All posts by CLOUD

CLOUD

Residency ‘Space in between’ by Cassidy Carbine

January 13th – February 4th

Keep yourself updated on our website or Facebook about their workshops in which they share their research.

Improvisation #2
Sunday February 1st, 16:00 – 18:00  See FB event

Improvisation #1
Sunday January 25th, 15:00 – 18:00 See FB event

Costs: donations for the studio rent or feedback at the end of the session (preferred!)

With an interdisciplinary collective  Cassidy Carbine examines the question “how can we communicate (our perception of) space and time through the human body?” They are interested in the latent, complex and alternant aspects of reality. Motivated to reach beyond the obvious. “With the prism that is our research, we uncover the colors hidden within white light.”

Cassidy is a freelance dance artist based in Rotterdam motivated by the question: why do we move and how do we share this experience with others, our collective selves, and the spectator?
Some statements of Cassidy on her research process:

“The perception of space and time is a uniting factor for our realities. While we inhabit the same space, our perceptions create our individual experiences.”

“I choose to work with a variety of artist to further understand difference in individual realities. By working with different artistic approaches we can explore the topic from many directions, utilizing each artist’s background and potential in the creative process.”

“A previous creative research I conducted explored how artistic minds explored movement: dancers and non-dancers. The next step is to create together, in an aim to communicate perception and experience.”

 

http://ccarbine.hotglue.me
http://cassidycarbine.blogspot.com

 

 

CLOUD

Residency Bridget Fiske & Stephanie Pan

February 9th – 13th

Morning movement warm-up: Thursday February 12, 10:30 -12:00
Presentation: Friday 13 February, 14:00 (registration required)
see for more information below

Bridget Fiske will be working intensively in CLOUD with multi-disciplinary artist and musician Stephanie Pan, investigating the potentials between voice, body and other sound/ music in choreographic process. Bridget will be testing new devising processes that will contribute to later stages of her Moving Dance Forward project.

This research project is less about working from an idea for a new work, but about having several points of departure that demand the development of diversity in process and approaches. This approach consequently supports Bridget to question her creative methodologies and philosophies as well as creating ‘signature’ outcomes. This project is ultimately about Bridget experimenting across a breadth of thought to become clearer in: her artistic interests, her communicative interests, and the processes that lead her to the creation of strong artistic content.

Photographer Matt Kowalczuk

BRIDGET FISKE is a British/ Australian dance artist (performer, choreographer, facilitator), currently based in Manchester, England. Bridget has recently been selected as one of the four inaugural Moving Dance Forward Associate artists. Commissioned by the Moving Dance Forward Associates scheme: a consortium supporting dance artists resident in the North West of England led by Dance Manchester and MDI in partnership with the Unity Theatre, Contact, The Lowry and University of Salford.

As part of this scheme Bridget’s personalised development and research project involves developing her processes for ensemble choreography. The multi-disciplinary nature of Bridget’s practice means that she is interested in her choreographic work asking questions relevant to practice in theatre, film, interactive media and music contexts. Therefore the ensemble work she investigates will involve artists with an interdisciplinary history/ skill base.

photographer Takis Papazoglou

STEPHANIE PAN is a singer and multi-instrumentalist, performance artist, and maker based in The Hague, specializing in experimental music, new music, and experimental theater. Her work is rooted in the search for pure communication; finding contact with the audience stripped of expectations and distractions, which speaks beyond the conventional limitations and constructs of language. Her work is visceral, passionate and intense, often exploring the limits of the voice and body. Stephanie has performed extensively throughout the US and Europe. She holds a Masters in Theatre from DasArts (AHK), BA from UC Berkeley in Music and Applied Mathematics, and First Phase Diploma, with distinction, in Classical Singing from The Royal Conservatory, The Hague.


CLASS INFORMATION
Thursday February 12, 10:30 to 12:00
Bridget will deliver a morning movement warm-up and training session appropriate for professional performers of several disciplines (dancers, physical theatre and performance artists). The session will be about preparing the body for creative work whilst involving training that offers development in alignment, openness and strength.

PRESENTATION INFORMATION (registration required)
Friday February 13, 14:00
At the end of their week long residency at CLOUD Bridget and Stephanie will share very early stage processes and outcomes developed during this time. This very early stage research is a part of meta – new choreographic research projects by Bridget Fiske. Commissioned by the Moving Dance Forward Associates scheme: a consortium supporting dance artists resident in the North West of England led by Dance Manchester and MDI in partnership with the Unity Theatre, Contact, The Lowry and University of Salford.
Registration by mail: fazle_s@hotmail.com

Commissioned by the Moving Dance Forward Associates scheme: a
consortium supporting dance artists resident in the North West of
England led by Dance Manchester and MDI in partnership with the Unity Theatre, Contact, The Lowry and University of Salford.

CLOUD

Catch me, I’m falling! Study lab by Ilse van Haastrecht

finding ways of ramping down and away from the floor

In December Ilse started with her first sessions of Axis Syllabus hosted by CLOUD. This class is about different ways of distributing masses toward the ground and back up again. How do I deal with the kinetic or potential energy stored in my raised body when ‘falling’ down?

You are welcome to join me in another Axis Syllabus Study Lab. All kinds of movers are welcome : ). This time Ilse will be looking into different ways of distributing masses toward the ground and back up again. How do I deal with the kinetic or potential energy stored in my raised body when ‘falling’ down? We’ll be looking at sequential movement and how it can help for effective locomotion. We’ll also be studying the different landing and launching pads of the body, in order to find a safe stations on our way to the floor.

What is Axis Syllabus? 

The Axis Syllabus is an open resource pool for information about the human body in motion. The AS research community aims to compile knowledge and reference points to understand more of what it means to move in healthy and structurally supported ways. This information is constantly tested and updated throughout research and classroom experience.

Situations, contexts and challenges for the moving body keep changing and different bodies and their individual needs are various. Looking at anatomy, physics and bio-mechanics might help us to find ways into graceful movement.

Date: Wednesday 21st of January 
Time: 16:30 – 18:30
Contribution: donation for the studiorent
Contact: ilsevanhaastrecht@gmail.com

See FB event

CLOUD

Presentation The Invisible Dancer by Eline van Ark

The Invisible Dancer started last year as a residency at CLOUD. After two weeks of researching sound-dance with Mojra Vogelnik Skerlj, together with a group of visually impaired people, choreographer Eline van Ark presented the research in the studio of CLOUD and during the CLOUD Winterfestival.

Now Eline is continuing her Invisible project in the studio Tugela85 in Amsterdam, where she creates a dance solo for Aida Guirro Salinas, that can’t be seen, but has to be listened to. The whole audience is blind / blindfolded. Eline researches the possibilities of this set-up, watching dance with closed eyes, together with visually impaired people, and this time also with people from the neighborhood and (dance) artists. By opening up the working process to perspectives and knowledge of others, she’ll get a glimpse into how people experience this audio-dance, what the possibilities are, and what is needed to hear the dancing body.

The first results of this second phase of the project will be shared the 22nd of February. Aida will show a sketch of the sound-dance, which we will exchange our experiences about. And Eline will talk about the process and discoveries until now. Why listen to dance? How can you hear the physicality of dance, the moving body? And how can you transmit the musicality of dance through sound, without it becoming a bodily concert? And what is the added value of listening to dance? All these questions were discussed during the research, and will now be shared with you.

And of course we’ll close off with a drink and a bite!

When: 22 February, 15:00
Entrance: €5,-
Location:  Lokaal85, Tugelaweg 85, Amsterdam Oost

Visit the website and like the facebook page for more info and to stay updated about the project.

CLOUD

CLOUD: officially a non-profit association

On 14th October 2014, in Amsterdam, we signed our status of Verenigingen. We officially became a non-profit association.

For almost three years now, CLOUD has been facilitating artistic research, classes, workshops and much, much more in the Danslab studio in Den Haag. Under the wings of Stichting Danslab, CLOUD was able to grow to a stable and independent platform for dance and performance, self-organized and self-supported. Next to developing and exchanging on movement, dance and performance practices, CLOUD is also researching alternative ways of organizing; CLOUD’s aim is to empower artists by working together and creating an open and flexible structure that gives space for individual needs and encourages entrepreneurship.

In the next newsletters we’ll inform you more about the people behind CLOUD, what a CLOUD-association means concretely, and how you can become a member.
As an answer to changing times, in 2011 danslab decided to change course and to invest in a new organisational surrounding. It was the aim of the danslab artists to open up to fellow artists and to build an open, flexibel and sustainable selforganisation led by artists. In this way Danslab generously provided the base and freedom needed for CLOUD to start their ideas and experiment different ways of organizing themselves. Now, after almost three years of experience, CLOUD has enough know-how and a stable base of enthusiastic people who run the initiative to leave the Danslab-nest and become fully independent. For the past months CLOUD has been working to become an association, since this provides the flexibility and bottom-up support we need. Last month the board members signed the contract, and now it is official: CLOUD is an association!! CLOUD will stay in the (ex)Danslab studio, and is from now on even more self-supportive, independent and community-driven.

CLOUD, Workshop

Contemporary Cuban Dance Workshop by Faizah Grootens

Contemporary Cuban dance is big, rhythmical, powerful, flexible and full of passion. Undulating movements from Cuban folklore are combined with flow, grounding and conscious use of breath. This creates a Modern style in which Afro-Cuban hip and back movements are fused with flowing turns and powerful jumps.

The workshop by Faizah Grootens was on Sunday, 30th November, from 14:00-16:00.

Faizah studied at the Amsterdam School of the Arts, and went to Havana’s University of Arts to specialize in Cuban Contemporary dance. She also trained with the internationally renowned dance company “Havana Rakatan.” Faizah has worked as a dance teacher at the Amsterdam School of the Arts, the Arts and Entertainment College Amsterdam, University of the Arts in Havana, Cuba and various schools in the Netherlands and abroad. Faizah has performed as an actor and dancer in a variety of projects and companies including Laleget Danza (Mexico), ISADANZA (Cuba), Harlekijn Danstheater with Herman van Veen for “Man Go,” “Cremat,” and “Blackout.”

 

In the Contemporary Cuban dance workshop you will learn how to use your full range of motion while still remaining strong and in control of your body. You’ll feel the energy and dance with your whole body: Hips, butt, arms, back, head…. EVERYTHING MOVES!!

Level: Intermediate/advanced

Workshop: Contemporary Cuban Dance
Location: CLOUD, De Constant Rebecqueplein 20b, The Hague
Date and time: Sunday 30 November from 14:00 – 16:00
Price: €15

Please register by sending an e-mail to Damani Leidsman (dleidsman@gmail.com)
See event on Facebook

CLOUD, Residents

Residency Kenneth Flak and Külli Roosna

In November we will host Kenneth Flak and Külli Roosna among others from Korzo Productions. They will be developing: The Wild Places, a trilogy performance on humanity’s relationship to an environment in a deep crisis. They will be working with a Lithuanian dancer Petras Lisauskas, the Swedish light designer Thomas Dotzler and English composer Joseph Hyde. Embodying chaos, complexity and interdependent systems, using cutting-edge performance technologies. The first part ‘Mountain’ will be premiered in the CaDance festival 6-7 February 2015.

The works are inspired by Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss’ deep ecology as well as James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis, a theoretical framework that is investigated, questioned and translated into artistic praxis in three different performances: Mountain, City and Body. The pieces will premiere in the period 2015-2017,

According to Næss and Lovelock we can no longer consider the world a bottomless resource we can freely tap without consequences. The survival of all parts of an ecosystem depends on the overall health of the whole. Humanity has, due to its intelligence and capacity for planning and reflections, a special responsibility to take care of nature. Næss believed that this responsibility is not necessarily limiting, but will lead to individuals identifying themselves with the environment and all living beings. From a small, limited ego grows a large, inclusive self. According to Næss this leads to a richer life: If I identify with others and the nature surrounding me, I partake directly in the greatness of nature.
It seems, unfortunately, very difficult for humanity to take this responsibility, or even to agree that there is a problem. This suggests that the issue is very complex, with few clear-cut and simple answers. These complexities are taken into account when creating performance spaces that function as ecosystems in their own right, where light, sound, video, movement and audience interact and influence each other, giving the audience direct experiences of collaboration, competition, parasitism and all the other elements that make up our weird and wonderful world.

 

Wild Places : : MOUNTAIN
The first performance of the trilogy is Wild Places : : MOUNTAIN. During an extended rehearsal period in the Norwegian mountains, the three performers and the light designer immerse themselves in the highlands, using the experiences of a wild, often brutal nature to inform the work. The piece brings an echo of the mountain to the stage: an extreme no-mans land, a place of harsh beauty and desolation where a human being is completely at the mercy of the forces of nature. This is realized through a complex system of interdependent choreography, music, visuals and light. The interactive technology to make this possible is designed by composer Joseph Hyde in close collaboration with the choreographers and light designer Thomas Dotzler.
Supported by The Norwegian Arts Council, Fund for Sound and Image (Norway), Dutch Ministry of Culture and Education.
Produced by Korzo productions, co-produced by Sõltumatu Tantsu Ühendus.