A most generous man.

I just can't. This man is my favorite. A wonderful human. A photographer with a stunning ability to catch the pauses and the crevices, in skin and soul.

His blog is almost unbearably intimate, into the lives of others (particularly in war and conflict zones).

He photographed the images used almost exclusively to promote PCDC's season.

You can read my interview with him here. But really, just go to his website and support by simply looking.

An email Sebastian sent recently:

A tiny story

One day before breakfast , an orange rolled off the counter and escaped its fate, bounding happily through the kitchen door.

Filled with hope the egg followed! 

And with that my obvious adoration for anyone who could send an email just containing that message becomes clear. 

Interview with Michele Oliva and Francesca Dario

In this interview with Oliva Contemporary Dance Project’s Michele Oliva and Francesca Dario, you can read Michele’s answers as Francesca’s thoughts, Francesca’s words as Michele’s sentiments. The two dancers and co-founders of OCDP have found a cadence of speech that jumps from one person to the next while never losing the flow of a sentence. Together for 10 years, since meeting and falling in love while dancing for an Italian version of ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ the pair buoy one another emotionally and artistically. There is a care evident between them that starts with translating for one another (throughout this interview, throughout their hectic and almost always English-language interactions) and ends in the dance studio, when they dance a phrase together to show the class how their movement should be done. Always, the class is stunned into wondering smiles, wondering how they can physically do what Michele and Francesca do (and with Francesca’s Complexions-influenced leg extensions and Michele’s super-fast isolations, students might not be able to do what they do). But the movement is transcended by the synchronicity and meshing of the two dancers, whose relationship extends beyond the verbal, beyond the mental, and becomes a blending of bodies, a deep understanding that only the two share.

Both from Italy, Michele and Francesca are passionate artists eager to bring their teaching practice and company OCDP, founded in 2004, to audiences' attention here in New York. Michele started dancing on the streets of Italy as a break-dancer; he was initially on a path to a career in soccer, and later had a successful stint as a DJ clubs. Francesca was classically trained from the age of 6. And yet. A fusion. Their newest work, @MozArt, will be performed in the APAP Conference at Peridance Capezio Center January 12 and 13. You can see the two weekly, when they teach their highly technical contemporary movement at Peridance.

The founders of OCDP sat down with me right before the holidays to talk about their upcoming APAP debut, their company, why they dance.

Peridance Capezio Center: How do you describe yourself?

Michele Oliva: As a dancer, dynamic, expressive with a lot of energy and a hard worker. As a choreographer, I try to experience, to grow. To give space to my dreams and work with my sensation, with the music and my heart.

Francesca Dario: I work hard everyday. I push my body and my mind 100%. I’m not lazy. I love this art and I have all of my life to it, but for me the important thing is that dance must make me feel happy and alive. It is not only a good technique or gymnastics. It is love, passion, art. This is how I feel like a dancer. 

Read the rest of this interview on the Peridance blog

Interview with dancer, choreographer Enzo Celli

An interview with Enzo Celli, the Italian choreographer of Botega Dance Company.

Enzo Celli recently finished his workshop series at Peridance, although he will continue to teach at the school. Class with Celli is a lesson in developing self and in performing courageously. No moment is lost as a simple technical lesson; every turn and twist is a chance to hone your personal dance vocabulary in the guise of Celli's movement. He celebrates the differences within each dancer. And in turn they can celebrate themselves. 

Some of the questions that I asked Nathan Trice for my first interview did not seem like they would translate well for this interview, which was decidedly blurred through a language barrier. Celli is very, charmingly, Italian. Any attempts at irony were lost in translation; instead revealing Celli's insanely kind heart. Here is a preview of the interview. More can be read online at periblog.com

Informal Floor: The three songs at the top of your play list?

Enzo Celli:

The Overture of the 1^st act of La traviata

"Faun" by Olafur Arnalds

Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know"

I.F. What is your signature move?

E. C. Probably something about the density of the movement. I like density very much. This is the core of my dynamic (sensibility).

I.F. What are the three things that you think that are most beautiful?

E.C. 

My wife.

The Holy Spirit. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world.

Humanity.

Interview with dancer, choreographer Nathan Trice

Nathan Trice. 

8.07.12

at the Peridance Capezio Center

Nathan Trice is hosting a workshop at Peridance Capezio Center this week. I'm sitting in the office, doing officey things, and watching his class working hard in the studio just outside the door. The students are always smiling, always moving. Trice takes a while to teach a long phrase, but then the dancers get to dance full out until they are out of breath. It looks exhilarating. Trice spoke with my after his class on Wednesday. Here is a quick selection from that interview. 

Informal Floor: If you were a prop, what prop would you be?

Nathan Trice: I probably would be a tree or a hat. 

I.F. Do you want to explain?

N.T. The tree...it reminds the audience that there is something natural in the space. 

The hat would be to tell the performer not to think about the whole thing. I would be that voice inside the hat telling the dancer "don't think, don't think, don't think"

I.F. If alarm clocks didn't exist, you would wake up at...

N.T. At this point in my life, I wake up at 7 am.

I.F. The three songs at the top of your playlist?

N.T. Miles Davis,"Mood"

Lil Louis, "Club Lonely"

and

A DJ mix

I.F. Three things that you think are beautiful

N.T. The human body. The four elements. Attraction.

Read more of my interview with Nathan Trice of nathantrice / Rituals on the Peridance Capezio Center blog,

http://peridance.blogspot.com/