‘ohana is changing its name, starting with the release of the “Time Now Choreography Mixes”, which features the new tracks “Time Now” and “Some Time”, composed for Lizzie MacKenzie’s new work “Time Now” for Extensions Dance Company.
‘ohana is the Hawaiian word for “family”, and when we started making music under this name about ten years ago, the internet was much less developed -- no iTunes, no Myspace, no Facebook, none of the thousands of places where everything that goes on anywhere can be grouped together. Because the idea of family is such an important feature of Hawaiian culture, the internet is now crowded with references to ‘ohana.
On Sunday, March 7, at 5 p.m.,Wheeling Orchesis will team with the Arlington Dance Ensemble for the 16th annual Dance for Life's Next Generation. This year's benefit, held in Wheeling High School's Sang Theater, will be emceed by Scott Corchin (WHS Orchesis alumni and on air personality at Kiss 103.5) and Lizzie MacKenzie (River North Dance Chicago). All proceeds will be donated to the Dance for Life Fund and The Children's Place Association, organizations dedicated to the support of those living with HIV/AIDS.
Diane Rawlinson is the founder and co-artistic director of its Dance For Life’s affiliated youth benefit concert (Dance For Life’s Next Generation) since 1995. This year’s benefit features alot of friends of All Over The Place Records -- aotpr artist D. Jeremy is an alumnus of Wheeling Orchesis, of which Diane is the director. Lizzie MacKenzie is co-hosting the event with Scott Corchin, who is featured in the D. Jeremy video for “Loser”, and plays on D. Jeremy’s track “Feel The Love”. Finally, the event features a performance by Extensions Dance Company, performing Lizzie MacKenzie’s new work “Time Now”, to an original ‘ohana Dreamdance score written by Dan Agosto and Johnny Nevin.
As if making the best music that you can weren’t complicated enough, releasing that music so that people who would enjoy it can find it, buy it or stream it (legally, you would hope), and listen to it is another life of complication. You need help to do this at all, and you need even more help to do it right. We get a lot of that help from our distributor, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, IODA.
There’s a whole series of stories to do about IODA, but here’s just a small look into who they are and what they do for artists like ‘ohana Dreamdance and labels like All Over The Place.
We got a great email last week from an organization with the irresistible name “dance anywhere”. Here’s what Julia Zolinsky told us about “dance anywhere”:
“dance anywhere is a public art performance that has taken place annually since 2005. The project begins with a simple premise - an open invitation for people to stop, and dance, wherever they are at 12 noon in San Francisco, 3 pm in New York, 8 pm in Paris, and so on around the world. Participants dance on street corners, on the subway, in museums, offices, and parks, and are encouraged to take photos and videos that are later shared on the dance anywhere website and included in a visual art exhibition. This year, dance anywhere will occur on March 26, 2010.” (For more info, www.danceanywhere.org.)
Who could possible ask for a better idea? We’re posting this now so that you’ll have a couple of days to warm up, and this Friday (2PM in Chicago), by all means, dance anywhere!
This is my probably my favorite track from last year. I thought I'd share it and recommend the entire album.
Dance Chicago begins its unique month-long presentation of dance performances, and on Thursday, November 3, the first of the New Moves series will go on at Stage 773. Following up on last month's very successful run of their full length show What Is Home To You, Renegade Dance Architects will present two works: Ginger Jensen's Search Me and Amy Williams' Here They Come. For more info: Stage 773.
As challenging as it is to express an artistic vision, only slightly less difficult is trying to get anybody to pay attention when you do. One of the important artistic aspects of Thodos Dance Chicago's New Dances series is that all of the best critical voices in the city take the time to see the works and write about them. Here's some of the coverage for New Dances 2011 -- enthusiastic, engaging, and like most criticism, multifaceted:
Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune
Zachary Whittenburg, Time Out Chicago
Laura Molzahn, SeeChicagoDance.com
Hay Perro's Record Release is at Quenchers, Friday March 11. Thunderunderus and I Love Rich! are there too, starting at 9PM. A great chance to check out what The Illinois Entertainer called "the sound Hay Perro has crafted during its five-year existence: intricate heavy-metal — dual-guitar harmonies everywhere — played with madcap punk-rock ferocity." If you want to, you can look up some of our other stories on Hay Perro while you're waiting for the show to start.
South By Southwest runs March 11 through the 20th in Austin, and Black Light Saints will be there to play Cedar Street Courtyard on Tuesday the 15th, after which they head to San Antonio for a show at Limelight on the 16th. Their Impossible Picks album is getting heard alot in alot of places --- I just listened to it again when Britton Wetherald and Dan Agosto stopped by Heart & Soul to do a podcast, which we'll have in a day or so. There's a new release from the band at dopecouture.com called "Research The Obvious" (along with a great write-up) if you can't make Austin or San Antonio.
The new planetclaire.com is live. The relaunch coincides with the release of Claire's latest project, her Hearts and Minds EP. It's a great artist site, mixing the new --- "A Long Goodbye" and "Winds of Change" (written and produced with long-time writing partner Tommy G), and "Wouldn't It" (produced by 'ohana Dreamdance bandmate Johnny Nevin) --- with some classic video from pop legend Tami Show. More from us about Hearts and Minds in a few days, but you can get it now at cdbaby and at iTunes. Even more of Claire's music is at the very cool Planet Claire.
Thodos Dance Chicago's Winter Concert March 4 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, like the performance February 19 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, was a breakthrough success. Hedy Weiss, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, said of the Winter Concert: "It is a must-see for anyone intrigued by Chicago history, by the power of dance to spin a story, and by the sight of a dance troupe clearly in the throes of a major breakthrough." For a closer look at the choreography of the current Thodos Dance Chicago repertory, you may want to have a look at these:
Ann Reinking, Melissa Thodos and "The White City"
Francisco Avina and Stephanie Martinez-Bennit and "Quieting the Clock"
Melissa Thodos and "Getting There"
Wade Schaaf and "Dancer, Net (Solo 1)"
Ron De Jesús and "Shift"
Pittsburgh Connections is the widely respected annual choreography series presented by Point Park University's Pittsburgh's Playhouse. This year's performance premiere's November 12, and runs through the 21st. You can find more information on the shows, which include new works by Dionna Pridgeon, Kassandra Taylor, Gina Patterson and Justin Myles, at Pittsburgh Playhouse. For the first installment of the podcast with Craig talking about his return to Point Park, check out Craig Kaufman's Return to Point Park University, and for more on "A Path Home", here's the full article: Craig Kaufman's A Path Home Premieres.
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Here's a really short podcast that traces the development of the "Wouldn't It" production. It starts with the intro from the final release, but then shows five different stages of the song's development, playing different progressive versions of how the arrangement and production of the track changed. Each of the versions is from the same section of the song, the second verse and chorus, until the podcast closes with the rest of the song from the final release. If you've got a few minutes, take a little trip through the process of how a singer/songwriter and her producer find the track that they want to make from a beautiful song.
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Here's a first listen to three excerpts from Black Light Saints' new EP Impossible Picks ---- "What Happens Next", "Baby Girl" and "Cattle Skull". The record is already getting talked up a lot, both because everybody who's heard it is so into it, and because of the high profiles of the members --- Ephraim Cuellar, Britton Wetherald, and Alex Brandi, not to mention the production by Dan Agosto. More from us in our story about Black Light Saints and from them on their Facebook.
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