We Had a Bit of a Blog Break, But We're Back...With an Article from Dance Teacher Magazine

There's a nice article about the Tudor Centennial Celebration on the Dance Teacher Magazine website. By Elizabeth McPherson, author of the Martha Hill book I mentioned in my last post, the article includes Labanotation for two Tudor class combinations, tendus for barre and grands battements for center. The notation is paired with word descriptions of the combinations, so they're good practice for beginning Labanotation students and a good introduction for Labanotation newbies.

Tribute to Tudor

As I've mentioned several times before, this year is Antony Tudor's centenary. Here's another newspaper tribute to Tudor, partially focusing on a two-day conference about Tudor and mourning the absence from the conference of Airi Hynninen, notator and former assistant to Tudor:

http://www.nysun.com/arts/tribute-tudor

Museum Exhibition: ...point...to line...to plane

Do you live in or near Chicago? If so, here's something you might want to go see. (And if not, you can delight with me from a distance that Labanotation is being featured in a museum!)

Until April 27, the Loyola University Museum of Art is displaying an exhibition called "…point…to line…to plane: Labanotation and Antony Tudor’s The Leaves are Fading." From the museum's description of the exhibition:

Dance notation as a type of schematic drawing is the subject of this exhibition. Using Airi Hynninen’s notation of the dance work The Leaves Are Fading by celebrated choreographer Antony Tudor (1908-1987), the system of Labanotation records a choreographer’s work for posterity. Segments from The Leaves Are Fading, Gelsey’s Song, and an ensemble piece illustrate how a fleeting performance can be captured. Tudor’s piece premiered in 1975 and was created in conjunction with the music of Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904).

For more information about this and other exhibitions at Loyola, see: http://www.luc.edu/luma/exhibitions.html

More on Joffrey's Celebration of Tudor

Just posted on the Winger: from Joffrey Ballet's Lauren Stewart, beautiful, intimate photos of the Joffrey's performance of Tudor's Dark Elegies: http://thewinger.com/words/2008/dark-elegies/

(If you're not familiar with the Winger, it's a completely addictive dance website that includes blogging from dancers, dance teachers, dance lovers, etc. And an impressive number of these bloggers are also fantastic dance photographers. Oh, the photos -- they're enrapturing.)

A Second Centennial

The latest issue of the DNB's Library News celebrates a second birthday, too: the centenary of Antony Tudor. Tudor was a strong believer in the value of Labanotation, and 26 of his 54 dances are notated. Read more about his notated works (and ballet class combinations!) in the article.

Perhaps worth mentioning:

The New York Times has been covering Tudor's centenary as well. Here's an article about the Joffrey's Tudor program: In Chicago, the Elusive Genius of Tudor Revisited.

And here's an article about the New York Theater Ballet's program celebrating both Tudor and Limón: Restoring Luster to Two 20th-Century Dance Legends (notice how the article title is a play on the title of Tudor's Dim Lustre).

(Recently Unearthed) Great Quote about Notation

Here's a quote you haven't seen on the Dance Notation Bureau website. It's an excerpt from the last will and testament of Antony Tudor. It's in legalese and thus is not the most colorful quote in my little Great Quotes series, but what it says -- stipulating DNB involvement in stagings -- now that's a Great Quote with oomph!

". . . I request my Trustee, in order to insure the integrity of my ballets in performance, to require as a condition of any agreement entered into or permission given for performance of any of my ballets that the performance be based on the best available record of the ballet and, specifically, if the ballet has been notated by the DNB or by the Institute of Choreology, that the Bureau or the Institute be consulted and the performance based upon its notation."

Great Quotes about Notation, Part 5

It feels like time to trot out another testimonial. Here's Antony Tudor on the Dance Notation Bureau: