mvworks

One-Shot Wrap Up

megansprenger — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 00:11:09 +0000

May the barriers come crashing down

megansprenger — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:09:32 +0000

As many of you know, in addition to running mvworks I am also the Director of Marketing and Public Relations at New York Live Arts, a non-profit organization formed out of the merger of Dance Theater Workshop and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Maintaining a balance between creating work and running my own dance company, and promoting hundreds of inspired movement based artists and the institution that supports them has always been challenging. I continue to negotiate and redistribute these scales as necessary because each company gives back in ways that continue to surprise and delight me. Every year I learn more and grow as an artist, an arts administrator, and a person. The past two weeks are a wonderful example of how these worlds complement and compete with each other.

On September 16 New York Live Arts opened it doors with performances of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. To say that it was a gargantuan project to transform into New York Live Arts from Dance Theater Workshop may very well be an understatement, but on Friday night as the lobby hummed with conversation and passersby stopped on the sidewalk wondering what the excitement was all about we had finally arrived. The performances were powerful. And for those of us that acknowledged the beauty of opening the organization with pieces that premiered at Dance Theater Workshop over 30 years ago and had not been seen in New York since, found the evening poignant and elegant.

As part of the opening program Bill T. Jones and Carla Peterson invited artists from throughout the dance community to appear as guest performers in Continuous Replay, a work created by Arnie Zane and reconstructed by Jones. I was lucky enough to be one of the staff members asked to perform. At first I was hesitant. I have worked in that building for over eight years, and never have the administrator artist lines been merged/blurred so clearly. It didn’t help that Continuous Replay begins in the nude (guests are of course permitted to start clothed, but the work is envisioned as a accumulation of movement, space, clothing and more). As I debated what was the most “professional” thing to do as an artist and as an administrator I nearly talked myself out of performing. Thankfully a dear friend encouraged me to just do it for myself, and not as part of any self imposed role. So on Wednesday and Thursday night, Sep 21 and 22 respectively, I found myself backstage getting ready to step onto the stage that I have watched countless numbers of others dance on for years. A privilege I was certain I would never experience.

The performances were surreal (particularly Thursday when I opted to begin nude with the rest of the performers). Never in my life would I have imagined that not only would I perform on that stage while I still worked for the institution, I would have said that hell would have to frieze over before I showed my derrière. Well, so much for boundaries. I performed nude with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company during one of the most debated openings in recent dance history for an institution whose brand and public presence is my responsibility. It still feels like a dream where I wake up feeling silly for even subconsciously thinking it could be possible.

Of course, as life and schedules would have it ,this was also the week mvworks was headed into a three day intensive rehearsal period. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the company continued to push our current project, Hold my Hand, forward. The piece has shifted dramatically in the past month-and-a-half and during our intensive it continued to ground itself deeper in this new approach. We have let go of many of the previous guiding principles (such as the performers relating to one particular area of the audience) and have found new life in a work that was beginning to feel stymied.

Overlapping of this proportion has never happened, in fact I would say I have tried to avoid it. But the during the week of September 12th and 19th, 2011 all of the barriers came crashing down. I was a dancer, a choreographer, and an administrator and I loved it.

mvworks internship at a glance… thank you Maddie.

megansprenger — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:00:44 +0000

It has been an absolute privilege to work for mvworks over the past month! Megan Sprenger is incredibly knowledgeable and has taught me so much about both arts administration and running one’s own dance company. As mvworks’ first intern, I completed many tasks, such as helping with the compilation and revisions of the annual report, launching the portrait project on the blog, researching dance venues and space grants for the company, and maintaining regular email correspondence with the dancers. I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity to assist at the New York Live Arts press conference, during which I learned about the PR side of the dance world. It was so amazing to see how Megan juggles her job at NYLA while creating new work for her company. On the final day of my internship, Megan showed me how she organizes everything for the company, from press kits to props and costumes and everything in between. I never realized how much goes into running a company, so this was truly eye opening. Megan and I also took Kendra Portier’s contemporary class at Dance New Amsterdam the past three Saturdays, which was wonderful! Kendra is such an encouraging teacher and she is truly inspirational. Similarly, Megan has really inspired me to further explore arts administration and I am so thankful to have had this opportunity!

Signing off for now,
Maddie Kurtz

Egg South 2011 – From the Studio

megansprenger — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:51:45 +0000

Portrait 4: Kendra Portier

megansprenger — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:15:19 +0000

Kendra Portier

by Terry Girard

Portrait 5: Yarden Raz

megansprenger — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:55:18 +0000

Yarden Raz

by Terry Girard

Portrait 3: Michael Ingle

megansprenger — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:33:32 +0000

Michael Ingle

by Terry Girard

Portrait 2: Tara O’Con

megansprenger — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:12:47 +0000

Tara O’Con

by Terry Girard

Portrait 1: Alli Ruszkowski

megansprenger — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 01:37:35 +0000

Alli Ruszkowski

by Terry Girard

Grateful

megansprenger — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 03:16:00 +0000

Today I had the pleasure of experiencing my first curated performance. When asked by Catherine Tharin to curate a 92Y Fridays at Noon, I immediately knew that I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight artists who work with the audience performer relationship as a key element of their investigation. Soon after, I asked both Yanira Castro and Sarah Maxfield to share the program with me (as part of the guest curator program at the Y the curator must also show work). I have followed both of these women’s work for several years, and I could not be more grateful that they accepted my invitation.

Today, audience members experienced three distinctly different but connected performances. The afternoon began with Yanira’s Wilderness: a paradis, a new work that is a companion piece to Wilderness presented by Dance Theater Workshop at The Invisible Dog Art Center this past fall. With most of the audience gathered in a corner of the room, Yanira’s dancers approached, weaving through audience members with movement ranging from quiet and intricate to large and bold. The phrasing flooded forward towards the audience and retreated like waves of energy washing through the space. Towards the end a few audience members were directly asked to follow individual performers to a new location and to watch them specifically. Quietly a song began. The work ended with an audience member sharing an apple with a performer. It was the perfect opening sequence, asking the audience to give focus, take control of their own viewing experience, and risk a certain degree of comfort.

Next, Sarah Maxfield presented We deserve each other, a new work to be premiered at The Chocolate Factory in March. For several months now, Sarah has been creating solos dedicated to ,and inspired by, members of her community. Growing out of that project, We deserve each other is, as Ms. Tharin put it, “a Valentine” to the performing arts community. More theatrical in nature, the piece referenced several performances (Heather Kravas to Ishmael Houston Jones to Karen Finley…) and performance venues (Performance Space 122, Danspace Project, La Mamma…). Bringing all in the room, regardless of their performance experience, into her world where artistic expression is sharing an environment, a moment in time. We ate black and white cookies, thought of our first city experiences, and remembered performances that reverberated through the field. It was poignant without being sappy. It was genuine.

I will leave it to some one else to speak about my work, but I will say that I was proud of each of my dancers. Alli, Kendra, Meg, Michael, and Tara each performed beautifully, giving pieces of themselves to the audience and guiding us into the heart of the work.

It was a great day.