body movement tuesday :: denishawn school of dance

Denishawn School of Dance
The Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn in Los Angeles, California, helped many perfect their dancing talents.  Some of the school's more notable pupils include Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman and silent film star Louise Brooks.  The school was especially renowned for its influence on ballet and experimental modern dance.  In time, Denishawn teachings reached another school location, as well, Studio 61 at the Carnegie Hall Studios. Because St. Denis and Shawn believed that all dance techniques were valid and instructive, the school offered classes in Oriental, Spanish, and primitive dance; the fundamentals of ballet; their own innovative techniques; and, later, the modern dance techniques that had been developed in Europe by Rudolf Laban.

"The art of dance is too big to be encompassed by any one system.  On the contrary, the dance includes all systems or schools of dance.  Every way that any human being of any race or nationality, at any period of human history, has moved rhythmically to express himself, belongs to the dance. We endeavor to recognize and use all contributions of the past to the dance and will continue to use all new contributions in the future"

soundscape saturday :: resident advisor

Resident Advisor
Established in 2001, RA publishes news, reviews and features to an audience of more than 750,000 monthly readers.  Thousands of artist and label profiles and even more user generated event and club listings have made RA an invaluable resource to both the clued up music lover and the clubgoer simply looking for a good night out.  With offices in London and Berlin and contributors spanning the globe, RA covers anything and everything that is electronic music related.

whimsical wednesday :: piper and paisley

Piper and Paisley
bad hair day = good hat
"Way back in 2007, Piper and Paisley was born out of the basement of a teeny little house in Missoula, Montana.  I am a hat girl. Always have been.  When we decided to grow a family, I really couldn't justify my hat habit any longer, but I had the "new-mom-always-looks-like-a-truck-just-hit-her" look goin' on, and I really needed something to make me look a little more on my game.  So I made some hats.  Then I sold some hats.  Now here I am.
Piper and Paisley hats are all made by me.  I draft all of my patterns by hand, and adjust them for the best fit."

body movement tuesday :: gearshifting performance works

Gearshifting Performance Works
Jolene Bailie is the Artistic Director
Gearshifting Performance Works is a not for profit Arts Organization dedicated to the advancement of the art form of modern dance. Committed to promoting modern dance, raising public awareness of the form and enriching the community, the Company has three main activities; these include the advancement of education, creation and presentation of modern dance.
The endeavors to create accessible and artistically daring works. The body of work encompasses a broad range of new creation and respected traditional works.  The subject matter often stems from psychological reactions to environment and reflections upon trends in Canadian lifestyle.  The presentations strive to be rewarding to both the audience and the creators as well as suitable for a broad range of audiences and performance venues.

oddities and magik monday :: lowbrow tarot project

Claudia Drake


JennyBird Art


Jared Joslin


Edith Lebeau

Lowbrow Tarot Project
"There are 22 cards in the Major Arcana, each showing some aspect of the human experience.  The cards of the Major Arcana are focused on three themes: the realm of the material world, the realm of the intuitive mind, and the realm of change.
The Lowbrow Tarot Project will showcase 23 amazing artists who will use their creative genius and unique style to take on the 22 Major Arcana [+ the card back] and create 23 new works of art in the rugged glow of the lowbrow art movement to be displayed in an exhibition at La Luz de Jesus in October 2010, along with a hard cover tabletop book and full color tarot card deck."  A few of the artists included are listed above with a sample of their work although not the inclusion to the project.

soundscape saturday :: bassache

BassAche
Phred
Monthly podcast, interviews, gatherings, and sound from London underground.

art and fashion friday :: n-sphere

N-Sphere
a world behind curtains
"imagine that everything and everyone is at hand's reach from you.  that is the n-sphere. essentially, this object defines all that reaches out from a persons mind and forms their own personal universe.

a monthly magazine featuring visual arts in various forms,from the old to the new, from the camera to the needle point.  gradually expanding to form its own galaxy, the n-sphere includes an interconnected section with the music world."

"In August 2010, The Spheres present N-Sphere, the gallery's monthly magazine. Gradually expanding to form its own galaxy, the N-Sphere includes an interconnected section with the music world.  Main features for this month are: What should not lie beneath.  The hidden SEEN of FRANKLYN, Exclusive Interview with Albin Julius from Der Blutharsch, Max Kuiper, Komar&Melamid's Post-Utopia, John Cage's Silence, Matthias Bernhard.

The August guest exhibit features Christopher Ilth, an artist currently residing in Chicago, United States.  Throwing together imagery and carved aesthetics, his artwork manages to suck in, mingle and spew out the looking glass into the mind, his pieces bringing forth an opaque transparency. Visit the guest gallery here.  An interview with the artist is included in the current issue of N-Sphere."

body movement tuesday :: dawn

DAWN
Edward Bower Hesser
Among dancers and early motion picture performing community there existed a very strong belief in the ideals of the physical culture movement, of physical perfectibility, bodily beauty, hygiene, and expressive sexuality. Some, Isadora Duncan, Ted Shawn, Annette Kellerman, Margaret Edwards, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., were messianic exhibitionists intent on demonstration to any public that would look the splendor, the human physique.  Edwin Bower Hesser in his own distinctly suspect way latched on to certain of these convictions.  From 1923 until the mid 1930s he edited and supplied imagery for as many as seven art magazines designed for art students concerned with problems of the human form.  His brief stint of study at the Art Institute of Chicago did not entirely elevate his aesthetics from kitsch and artiness to art.  This was, of course, what Duncan and the Greek dance movement was doing at the same time. Dancing in minimal costume in the open air.  Few copies remain of the publications in which Edward printed.  He was not the only supplier of images to these publications.  Included was Alfred Cheney Johnston, John De Mirjian, George DeBarron, and Strand Studio.

oddities and magikal monday :: esotika erotica psychotica

Esotika Erotica Psychotica
Mike Kitchell
Creator, primary contributor, editor, and site designer.  "Esotika Erotica Psychotica began as a film review blog by Mike Kitchell on January 2nd of 2007.  He started to blog with the eventual goal of having a website that would serve as a sort of "platform" for people and information pertaining to the particular blend of film that he was fascinated by; namely, that which combined sex, horror, art, and experimentation.  The necessity for the website was felt due to a discontent with the prevalance of genre film review sites that would often overlook or dismiss the so called "pretentious" films, and "art film" review sites that would ignore the "low brow" genre films.  Since he felt the most important films were the films that were brilliant combinations of the two, he decided that a remarkably nobrow approach was necessary.  The necessity for a new website also grew out of the fact that many internet based review sites were primarily DVD review sites.  He has a major appreciation for DVDs (obviously), but DVDs aren't relevent without the films that they hold."

"Esotika references "esoteric", meaning in this context, of course, obscure. The films applauded on the Esotika site are often fairly obscure, or at least relatively unknown, films.  Erotica clearly references the erotic and sexual content in many of the films discussed.  Psychotica brings to mind the idea of a sort of "psychosis", which in film can relate to a very "free" or "experimental" method of narrative, imagery, or really anything.  Those three signifiers together produce, at least, we would hope, the idea of what makes an Esotika film an Esotika film."

bicycles and biker girls

Back then, the bicycle was the fastest vehicle on Earth.  Bike races were the NASCAR of the day.  Thousands of spectators.  Indoor races at Madison Square Garden, etc.  Bikes also became a huge symbol of freedom for the new woman and feminism in general.  They played a major role in women starting to wear pants.  The best cyclist in the world at this time was Major Taylor, who is considered to be the first black athlete to ever be a world champion in any professional sport.

As Mrs. Reginald de Koven wrote for Cosmopolitan magazine in August, 1885, "To men, rich and poor, the bicycle is an unmixed blessing, but to women it is deliverance, revolution, salvation.  It is well nigh impossible to overestimate the potentialities of this exercise in the curing of the common and characteristic ills of womankind, both physical and mental, or to calculate the far reaching effects of its influence in the matters of dress and social reform ."

By allowing women the feeling of freedom, mobility, and independence, the bicycle helped to fundamentally transform social relations between the sexes. Not only did the bicycle play a large role in freeing women from the restraints of constricting fashions (trading long skirts and petticoats for shorter outfits, bloomers, and gaiters), it changed the idea of female beauty by dispelling the myths of women fragility and helplessness. The early women’s liberation movement, found in the bicycle, a vehicle for change; as the famous women emancipation advocate Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton proclaimed: “Woman is riding to suffrage on a bicycle.”



and then...

sustainable sunday :: the daily green

The Consumer's Guide to the Green Revolution "The Daily Green features daily news, tips, seasonal recipes and community photos.  We have a host of bloggers and contributors, and our features cover a variety of topics, including gardening, nutrition and food safety; saving money and energy at home, in the car and everywhere else; the latest research about global warming and the health risks of chemicals and toxic toys; as well as unique topics you'll find nowhere else (like that architectural marvel, the shipping container home).  We are happy to publish the work of many talented writers, and we're proud to partner with some of the most effective nonprofit organizations in the U.S., including the NRDC, the National Audubon Society and the American Lung Association."