An Interview with Mathieu Santos of Ra Ra Riot

Ra Ra Riot: from the left, Ali Lawn, Mathieu Santos, Wes Miles, Milo Bonacci and Beck Zeller. Photo by Alanna Romeo

On Wednesday, July 29, I had the pleasure of talking with Ra Ra Riot bassist Mathieu Santos. We discussed the band’s role in New York City’s All Points West Festival (a muddy orgy of rock, hippies and sewage) as well as RRR’s plans for a follow-up album to their debut: The Rhumb Line.

If you haven’t listened to this to band, do so immediately. It sounds like they’re putting in the hours necessary to make a great follow-up album.

1)      Can you explain the basic differences between doing a festival as opposed to your own show?

Festivals are just about mass exposure. You go in with the idea that people aren’t familiar with your songs, and you just want to convert as many fans as possible. Nothing really compares to the club show or your own headlining tours.

2)      What’s strange about concert advertisements is the difference between the so-called headliners, and other acts.  Headliners get the gigantic lettering and other acts simply don’t.  Who decides the pecking order for these shows? And does that put less or more pressure on your band?

It’s kind of interesting to see how a band’s credibility is determined by a font size.  A lot of different factors and a lot of people are working at this: album sales, chart positions, sometimes a band just shoots up out of nowhere. All that stuff.  Being lower on the bill never bothered us.  It’s all a part of a long uphill battle. We wanted to take the longer, more steady, very calculated approach.  So far it’s working out.

3)      Festivals, I’ve found, can offer extreme audiences: they either love you or hate you and let you know it.  Is RRR changing anything up for the festival, or would that be counter-productive?

The thought is to just keep your head down and focus on performing well  But our performances are more inhibited than during a club show, and the stages are usually really big, which can throw you off a bit.

It’s also hard when you’re performing in the daytime because you can clearly see that there are just hundreds of people walking around and they’re either going to check you out or completely ignore you. So, it gets a little competitive when you know there are other bands performing at the same time as you, and you’re just trying to get a crowd forming.

5)      Which bands are you going to check out?

Vampire Weekend and the Fleetboxes.  Wes and I saw them perform on SNL. They were just so, so tight, so passionate.

It was exciting to see that the  Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs are performing the day we’re playing. I was also pretty excited when our manager told us that was the Jay-Z was the new headliner.

6)      What I think is truly interesting about RRR are your arrangements.  Some songs are cello driven, others guitar based, one even revolved around a synthesizer.  Would you mind explaining RRR’s recording process?

It’s a really fun process, it’s also a very long process since there’s a lot of giving and taking, but you have to be aware and compromising enough to not only write your own part but recognize when an instrument should take the lead.

7)      Is RRR currently working on a new album?

Yeah, actually we’re doing APW then a festival in Boston , then we’re heading to upstate NY in our homeland and staying on a peach orchard where we’ll start working on the next album. We’ve been looking forward to it for over a year.

On [The Rhumb Line] we just recorded every song we knew, there wasn’t any true direction. But this time around we’ve been touring so much that everyone’s been writing on their own, so we have a ton of demos. As far as the direction, I guess it sort of remains to be determined. But everyone’s been getting into some new influences. I thinks we’re going to experiment with more instrument space. Milo’s been playing a lot less guitar and his ideas are more synth based this time around.

To read all of Matt Thomas’s published works, visit his homepage at: www.thevillagetotheleft.net

Free Thinking - Fighting Capitalism from Within

Posted by Cila Warncke

I just finished Peter Chapman’s excellent expose Jungle Capitalists about ruthless banana baron United Fruit Corporation which ran Central America as its private fiefdom for most of a century – casually killing off unruly workers, uncooperative heads of state, uncharted jungle and anything else that got in its way. It got me thinking about the antidote to brute free market economics. Given that we live in an anxiety-riddled, security obsessed, paranoid late-capitalist society there are limited alternatives. You can’t drop out and live off the land anymore unless you’re rich enough to buy the land in the first place, and our high-tech culture makes it difficult to live a private life. It isn’t easy to shape your own existence, given the physical, legal and ideological constraints on personal freedom. There are people, however, who take on the challenge and look for creative ways to address the ever-present imperative to pay the rent while doing something that is personally meaningful and socially beneficial. These unsung freedom fighters fuck with the system by surviving within it while doing what they want to do – and by using their skills in constructive, cooperative ways. In a perfect world, it’s what everyone would do.

This is the first instalment of what I hope will become a long series of blogs profiling individuals and businesses that operate outside the prevailing paradigm. First up, Algo Mas – a 100% Fair Trade shop in Ibiza.

Thursday evening in the tiny village of Sant Miquel and the plaza below the Iglesia is full of children, music and the scent of home baking. On the corner, door and sky-blue shutters flung open, sits Algo Mas. This small Fair Trade shop has just celebrated its second anniversary and judging by the stream of locals who stop to say hello, it is firmly cemented in the community. Italian expats Valeria Cova and Aurietta Sala run the shop, along with Blanca Llosent. Aurietta and Valeria are Italian, but have each lived in Ibiza for more than 30 years and have fond memories of the days when visiting friends meant half a day’s walk through the countryside and dinner by candlelight. They are not hippie dilettantes, however, or airy fairy idealists. Algo Mas is the product of hard work, common sense and a firm commitment to the principles of Fair Trade. Click here to continue reading

Interview: Sonya Cotton

Sonya Cotton plays folk music with a delicacy and poise that perfectly complements her indelible singing voice. The songs on her second album Red River float along, as if bobbing along the titular waterway. But they are also weighed down with a sorrowful spirit, one exemplified most strongly by the album’s striking cover art. Cotton sounds at once joyous to be alive but horrified at what is happening the world around her. Much of this comes directly from the singer-songwriter’s life, as many songs on the album were inspired by watching her relationship and those of some close friends end. She speaks to it directly but also uses metaphor to also speak to the disintegrating relationship that humans have with nature. It’s an album you don’t walk away from easily, but the best records tend to have that effect on listeners. Cotton spoke with The Voice of Energy about her creative spirit, the inspirations behind the album, and her efforts to help positively impact the environment.

You started off studying visual arts, when did you become interested in writing and performing music? Or has this always be an interest of yours?

Growing up, my family often took trips to New York City to see Broadway musicals and dance performances and concerts. From a young age I was taken with the whole concept of stage performance. I loved the energy and the immediacy of it. I loved the exchange between the performers and the audience. Watching people express themselves creatively in that way really resonated in me. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat during Les Miserables, wishing so intensely that I was on stage too. So my intrigue with performance started young, and I pursued musical theater and dance through grade school and high school, and a little bit in college. But getting on stage and performing my own personal compositions, sharing my own words and melodies, I didn’t start exploring that until college. That sort of performance, for me, was (and still is) much more terrifying in a way, because I am putting my truest self out there, as opposed to a character or an interpreter of someone else’s work. But it also has the potential to be deeply rewarding.
What is the songwriting process like for you and your band? Does it start with you bringing a song or an idea to the rest of the group or do you all work together on each and every thing?
Every song on Red River is extremely personal, the inspiration drawn directly from my life or my dreams. So far my songwriting process has been very consistent: something moves me, and I write down some words about it. Then I pick up my guitar or ukulele and start to sing along with these words I’ve written. Once a song is effectively finished, I bring it to my band.  Sometimes I’ll have harmonies or specific parts written when I approach the band with a new song, but more often everyone in the band brings their own ideas for their parts and I either say “Yes!” or “Let’s work on that together.”

What inspires you to start writing a song? Do you hear a melody in your head that you grasp on to or do you start with a lyrical or visual idea?

Often times it has been a feeling of sadness or despair that initially causes me to reach for a pen to start writing. In the process of writing I find solace, which is a really meaningful process for me. I find solace, I think, because there is something inherently hopeful about the act of creating, especially if that creation is in some way beautiful (a subjective term, of course). I aim to write songs that are beautiful, I think, because that is most comforting to my soul. I rarely, if ever, begin writing a song with a melodic idea. That always comes second to the emotion or idea expressed in words.

The cover of your new album is very striking. Was this taken when you actually came across a dead deer in the woods?

On the inside cover of my album, I’ve included a statement, because I think it’s vital that people understand why I chose to put this photo on the cover. I’d like to share it here:

The deer in the cover photograph was found dead by the roadside. I grew up in the suburbs of NJ and through the course of my life I have become accustomed to the sight of dead animals along the road. At times I have tuned it out or looked away. At times — when I’ve felt in touch with my truest, most connected self – it has affected me profoundly. When I began writing this collection of songs, several of the most important and defining relationships around me, as well as my own romantic relationship, were dissolving. I witnessed and felt a great deal of conflict, betrayal, and destruction, some of it perpetrated by me, and some by the people around me that I love. I dreamt frequently of the wreckage. It was embodied in the form of a dead deer, its body maimed and bloodied. Thus, the dead deer became a personal symbol of the painful aftermath of destructive behaviors. But for me the dead deer by the roadside has meaning that far transcends the symbolic. It is a wild creature for whom I feel deep respect and reverence, whose life was ended unjustly, and in violence. Throughout these songs, I aim to create a space of reflection and appreciation for what is wild and free, to confront and to question our propensity to destroy the things we care for, to mourn these losses, and to celebrate the hope that remains.
What brought about your interest in environmental issues?

A combination of nature and nurture, I think.  Finding profound meaning and value in the natural world feels like an inherent part of me, a part of my heart, in the same way that my love for my family feels like a part of my heart. I don’t think anyone taught me to feel soulfully connected to animals and forests and rivers, I think that’s just in me somewhere.  On the other hand, I have also seen a great deal of concern and care regarding environmental and animal welfare issues modeled for me by the most important person in my life: my mother.  She was an environmentalist and an animal welfare advocate (some of the groups she worked for included: The International Fund for Animal Welfare, The Audubon Society, and most recently The American Bird Conservancy). Her work has always been very inspiring to me.

What can you tell me about your involvement with Shake Your Peace?

I sing harmonies in SYP!, an activist band led by my band-mate Gabe Dominguez. I’m on my way to being the rhythm guitar player as well. We’d like to restructure the band so that Gabe plays fiddle and I play guitar, but we both need some more practice before we’re ready for that. I’ve gone on three tours with Shake Your Peace! One bicycle tour in Utah, and two walking tours down the California coast.

The Shake Your Peace site lists one of your additions to the music as “tap dancing” – when did you start tapping?

I started tapping when I was in second grade. I’ve always loved to dance. Someday I’ll write an album of songs people can dance to.

Your site says that you plan on touring the northeast by train and foot – will you continue to tour like this?

That is my plan, and my hope. Train travel is pretty expensive these days, so I’m not sure how we’re going to afford it all, but I’m going to apply for some grant money soon, and we’ll do everything we can to make it happen. It feels like a meaningful statement, as well as a much more pleasant way of moving through the world. Hopefully more people will be turning to public transportation in the coming years, so prices (as well as emissions) will decrease.  We had a train tour scheduled for this month, from Seattle to San Francisco, but unfortunately we’ve had to cancel it.  (We are currently re-scheduling it.) It was heartbreaking, we worked so hard to book it, and it would have been our first train tour as a band. I think the only thing that could have possibly caused that tour to be canceled was a life-threatening medical emergency, and that’s exactly what happened to me two weeks ago.  Crazy. But I am almost all recovered now, and soon it will happen. Next on the list will be the northeast.

Creator Spotlight: Erica Hesse

This week, 100% Super Show Approved got a chance to sit down with ‘The Key’ creator, pin-up artist extraordinaire, Erica Hesse for a little Q&A.

 Hey Erica, let’s take a page out of the Comic Geek Speak interview book… what was the first comic book you ever bought?

I think the very first comic book I ever bought for myself was an Archie comic. I can’t remember the exact issue, or even what the title was.  But I do know I used to go to a news agency every week. I would check out and buy the latest Archie comics.  I used to have stacks and stacks of them, in digest format.  I think most of the ones I was drawn to were about Betty and Veronica.

 

 What about comics do you find most appealing?What I find most appealing about comics is the art. The way the art is drawn in the comic is very important, color and  the overall mood of a comic,  too. I like when a story takes its time being told, gets me so lost in the story, (so much so) that I’m not even aware of what’s going on around me. If I’m in my own little world when I read a comic, then the comic has done its job (laughs).  That’s what I find most appealing about comics, the art. The art has to draw me in first before I can delve in. The story always comes second. It could be the greatest story every told, but if the art doesn’t appeal to me first in the slightest bit, I won’t read it.

What is your favorite comic series, past or present?  

It’s hard to pinpoint one series, so I will pick Joe Linsner’s “Lucifer’s Halo”. This comic series tested my openness in subject matter when it came to comics. I would always avoid comics that touched on religion.

I didn’t pick it up at first, but the comic kept crossing my path from time to time. So one of those times, I figured what the heck; I’ll give it a read. The comic is about Heaven, Hell and what falls in between. It sounds so cookie cutter when I describe it, but it’s far from that. For me it was an entertaining and thought provoking read. The art on the comic covers were what attracted me at first, and the interior art really drew me in. I found this series during a time when I was getting back into comics, so this is probably one of the reasons it sticks in my head to this day. Now when I think about it, it was really silly of me to think that I was avoiding all these great comics on what I thought comics should be written about.  In a way, this comic helped me to not fear my own ideas when it came to developing my own comics.

How long have you been drawing and who/what was your main inspiration for picking up the pencil?

There are actually two answers to this question. I’ve been drawing since I was a kid. I can’t remember how young I was, but I do remember doing a kick-ass finger painting in kindergarten. Maybe it all started from there (laughs). I do remember drawing, being inspired by comics I was reading at the time… copying the characters line for line– stuff that kids start out doing before they develop their own style. My main inspiration growing up was Dan DeCarlo. I read a lot of Archie comics, so naturally I was inspired by him. Dan DeCarlo’s art, especially in the the late 50’s and 60’s was and still is amazing. The way he illustrated women, drew me in. The wasp-ish waist, the curvy hips, and the sexy yet innocent faces. It wasn’t until many years later I learned that he did a lot of illustration work for Humorama, a men’s humor magazine. I would say his work played a huge influence on my art even as of today.

And the second start?

There was a period in my life where I stopped drawing and collecting comics. I think this was in the early 90’s during the huge comics boom. I was collecting all kinds of comics during the height of it all. I collected all the variants and number one issues, so much I think I got burned out. I became so disgusted with how comics were becoming, how I was allowing myself to be a part of that, and slowly stopped collecting them.  I even stopped drawing without even realizing it. It was such a slow progression. I didn’t even realize I had turned away from what I loved doing most, until it was too late to care. This went on for about six years (I’m guessing) and while I was on vacation, I popped into a comic store, Golden Apple Comics, in Los Angeles for kicks. Honestly, I hadn’t stepped foot in a comic store in years.

The Key #2 will be available at the CGS Super Show!

I’m from New Jersey, so comic stores pretty much disappeared after the whole 90’s thing. I stepped in and was amazed how big the store was. I remember there being a huge wall of comics and being awed by all of them. I looked through some of them and was immediately drawn in to some of the art. I remember I was looking at Michael Turner’s Witchblade, Randy Queen’s DarkChylde, and Joe Linsner’s Dawn 10th Anniversary comic.  I kept staring at this red haired woman on the cover and was really inspired by it.  So inspired, during that week I went out and bought some pencil and paper at a small art store and started sketching again.

Which artists do you feel most influence your style?

If there was one artist I could say that influences my style , it would be Dan DeCarlo. 

Other artists that inspire me (in no particular order)are George Petty, Gil Elvgren, Alberto Vargas, Olivia, Linsner, Alphonse Mucha, Terry Dodson, Coop, Mark Ryden, Tara McPherson, the list could go on and on!

Art Geek Time: let’s talk about the process of creating the perfect pin-up. Do you use models? Do you tend to pencil a lot or do you add detail in the inks? Has the computer changed the way you produce art?

I don’t think there is a “definitive” process that I use to create a perfect pin-up. I’m always trying new things here and there, still trying to improve my craft. I think it all depends on what I think the end result (the look) should be. I don’t use live models for my art, (would love to but just don’t have the time) but I do tend to use photo reference here and there. When I do use photo reference, it’s mainly for the pose, or if I need to see how a hand should lay for example. Sometimes I even get my camera and take pictures of myself for reference. Most of the time, I just draw it from scratch, straight out of my head.

PREVIEW: The Key #2, Page 1

My start out point is always the same, I always, always start out in pencil. On the rare occasion, I will sketch it right in the computer using my Wacom tablet. But 99% of the time I start out in pencil. I start out with a basic frame, sketching in circles/shapes for the head, shoulders, arms, and rest of the body. From there I start sketching in the form (the body) of the figure. I have to get the figure down pat first, before I start adding in the details. My first instinct is to illustrate the face, which I love to do, but is an extremely bad habit on my part. Once I have the figure fleshed out, I then can start adding in the details. At this point I start on the face, details of the clothing, etc. I always do all my details in pencil. It’s when I start inking my pin-up I can determine which lines to edit out. After I ink it, that’s where the next step comes in, color. Depending if it’s a personal commission or something that needs to be printed, the color is done either traditionally or digitally.

PREVIEW: The Key #2, Page 2

Using the computer has changed the way I produce art over the years. Years ago, I would have never thought I could produce art digitally. I was hell bent on doing everything traditionally. But as the years progressed, and as I learned different programs, I could see what benefits it had, so I had a change of heart.  Using the computer is a  another great medium that artists can utilize to produce art faster, and still stay true to your style. For me, it will never replace producing art traditionally, it’s just another medium I can utilize to create great art.

I know ‘The Key’ is your baby… when are we getting the next issue?

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked when the next issue will be out (laughs) I would be rich!  No really, people have a right to ask. I even ask myself, when is the next issue coming out, girl? It’s been way too long!  Get off your ass, and draw some comics!! 

PREVIEW: The Key #2, Page 3

Not to make excuses, but my comic is a one woman show. It’s really hard to produce a comic if I’m determined to do everything myself from start to finish. I don’t think people realize when I say that: I do all the  pencils, the inks, the colors, the layout, the text . All of it is done by me. The only thing I don’t do is write it. I’ll  make suggestions here and there, but that’s one job I leave up to Chris (Holt). I think this is one of the many reasons why it has taken so long for this second issue to be produced. With most comics, you have several people sharing the workload, and that’s not the case with this series. Maybe further down the line I will have a co-colorist, an idea I have been playing with, but right now I’m content to leave things the way they are.

Chris and I also felt that the first issue was a bit rushed. It was the first time either of us had done anything like this, so it’s a huge learning experience. There were so many things we could have done differently, from the art to the dialogue, to the coloring. But that’s what it’s all about, learning as you go. So I think with this second issue I’ve taken more time in developing how the art will look, quality wise, as opposed to “Oh my God, I have to hurry! The comic has to be done by this date! People are waiting for it, and I promised!”

PREVIEW: The Key #2, Page 4

When I started working on “The Key” I had no idea how much time it would entail. I mean, I did have an idea, but didn’t realize that I would be living and breathing it with any spare moment I have. And I have to be honest, working a full-time job affects the timeline. It’s just not realistic for me to keep placing all these deadlines on myself when all I’m doing is pissing people off by promising it will be out soon.  I know I promised the second issue would be out this past summer, but of course that didn’t happen.  Also I have personal family stuff that popped up , got married last year, and the list goes on. I just have to keep trucking on with the comic as much as I can when I have free time. So no more promises! Well, maybe just one more, I did make a tentative schedule of when each issue will be available for pre-order. Issue two will be available for pre-order end of November/beginning of December. After that, expect each issue to be available for pre-order every three-four months.

Any plans for more comics work?

I haven’t done anything else as of late because I really want to get “The Key” series done first. Some people think I’m crazy for not taking other offers, but I need to do what is best for me right now. I have talked with different writers here and there, and there are projects I really want to work on, I just choose not to right now.

PREVIEW: The Key #2, Page 5

Nerdiest thing you’ve done all year? Details, girlfriend!

The only thing I can think of is the New York ComicCon. For me that’s the ultimate nerd-fest. My being at a comic convention is like giving sugar to a five year old. I am literally in my own zone. It’s bad, but I get so overwhelmed by trying to get to everything I want to check out, I forget if anyone is with me.  I met up with my friend Deb at the show, and she said I was like a person with A.D.D.! I (unintentionally) didn’t meet up with her at certain locations because I got so lost in seeing everything and wanting to do everything at once! So if you ever want to hang out with me, a comic convention would not be the place to hang out.

How did you find Comic Geek Speak and how long have you been listening?A guy named Joe Janz emailed me about my art and somehow through the course of emailing back and forth, he mentioned Comic Geek Speak to me. He told me it was a cool show, it was about comics, and should take a listen to it. I didn’t even know what a podcast was before that. So you could say I was a pod cast virgin (laughs)! Comic Geek Speak was my first!  I checked out the show, and have been listening to them ever since. I think I started listening in October of 2006. Really great show, really glad that he suggested it to me! Thanks Joe!

PREVIEW: The Key #2, Page 6

 

 What are you most looking forward to at the Super Show?

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again, it’s been way too long! I feel like we’re one big group of friends at the Super Show. It’s awesome. Is it here yet?

For more information on Erica Hesse and her work, visit: http://hesse-art.com/. Come back soon for another spotlight on one of your favorite 100% Super Show Approved creator!

 

Talk Back with Peter Kalivas and The PGK Project Part II

“Talk Back” is a new interview series with dancers and choreographers.  Part II of our first interview is with Peter Kalivas, the Artistic Director of The PGK Project a contemporary dance company based in San Diego California.

Peter Kalivas in "Only" Photo by: Keith Wang

Talk Back with Peter Kalivas and The PGK Project Part II

by Rosie Trump

Discuss an influential teacher or mentor.

Unfortunately I have several people I have to acknowledge and then hopefully discuss one or two influential people.  Wendy Perron (Formerly of The Cunningham Dance Company School and now Editor in Chief of DANCE MAGAZINE) was the strongest advocate of me leaving Bennington and pursuing conservatory training which prompted my transition.  This was during a time when she was a guest artist in residence at Bennington.  Mr. Alvin Ailey whom I auditioned for to attend The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre School and who rejected me only to insist I return later to attend the school where I then entered The Second Ailey Company.  Donald Byrd for the ridiculously challenging choreography and equally challenging atmosphere he creates which helps dancers to learn self-worth.  Donald Byrd, Pat Thomas, Carol Sklaroff and Andrew Papp are my most influential teachers at The University of the Arts who taught me that I wasn’t too late, too small, or any of those other things people tell you if I was willing to work really, really hard and catch up and be what I already was; just a little more efficient, organized, clarified.

I think however still to this day my two most influential mentors’; now colleagues are John Malashock and Sean Curran.  John taught me how to trust my technique and my acquired skills and explore another way of moving.  One way was full of breath and that installed a whole other kind of power, presence and understanding of what dance does.  Sean Curran for being his tenacious, zany, and crazy self.  Joining his company at the time that I did, at the time when his company was gaining tremendous exposure and opportunity allowed me to really exercise my presence in the world in a way that I hadn’t necessarily done before.  To have someone wanting you to join them for these kinds of opportunities and to trust you with presenting their work in these kinds of times is inspiring.  His highly skilled, quirky collection of dancers created the best, most exciting, enthralling creative process both off and on stage and it was there I became most aware of the improvisational, spontaneous qualities of performance.

Name a few of your favorites: dance movies, youtube clips, books and dance songs.

Movies/Videos: Anything Gene Kelly is in, choreographing, performing.  Almost any old Hollywood Musical.  The dance sequences in the movie “Hairspray” were fresh and inventive.  Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies” choreography is ridiculously fantastic (the first time).  The style totally reminds me of the dance wars I used to attend at Columbia University in NYC in the early 90’s.  All about “trumping”; when people first said “fierce”.

Music: Right now I am completely in love with anything produced by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (a music group based in Chicago which is only horns).  I am choreographing a new piece to their “War” at the moment.  They perform in public spaces (subways, bus stops, street corners, etc.) around the US and the UK.

What advice can you offer to inspiring dancers and choreographers?

The best advice I give dancers specifically is to seek non-conventional ways to get jobs.  DON’T GO TO AUDITIONS if you can avoid them.  Take company class with a company you want to dance with.  Many company’s will let you in especially if you present/introduce yourself as a professional.  Don’t say the word student, recently graduated, or um..sort of…and kind a….EVER AGAIN!

Many people can dance but most of those people cannot present or represent themselves properly to the rest of the world.  It all goes back to “knowing your audience”.  The one’s who can represent or that have someone who can for them are the people who work.

For choreographers, I advise the exact same and then more.  At the beginning (only for a little while) sure you can pay an application fee, even a small production fee to have your work presented at a festival.  It takes money to make money right BUT…if you don’t go the next step and have influential people (Presenters of dance, other director’s seeking choreographers to make work for their company, Director’s of Festivals that pay fees for company’s to perform) come to see your performance via your invitation, arranging press kits and tickets for them to see you then you have pretty much wasted your time and money.  Maybe you got a review but if you don’t have anyone to send your press kit to then what good is the review?  Every time you do ANYTHING it needs to produce your next thing.

Dancing, Choreographing, teaching are part of a service industry that is called the performing arts.  If you “give” your stuff away then you take its value away.  If you don’t say it is valuable first then know one else will.   The Next step while waiting and researching opportunities is to create them.  Start your own festival, create situations for yourself that did not exist before.  Lastly, you should be cooperating with other dance companies, theatre, music and businesses that support the arts all year long. Developing relationships creates a non-competitive, non-challenging support system built on trust, mutual understanding and constant exchange.  Talk yourself up, make yourself visible, available and willing and able to be a part of and support your community.   How can your dancing, choreographing, teaching produce income for you and your company?

Tell us about your newest projects.

Well, I have come to realize my obsession with audiences and their engagement.  I am deeply interested in convincing artists to consider audiences more in the ways they make and present work and working on ways to make dance.   We have recently developed “San Diego Dances” which is a bi-annual “roving” festival happening in unexpected spaces throughout San Diego County.  Currently, my company produces “4 x 4 x Floor” which happens at Bluefoot Bar & Lounge the 2nd Tuesday of every month and “The Movement” which happens at 8Teen Arts & Cultural Center the 1st Tuesday of every month; happening in a bar and a gallery space immediately changes the atmosphere, place and association of performance.

Our newest project, “San Diego Dances” works to fulfill a similar yet different mission.  This roving dance festival will be carefully curated to include only professional artists and companies but still will not happen in a conventional theatre space.  The first of these will be on November 6th and 7th at DK Hair (a premiere urban salon).  Titled “San Diego Dances in Hillcrest” the festival takes the name of the neighborhood where it happens acknowledging what part of the county it has “roved” to.  This first program features six different artists and companies of various sizes.  The hair salon loses its hair cutting stations temporarily making way for a performance space that is similar to a runway at a fashion show.  The audience sits in two rows on both sides of this performance space.  Each company visits the space in advance to prepare the work they are either creating or re-setting and later each gets time to space on site.  There is a catered intermission hosted by one of our sponsors.  After the show, the audience walks beyond the performance space, past the hair washing stations towards the back of the salon, up three steps to the second level color stations where they can purchase a glass of wine and edibles inexpensively.  At this point the audience has experienced these dances in an unexpected way, in an unexpected site and had an altogether different experience and association with dance.  They have also visited a premiere salon and become familiar with it as well as our other partners.   So, we the producer create for the audience new ways to experience and engage with dance, opportunities for the audience to engage with the artists, challenges for the artists to re-negotiate ways in which the artists’ work is experienced and presented and build visibility to all of our multiple community partnerships.

In addition to the monthly events “4 x 4 x Floor”, “The Movement” and our new festival “San Diego Dances” we have been commissioned by The San Diego Asian Film Foundation to create a work to accompany a film they are premiering during the San Diego Asian Film Festival happening October 19th -29th.  The film “Concrete Jungle” is looking at urban energy and qualities found in the city and I am making a work that is working to do the same to music by Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

To read Part I of this interview please click here.

If you would like to be featured in an interview by Reading the Dance, please send us an email at readingthedance@gmail.com

Clairvoyance, Compromise & Capitulation

I knew he would backpedal.  Even as the words, “I’ll send you some of what I wrote,” came out of my mouth, I knew I would regret ever speaking them. It’s not something I regularly practice.  Every journalist worth her salt knows better than to show an interviewee any part of the finished product. NOBODY likes the way they look on paper, I don’t care how talented the writer.

I had the courage to ask him about the gritty details, and, abashed as he was divulging them, he still gave me permission to use them in the story. But I sympathized with how sensitive the material was, so the human in me head-butted the hard-nosed journalist and offered to send him that part of the article to ensure he was comfortable with what I wrote.

Bad move.

I’m still editing the piece to his approval, though I’m certain he wants nothing more than to tell me not to write it at all. But I’m not letting him off that easily. Besides, I explained to him, I’ve already pitched it to the editor this way.

What did I learn? Check my ego. Because while I sincerely empathized with his uneasiness, I also felt very confident that he would be so impressed with the way I crafted his story he couldn’t possibly argue. He might even thank me for writing such an inspirational narrative. (His story is, by the way, very inspirational. It’s a shame he feels so uncomfortable with it.)

But as fate would have it, the editor has given me only half the space my story takes up.  So the interviewee gets his way after all.

It’s probably just as good. Because, frankly, at 37 weeks pregnant the fight in me has all but left the building.

Twepic

 The Mahabharata on Twitter: the world’s longest epic poem, all 100,000 verses of it, condensed into a series of online posts of 140 characters, maximum.  Well not quite because Chindu Sreedharan, a lecturer at Bournemouth University in the UK, isn’t actually attempting a full rendition of the epic on Twitter but he is using the story as the basis for what he calls an experiment in social media.  Nevertheless, this is still a feat of compression that would surely have met the approval of Panini; it has certainly caught the attention of 1,472 followers to date as well as that of the international and Indian press.  In an email interview with Venetia Ansell, Chindu explains how he writes his ‘twiction’, epicretold, tweet by tweet. 

1. Do you have any idea how long the story will last, how long you’ll be tweeting for?

It is a question of months. Some of the readers do ask me, “Oh, so this is going to take decades?” Hold on, I am not narrating the original Mahabharata in its entirety. It is a version of a version of it. It is a series of selected incidents strung together to form a comprehensible narrative – to present the original plot from a limited perspective. So it is a question of months, not decades.

2.       So what is your base text? 

The fantastic characterisation of Bhima that M T Vasudevan Nair has achieved in Randamoozham is a foundational influence. I read the book first in Malayalam, when it was being published in a weekly. Then later, I think I must have read Second Turn (the English translation) quite a few times. But my day-to-day source is Prem Panicker’s Bhimsen [a version of the Mahabharata from Bhima’s perspective – like the Randamoozham – which was written in a series of blog posts]. I use that as my main guide.

3. You’re writing this as you post and you only do 3-4 a day – how do you manage to make the narrative fit together so well and maintain an even pace? 

Thank you for saying that. Hemingway’s advice helps. I make sure I read the earlier bits, as many as I can, before I write. That helps (hopefully) with the continuity. Even then, it is quite easy to tap out something that will say what you mean to say, carry the story forward to the next juncture – but when I can, before I post, I take a second look. That helps too. Quite a few times, I have found that actually what I have got wouldn’t flow well, or I have used the same phrase, or the reader will get that bit without my really spelling it out – and accordingly made changes.

4. There’s a certain rhythm to Twitter posts because of the character limitation.  Do you think there are similarities between Twitter and poetry?

On Twitter not just every word, but every character counts – which forces you to write tight. There is rhythm to prose as well, of course, but that comes to the fore across more words, more sentences. Here, on the other hand, because of the character constraint, the writer packs in more sentences, more condensed communication in the same space. So the rhythm, the relation between every sentence/tweet, is more noticeable perhaps? Well, that’s my impressionistic take on it so far!

 5.    Do you have any idea who your followers are?  How do they like it?

The majority are Indians or people of Indian origin. There is a small but significant number of non-Indians as well – Portugese and Americans, mostly, very few from Britain so far as I can see. Most followers are here because it is the Mahabharata. It is the epic that brings them here, and they are quite interested in a contemporary retelling. A very small percentage follows the story because it is fiction on Twitter.

The reaction has been surprisingly positive. Sometimes they attribute a great deal of undeserving originality of interpretation to epicretold as well  – which, I must confess, I receive with only half-hearted protests. Very few criticisms, and none of what I would call harsh – a few people had written in, firm in their belief that Bhima was a vegetarian, so how come he’s eating meat here? And a couple of others felt that Yudhisthira was being portrayed as ‘casteist’. But apart from that, it has all been good. Possibly, the fragmented nature of storytelling has contributed to this happiness; I expect there will be more criticism coming my way when readers can read lengthy bits in one sitting.

6.       Does this episodic format mean that your readers shape the text in any way? 

I listen, and respond, intently to what readers say. Twitter provides for that very nicely. I doubt whether that changes the characterisation or the storyline in any significant way. But that has had some effects on my narration. For instance, followers wrote in to say the use of pronouns can be confusing as they are reading one tweet at a time. So I try to make sure that I use names where possible, or fairly frequently, so it is easier to understand who I am referring to. Indirectly, the interaction with readers allows me to get a feel of what they find attractive about the narration, and of course that does influence me when I write.

 7.       Sanskrit is famous for its brevity and concision – any thoughts on the potential for Sanskrit tweeting?

Could be very niche, given that the audience for the language – and this is only a guess, mind – is limited and only a small percentage of that audience would be comfortable on Twitter.

8.      And next, the Ramayana..?

Gosh, no. Not unless someone commissions me! This does become consuming, when you have other commitments to honour as well!

To read the first ‘chapter’ of Chindu’s epicretold, click here. 

To read and follow the story on Twitter, click here.

For more information on Chindu Sreedharan, see his website here.