modular dance, one that can change with time and venue, one that does not always appear in the same order in which it was last presented, one which plays with perspective through both film and live dance, and one which allows everyone involved to contribute to the process.

I look forward to seeing you at the premiere!

Joan

Photo 1 of Heather Koniz supporting Amy Compton by Joan Meggitt.

Photo 2 of Travesty Dance Group/Cleveland in Dawning by Bob Christy.

Photo 3 of the Bell Tower in Pilgrim Church by Joan Meggitt.

Photo 4 of Kent Dance Ensemble members in Stray by Bob Christy.

Home Front Retrospective

2010-03-13T10:37:00.013-05:00

Last month Antaeus Dance presented Home Front at Pilgrim Congregational Church. While the concert was produced later than initially planned, it was well worth the wait. Marissa Glorioso's performance of her solo Apologia was a moving combination of strength and vulnerability. Jenita's new quartet Romani was delightfully dynamic and her premiere of Heart's Terrain, created with dancer Sherri Mills, was quite evocative. As much as I prefer to stay behind the scenes, I enjoyed dancing with both Kim Karpanty and the Company in Straight Foward & Slightly Off Kilter and Drift In, Drop Out. The concert closed with a reprise of Rustbelt, one of Jenita's homages to the place we all call home.

More posts to come on Prospect & Refuge. The Company will be sharing premiere excerpts at Cleveland Public Theatre April 15-18, 2010.

Joan

Photo of Sherri Mills and Amy Compton in Jenita McGowan's Romani by Simone Jowell

Home Front

2010-01-08T17:06:00.014-05:00

Antaeus Dance will premiere two new dances by Jenita McGowan and one by Marissa Glorioso in the Company's upcoming concert, Home Front, February 5 -7 at Pilgrim Congregational Church. Two dances from my own repertory will also be performed.

Jenita's new works includes Romani, an elegant yet earthy quartet that combines crisp rhythmic patterns with undulating movement. Set to music by the local, experimental group Trepanning Trio, the dance will be performed by Amy Compton, Marissa Glorioso, Sherri Mills and Shanna Sheline. For Heart's Terrain, Jenita worked with movement generated by soloist Sherri to create a visually stunning dance that joins internal and external landscapes in a beautiful meditation. Amy, Marissa and Shanna will reprise Jenita's Rustbelt, one of a growing collection of Jenita's dances inspired by the unique region in which we live. (Photo of Jenita's Borne Away on Crooked River by Brad Petot.)

To see video of these works in rehearsal, please visit Jenita's blog, Lust 4 My Rustbelt.

Marissa will perform her solo Apologia, exploring holding on and holding back. At once graceful and forceful, the work delves into a woman's journey from self conscious self-restraint to quiet determination to move forward.

I will join Marissa, Amy and Shanna for Drift In, Drop Out. This modern dance pairs an evocative sound score by Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg with a gracefully idiosyncratic dance for four women. Equally at home on the floor and in the air, the dancers create a shifting landscape of flowing movement and intense, interconnected gestures. Kim Karpanty (Travesty Dance Group/Cleveland) and I will also perform our duet, Straight Forward & Slightly Off Kilter, a quirky romp through a field of contrasting dynamics. A friendly competition ensues between two curious opponents who alternately assist and attempt to outdo one another. (Photo of Straight Forward & Slightly Off Kilter by William Hebert.)

Please join us for this concert of diverse works by the Artistic Staff. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $15 general admission and $10 students and seniors. For reservations please call (216) 486-2874 or e-mail me at joan@antaeusdance.com.

I hope to see you there!
Joan

Home Front Rescheduled for February 2010

2009-11-09T14:32:00.003-05:00

Antaeus Dance's upcoming performance of Home Front have been postponed until February of 2010. New works by Jenita McGowan and Marissa Glorioso can be seen then at Pilgrim Congregational Church. I will post more information in the new year.

Joan

Prospect & Refuge

2009-10-20T23:27:00.007-04:00

Sherri & Doug. Enough said. JM

Prospect

2009-08-30T12:10:00.007-04:00

Here is one of the rooms in which I would like to dance/film for Prospect & Refuge. You will see collaborating choreographer/director Doug Lodge at the end of the clip.

I was a bit rabid when talking about it with the dancers at our last rehearsal. I do think they were more excited than frightened, even though I told them I wanted them to jump through a hole in the floor to the level below (roughly a two-story drop). Many ideas, only some will be doable, even fewer of those will work. We shall see what develops!

Joan

Locations

2009-08-25T18:05:00.009-04:00

Doug and I scouted a couple locations for Prospect & Refuge while I was in Meadville these past two weeks. I am grateful to Mr. Jones and Mr. Tucker for allowing us to explore the old farm house and factory respectively.

The farm house is falling down, dangerous only if one is not aware of the surroundings, and otherwise totally seductive. The owner told us a few stories about the place and expressed difficulty in having the place torn down...

not because of logistics, but because it is a piece of history and it is difficult being the one responsible for eradicating it. At one time it was a lovely home. It currently sits in a pasture, providing storage for hay and a temptation to passers by. With Mr. Jones' permission, Doug and I gave in to temptation and explored.

I do not think it advisable to actually dance in the house. The structure itself could make for some great footage generally speaking, and the dancers could safely be placed within the structure. I continue to dream.

The factory was absolutely wonderful! There are many spaces that could easily be used for performance (with some rehab). One building in particular struck Doug and we explored it at length. A heart felt Thanks! to Mr. Tucker for giving us a tour, talking to us about the rehabilitation of old factory/warehouse facilities, and allowing us to explore further on our own.

I definitely want to go back to the factory with the dancers. Doug and I are hoping to do so in October when the Company is there to perform MOLT at Allegheny College.

What I found particularly enticing about both spaces is the manner in which nature is reclaiming the sites. In both cases plant life was in relative abundance (all it takes is a little moisture) and animal life had clearly taken up residence (just like the wood chuck in my garage and the skunk under my porch).

Ideas abound in such places and I am indebted to Doug for doing all of the leg work and making arrangements for us to see the spaces. Others were not accessible to us and the hunt continues in PA while, in OH, Antaeus Dance prepares for upcoming appearances in the Playhouse Square Dance Showcase, Tremont Arts & Culture Festival, and CPT's Pandemonium.

Joan

Photos by Joan Meggitt

Dance Intensive Wrap Up

2009-08-24T06:48:00.010-04:00

The Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive finished up on Friday. Shanna, Sherri and I had a total of 31 students, up from the usual 16-18. I am so glad that we did not limit attendance to a smaller number. I met a lot of new people, worked again with returning students, and even taught a young man whom I first met when he was 11 (he originated a role in a dance that Holly Labbe Cole and I choreographed in 2001).

One of the wonderful things about Allegheny College is that, from the first (way back in 1988), I became part of a community, versus a class. I hope the incoming/returning students have a similar experience. I appreciate being able to meet the place and the people (what and who they are now) with who I am now. There is certainly a lot of nostalgia connected to the College for me - I began dancing there, I met my husband there, I learned from so many wonderful people who changed my life - but that relationship continues to evolve...so while I continue to dance there, meet my husband there (usually for an Antaeus Dance concert), and learn from great people, it is never the same road twice. For that I am grateful.

Joan

Photo of 2009 Allegheny Summer Dance Participants by Scott Choffel

Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive

2009-08-16T23:36:00.002-04:00

The annual Summer Dance Intensive at Allegheny College is moving into its second week. Shanna, Sherri and I have been teaching classes in modern dance technique, improvisation and composition, yoga, and massage. In addition, I am working with nine participants who are learning a piece from my repertory. The dance will be performed at Allegheny College later this year.

There are 28 participants, all of of them energetic and willing to try just about anything we throw at them. When not teaching, I have enjoyed taking classes from Shanna and Sherri.

We are staying with a friend, fellow Alleghenian Scott Choffel, who has kindly opened up his home to us. We are having a delightful time on that front. We are 45 minutes away from the college by bike and have ridden our bikes to and from the studio every other day.

While I'm here I have also been in conversation with Doug Lodge about our new work, Prospect & Refuge. I've opened a huge can of worms...can't wait to dig in! Tomorrow we visit an abandoned farmhouse, a possible location for filming. Later in the week we visit an old factory. Look for photos from those excursions in future posts.

Joan

Antaeus Dance & MorrisonDance in Lincoln Park This Weekend

2009-08-05T09:28:00.004-04:00

It's all done but the doing of it. Antaeus Dance had its final company rehearsal last night in preparation for this weekend's concert with MorrisonDance. I must admit to dragging a bit this morning, but I am enjoying moving with Shanna, Marissa and Heather nonetheless.

While we gear up for this concert, Shanna and I have also been preparing for the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive. The enrollment is maxed out and we are looking forward to meeting new students and excited to see some familiar faces as well. I have been leading the intensive since 1999, so I have had the opportunity and the pleasure of seeing many students from the start to the finish of their time at Allegheny.

I have a few applications for venues and grants in the hopper, as well as course materials for my classes at Kent State University. It has been a lovely summer and I am looking forward to a year rich in dance. You will find AD's season to the right, as well as KSU concerts that include my work.

See you in the park!
Joan

Photo of Hidden Dialogue by Scott Radke

Final Week of Classes

2009-07-29T10:23:00.006-04:00

This is the final week of Antaeus Dance classes. We had anticipated teaching through next week, but preparations for our upcoming performance require us to keep the last week to ourselves.

It has been a great pleasure to both teach and take classes with the company and the community this summer. I have met some lovely movers from Cleveland and beyond, and hope that we can continue to see one another throughout the year.

If you want to be on our mailing list for class information, company announcements, and other goings on, please contact me: joan@antaeusdance.com.

Please see the post below for reflections on our performance in Lincoln Park next weekend!

Photo of Shadowing the Ground by John Seyfried

Antaeus Dance & MorrisonDance Perform in Lincoln Park

2009-07-28T14:34:00.007-04:00

Join Tremont's resident dance companies for a night of original dance in Tremont's Lincoln Park August 7th and 8th at 8:30pm (raindate August 9th at 7:30pm)

This free event will feature one of my favorite dances, Hidden Dialogue. This piece is very athletic and incorporates my interest in working from individual gestures and movement idiosyncrasies. It often feels like a puzzle. This is partly because I cannot imagine how I ever made it in the first place...even though, yes, I do know how it was done...it's just that in the looking back I frequently don't know if I could do it again if I had to. And as I perform it, remembering who originated each movement and knowing how it ultimately fits into the piece as a whole, I actually feel the movement pieces falling into place as I do them. It is a very satisfying dance from this performer's perspective; and I certainly hope that is the case for the audience. This dance is also a barometer for me...it was a turning point for me creatively and helps me gauge where I've been/where I'm going. It is also a good test of my general fitness.

Drift In, Drop Out is a similar experience for me. It is a more elegant piece than Hidden Dialogue, though it still gets my heart rate up. One of the dancers has told me, repeatedly, how much she likes the piece. That means more to me than she could possibly know. The dancers are the litmus test for the work. Does it engage them? Does it push them in some way? Does it bring up questions and engage us all in dialogue? These are important questions for any dancework, regardless of its demeanor.

Finally, we will be performing FFA: Fairy Flight Academy by founding member Holly Labbe Cole. This is complete whimsy along the lines of: If at first you don't succeed, try try again. Four fairies who have yet to earn their wings have been at it for so long that they have grown to enormous proportions (i.e., human-sized). They have one more chance to make it...come and see what happens!

Please do visit MorrisonDance for more information about their work. Sarah will reprise work she premiered at Ingenuity Festival, as well as some MD favorites!

This concert begins our 2009-2010 season and I am glad for the chance to have a little fun with things before digging into some new, heady work. We close on Saturday, Sunday if it rains, and then Shanna, Sherri, and I head to PA Sunday night for the annual Allegheny Summer Dance Intensive. This is a two-week program that I have been directing since 1999. It is something I look forward to every year and will be reporting on our activities there.

I hope to see you at the concert!
Joan

FFA: Fairy Flight Academy photo by Brian Meggitt

YES! manifesto

2009-06-03T16:55:00.006-04:00

In 1965 Yvonne Rainer published her "NO manifesto," a statement of beliefs via repudiation. It serves as a succinct guide to post-modern dance generally and to Rainer's minimalist aesthetics specifically.

NO manifesto - Yvonne Rainer

No to spectacle.
No to virtuosity.
No to transformations and magic and make-believe.
No to the glamour and transcendency of the star image.
No to the heroic.
No to the anti-heroic.
No to trash imagery.
No to involvement of performer or spectator.
No to style.
No to camp.
No to seduction of spectator by the wiles of the performer.
No to eccentricity.
No to moving or being moved.

I considered writing one myself but soon realized that, in framing everything as a "no," I was really being guided by those things that I wished not to find in myself, in others, and in dance at large. And so I have instead constructed a "YES! manifesto" which speaks directly to what I value and what I am seeking.

YES! manifesto - Joan Meggitt

Yes to questions.
Yes to risk.
Yes to individuality.
Yes to community.
Yes to transcendence.
Yes to moving moment-by-moment.
Yes to mistakes.
Yes to raw existence, unglorified yet glorious.
Yes to pedestrianism and technique.
Yes to cultivating the curiosity and imagination of the audience.
Yes to expecting the audience to think for themselves.
Yes to making room for them to do so.
Yes to being human.

MOLT photo of Amy by Brad Petot

Wading Through...

2009-05-26T17:30:00.006-04:00

My apologies for not posting anything recently. Since the conclusion of MOLT, I have been wrapping up the spring semester at Kent State University, preparing to teach a summer course there, and looking ahead to Antaeus Dance's 2009-2010 season. It is our ninth season as a company. Even though the tenth anniversary is the standard hallmark, I prefer odd numbers to even and I am excited about how the ninth is shaping up so far. Look for news on the season on the website in June, and before that on this blog.

As promised, I will also offer some reflections on MOLT.

Until then,

Joan

MOLT photo by Brad Petot: Jenita looking for More Light

MOLT Wrap Up

2009-05-04T07:04:00.006-04:00

Antaeus Dance gave its final performance of MOLT yesterday in CPT's Gordon Square Theatre. I had the opportunity to speak with many audience members before, during, and after the performances; and I am grateful for the insights, questions and suggestions that I received.

This is an initial post inviting further comments on the work. I encourage you to submit your responses, questions, images, suggestions, and so forth. What was you experience? I am very much interested in having a dialogue about the project, whether focusing on it as a whole or looking at individual aspects that present themselves.

I will expand upon this post in the coming days , offering up my own experience as a viewer (something I do not get to do very often with the Company). I look forward to hearing from you.

Joan

MOLT photo by Brad Petot: Marissa's Phragmentation

MOLT - Around Noon

2009-04-30T15:32:00.002-04:00

Listen to Dee Perry and me talk about MOLT - premiering this weekend at Cleveland Public Theatre!

http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/an/25921

MOLT photo by Bob Christy: Amy watching Jenita & Marissa

MOLT: Around Noon

2009-04-28T02:31:00.004-04:00

Tune into 90.3 WCPN ideastream this Thursday, April 30th for Around Noon. Host Dee Perry and I will be exploring MOLT.

Visit the Around Noon home page: http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/wcpn/an/

MOLT photo by Bob Christy

Reflections from a dancer

2009-04-16T15:42:00.007-04:00

Dancer Jenita McGowan reflects on MOLTing in Lustfelt 4 My Rustbelt: A bundle I can no longer carry.

MOLT photo by Brad Petot: Jenita, a silent witness

Spread Thin, Focusing In

2009-04-12T14:04:00.003-04:00

I just set a new mini-work on Verb Ballets this past Thursday. I found the dancers to be perfectly lovely and extremely capable. We were given five hours together, which was a challenge; but it also turned out to be a delight given that my other premiere has been so long in the making. The dancers were focused, professional, willing to try anything, and possessed, most importantly, a decent sense of humor. I look forward to seeing them in performance April 16 - 19 in CPT's Dance Works 09. They will premiere works-in-progress by nine local and quite varied choreographers.

Also, this weekend I performed with Travesty Dance Group with TDG/Cleveland Director Kim Karpanty. She and TDG/Houston Director Karen Stokes presented work at the Weathervane Playhouse in Akron. It was a well-balanced concert that clearly showed the distinctive voices of each choreographer, as well as the talents of their respective performers, and afforded me the opportunity to perform with Kim in our duet "Straight Forward & Slightly Off Kilter."

Rehearsals have resumed for MOLT. Greg D'Alessio's score is nearing completion; and James Longs is finishing the building and detailing of the set. For my part, the costumes are well underway...I have pieces cooking on the stove as I write this. A section of MOLT was shown as part of the the Cleveland State University Spring Dance Concert this past week. I am extremely grateful to Lynn Deering and the CSU Dance Program for the opportunity to present the work.

I have mentioned the length of this process on numerous occasions. Now that I find myself near the end of it I want more time, of course. As always, I feel that I can finally see the piece and I fear that I have not fully investigated all of the possibilities. The dancers are keeping me honest with their questions and requests for more clarity of intention on my part. I appreciate the fact that I they are so adept at making choices in the moment and willing to challenge me to look more closely at what we are doing and why and how and so on and so forth.

MOLT photo by Larry Coleman: Jenita McGowan in lakeside nest by Brian Meggitt

CSU Spring Dance Concert: April 9th

2009-03-31T21:14:00.005-04:00

Antaeus Dance will be performing an excerpt from MOLT in the CSU Spring Dance Concert.

Cleveland State University Dance presents "A Spring Dance Concert ‘09," a repertory concert featuring the CSU Dance Company, faculty and alumni and guests from Antaeus Dance and the Lake Erie College Dance Company performing both contemporary and traditional dance works. Of special note are works staged by guest artists Dianne McIntyre, Cha Lee Chan, and Antaeus Dance Company’s premiere of an excerpt from “MOLT”, a new work with music by CSU’s Greg D’Alessio.

Made possible with the support of the CSU College of Education and Human Services, CSU General Fee Committee and the Ohio Arts Council, the performance will be held on Thursday, April 9 at 7:30 PM in Drinko Recital Hall in the Music and Communication Building at 2100 Euclid Avenue.

Tickets are $5.00 general seating and are available at the door only.

MOLT photo by Scott Radke: Shanna Sheline

Music for MOLTing!

2009-03-08T18:15:00.009-04:00

The first installment of the score is in my hands! I am excited to be listening to Section 1 of MOLT, composed by Greg D'Alessio.

MOLT photo by Scott Radke

Ferment

2009-03-01T09:36:00.015-05:00

"An empty mirror and your worst destructive habits, when they are held up to each other,

that's when the real making begins.

That's what art and crafting are."

from Childhood Friends by Rumi

This quote speaks to my finally being able to see the piece now that it is finished. There is still much work to be done, but having the complete structure and content forces me to confront, if you will, the dance as it is and as it should be. Those two are by no means the same thing. I can no longer avoid those places which have stymied me, those parts which I have been avoiding, or those questions which the dancers have been asking for far too long now. I must get down to truly crafting what we have in place. While much of that happens along the way, there is more to be had. Some things will go, more will be added.

I will also be making the costumes and addressing how those will be integrated into the performance. It would be easy, relatively speaking, if the dancers were simply to wear them; but that will not be the case. A costume that serves multiple purposes within any given dance is an additional challenge. Not that designing and building a successful costume is a simple task. It is an art in and of itself and best left to those much more capable and imaginative than myself. As it is that responsibility falls to me.

In the month before our next MOLTing, I will be going over our most recent rehearsals on video, and going back through my entire collection of notes, drawings, collected images and writings, and so forth...looking for things I may have forgotten and trying to find more clarity. Our first rehearsal back we will begin working with Greg D'Alessio's new score. I will have that a bit in advance of the dancers and endeavoring to learn it inside and out so that I can guide them through the meeting of music and movement. Finally, I will be making choices about subtitles from a large list that I have been compiling since the beginning of the process.

Even as I welcome this small respite, I look forward to MOLTing again.
Joan

MOLT photo by Larry Coleman: Jenita McGowan in lakeside nest by Brian Meggitt

Buckle up!

2009-02-24T15:45:00.006-05:00

Today is our last rehearsal. Today we will finish the dance. March will be spent preparing for other projects; and in April we return to MOLT and prepare for its premiere. The dance is finally starting to make sense to me and I have so many ideas that I think, perhaps, there are several additional dances in the making. Heartfelt thanks go to Amy Notley for helping to bring everything in to focus!

Even though we have had an extremely gracious period of time with which to create MOLT, I am still finding the last bits and pieces of choreography difficult to complete. One of two things tends to happen for me at this point in the process: 1) I show a clear-sightedness and focus that carries me resolutely to the conclusion; or 2) I experience a combination of extreme nervousness and excitement that prevents me from thinking clearly (even though everything that I need is directly in front of me), language and the ability to move with any coherence escapes me, and the dancers buckle up for the ride. My hope, of course, if for the former; but I have been living with the nervous energy of the latter for the better part of a week now. Best to buckle up ladies!

Much of the clear-sightedness of which I speak is really the dancers beginning to make sense of the work, as a whole and in the connections that I see them making between one another. In watching them make choices I am enlightened.

I look forward to this evening's work with great anticipation.

Joan

MOLT photo by Scott Radke: Jenita hugs Shanna

This Just In!

2009-02-10T21:52:00.009-05:00

Artist James Longs delivered the first installation of the MOLT set: a big chair. It measures about nine feet in height and has enough room on the seat for the entire cast. This evening the dancers explored the possibilities!

Pictured: Marissa in the big chair

Solos Feature: Shanna Sheline

2009-02-01T13:22:00.009-05:00

Read Donald Rosenberg's article in today's Plain Dealer Arts about Shanna Sheline, a founding member of Antaeus Dance who will be performing in the Company's April 30 - May 3 premiere of MOLT at Cleveland Public Theatre / Dance Works 09.

See video by Lonnie Timmons III of Shanna Sheline, featuring new music by Greg D'Alessio.

MOLT photo by Bob Christy: Shanna

Shanna Sheline

2009-01-30T20:54:00.007-05:00

Solos Feature in The Plain Dealer

Read about Shanna Sheline, a founding member of Antaeus Dance, in The Plain Dealer on Sunday, February 1, 2009. Arts Critic Donald Rosenberg's feature article about Shanna and her life in dance will be in this Sunday's Arts section. There will also be a link to video of Shanna performing excerpts from MOLT, the Company's upcoming premiere.

Check back here on Sunday morning for links both the article and the video.
Joan

Shanna Sheline photo by Marty Horvath

MOLT: Beginnings

2009-01-25T15:47:00.006-05:00

It takes as long as it takes. - Jan Hyatt

MOLT began in October of 2007. Normally, I have a modest window of time within which to create work prior to its premiere: in most cases about three months. In this case, that window was thrown wide, so much so that it shattered completely. My initial thought was, "This is great! What a luxury to have TIME!" More on that later...

We began with improvisation; some days I would participate, but most of the time I directed. I have truly enjoyed witnessing this group improvise...even after watching them again and again, both in rehearsal and later on video, to prise from the hours of movement the kernels which we later developed into entire sections. Much of what the dancers did was extracted intact; still more has been developed and taken us in new directions.

During those initial months I was astonished, frustrated (usually because I was watching and not doing), amused, pleased, and otherwise moved to respond. And so the dance grew.

NOTE: The process began with Jenita McGowan, Carla Monzo, Sherri Mills, Amy Notley, and Shanna Sheline.

The process continues with Amy Compton-Schulz, Marissa Glorioso, Jenita, Sherri, and Shanna.

More on that later.
Joan

MOLT photo by Scott Radke: Amy & Carla

Critical Mass

2009-01-20T16:17:00.005-05:00

"Don't hand me a glass of wine.
Pour it in my mouth.
I've lost the way to my mouth.

The wine we really drink is our own blood.
Our bodies ferment in these barrels.
We give everything for a glass of this.
We give our minds for a sip."

from A Children's Game by Rumi

As I write this as I am considering this evening's MOLT rehearsal. This work has developed over an extensive period of time and is beginning to gain momentum. We are now at a place where things are happening quickly, or so it seems to me. This is a result of many months of slow going, during which time the dancers have been ever-patient, always ready to work, and tremendously invested. The creation of any [dance]work is a leap of faith. I can identify, with relative certainty, the place from which I am leaping; but I do not always know where I am going. In some cases, as with MOLT, I think I know where I am headed...

I love to drive without knowing exactly how I am going to get to my final destination. When I am on my own, dead reckoning is my favorite form of navigation.

I forget about this propensity of mine when not in the car. It is only when I get to this place of critical mass that I remember that I like to ramble (coincidentally the informal name of one section of the dance) along the way and that, often, the destination changes in the process.

I am starting to feel the ferment and I am racing ahead of myself, as I always do at the end. While my intentions have remained relatively solid, I am delighted to see that there is room for MORE!

MOLT will premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre April 30 - May 3, 2009 as part of DanceWorks09.

Look for further information about MOLT in my next post.
Joan

MOLT photo by Scott Radke

Welcome: What to Expect

2009-01-16T18:45:00.005-05:00

"There is no shortcut about learning dancing. You just have to get in there, and step by step, see how the thing feels..." -Erick Hawkins

I recall my impatience as a fledgling student of dance, my wanting to know more, to be more, MORE NOW. My impatience has been tempered over time, not so much by its waning as by the emergent reasons and desires behind it.

This blog will offer musings on my current work with Antaeus Dance, and will undoubtedly reference past works as well. Because none of us exist in a vacuum, I may also reference my life as (in no particular order) an educator, wife, citizen, etc.

I will post news about Antaeus Dance, reflect on the creative process, invite questions and comments, and generally provide insights into how and why we do what we do as a company.

Welcome! and please visit again soon.
Joan Meggitt
Artistic/Executive Director