PBT's show - new poster, new title

on blogging and putting yourself out there

I am planning to put up an online version of my magazine, Runthru, very soon; I'm in the process of figuring out what to put in it, what it will look like, why you will still buy the print version even if there's an online version, as well as figuring out what platform to put it on and how I'm going to pay for it. I've been looking for pegs* and of course had to check out Dance Magazine's online version.

They have this section called "Blogs," like online versions of broadsheets and newspapers do (My favorite blog on a broadsheet is Mayo's: http://blogs.todayonline.com/forartssake/). So I was thinking, maybe I should link my blog to Runthru, too. But how different would my blog posts be once I put up Runthru, which I plan will have regular news updates so that it's current and relevant and not necessarily waiting for the print version all the time? Right now, I'm mostly putting up news bits on this blog, basically because I've been busy doing actual writing, among other things. I also haven't been comfortable about what kind of things I want to share on this blog, given that I don't want it to be a "personal" blog anymore. So I've been wondering, is this to personal to share here? Wouldn't people interested in dance in the Philippines be interested to read these things, also?

That's one thing about blogging - it's a public endeavor. Very, very public. I always have personal blogs that anyone can read (on livejournal, I do not lock my posts because I have friends who read my blogs who cannot be bothered to get a livejournal account just to read my locked posts), but I'm always startled and uneasy when somebody comes up to me and mentions that they read my blog. I have to watch what I say. Going from that kind of blogging to wanting to share a blog on the Philippine dance scene is quite a difficult transition. I'm worried that this blog is getting a bit boring; at the same time, I worry about its/my credibility. Such a difficult transition, isn't it?

So, hoping to solve my dilemma, I checked out Dance Magazine EIC's blog to see what she blogs about. It wasn't much help - she casually talks about a Ballet Russes exhibit (which she could have had a full feature on in her magazine), about the death of Merce Cunningham and how that affected her and the artists around her, her thoughts after seeing Pina Bausch's dancers perform after her death, all little editorials that could be bigger articles. Which I guess is what a blog of an editor-in-chief should be about.

I know I'll figure it out eventually. I hope you stick around for the ride.

--

*One of my pegs is CritiCine, the independent online film criticism magazine, produced by the late Alexis Tioseco, which is an easily navigable site, whose valuable content matched the site's gorgeousness. Interestingly, when I was going through the site to get ideas, thinking what a brilliant man Alexis Tioseco was and how encouraged I felt that I wanted to do the same for dance, I didn't know yet that he had died - I believe I was looking at the site the day after if not the same day. I believe his work continues even after his death, inspiring a lot of us to take up the good fight and keep fighting. And so I shall. Though I have yet to figure out my attack strategy haha.

La Fille Mal Gardee and Other Ballets - PBT

EDIT: Philippine Ballet Theatre's La Fille Mal Gardee and Other Ballets is a Filipino version. The new poster:






This is the old poster, which I still find somewhat charming, so I'm keeping it. Schedules still apply.




--

Fulbright Association Invites Applications For 2009 Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund Lecture On Dance

It's too late for me to join (don't have any research ready), but some of you might be interested. Hurry, though, deadline is the 22nd.

--

The Fulbright Association has issued a call for applications to present the 2009 lecture under the Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund for International Scholarship on Dance. Applications must be received by Sept. 22, 2009.

The Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund enables a dance scholar to present a major paper on previously unpublished research at the Fulbright Association’s annual conference. The 2009 lecture will be delivered on Oct. 31 as part of the Fulbright Association 32nd Annual Conference, “Mutual Understanding amid Global Economic Challenges,” in Washington, D.C. The recipient of the Selma Jeanne Cohen Fund award will receive round-trip travel and associated expenses.

The 2009 lecturer will be chosen according to guidelines that were developed with the late Dr. Selma Jeanne Cohen, dance historian and founding editor of the International Encyclopedia of Dance. The competition is open to all dance scholars. Guidelines and application materials are posted at www.fulbright.org/cohenfund.

Alison M Friedman, general manager of Parnassus Productions, Inc., presented the 2008 Selma Jeanne Cohen Lecture in International Dance Scholarship entitled “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Carving out Space for Chinese Modern Dance in an Interconnected World.”

--

A network for dance in the Asia-Pacific region

My piece on the Goethe Institut's regional dance summit got published yesterday on Malaya. An excerpt:

The gathering was composed of dance choreographers and critics from South East Asia, New Zealand and Australia, who came together in the effort of building a network for dance in the region. Binding the summit together was the launch of the Tanz Connexions website, which aims to provide an updated view of the dance scene in the region, and to promote collaborations and further developments of contemporary dance.

There was a lot of buzz about the use of the terms "contemporary" and "traditional" in this summit. The theme of the summit was "Transforming Traditions." I see it as the Goethe Institut’s acknowledgment of Southeast Asia’s strong roots in traditional dance and how, coming from this background, choreographers attempt to explore the contemporary. Margie Medlin, director of Australia’s Critical Path, in her keynote address about the dance scene in her country, said that contemporizing dance meant to "take dance from outside and layer their heritage on top of it," which is normal in multicultural countries, and in post-colonial ones as well.

Of course, our own local dance scene has long dealt with the contemporizing of traditional dance and is looking towards other explorations than merely layering heritage on top of new choreography. Filipino choreographer Donna Miranda, who performed her Beneath Polka-Dotted Skies at the summit, is more interested in multimedia collaborations with other non-dance artists, both in the formation of ideas and in execution.

Read the rest here: http://www.malaya.com.ph/sep02/livi4.htm

--