tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-310992202024-03-04T20:05:40.452-08:00Motion and Processknowing not knowing - ideas on dancechristian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-17390471506664098922016-09-16T07:49:00.000-07:002016-09-16T07:49:10.590-07:00
Death. Dance. Doing. New work under way.
christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-32666800668670768892016-09-16T07:45:00.003-07:002016-09-16T07:45:37.621-07:00New creation has begun. Still finding the title. Its about the small stuff, like life and death.
christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-81086272540447760602015-03-31T16:45:00.000-07:002015-03-31T16:46:11.312-07:00
When Performance Shatters Me
Originally published in Stance on Dance, February 23, 2015
Please visit Stance on Dance for original posting and many other great essays about dance.
BY CHRISTIAN BURNS
Standing in a lightless arena-sized room (the blackness representing everything I don’t know) holding a flashlight that illuminates a cone of modest visibility (representing mychristian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-62200873670115898602014-11-30T21:59:00.003-08:002015-03-31T16:51:33.497-07:00Three layers
Three layers from Sonorous Figures
(poverty, vibrations and the clown)
1) Poverty (his conditions)
2) Vibrations (his heart)
3) Clown (his cover)
christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-76351753967981699492014-11-30T21:49:00.000-08:002014-11-30T21:51:01.063-08:00steps & urinals
From 2008
I can’t really explain it any better: all I want is to make
dances that have no steps.
Their presence makes me aware of a creator. I don't want to be thinking about who made it - starring at a choreographer on stage under the spot-light flapping their arms hollering 'look at me! no me! look at me!! aren't i clever?!?" I don't want to see choreography.
<!--[if gte christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-88098799492241152812014-07-26T08:24:00.001-07:002014-07-26T08:24:25.370-07:00Solo Performance #73 Joe Goode Annex SF, CA CONCEPT SERIES christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-43330009603650645192014-04-24T16:04:00.000-07:002014-04-24T16:04:00.260-07:00
Dance as a practical philosophically.
Actively asking: Who am I? What am I? Am I my body? Am I in my body? Where am I within my body? Where
is this dance coming from? What am I following?
Memory, Culture, Taste, Aesthetics, Ambition, Discrimination, Hope, Aspiration, Desire... Desire from what? Desire for what? Is this for you? Is this for me? Is this about us? Is this really christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-16594314330686888172014-04-04T08:07:00.001-07:002014-04-04T08:07:34.348-07:00
Preparations and Considerations for Performance: The Check-list
Intention Channel:
Reflections on why I am dancing
What I want out of it
Who it is for
Its reason to be
Body Channel:
Extended axis
Tipping axis
Keeping weight in play
Being formed by the music
Forming the music
Motion follow-through and re-direction
Staying in the moment in the real-time process of
re-forming
christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-80533083856620939682014-02-16T17:07:00.000-08:002014-02-16T17:07:47.036-08:00
Tendu
christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-73901187183037123362014-02-16T17:01:00.000-08:002014-02-16T17:01:38.706-08:00
Part III from Notes on Solo Improvisation
*More Performance Considerations
Working with a sense of play. Acting with a directness of
intention.
Two scenarios come to mind: 1. A documentary film whose
subject is itself asking what it is as it’s being made – discovery and
presentation occurring in the same moment. 2. A skydiver jumps out of a plane, then
must construct their own parachute christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-52628675324108207902014-02-16T16:41:00.000-08:002014-02-16T16:41:12.051-08:00
Part II from Notes on Solo Improvisation
*Actions & Imprints
Given enough time, I inevitably return to the subject matter
of Abstract Expressionism and its inherent connection to body, movement,
improvisation and motion’s elusive ability to be documented. Action painting (Abstract
Expressionism) becomes a function for choreographic thought. Specifically, with
regards to Time, the means christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-19075477974198221382014-02-10T18:00:00.002-08:002014-02-10T18:00:49.686-08:00
This is the first of several postings reporting from within my performance practice.
What: 8x8x8 curated by Randee Paufve
Where: The Uptown, Oakland, CA
When: January 21, 2014 8:30pm
What I created:
Christian Burns - Solo Improvisation
Duration – 7 min.
Music/Sound – Keith Jarrett (one track from recording
Carnegie Hall)
Variables – No props, non-costume (tee shirt & pantschristian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-44249413989903078812012-04-13T13:11:00.000-07:002012-04-13T13:11:21.873-07:00
Process for creating a work Part IIFrom an interview with dancer and dance writer Emmaly Weiderholt for her recently launched new blog Stance on Dance.
EW: How
do you determine when to set movement versus when to improvise?
CB: Firstly
I will be faced with very mundane practical/logistic constraints; how
much time is available and how experienced are the dancers. The more
time and christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-65743798174206421872012-04-07T10:37:00.000-07:002012-04-07T15:37:11.141-07:00Process for creating a work Part I
From an interview with dancer and dance writer Emmaly Weiderholt for her recently launched new blog Stance on Dance
EW: What is your process like when you create work, particularly when you create an improvised piece?
CB: When I create a piece through improvisation I generally have a sense of what I want to learn from the work. I always start with christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-55056491391968800052011-08-22T10:38:00.001-07:002011-08-22T10:42:11.354-07:00new dance TODAY dance newchristian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-80833853081099848862008-09-11T07:47:00.003-07:002008-09-11T08:05:44.980-07:00seeing the messengerTechnique - virtuosity / application / costumeMedium - delivery method / containerCreator - messenger / vesselContent - the experience Concept - the thoughtExecution - the bodyThe connection between the artist – the messenger, and the execution of their physical experience, dictates their work, their mind, their thought process, their everything. The work itself, a disembodied object, the christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-80949505800114983722008-09-09T14:19:00.004-07:002008-09-10T07:40:39.247-07:00selfmap list( Mobius Strip, Gilles Jobin)Selfmap List 2006Maps as a guide to the selfMaps as a guide to the property of the selfThe self as a property object as a locationThe self as a location as a landscapeThe self as a landscape to be studied and measuredThe self as a landscape to be walked and traveledThe self as a landscape of boundaries and markersThe self as boundary’s to be marked for christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-60047850765292742792008-09-03T09:36:00.002-07:002008-09-03T09:43:41.771-07:00Marrow and Dancing, 2005At night I climb into your skin andRestI breathyour bonesmarrow and dancingchristian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-7674498879965053422008-08-23T09:14:00.004-07:002008-08-23T09:29:39.234-07:00performing... in my mindThis is a fantastic group from Wales. Their work is generally sit-specific, collaborative and improvisational. In this particular durational performance, I was struck by their ability to navigate the barrier of the forth wall and engage the audience, it was in a word "sublime". I have a lot to learn from this group.christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-54018122723818545732008-08-14T15:06:00.003-07:002008-08-14T15:22:28.534-07:00on or offi have been on a rest finally, after a non-stop year of travel, work and research. while on my break i am starting to feel the absence of my daily practice of dancing. the practice of letting my thinking (skull based) brain to share a communion with the much deeper body based brain. i have got to get into a groove for myself soon. below is a posting from another conversation with a couple of christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-14843400991895975722008-07-31T08:29:00.004-07:002008-07-31T08:41:10.186-07:00vaudeville & steppingI can’t really explain it any better: all I want is to make dances that have no steps. I think that there is something fundamental in this inquiry. The presence of steps makes me aware of a creator of steps. I am looking at the origin of the material as though the dance maker where upstage under a spot light – in my mind, always keeping me at arms length from the experience of the event. I was christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-24704053313288324622008-07-29T13:16:00.003-07:002008-07-29T13:31:10.303-07:00SFCD - choice/authorship/illusionArtistically and philosophically I am uninteresting in being the sole decider of the choreography. I am interested in facilitating to a dancer a developed skill set for which they can learn how to make their own choices for their dancing, to give them the experience of what it feels like to have to take responsibility for their dance, their choices, their actions.[I also frame this passage with christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-92207094789819262602008-07-24T11:23:00.003-07:002008-07-24T11:32:24.048-07:00Thinking Motion - teaching notes from San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, summer program 2008Energy is real. Energy is language. “Asking Motion” “Thinking Motion”How can we re-illuminate the real –ness of energy in dance? How can we recognize physical intention or physical actions with the same level of clarity that we recognize choreographic steps? (In Dance)What we see is not so much the physical steps and sequences of steps, as building blocks that exist separate from the body – christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-33366921225991939332008-06-14T13:20:00.006-07:002008-07-10T08:11:10.847-07:00unintended performers, toronto international airport, may 24, 2008there is something fun about watching people in the worldand deciding to observe them in the framework of the performancecontext. their personal, subtle movements and actions executed in the framework of their environments. intricate timings occure, unintended, andno less beautiful than any crafted piece of choreography. they are the unintended performers. and i realize we are all unintended christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31099220.post-35139169343520919682008-04-23T06:18:00.005-07:002008-05-21T15:52:36.355-07:00watching gravitywatching paint dry on a canvas is literally as satisfying as watchingthe most intimate transitioning in a dance. i wait for the momentswhen the pull of gravity forces the collecting edge of wet paint to break and small valleys open up and the paint drips down. it is beautifulto observe where the drip stops. i can only partially estimate how thatwill work out based on degrees of solubility and christian burnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13559591859019617956noreply@blogger.com