The Palaia Dance Project 2003
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Between 23
and 30 May, 2003, Palaia (Pi) hosted a group of twenty scholars and dancers
from Armenia, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the US -- contributors to
the "Palaia Dance Project"
(PDP). This was the fruit of a collaboration between several institutions,
including the Institute of Modern Russian Culture, Los Angeles/IMRC); the
Institute of Art History,Moscow; the Fondazione Del Bianco, Florence; the
Fondazione Pontedera Teatro; and the University of Southern California, Los
Angeles.For seven days these international celebrities discussed and interpreted
one of the most exciting moments in the history of Russian culture -- the
artistic, literary and theatrical avant-garde that both pointed to, and resulted
from, the social Revolution of October, 1917.
(If you have trouble viewing the slide show download the Free Flash Player)
Taking innovative ideas from Italian Futurism, French Cubism, even American time and motion studies as well as from domestic traditions, the Russian avant-garde produced masterpieces of energy and originality -- from Kandinsky's abstract painting to Stravinsky's ballets -- and anticipated much of what we now call "modern dance". The purpose of the PDP was to analyze these radical phenomena and then to design, choreograph and produce a dance performance, “Seven by Five” that would reflect and enhance the dynamic concepts of vision and movement elaborated in Moscow in the 1910s and 1920s. This production was choreographed by Lorin Johnson and consisted of two sections: reconstructions of choreographies by Goleizovsky and Balanchine and a new, experimental dance sequence called “Moto-Bio: Bodies in Movement”.
Co-sponsored by the Fondazione Pontedera Teatro, “Seven by Five” was presented publicly for the Festival “Tendopolis” at the Fabbrica Europa, Stazione Leopolda, Florence, on 29 May, 2003, at 19.00. For program information e-mail the IMRC at: imrc@usc.edu or visit www.usc.edu./dept/LAS/IMRC/pdp.
Co-ordinated by John E. Bowlt (director of the IMRC; and professor of Russian studies at the University of Southern California) and by Nicoletta Misler (professor of Russian and East European art at the Oriental University of Naples), the group of scholars included Sharon Carnicke (professor of theater at the University of Southern California), Mel Gordon (professor of performance studies at the University of California Berkeley), Vyacheslav Ivanov (member of the Academy of Sciences, Moscow, and professor of Russian studies at the University of California, Los Angeles), Mark Konecny (archivist for the Institute of Modern Russian Culture, Los Angeles), Marcus Levitt (professor of Russian literature at the University of Southern California), Olga Matich (professor of Russian literature at the University of California, Berkeley), Jean-Claude Marcadé (professor of Russian culture at the Institut de Recherche et d’Etude sur les Nouvelles Institutions et Sociétés de l'Est, Paris), Toshiharu Omuka (professor of modern art at the University of Tsukuba Japan), Elizaveta Surits (researcher with the Institute of Art History, Moscow), Karl Toepfer (professor of theater at California State University, San José), Yuri Tsivian (professor of cinema at the University of Chicago, USA), Elisa Vaccarino (specialist in modern dance; Italian RAI and SAT, Turin).
Film clips of "Moto-Bio: Bodies in Movement"
(All film clips are the orginal choreography of Lorin Johnson ©2003)
With choreography by Lorin Johnson (former member of the American Ballet Theatre; currently free-lance choreographer in Southern California and a specialist in Russian culture), “Seven by Five” was an investigation into the movements of the body in dance, gymnastics, work, narration and abstraction. Inspired by the music, theater, painting and cinema of the Russian avant-garde, “Seven by Five”, with its experimental section “Moto-Bio: Bodies in Movement”, brought together the following international group of dance professionals: