We are all about collaboration here at Frame.  All about it.  And once a year, we open a Music Composition Competition to find new collaborators for our live and film work.  Last year’s winner was Micah Clark.  His music was in both Mortar, Sylphs Wrote and Satin Stitch.  A talented composer, his works were necessary for the work that we made, and played an integral role in shaping the piece.  Mortar would not be Mortar without Micah Clark.  The reason we selected his music was the depth of the sound.  I heard Stravinsky and Debussy and his own voice.  An old, old soul but at the same time fresh.   It’s that time when we open the competition again, to find this year’s winner and collaborator with Frame.  Here are the details:

2011-2012 Frame Dance Productions Music Composition Competition

Note: The deadline is January 6, 2012.

Frame Dance Productions announces its competition to select a piece of music for its upcoming Spring season. Its two-fold purpose is to offer outstanding emerging composers a forum for their recognition as well as an opportunity to collaborate with the dance performance company, Frame Dance Productions. We are looking for pieces that have been written, or for samples in consideration for a future work.

Award and Performance
The winning composer’s music will be the basis of a new original work– film and/or live and will be featured prominently as a collaborator with Frame Dance Productions.

Eligibility
All composers, who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, are eligible.

Submission Guidelines
Works may be written for solo, duo, trio, quartet, or quintet.
Acoustic works that utilize electronic playback are also acceptable.
Electronic music is accepted and encouraged.

All music must be unpublished.

Interested composers should submit:

• a recording of the piece on a CD
• a biography, with current address, e-mail address, and phone number, and
• a stamped, self-addressed envelope, if they wish their music returned.

Entry Fee and Deadline
The entry fee is $15.00 and composers may submit up to three selections.  Make checks payable to Frame Dance Productions.

All entries must be postmarked no later than Friday, January 6, 2012.
Frame Dance Productions is not responsible for lost or damaged material.
The winning composition will be announced at FrameDance.org on Friday, January 28, 2012.

For submission details please email Lydia.Hance@FrameDance.org.
For more information on Frame Dance Productions, please visit FrameDance.org.

I saw Pina in 3D today.  It was magnificent and heavy and my stomach is still in knots.  I am going to do a longer post on my thoughts of Pina in the next couple of days.  I think it’s going to take me a little while to sift through it.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?

I might be posting here on things not regarding dance.  I’m on a breather/sabbatical/inspiration hunt.  So I thought I’d list some things I currently love:

1. cooking with the local veggies from my co-op.

2. cooking on monday evenings.  it’s like this sweet reward of the first day of work after a weekend.

3. perspective.

4. the sound of my sweet kitty eating.

5. silence

6. spaghetti squash

7. encouragement

8. coffee

9. chocolate

10. new beginnings.

We love Nancy Wozny, and we love her new endeavor.  Check it out here.  In the virtual newsstand, click on Houston Oct 2011.  Read on, and find a Framing Bodies shout out and a picture of the cast!  Yay for beautiful arts magazines about the arts!!!

This was the first weekend that I haven’t done any work for Frame in probably six months.  And I was sick.  Awesome.  But still, I could feel my mind relaxing, letting go– and not in a brain dead kind of way.  In a “oh yeah, weekends are good for re-grouping” kind of way.  Even though I was asleep or half-asleep for most of the weekend, I found myself thinking of movement.  Bits of choreography, concepts, things that interest me, and things that challenge me.  And there weren’t any lofty concepts like, oh I don’t know, LOVE or um, perhaps, ISOLATION.  It was just movement.  It felt like a cold glass of water.  It felt fresh to my mind.  I have decided that I am going to play outside of my comfort zone a LOT on the movement vocabulary for the next project.  More on that later.  But for now I’m just sifting through ideas, finding what peeks my imagination, and finding something that feels refreshing.  I feel like I need something refreshing.

And I believe in the break.  Believe me, I do.  So I was reluctant when I allowed my mind to start thinking in dance at all.  But then I realized that the editing process for me lacked movement entirely.  I’m watching the movement on the screen (the same movement I’ve seen for six months) and I’m sitting still.  So I gave myself a break.  I just wanted move move, or imagine moving.  Speaking of which, I think the other reason I wanted to dance this weekend was because I have been injured for several weeks.  I pulled my calf and it’s just finally almost healed.  Kind of a blessing that it was during a film project, and not a live show.  It’s had time to heal.  But now I’m really ready for it to be back to normal.

To the fans of Frame, we had a blast with you this past weekend.  Two full houses and an added show because you wouldn’t take “sold out” sitting down.  It’s always so great when we make beautiful things and people watch.  We hope that you went home changed and influenced by the cast who took such risks, had such courage, and spoke/wrote/danced so sincerely.

People have asked about future Framing Bodies films– meaning the films Frame makes that involve community members (“Framing Bodies”).  Yes. Framing Bodies:_____.   We will do it again.  And hopefully again and again.  If you are interested in financially sponsoring another community film, or participating in one, or volunteering for one, please email lydia.hance@framedance.org.

If you came this weekend, we’re glad you did.  If you missed it, we will be screening it in the new year, not to worry. So stay tuned.  It’s on the books.  It will happen.

Love and Merci,

Frame

Sitting here at Frame Central hearing the rain gives me a calm.  We’re working on the final, final finishes.  We’re making the credits.  It’s almost showtime and I do feel like the process is coming to a close.

Framing Bodies: LOVE ME has been a  roller coaster of emotions: from forming the idea into grant proposals, to the first rehearsals, and final film shoots and audio recording; to sitting with piles of stories in my living room sorting, sifting, dreaming, piecing, to watching hours of footage, getting carpal tunnel from sitting at the computer for hours on end, coming to tears in the midst of the editing from hearing the heart-wrenching stories of the cast; to feeling resolution, and sitting in awe of the gutsy words these people have spoken, danced and lived…

I’m thankful.

Dear Readers,

Look to the right,  go ahead.  If you are not on our mailing list, you can change that right here.  We don’t spam, or sell, or bombard you.  Promise.

Lydia

Happy October, the month of Framing Bodies: LOVE ME. Here’s the article.