All things Merce:

Beautiful Windows.....
An amazing view.....




My He-ro Stephan, he's the guy that asked me to be a part of this residency 2 years ago. He da man:


Set Up:




Photos of Photos:

Boys and their toys......
STEPHAN:


This is Newtons magic machine "Mr. Feely"....David had a complicated set up. Cameras, keyboards, a teeny tiny guitar, oh my.....


Me and my ideal situation:

Meeting before the performance in the practice space. A dancer was still stretching, such a dedicated group of people:




I LOVED THEIR WINDOWS!!!!!



Everyone had to take their shoes off:

Old Lighting, and old florescent lighting:



That pink building that Julian Schnabel helped design in the not so far distance:
More of the outside, the studio was on the 11th floor and right next to the Hudson, it was so nice to feel the breeze from the water......




No photos of the performance itself, but trust me, it was good. I'm really looking forward to nxt week and will post as often as I can with photos from our performance at Bard, and our sound design ideas for the Ricard Serra Gallery. Until soon.....

And it begins.......

The kick off to the Merce, DIA and Bard College residency. Along with
Newton Armstrong, David Linton, and Stephan Moore. Explanations are
below, I will be keeping my blog updated throughout the next few
weeks. If you can't travel upstate, then come to the West Village
this Monday were we will be performing solos and group pieces.
Info is below, see you soon.
maria

Jun 23, 8:30p
Merce Cunningham Studio 55 Bethune Street
Experiments in the Studio @ the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
FREE

Sound Makers:
Newton Armstrong, David Linton, Maria Chavez, Stephan Moore

call 212.255.8240 x14 for more information.

http://merce.org/thecompany_musicians.html

Experiments in the Studio celebrates Merce Cunningham’s commitment to
commissioning more new music by American composers than any other
single choreographer, and the historic relationship between Merce
Cunningham and John Cage, Founding Music Director of MCDC.

We are very pleased to have the opportunity to work in this
historical context and setting... there are few places left within
NYC's avant garde legacy with the resonant cultural depth of this
space... and it's still a great place for looking and listening....

This project represents the first phase of an upcoming week-long
residency with the MCDC at DIA Beacon resulting in performances on
July 5th & 6th...

The first event will be a concert-like affair with each of the sound
artists presenting short solo pieces followed by some group
improvisations...

The Dia Beacon Event as it's now anticipated will follow a Cagian
schematic for the improvised sound score with each of the sound
makers environmentally installed within one of the four large
elliptical sculptures on permanent display in the Richard Serra
gallery - while the dance occupies platforms at either end of the
space...
so this should be quite some Happening!

FOR TICKETS:
http://www.diacenter.org/prg/special/merce/

R.I.P. Robert Rauschenberg

A mini-tribute to an artist I have admired since my art history days.

One of the things I as hoping for this year was to meet Robert while in my upcoming artist residency at the DIA:BEACON. In the early 50's Robert became good friends with composer John Cage, one of my hero's and life long partner of Merce Cunningham, with whom I will be working with. Robert worked side by side with Cage and Cunningham on many set designs for different dance pieces, including the one pictured above entitled "Minutiae, Facsimile" originally choreographed in 1954, but this photo was taken in 1976.

He lived an extraordinary life. So long Robert, it would have been great to have met you, but I'm sure our performance will be in dedication of your work.