Archive for the 'Dance' Category
Soggy’s Slip Jig
November 2, 2008
Modern slip jig dance performance by Kate Spanos (choreography by Michael Ryan) for MA in Traditional Irish Dance Performance, University of Limerick. Performance at the Performing Arts Centre at the University of Limerick on 27 November 2007.
Music is “Soggy’s/Waterboogie” from “A Lovely Madness” by Beoga.
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Color Play at ASA 2008 (video)
October 15, 2008
Contemporary Irish dance choreography by Kate Spanos presented at the 7th Annual Conference of the American Synesthesia Association (ASA) (original blog post). Performed at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario on 28 September 2008.
Music is “Pulses” from Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians” with voice-over text by Kate Spanos.
More information about the ASA can be found at http://www.synesthesia.info.
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Color Play at ASA 2008
September 30, 2008
Color Play (May 2008, Belltable Arts Center, Limerick, Ireland; photo by Maurice Gunning)
This weekend I presented at the 7th Annual National Conference of the American Synesthesia Association in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I performed a solo dance entitled “Color Play,” choreographed as part of my MA work at the University of Limerick. This choreography is the beginning of what I hope will become future research exploring synesthesia in dance, the language of dance, and dance perception and cognition.
Color Play (September 2008, McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario Canada; photo by Carter Jones)
Read a review of the performance by Amy Ione at the University of California, Berkeley.
Color Play (September 2008, McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario Canada; photo by Carter Jones)
“Color Play” is the second in a series of dances exploring dance perception, the first being “Sound Play,” which was created and performed in Fall 2007 at the University of Limerick. “Sound Play” is an Irish dance choreography that aims to create a visualization of space as a “ball” of sound that moves from corner to corner of the room through a surround-sound speaker system. The music is “The Eccentric” by Shooglenifty, with sound manipulation by John Greenwood.
Sound Play (November 2007, Irish World Music Academy, University of Limerick; photo by Maurice Gunning)
The abstract below describes a summary of the motivation for and the goals of “Color Play”. The dance is a contemporary choreography informed by Irish dance vocabulary, with music Music For 18 Musicians: Pulses (tracks 1 and 7) by Steve Reich and voice-over text by myself.
Kathleen A. Spanos, University of Limerick, Ireland
Color Play: Synesthesia in Irish DanceUnlike other art forms dance is uniquely multi-sensory in that it exists in both space and time simultaneously, with a literal mixing of visual, auditory and kinesthetic stimuli in dance perception. This is particularly true in Irish dance, which is highly rhythmical and thus consists of an additional acoustic element. As an Irish step dancer I experience synesthesia in the form of colored movements and rhythms. I have created a choreography in which I deconstruct some Irish dance vocabulary by way of synesthesia and that is built around four basic movements, each of which is paired with a primary color.
In dance the basic units of movement are kinemes, morphokines and motifs, which in language translate to phonemes, morphemes and phrases. Dance is similar to language in that both communicate something by relying on our ability to understand the syntax of these basic elements. The “grammatical” rules of dance are applied to its minimal units so that we can understand the overall concept or symbol communicated by the dance. In dance perception a fusion of the senses is required to understand an overall concept and this is often referred to as a symbolization process. In my choreography, this process is illustrated through overt colored-movement associations.
For a select group of people, the basic components of language give rise to synesthetic experiences. Because dance is analogous to language in the sense that it can be broken down into minimal units it stands to reason that there can exist a form of synesthesia that similarly associates colors with dance elements. In my choreography I will demonstrate a practical analysis of colored-movement associations with the aim of elucidating the symbolization process involved in dance perception.
Color Play (May 2008, Belltable Arts Center, Limerick, Ireland; photo by Maurice Gunning)
Color Play
May 15, 2008
Theatrical solo choreography by Kate Spanos for MA in Traditional Irish Dance Performance, University of Limerick. Performance at the Belltable Arts Center in Limerick on 15 May 2008.
Music is “Pulses” from “Music for 18 Musicians” by Steve Reich, with voice-over text about synesthesia by Kate Spanos.
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Piper Through the Meadow Straying
Modern set dance performance by Kate Spanos (choreography by Michael Ryan) for MA in Traditional Irish Dance Performance, University of Limerick. Performance at the Belltable Arts Center in Limerick on 15 May 2008.
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Aiobhell the Fairy Queen
Festival style set dance performance by Kate Spanos (choreography by Ruth Long; composition and keyboard accompaniment by Francis Ward) for MA in Traditional Irish Dance Performance, University of Limerick. Performance at the Belltable Arts Center in Limerick on 15 May 2008.
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Uninvisible Man
October 15, 2007
Uninvisible man at the University of Limerick
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MA in Traditional Irish Dance Performance
May 17, 2007
The news is out: I’ll be attending the University of Limerick in the fall for a Master’s degree in Traditional Irish Dance Performance. I’ll arrive in Limerick on 1 September and will dance the year away until next June. It’s an opportunity that could not be passed up!
I’ll also be attending a master class taught by Michael Ryan at this year’s Nation’s Capital Feis workshop. It’s been a couple years since I’ve seen friends at the ol’ O’Neill-James School of Irish Dancing and it will be great to see Mrs. Laureen James herself.
The end-of-year recital for Charlottesville’s O’Rourke-Tighe School of Irish Dancing is coming up next week, though lessons will continue into June.
Robin Hood
September 20, 2006
This past weekend was Robin Hood and it was fantastic!
The experience was too incredible for words. The cast, the audience, the music, the dance, the physical, the emotional. Many many thanks to Emily Oleson and the Good Foot Dance Company for inviting me to play with them 
Also thanks to Amanda Balestrieri for her amazing voice and working with me to create our beautiful ‘Sacrament’ piece.
More photos in my Flickr.
Robin Hood
August 24, 2006
Check out the press release for the upcoming performance of Robin Hood, directed by Emily Oleson, featuring the Shenandoah Irish Dance Ensemble and artists including dancer Matthew Olwell, musician Aran Olwell, musician Cleek Schrey, soprano Amanda Balestrieri, and yours truly.
Come, show your support, and enjoy the show! All involved have (and still are) putting in loads of time and effort, and it promises to be a fun and exciting performance.
16 September, 2 PM and 7 PM, Eastern Mennonite High School in Harrisonburg, VA
17 September, 7 PM, Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, VA
More details
