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Saturday, October 29, 2022

Archive of a Friendship


In the early years of this blog I'd post here an Archive of the Month: video taken at live shows, usually site-specific ones. That was before I considered myself a dance filmmaker, with plenty of edited content to post. Since those days, as you know, live events have become completely atypical for me - an exception being Manufacturing Work, described in the previous post, about which more soon.

Today's Archive is a short compilation of live events spanning almost 30 years and featuring Anka Sedlackova, created as an introduction to 1/3 of the lovely trio of women I've assembled for our residency at Firkin Crane in Cork, Ireland next month. 

Anka and I first met completely by chance in 1994 when she was an ArtsLink Fellow visiting Lincoln Nebraska from her home in Bratislava, Slovakia. The moment I saw her I knew she would be perfect as "The Prodigal Daughter" in the community-based project I was creating with Marta Miller, to music by A. Leroy. She and I have worked together off and on since then, re-uniting several times for tours in the US and Slovakia - including MassMoCA in North Adams, Mass, and St Marks Danspace Project in NYC,  as you can see from the video footage above.  

The compilation ends with Bytost / Being, a solo for Anka which we began together in the summer of 2019 when she visited Nyack between workshops in Body Mind Centering, which she attends or leads as an expert in her work as a certified IDME (Infant Developmental Movement Educator). Bytost has since been performed in several venues in Europe; one of my goals at Firkin Crane is to create a dance film version of it.

While in Ireland, of course I also have plans to screen an evening of my dance films, partly as a way to scare up a cinematographer for the video version of Bytost, as well as this new trio we'll be concocting. 

What do I know about it at the moment?

N.O.T.H.I.N.G 

which is the kind of scary/fun I'm used to. However, I do know that with Anka, Tina Vasquez and Selina Shida Hack on board, there is bound to be something wonderful going on. NB: Before departing, I hope to share here some footage of those (relatively) young 'uns as well - both have collaborated with me frequently enough to compile a mini-Renzi reel!

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By the way, you may have noticed that I rarely ask for donations in here anymore. But as it is getting to be that time of year, I remind you that the yellow DONATE button at the upper right still works.  In return I'd be happy to share new work with you - maybe you'd like a private screening of Bronx Magic which screens in two more festivals next month. Or a sneak peek at A Day's Work, which is the new title for that once-live-now-filmed trio, which I hope to start submitting just before my flight to Cork.

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