Disqus - Latest Comments for mpgough

Re: http://quodlibet.tumblr.com/post/513848081

mpgough — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 07:33:38 -0000

not too bad thanks, hope the season is finding you springy. would be
good to catch up in person.

bach rocks

Re: white

mpgough — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:17:10 -0000

i think i know more about being white, than i do being black.

i feel it should disturb me. but often it doesn't.

Re: quodlibet

mpgough — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:17:55 -0000

i find jennings position interesting ...

he implies we shouldn't bite that hand that feeds us (money). yet is money for the arts really from the public?

there is also the suggestion that 'theory=bad', or that practice should be artistically intuitive (at least).

it's a big bag of worms that he opens, but just leaves there.

i feel that if you have been given funding to 'make' then do what you will. if you have been given money for an 'agenda' then you need to fulfill it.

is 'free to see' different from 'free' if public funds have been used. is the public paying twice, or are they used to that (road tax, fuel tax)?

that's what interests me most here, the notion of a paying audience. because, many people 'contribute' to the cost of a work but never see it.

overall, i feel people should make work they are 'happy' with. if the work is good, people will support it.

Re: dance power and difference

mpgough — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:04:11 -0000

men are in demand but only as bodies (not a voice). the same is true
for 'minority' cultures in dance; the inclusion is for 'spice', not to
give agency/power.

both the female, and the feminine are in demand in american/eruopean dance.

the minority of male dancers, scholars, teachers do not 'rule the
roost'. the only place in which the male minority seems have more
agency is in choreography. i.e. more 'A-list' choreographers are male.

but most young women have minimal/no contact with males in dance until
college/university level. their perspectives are shaped by women (that
is where the power lies).

it's easy to say men are in power, and not recognize that the denial
of a dance matriarchy is the primary tool of it's continuance. by
displacing the bale to the 'usual suspects' cultural homogeny is
ensured.

Re: dance power and difference

mpgough — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:01:09 -0000

hi Julie

it's not supply and demand, or that men wield the power. power is
having a voice that is heard and enacted.

the presenters papers were selected by blind review, so the gender of
authors was not known. if we accept the work was taken on merit (and
conference themes), then 'power' lies in the majority of presenters.

lets flip your argument: 'women hold power in the sciences because
they are rare', you probably wouldn't agree. or if i said 20% of the
CORD conference were racial/cultrual minorities you would not say they
held the power.

men enter the (european/american) dance world in which the majority of
teachers, performers/artists, choreographers, and scholars are female.
and the dominant discourse is a feminist agenda that questions their
motivations and actions.

i'll write a longer follow up post on this.

Re: quodlibet

mpgough — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:28:44 -0000

hello, glad you enjoyed the video.

thanks

Re: choreography - composition - improvisation

mpgough — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:16:28 -0000

:) lol

Re: choreography - composition - improvisation

mpgough — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:51:26 -0000

ha! :) http://senduit.com/59321b

Re: PhD

mpgough — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:47:30 -0000

congratulations :)

Re: quodlibet

mpgough — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:49:13 -0000

hi david,

my bad, i could not recall the name of the project, but simon had
shown me the flickbooks a few weeks ago.

thanks

matt

Re: post-structuralist dance

mpgough — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:50:06 -0000

thanks doug, look forward to your thoughts.

Re: transmission

mpgough — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:49:04 -0000

hi store,

i think you miss the point. this is not about maths, but showing that
giving a few options to the audience still gives limited outcomes.

Re: transmission

mpgough — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:50:07 -0000

unrelated, but not unobserved.

all performances are unique, the notion of 'interaction' does not
change this fundamental truth.

it is easy to make the audience feel they are having an effect on the
outcome, when it has already been predetermined. (this is the point
of the math). you may feel your choices offer a 'new' performance, but
all the outcomes are already 'known'.

would you consider a 'choose your own adventure' book to be interactive?

your interaction is 'expected', and thus structural rather than
organic. the performers may respond to your stimuli, but in a
predetermined manner. you are not able to affect their compositional
filters.

participatory performance is not the same as audience interaction.
"still crossing" is participatory performance (as are flash mobs
etc.), "the copier" is audience interaction (of sorts).

this isn't as issue of quality/content, but how we describe practices.

Re: quodlibet - scholarly and artistic

mpgough — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:35:06 -0000

hi doug,

i guess sheila will reply but my 2 cents/pence are:

this is an early indication of practice, rather than claiming
something established. as such not all dance blogs display these
tendencies, but a few do (consistently).

i think this covers both you points. you observations are accurate for
the majority of dance blogging (and online scholarship), but a small
change is happening.

i guess the intention is to say 'there is a different way', and to
highlight the observed features so they can be developed / nurtured.

retruning to some of my current concerns / thoughts, we really don't
teach artists 'how' to share their influences. most 'artists
statements' are marketing speak, so they may be accessible, but are
not a true 'context'.

but perhaps it does not need to be the 'actual' influence, just an
eternally 'meaningful' one.

(btw) i'm @ the coast at the moment with patchy internet. so apologies
if comments take a little while to clear.

best

matt

Re: quodlibet - uncommon knowledge

mpgough — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:35:03 -0000

hi doug,

there are some 'introductory' books (readers), but you milage may vary:

Carter, A., (1998). The Routledge Dance Studies Reader. New York: Routledge.

Huxley, M., & Witts, N. (1996). The Twentieth-Century Performance
Reader. New York: Routledge.

Preston-Dunlop, V., & Sanchez-Colberg, A. (2002). Dance and the
Performative. Ightham: Verve

the absence of core topic texts written in an accessible (readable)
style is a big problem in dance. in general the standard of theory is
dropping, not improving.

Re: quodlibet - fever

mpgough — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:01:02 -0000

hi,

thanks for your reply.

i guess if you know you will get the video there is no temptation to
film. and i've yet to see anyone upload a usb video from the show to
youtube (or similar).

the usb video is an enlightened approach that keeps the work 'open'
but maintains the 'quality' and actual experience.

Re: quodlibet - n-tuple n-d

mpgough — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:00:04 -0000

i was tempted to make the link to bispherical and back to (partial)
differentials

Re: quodlibet - patching the gaps

mpgough — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 04:57:01 -0000

hello,

so you mean this: http://quodlibet.tumblr.com... ?

Re: Nesouvisle o tancování - Dance science - good news

mpgough — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:33:03 -0000

cool, congratulations.

Re: slightlymoving - all that jazz

mpgough — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:20:57 -0000

hi,

re-reading the research (id skimmed it a few days ago) reminded me of this article on 'avoiding concentrating' (or how not to choke) an i wonder if that is what the improvisation research showed.

and yes, there is a lack of 'performative' understanding from the scientists (in this study too) i'm not sure the understand the contexts well enough to design 'valid' experiments.

Re: quodlibet - good bad indifferent

mpgough — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:38:03 -0000

hello chase,

thanks for your thoughts and comments, hope your show goes well.

Re: quodlibet - asking without learning

mpgough — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 07:21:02 -0000

i think i look for answers that are 'real' for our time. and in
looking i try to see what is missing / lacking in my understanding. in
the arts there are no 'final' answers, but we can be reasonably clear
about context.

the perfect solution will work across all scales and complexities. but
such things are hard to find. yet, perfect solutions are generally
simple and elegant, they are principles not restrictions.

sometimes asking the 'wrong' question will mean that there is no
answer. but when the question seems right, and there is no response
you just have to keep trying. the breadth of a theory/concept means
that there are many things to consider.

as you point out, we still have to give voice to the things we find.
this is a different skill, one of conceptualizing your concept, rather
than explaining your thinking process. this is where discourse can be
helpful. open, straight forward discussion about the fine details.

the net can give breadth to discourse, but i don't think that is
happening yet in dance. postgrad study is very focused on sharing
(personal) experience, but that may not apply to the many or stand up
to questioning.

postgrad should be about developing and sharing. seeing the key
features within a context. these are the principles that lead to
theory. but in general the approaches to teaching theory/crit (and
texts) are outdated.

the language used to articulate theory needs addressing. it prevents a
more effective and applied analysis.

dance theory is a mess, we struggle to engage with it and to teach /
share it. this is why we need to get back to core principles and
engage in discussion.

Re: quodlibet - drifting discourse

mpgough — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:06:02 -0000

hello justin,

thanks for the link, really useful. the video indexing is an
interesting point, i guess when it is widely available / implemented
the transcripts will become even more important. after all, some one
has to annotate the index.

Re: quodlibet - existential luminance - part two

mpgough — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 05:01:18 -0000

hi charlotte,

glow is a performed work, rather than a film. the footage in the video is a documentation.

in performance the technology follows the movement, but the choreography was developed in response to the types of visualization.

it is a 'beautiful' image, and technical achievement. i can see your thinking re tron. vectors and outlines ...

thanks for your thoughts

Re: quodlibet - unstable landscapes

mpgough — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:06:16 -0000

postscript

i asked tony about being marlon's 'student'. it seems that tony attended a (one) workshop at harvest works ( http://harvestworks.org/ ) and marlon was 'teaching'.

at the time tony attended the workshop he was already an established dance-tech practitioner and teacher.