Madcodance's Blog

After all this text, I thought it would be nice to post up a few pictures to back-up what we have been doing this season!

Pics from our Books in Motion residencies in October, 60 by 60 in November and even a pic of the ladies in before Cecil’s piece last weekend!

Keli

Company Member

I am very pleased to say that I am a new member of Modern American Dance Company.  They offer a lot of different opportunities  and experiences to help their  company members grow artistically, physically, educationally, among others.  I feel that my growth as a person has been ten fold and am thankful for the opportunites yet to come. Also, I am extremely excited that Stacy West asked me to help a team of company members create a new program about Body Language and Character Education called “Body Talk”.  So far, It has been very rewarding and I have been able to use my teaching degree even though I have decided that dance is my true calling.  Tonight, we just finished a performance at the Lee Theater as guest artists in the University of Missouri-St. Louis dance performance.  Even though we have performed this piece before in a previous show, I feel that I continue to find new adventures with in the work.  It is quite a difficult and challenging work and am thankful to have had the opportunity to work with such a talented choreographer such as Cecil Slaughter.  I am eager to find out what the future holds for me with MADCo and can’t wait to get started.  If you are looking for a great performance, I suggest you come check us out.  I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Company Member: Vance Baldwin

In the rare occasion that I found some free time I thought I would come back and add to the blog and fill in what has happened since the last post. Keli had informed you all of our show that went amazing and we had a very good turn out and feed back from the audience about the show and the way the show went. I for one also enjoyed the show a ton and hope to do another one similar in nature just because the atmosphere was so different from anything that I had done before.
After the show was completed we moved on to the next task at hand which was starting the program Books In Motion for the season. We kicked it off by starting at two elementary schools this time, Keysor Elementary and Rohan Woods Elementary. This year the book of choice was The Invention Of Hugo Cabret. The book is a very exciting and easy read for many ages. With having over 150 illustrations in the book it makes it that much more exciting to read cruising the border of a picture book and straight literature. The story keeps children involved by following a young boy through his adventures and misfortunes while trying to live on his own after his Uncle disappears one day. Im not going to tell you the whole story because I want you to read it for yourself. The book is definitely one to get all kids involved and get their brains moving on a pure adventure ride. With the book being so exciting it comes hand in hand with the program that we hold with the kids. The buzz from the children just walking into the school was one to be a part of. The kids were so excited to get started and it made it that much easier for us to dig in and really shape the kids into a great production.
On top of all this excitement the author of the book came to visit us and the children and to also participate in the annual Big Read festival in Clayton, MO. He did a book signing, read from the book, gave a little background information on the creative process, then sat down to enjoy the work that the kids and our company worked very hard to put together. All in all the show went amazing and Mr. Celznick (the author) was overjoyed to have taken a part in our program and for us to use his book. Some of the members also got the rare experience to speak with and really get to meet Brian and talk with him outside of the work environment.
Now to the next thing….We recently just started another adventure which is learning all of the next material. I wont go into too much yet, but from what I can tell is going to be a “whirlwind” of choreography…..HAHA Sorry that was a little personal joke seeing as though the piece we are working on is called Private Storms. Anywho I wont give you anymore bad jokes. I hope to stay more involved in the blogs and keep it more current from now on. Until next time.

Company Member

Jason Flodder

Ever since MADCO started this season, rehearsals have been an absolute whirlwind.  Already in the first month we have participated in a flash mob performance for a corporate sales event, worked with four guest choreographers and began a wellness program that involves group training sessions to help keep our bodies in shape. Everything has happened so fast and we are barely into the season.

With all this stuff going on, I think it is safe to say my emotions have been a bit high…I have been feeling very nervous about remembering all the choreography and MADCO dancing well as a group.  As with any job, you always want to improve, but when things are flying at you from left and right, you really have to stay focused and in the game. Then comes in the physical part; all of our bodies are starting to get a bit mad at us.  Shoulders, backs, knees…every dancer has some sort of ache or pain. However, as professionals it is our job to keep pushing through.  We must deal with all the mental and physical stuff together to help create a great final product. It’s a lot to think about…

Today it really hit me that from here on out comes the fun part: performances! It makes all the hard work completely worth it. Performances are the highlights of our day to day work.

In two weeks we will be performing ‘Music and Moves’ in a flat floor configuration.  This is one of my favorite ways to perform because the audience gets to walk around while we dance, sip a cocktail and then talk to other patrons about the show. It’s very interactive and takes dance out of a traditional setting.  My first year at MADCO we did a performance with a similar concept, ‘Club MAD’ and it was probably one of the coolest shows I have danced in of my professional career.

We are all feeling the pressure to dance great, but things are starting to really come together and I can feel the energy getting more and more excited and positive as the shows get closer and closer!  I truly hope you will attend and experience the excitement with us.

Keli

Company Member

So we just finished with the first choreographer, Rob Scroggins. The experience was definitely one of the most fun pieces I have ever been involved in. Having never worked with Rob I didnt really know what to expect, but of course being part of the dance community, you always hear about works by the choreographers. From the minute we got in the studio I knew it was going to be an interesting ride to get into Rob’s mind and really deliver what he wanted when he introduced the idea by saying he was reading an Elizbethan fantasy novel and couldn’t get it out of his head. We quickly got into the piece and our characters and flew through the choreography in a matter of a week and had a basic skeleton for what the piece was going to be. I am very excited to see where the piece will continue to go through many more rehearsals and runs until the show. I can most certainly say this will be a piece that I will remember performing many years from know. So thank you Rob Scroggins for your “unique” persona and quirky personality. “Charmed” Jason Flodder Company Member

I visited St. Louis ArtWorks today to see the dance apprentices hard at work.  Wow.  What great energy from both the MADCO teachers and the St. Louis ArtWorks Apprentices. Next week is their first informal showing of the stuff they are working on.  I’m sure these enthusiastic students are coming up with some great ideas for choreography of their own.  As a teacher, one of the things I have enjoyed most in my career is to see the creative process from young people who don’t have very much experience in dance.  Sometimes,  I think they are more creative than professionals who have taken all the required college composition classes.  I believe when we know the “rules” of choreography we are bound by making sure we use levels, vary our time, and use a variety of spacial patterns, etc.  Often flat out creativity is lost or perhaps there is more fear about movement invention when you have taken a lot of technique classes.  Because the ArtWorks Apprentices are young, new to the art form and not bound by all the rules they know, I think I’m going to see some wonderfully unique stuff from them!  I can’t wait. 

Stacy West

MADCO Executive and Artistic Director