In Milwaukee

It's been a while since I wrote on this blog. I suppose it's because so much has happened since I started it. Being back here in Milwaukee reminds me of why I created it in the first place. I realize now that I have some time and space all around me that I need to reconnect - to my self and to my communities. Yes, I feel very connected here in Wisconsin. The graduate program has given me so much support and recognition. The type I can't seem to acquire in NYC. Sure my company and friends and students sustain me but there is really a clear line drawn with who gets support and who doesn't in the city I love and call home. Like I said in a panel discussion meeting in Dublin last month, "there are many kinds of support - not necessarily financial". I can't seem to find much. Here in Milwaukee, I feel the 'props'. Thank you Milwaukee!

Gerald Casel –Teaching, Summer 2007

Tues and Thurs, June 12-21, 10:00-noon
Dance New Amsterdam
280 Broadway, 2nd Fl. Entrance on Chambers Street
New York, NY
www.dnadance.org

Mon, Wed, Fri, June 25-29, 10:00-noon
Movement Research @ Eden's Expressway
537 Broadway #4 (bet Prince and Spring)
New York, NY
www.movementresearch.org

Thurs, July 19, 4:30-6:00PM
Danceworks Studio 1661
1661 N. Water Street
Milwaukee, WI
www.danceworks1661.org

Mon-Thurs, July 30-Aug 2, 9:30-12:30PM
Technique and Performance Intensive Workshop
Conduit Dance, Inc.
918 SW Yamhill Ave, Suite 401
Portland, OR
www.conduit-pdx.org

For Dana

gerald casel dance

Seep

Choreography by Gerald Casel (in collaboration with the dancers)
Performed by Kelly Anderson, Kai Kleinbard, Paul Singh and Isadora Wolfe
Music by Nils Petter Molvaer, Carsten Nicolai and To Rococo Rot

Seep is a dance for four people developed through a collaborative process with the dancers (Kelly Anderson, Kai Kleinbard, Paul Singh and isadora Wolfe). This piece was created as a project for a Choreography class under the Masters program at University of Wisconsin –Milwaukee. There are three sections set to three different pieces of music: Nils Petter Molvaer, Carsten Nicolai and To Rococo Rot. For Dancemakers NYC, we will show excerpts from each section. Each of the sections is distinct in movement dynamics and spatial arrangements. Specifically for this dance, we examined the dynamics of tension and release as well as taking and relinquishing control in relation to another person. The result is a highly charged, atmospheric dance that portrays complex human relationships.

Seep, by definition, means to “flow or leak slowly through porous materials.” This word represented the right metaphor for the personal relationships being gradually developed in the piece. The title also depicted something fluid and visceral without being literal.

Here’s how a friend, Fiona Marcotty, described it, “I fucking loved it! It was beautiful and deep from the very first moment on. When they do that thing right in the beginning, reaching towards each other, the whole sense of feeling someone's aura, of the ways we touch and don't touch, and the things we sense about each other even without realizing it, about the way all our relationships are imperfect but heroic attempts to shape ourselves around each others' energy.... and that was just the first movement.”

BIOGRAPHY
Gerald Casel was born in the Philippines and raised in California. He received a BFA from The Juilliard School and since then has danced in the companies of Michael Clark, Lar Lubovitch, Zvi Gotheiner, and Stephen Petronio (1991-2005) where he served as Assistant Director. He was awarded a New York Dance and Performance Award "Bessie" in 1997 for Sustained Achievement. His choreography (Gerald Casel Dance) has been presented at The Yard, Dance Theater Workshop, Movement Research at Judson Church, Dixon Place, dancenow and Aaron Davis Hall. Gerald is an adjunct professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is thrilled to be working on his MFA at UWM as a fellow through the Advanced Opportunity Fellowship Program.

Jorge

Hi all! My dancers and I will be showing a new piece specifically made for Joe's Pub's tiny little stage. The piece is rather short -about 6 minutes and we are sharing the program with several other choreographers. I'll post the info at the end of this posting. Anyway, it's the first time I'm showing my work in NYC since last Fall (also for dancenOw). I'm a bit nervous. This past weekend we tried to audition a new work-in-progress for Newsteps at Mulberry Street Theater and sadly, we were not accepted. The panel gave me confidential advice on what I needed to work on. My stack of rejection letters just keep piling up. I have an idea about making a monologue based on these letters. It isn't that funny but somehow I don't feel so troubled by it all. As a friend put it to me gently, "you haven't shown your work in a while so just give it some time for people to see that your back at it." She's probably right but to be honest it doesn't feel so great. This experience is teaching me a lot about who I am am as an artist and why it is important to make work that is or at least feels right to you.

This weekend February 10-11 at 9:30 PM. Joe's Pub at The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street (between Astor Place and East 4th Street)
$15 advance sale or $20 at the door
(212)239-6200 or www.telecharge.com or joespub.com or in person at The Public Theater Box Office

JORGE
Choreography by Gerald Casel (in collaboration with the performers)
Music by The Velvet Underground and The Moldy Peaches
Performed by Kelly Anderson, Lindsay Ashmun, Gerald Casel,
Patrick Ferreri, Kai Kleinbard, Toni Melaas, Omagbitse Omagbemi,
Paul Singh and Isadora Wolfe

on a shared bill with
Mary Cochran/Sara Hook
Kriota Willberg
David Grenke
Wendy Osserman
Laura Peterson
Rocha Dance Theater
Jessy Smith/POW!
Tami Stronach

Reality

So I picked up the New York Times yesterday to look at the front page and what was on it was sad. There was a picture of a child in a plastic bag killed by insurgents in Iraq, a letter from a slowly dying miner scribbled while he was asphyxiating and news from Ariel Sharon's brain surgery. Suddenly my 'rejection' posting was put in a reality check. I guess there has to be a balance in how we view what we want, what we deserve and how we perceive our place in the world. Yes, the dance world is confusing but merely writing about how I felt and knowing that people are actually going to read it made my central nervous system have a chill pill. I know it's difficult to regard the whole world everytime you make a decision or act out but placing myself out of a bubble and out into the universe constantly gives me lessons in humility. Anyway, I'm still feeling bummed about those rejections but I'm also feeling more grounded and in control of my feelings about them.

I saw Wim Vandekeybus's movie "Blush" at the Dance on Camera Festival and was blown away. It was beautiful. I didn't get to see the live performance but the movie was fascinating. The dancing just literally popped out of the screen and the performers were breathtaking in their dancing, acting and being outdoors and underwater. Wow!
www.filmlinc.com

Make sure you catch Balletlab at PS 122. They are my friend Philip Adams' company from Melbourne, Australia. Amazing dancers and great choreography! I saw their showing of a new piece that they are working on in Melbourne this Fall and was really impressed. I'm sure this one will be just as spectacular.
www.balletlab.com
www.ps122.org

Dance On Camera & A Competition

< That's me in Stanley Love's piece, getting ready for a spoons chant...


There's this Dance On Camera Festival going on right now at Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. It goes through Jan. 14th.
A student friend of mine introduced me to it. it should be fun. I'm going to see Wim Vandekeybus' 'Blush' tonight. There's also the Merce Cunningham and Michal Clark films by Charlie Atlas that are being screened. Check it out!

Also, there's the AWARD Show. According to the organizers, "The A.W.A.R.D. Show is a free, monthly performance series dedicated to the presentation and discussion of new work. Each event will feature works by 4 choreographers (emerging and mid- career artists), followed by a moderated discussion between the artists and audience. At the culmination of each event the audience will choose by a ballot one work to be selected as a finalist who will then be invited to the final event. At the May 14th, 2006 final event, a panel of artists (from the dance, theater, film and visual arts fields) will chose the winner out of the 4 finalists. The winner of The A.W.A.R.D. Show series will receive a $10,000, unrestricted creation/production grant. The aim of The A.W.A.R.D. Show series and the award attached to this series is to foster free spirited exploration and creativity in NYC dance."

I think I'll go see what they chose and hear how the audience responds...

Rejection

I've been thinking a lot about rejection lately. I've been applying for residencies and other opportunities to get some support for my work but they all have turned me down. I know everyone gets rejection letters but it's getting ridiculous. It's hard not to get discouraged and feel like your work is not deserving of any recognition. I hung out with my friend Stanley Love last night and it really inspired me. He has never relied on any established dance place in this city and has managed to create some of the most interestingly subversive and thought provoking work I have ever been a part of and/or witnessed. This has caused him a lot of trouble as well since he is not the type to keep it quiet. I'm going to dance for him again since I really do like his work and he is deep down a gentle, generous and loving soul - yes, really! Anyway, just being around someone who creates purely out of necessity is inspiring. He's not trying to get a piece of everyone else's pie. So that in itself is refreshing. He never edits himself - which is another cool thing; not for everybody, I know. Being around him reminds me of what choreography is - an art form. Sometimes I get so bogged down on the business end of the continuum that it is paralyzing. Teaching has given me a nice balance but there's nothing like creating new and inspiring work. I will continue to make my work, despite all of these rejections. In fact, rejection, in some sense, fuels a drive in me to create. Maybe it's out of spite, at least momentarily, but I think it's more a need to be creative and not to be told "better luck next time, Honey..."
In case you were wondering, I was going to write down the long list fo rejectors for your perusal but I decided not to. Just call me and I'll tell you. You can't say I haven't been trying to show my work... I've applied to eight places...
There are good things coming up:
NYU. I'll be teaching there staring the day after Martin Luther King's Birthday. They are giving me some space :)
There's also UWM this summer. I look forward to being in school again with all of you amazing people.
I'm doing Joe's Pub on February 10 and 11 - thanks to Robin and Andrea.
Don't forget to catch Stanley Love Performance Group whenever you can. We will be re-doing Stanley's homage to NYC & 9/11. He says I'm playing an Arab. I've already played George Bush so this should be fun.
I'll be sarting a new piece with my dancers. I don't know where we're going to do it but I just want to start.
I took Lily's yoga class yesterday and she said that the Sutras say that just by starting the effort somehow disappears. I agree...
A great way to bring on the New Year!

Moving (again)

(John and) I moved out of Williamsburg back into Manhattan - the incredible East Village. I'm home! We're subletting Netta's place on East 5th between B and C. It's a quirky littly block because 5th doesn't go all the way through so you have to go over to Avenue C and backtrack towards the Earth school. I really don't mind it that much at all and the apartment itself is really great. It's a small two bedroom with a huge eat-in kitchen. We have a 6 month sublet so it feels like home for a while. We actually unpacked everything and can breathe some life into our new space. The rent is a bit steep for the space and location but we love it already. Since the strike, walking all over the city doesn't bother me that much. Thank you to all of you who passed along great leads to apartments- especially Tamara R.!!! That was awesome. You have some good karma credits to cash in...
We are really close to Tompkins Square Park and the LES and Chinatown - where I get most of my groceries. It's really intense down there but you can really feel like you're in a different country where nobody can understand you. And it's cheap! I love the Congee Village -thanks to Thad who introduced me to it. It's this kitschy Chinese Restaurant on Allen right below Delancey.
Another thing that is worth mentioning about the East Village is that it has changed so much. I used to live on 14th and A in the early 90's - before the infamous Cock and all these other trendy bars and restaurants. Now, Avenue C has amazing restaurants, like Bao 111 - who knew? It has been getting a lot of attention. There are lots of supermodels in disguise ducking into bodegas and slipping into non-descript bars like NuBlu on Avenue C and 5th Street. I hear it's 'the new black' to go sign-less, so edgy! The LES has amazing restaurants as well. I highly recommend Kuma Inn - a Thai/Filipino place on Ludlow and Delancey and the Clinton Street Baking Company for breakfast - the best French Toast ever! We do miss the Park Luncheonette in Greenpoint/Williamsburg. I think they have an amazing weekend brunch! There's also this Mexican place on Broome called Barrio Chino that's excellent... Yeah, I think I'm going to like living over here.