Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Here it is... MY ARTIST STATEMENT
Artist Statement
I am attracted to dances that engage people from a sociological context. What do I mean by sociological context? The type of work I actively pursue are pieces that create a sense of community among people from the subject matter which is usually about a very specific group of people. I like to create movement from themes, images, poetry, prose, free writing, and drawing in my rehearsal based on individuals’ experiences. Through these individual stories, I collaborate with the performer to create a movement phrase that is unique to that person. I like to bring in a human element to my choreography. Dancers are human beings and have the tactile sense of touch, smell, hear, taste, and sight. By heightening the senses, the performer is invested in the work and can fully commit to their performance. As an artist, I strive to make my dances accessible to a full range of communities that might otherwise lack the exposure to dance. My hope is that my work can bridge cross-cultural ties between different countries, races, religion, and social standing. I am interested in blending recognizable everyday mundane gestures to more abstract imagery, athletic movement, and dance vocabulary. I like blurring the lines between the improvisational and the choreographed. Breaking cultural stereotyping by bringing light to subjects and themes that engages audiences to think about a social group in a different way, an example from my current work: The Korean dancer performing traditional Korean dance to French accordion music, a Swedish poem, and wearing Indonesian batik inspired sarong.
I am very excited about cross-pollination within the arts and collaborative projects with photographers, jewelry designers, musicians, actors/actresses, playwrights, filmmakers, and visual artists. Art inspires art and I find a lot of creativity and inspiration from other artists because we all speak the language that can transcend cultural misunderstandings, languages, and politics (even if the work has a political undertone). I am currently working with a jewelry designer, several photographers, a musician, an actress, two other choreographers, and I am also dabbling in documentary film to create this Chameleon project. This project is bigger than me, it is about my community, our community, and the International community we live in.
- Alaine Handa
I am attracted to dances that engage people from a sociological context. What do I mean by sociological context? The type of work I actively pursue are pieces that create a sense of community among people from the subject matter which is usually about a very specific group of people. I like to create movement from themes, images, poetry, prose, free writing, and drawing in my rehearsal based on individuals’ experiences. Through these individual stories, I collaborate with the performer to create a movement phrase that is unique to that person. I like to bring in a human element to my choreography. Dancers are human beings and have the tactile sense of touch, smell, hear, taste, and sight. By heightening the senses, the performer is invested in the work and can fully commit to their performance. As an artist, I strive to make my dances accessible to a full range of communities that might otherwise lack the exposure to dance. My hope is that my work can bridge cross-cultural ties between different countries, races, religion, and social standing. I am interested in blending recognizable everyday mundane gestures to more abstract imagery, athletic movement, and dance vocabulary. I like blurring the lines between the improvisational and the choreographed. Breaking cultural stereotyping by bringing light to subjects and themes that engages audiences to think about a social group in a different way, an example from my current work: The Korean dancer performing traditional Korean dance to French accordion music, a Swedish poem, and wearing Indonesian batik inspired sarong.
I am very excited about cross-pollination within the arts and collaborative projects with photographers, jewelry designers, musicians, actors/actresses, playwrights, filmmakers, and visual artists. Art inspires art and I find a lot of creativity and inspiration from other artists because we all speak the language that can transcend cultural misunderstandings, languages, and politics (even if the work has a political undertone). I am currently working with a jewelry designer, several photographers, a musician, an actress, two other choreographers, and I am also dabbling in documentary film to create this Chameleon project. This project is bigger than me, it is about my community, our community, and the International community we live in.
- Alaine Handa
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesdays with US; Free Performance by A.H. Dance Company hosted by University Settlement
University Settlement at Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery (Whole Foods Building)www.universitysettlement.org
Spend the afternoon enjoying dance, music, storytelling or theatre. Presented in collaboration with the Houston Street Center at University Settlement, these unique performances will take place every fifth Tuesday of the month, which fall on September 29, 2009, December 29, 2009, March 30, 2010 and June 29, 2010.
Join us for Tuesdays with US Performance Project event--a FREE A.H. Dance Company performance on Tuesday, March 30 at 2:15 p.m. at the Houston Street Center. To reserve your spot call 212-475-5008.
A.H. Dance Company will be showcasing Chameleon; a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural project about global citizens to foster cultural understanding between cultures and races via the personal stories of global citizens. On March 30th, A.H. Dance Company is performing a preview performance of their dance followed by a Q+A and lecture demonstration on our choreographic process for creating this cultural fusion dance piece. To find out more about Chameleon please the project blog at http://tckcckahdanceproject.blogspot.com
To reserve your spot call 212-475-5008.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
My TCK madlibs answers
Where are you from???
A true global nomad will get this kind of hunted look, and sort of glance away, and go something like, "Well, I was born in Singapore but I've lived in Indonesia, Singapore, and California, my mom's from Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, AND Australia, my dad's from Indonesia, Singapore, London, and Boston, and I'm a citizen of Indonesia but have a Singapore PR and I am ethnically Hakka Chinese with a mix of Japanese. I went to school/studied in Pitzer College, then transferred to UCLA, and majored in World Arts & Cultures with a dance concentration. My boyfriend is from Pennsylvania. I speak English fluently and enough Bahasa, Japanese, and Swedish to order a beer and go shopping. I've moved around so much because my (mom is/dad is/parents are) both TCKs themselves."
hah! That was fun to fill out!
A true global nomad will get this kind of hunted look, and sort of glance away, and go something like, "Well, I was born in Singapore but I've lived in Indonesia, Singapore, and California, my mom's from Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, AND Australia, my dad's from Indonesia, Singapore, London, and Boston, and I'm a citizen of Indonesia but have a Singapore PR and I am ethnically Hakka Chinese with a mix of Japanese. I went to school/studied in Pitzer College, then transferred to UCLA, and majored in World Arts & Cultures with a dance concentration. My boyfriend is from Pennsylvania. I speak English fluently and enough Bahasa, Japanese, and Swedish to order a beer and go shopping. I've moved around so much because my (mom is/dad is/parents are) both TCKs themselves."
hah! That was fun to fill out!
Monday, March 8, 2010
A Global Nomad madlibs
I found this on the Global Nomad facebook group. I'm sure it would be really interesting for you to fill this out if you're a global nomad.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM????
A true global nomad will get this kind of hunted look, and sort of glance away, and go something like, "Well, I was born in ______ but I've lived in ______, ______, and ______, my mom's from ______, my dad's from ______, and I'm a citizen of ______. I went to school/studied in ______, _______, and _______. My best friend lives in _______, My boy/girlfriend is from______. I speak _______ and ______ fluently and enough ______, _______, _______ and _______ to order a beer and go shopping. I've moved around so much because my (mom is/dad is/parents are) ______." Fill in the above blanks with country names (feel free to add as many more as necessary! or remove one or two), pick mom/dad/both, and name their occupation.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM????
A true global nomad will get this kind of hunted look, and sort of glance away, and go something like, "Well, I was born in ______ but I've lived in ______, ______, and ______, my mom's from ______, my dad's from ______, and I'm a citizen of ______. I went to school/studied in ______, _______, and _______. My best friend lives in _______, My boy/girlfriend is from______. I speak _______ and ______ fluently and enough ______, _______, _______ and _______ to order a beer and go shopping. I've moved around so much because my (mom is/dad is/parents are) ______." Fill in the above blanks with country names (feel free to add as many more as necessary! or remove one or two), pick mom/dad/both, and name their occupation.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Social Networking from Families in Global Transitions Conference
I'm at the Families in Global Transitions Conference this weekend and have been live tweeting from the conference in addition to getting some video footage for the folks at FIGT.
You can follow the action @ahdancecompany or Twitter.com/ahdancecompany
Be sure to do a saved search for #FIGTconf to find out what others say!
I will also try live streaming my session on Saturday morning 10:30 (TX time - 11:30 EST) http://www.ustream.tv/channel/figt-conference
You can follow the action @ahdancecompany or Twitter.com/ahdancecompany
Be sure to do a saved search for #FIGTconf to find out what others say!
I will also try live streaming my session on Saturday morning 10:30 (TX time - 11:30 EST) http://www.ustream.tv/channel/figt-conference
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)