RPP: Reverb Promotions and Preparations

Tuesday morning, bright and early. Susanne gives the thumbs up for enough dancing room. Check!

Martin tackles the sculpture puzzle and gets ready for our CTV Atlantic Morning preview.

I hold the Reverb poster at the Halifax International airport so Adham can spot me! It works!

Our kick-ass YoRodeo designed poster is the new gnome traveling around Halifax. Adham Shaikh gives a big grin and plays along, thanks Adham! Can't wait to make some magic for International Dance Week tomorrow night!

Folding to the beat, many possibilities and soooo much fun!

Mocean dancers Rhonda Baker, Susanne Chui, 

and Interim Artistic Director Sara Coffin navigate the immersive 

sculpture designed by Martin Tonner at NSCAD's Port Campus.

Mocean Dance was on-site at NSCAD's port campus on Saturday, a beautiful day with open skies and the view of the mesmerizing ocean.  Rehearsing on the 2nd floor with the ocean at our feet, we really felt as if the floor was shifting below us while the sculpture was shifting around us. 

Really observing levers, hinge points, joints, finding spaces and pause was the recipe of the day as all the options for play unfolded in front of us.  Martin jumped in and intervened when he could see a coming structural tangle. Our day in the studio was like trying to master a chess game, Martin very familiar with the sculpture could see ahead in the potential plays, whereas we the dancers, were beginner chess players just trying to remember which one was the knight and when to move the precious queen!

By the end of the day the play moves became more obvious and the risky maneuvers started to take the stage.   Framing, pause, asymmetry, mirroring were our tools at battle. 

Come see the finished product at Reverb!! There will be an added element of mini-cameras and captured frames spilling throughout the room around us. As an audience your eye will have many options to bounce from and hang onto.

REVERB: AN INTERMEDIA DANCE  PARTY, April 26th at the Pacifico Dancebar

with guest DJ ADHAM SHAIKH!!!!

Get your tickets today at eventbrite.com

Tickets: $15 advance / $20 door / $45 VIP

Celebrate International Dance Day on the dance floor with Mocean Dance and support Mocean Dance's annual fundraising event. A new event breaking the mold and finding new viewpoints.

NSCAD Sculpture meets Contemporary Dance

The Proposition...

... How does this cube,	...fill this space?

I first met Martin Tonner in the fall through David Clark's  intermedia studio course at NSCAD.  Mocean had proposed a collaboration with the media arts students, asking for proposals that included a meeting ground for contemporary dance, movement and any digital possibility....

A movement enthusiast himself, Martin immediately drew the connection between the folding joints of the body and his pliable mini structure. Curious how one can affect the other, the measurements begin and he creates a life size rubic cube type sculpture for a playground of adaptability to emerge. 

Creating spaces and making places, Mocean dancers (Susanne Chui, Sara Coffin and Rhonda Baker) will dive through and soar around the sculpture both physically and digitally. With mini wi-fi camera attached to the structure and sending their live video feed around the room, a trio is now created between dancers, sculpture and camera and the frames to enter and exit increase exponentially.

The dance will unfold in front and around the audience, through the frames of the folding sculpture and on the 15 media screens around the room. This is Halifax's own matrix adventure.

Folding spaces and making	places to exist physically and digitally

This is an experiment of the negative and positive space, relationships, shifting frames and breaking view points. An experience not to miss.

Join us at Reverb on April 26th and watch this proposition take flight and hit the stage. 

Reverb: an intermedia dance party

April 26th at 9pm

Pacifico Dancebar

Featuring: DJ Adham Shaikh (Vancouver), NSCAD Media Arts, Mocean Dance and YOU!

Tickets: $15 advance / $20 door / $45 VIP, available at www.moceandance.com

An International Dance Day Celebration!

A fundraiser for Mocean Dance!

A Party not to miss!

Mocean gratefully acknowledges the local support from our Reverb Event Sponsors: 

Celebrate International Dance Day

Reverb: an Intermedia Dance Party

featuring

DJ Adham Shaikh

NSCAD Media Arts 

Mocean Dance and You! 

April 26th, 9pm Pacifico Dancebar
Tickets available at www.moceandance.com

Come see Gen Y Perform this weekend!

In The Making

March 3 & 4, 8pm
Neptune Studio Theatre

Witness the stars of the future in this culminating performance of a shared intensive weekend of workshops and lectures bringing together four pre-professional dance companies from the HRM.  Participating companies include Mocean's Gen Y Project The Young Company of Halifax Dance, KiDanCo, Maritime Dance Performance Group and Coastal Dance.
 Co-presentation by Dancer Transition Resource Centre and Halifax Dance.

Tickets $20, $15/students
Available at Neptune Box Office: 429-7070
or on-line @ https://sales.neptunetheatre.com/Online/

     

Dancer Vivika Ballard grounding low

Dancer Kiley Burke falling way back

Gen Y 2012 cast works with Interim Artistic Director Sara Coffin

Flying Low Floor Work

Flying High Partnering Work

Breaking through the Concrete 

choreography by Sara Coffin premieres this weekend!

Performed by HRM's up and coming rising talent Vivika Ballard, Kiley Burke, Amy Campbell, Amanda Clarke, Haley Cooke, Laura Flemming, Liza Hartling, Emily Howes Vallis, Sarah Lake, Rebecca Wolfe.

Mocean's Gen Y Project is graciously supported through the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage Cultural Opportunities for Youth Program and the RBC Emerging Artist Program.

thinking of the bigger picture in a small studio

Tomorrow is my last day with the Gen Y dancers with lots to do!

With studio visits from Emerging Costume Designer Nicole Parsons (scheduled to do fittings,) and a visit from Emerging Production Management Collen MacIsaac it is sure to be a busy day, (supported through Cultural Opportunities for Youth).

We are getting ready for the first presentation of our work together at:

'In the Making'
March 3-4, 2012 @ 8pm
Neptune Studio Theatre
Presented by Halifax Dance
Featuring Mocean Dance's Gen Y, The YOung COmpany, 
Maritime Dance Performance Group, KiDanCo, and Coastal Dance Theatre.

Breaking through the Concrete, will make its debut and find its own on stage with the rising talent of the HRM!


Working with a room full of eager energy, willing spirits and the concept of a wide open field, has been both rewarding and informing as a choreographer.

For the Gen Y creation, breaking through the concrete I seem to have been influenced by this special little  video "Back to the Start" created by film-maker Johnny Kelly, which recently has had main stream attention after being aired at the Grammy Awards. 

Working heavily in media, it was refreshing for me to shed my usual conceptual attachment of man and machine. As much as I tried to stay away, subconsciously it crept back in. I often wonder where the next cycle of human advancement and humanity will take us? The development and advancement from the industrial revolution, through to the digital age has definitely changed us forever. We have learned so much for the better and much for the worse. Where will we go next? Are we in the height of the digital age or is this just the first crest of much more. And if it is just a crest, how far will we crash?

Maybe I am over dramatizing (feeding off that teen energy in the room), but you will see these questions at play in the new Gen Y piece in the bodies and in a few bits of grass.

Costume Sketches by Gen Y's Costume Designer Nicole Parsons.

Gen Y and the Emerging Production Personnel Opportunities (Costume Design and Technical Mentorship) is generously supported through the Nova Scotia's Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage Cultural Opportunities for Youth.

The human head weights 8lbs, letting go and finding trust

Another posting from inside the Gen Y Studio, a reflection on the creative process, being yourself and building trust. Thanks for sharing to my Gen-Yers!!

In the Gen Y Studio, writing memories as part of the creative process.

Gen y for me has been a real learning experience, even though Sara had been my teacher before Gen y, I felt like I learned more about the constructive process and a different style of modern dance compared to my usual. This year was my first year doing Gen y and being the youngest one there I definitely have had some insecurities about whether or not I’m doing it right or if other people are watching me to make sure I am doing it right. But after a few rehearsals and all of us just getting to know each other better I feel free to get into the movement and really think about what I’m doing instead of being insecure about whether or not someone is criticizing me.


One of the things that I find always helps me during Gen y and all of my other classes is; in my minds eye thinking of all of my distil ends (even my head) either reaching out or relaxing (letting your head go can really be a lot harder then you’d think it is!) Also we do a lot of partner work in Gen y and I haven’t done a lot in the past but the analogies and descriptions Sara uses really help me and my partner understand the movement, or choreography.


Finally in Gen y I have gotten the chance to meet some new people and reconnect with old friends from past shows and productions. I find with dance in general it forces you to get closer faster maybe with totally complete strangers that you have never danced with before! Even though we all only met about 5 or 6 weeks ago we completely can just give each other our weight and trust that we (hopefully!!) will not drop each other! 

Mocean's Gen Y Project is graciously supported through the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage Cultural Opportunities for Youth Program and the RBC Emerging Artist Program.