"Baile!!! Baile!! Baile Lisa y Rebekah!!!" World Dance Review

Polka Dot Flamenco Group

2009-05-01

Standing Room Only for Polka Dot Flamenco Group

Front Range Colorado's Polka Dot Flamenco group totally captured the hearts and souls of a standing room only crowd at Olde Town Arvada's "D Note" on Friday night, May 1, 2009. Saying that Polka Dot has charisma is an understatement. They owned that entire crowd from the beginning moments when Flamenco singer Marco Herzog called to them to join in the event to the very end. As remarkable as dancers Lisa Trujillo and Rebekah West, were the musicians; Pablo Rodarte in palmadas (also choreographer), Tobin Sheldon in palmadas and cajon (and both of them periodically joined Trujillo and West in the dancing), John Trainer in violin, Kevin Romero and Steve Mullins on guitar and also on the cajon.

Of note was Trujillo's mastery of presence and stillness that could go from slow exquisite hands, to full stop, and then explode as she played with the music and musicians. Trujillo is truly as stunning in complete stillness as when dancing full out.

As she has in other recent performances West took total control of the entire space, seemingly totally captured by the music, her rapport with the musicians, and her dance. Once again West proved to be "the destroyer of fans" as her fans fell victims to her feast on the rhythms and movement. The only real difference was that in this performance West simply discarded her fans, and magically found new ones, once she decided they were beyond repair.

Audiences watching these performances at the D Note are as interesting as the performances. They are totally diverse in age, gender, ethnicity, and dress. However, they seem of one mind when it comes to appreciating Polka Dot. Just as interesting and refreshing is watching them let go of "America decorum" and show a willingness to shout approval at almost anytime in a dance. I still long for shouts of "Baile!!! Baile!! Baile Lisa y Rebekah!!!"

Photo by Nathan Rist.

Donald K. Atwood MFA, Ph.D. atwood@worlddancereviews.com

© Copyright World Dance Reviews 2009

D Note May 1st! Join us!

Download the flyer:
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World Dance Review of D Note Performance!

"Flamenco at Arvada Old Town’s DNote

...One hopes this group based in PolkaDot creates a resurgence of flamenco in Front Range Colorado..."

Don Atwood's full review of "PolkaDot's," flamenco performance on December 20, 2008, at the "DNote" at 7519 Grandview., in Old Town Arvada, CO, has been posted on World Dance Reviews .

December 20! Polka Dot Traditional at the D Note 

Steve Mullins and Polka Dot host an evening of flamenco at the D Note in Arvada on Saturday, December 20 from 7-9pm. /DNoteFlyer
Guest artists are dancers Jeanette Trujillo-Lucero and Lia Ochoa. We'll do the same show from November + Jeanette and Lia + the Sevillanas and a little Rumba for fun. Traditional tablao setting, no media, but it will still be fabulous. We hope you, your friends and family will join us! Directions.

Polka Dot's first board member + contributor: Linnea Tanner

We welcome Linnea Tanner as Polka Dot's first official board member and individual contributor. Linnea is also making a tax-deductible contribution through the Boulder County Arts Alliance, Rebekah's fiscal umbrella, who we thank for providing this important service.



As part of our critical response process, we heard the question: What is with the polka dot? Polka dots are an important costume design element in flamenco all the way back to the first images we have of flamenco dancers. In response, we are merrily creating a visual History of the Dot to open our show. Pablo and Rebekah have found dozens of great photographs, including many from Pablo's own flamenco performance and history, in a stack of Pablo's classic flamenco books. Part of the story may include the dot in modern art, since Polka Dot has a modern art influence as well, and true to our media inspiration, will bring us to the present with the dot as pixel.

Linnea loves history and photographs and she wanted to help fund this development of our show. As a a creative person working in chemistry (pharmaceuticals), she is keen to view the piece as it is developed and offer her feedback; we have invited her to participate in this way.

As we develop our board model, we'll post that information here so subscribe to posts (bottom of the right hand column) and stay in touch. We hope to convene a board in early 2009, so please let us know if you are interested in joining us.

We can also accept your business or individual tax-deductible contributions through Rebekah's fiscal sponsor at any time.

Pix from the show - Tientos (take one, more pix of musicians + audio soon) - Photographs by Nathan Rist

Tientos
Choreography by Pablo Rodarte
Danced by Rebekah West
Lighting by Rita Kotter
Sound by Nathan Wheeler

Pix from the show - Soleá with Media - Photographs by Nathan Rist

Soleá was:
Choreographed by Pablo Rodarte
Danced by Lisa Trujíllo
Media concept, design and staging by Rebekah West
Video shot by Kevin Rice and Rebekah West
Media executed by Rebekah West, Kevin Rice and technical crew
Costume designed by Pablo Rodarte

Critical Response Process

Our aim is to develop Polka Dot, and this piece in particular, as a complete tourable work. So, after Sunday's performance, dance artist and reviewer Don Atwood hosted a Liz Lerman Critical Response Process on our behalf. Respondents included dance legend Barbara Dilley, filmmaker Laura Tyler, body monologues/performer Kirsten Wilson, dancer José Fuentes, a Naropa MFA and a BFA student, and a member of CU's film faculty. These are Rebekah's notes, so taken through her filters (disclaimer!). The feedback was marvelous and we look forward to developing the work. (Hey, this is more for us than you, but read it if you are interested. Love this process! - Thanks Liz and John!)

Our intention in terms of how much media to integrate this first time out:

1. Soleá was the piece we worked on from a visual, multi-media perspective using four screens, silhouette, slow-motion film, multiplied film, 3-point projection, rear projection, Isadora, and color (going from black and white to color)
   
2. Tientos was the piece we began to work on from a sonic perspective using surround sound for wind and a cymbal sound to accent the fan
3. Alegrías was traditional flamenco dance and music. Both Bulerías and the Granainas were traditional flamenco music.
   

Step #1 is for the audience to tell the artists what was particularly moving. Here's what they said:

• Overall note: images conjured up (ocean, pearl, layers of the sea, playfulness)
• Tientos: connection between dancer and musicians; found self getting fuller because of the "conversation" between them
• Soleá: exchanges between media and dancer palpable, clear connection, light and dance pulled audience
  
• Both dancers: articulation of hands throughout, moments, one particular unfurling of the fan in stillness and silence

Step #2 Artists ask questions:

Question 1: What did "Polka Dot" conjure up for you?

• Could see a lot more expressive play with media, some hesitancy with shifts out of the tradition of flamenco; this is a tender moment as the thread and power of the tradition comes together with the media play and dissolving of tradition.
• Soleá: "saw the dress," the traditional silhouette, a vision on the screen in the dot
• Overall note: influenced by the poster, couldn't separate from that image. Sense of polka dots as: sexy, like drinks (martinis etc.), and cellular. Was looking for how lighting would change drama.
  
• Tientos, there was a transition from the gobo'd opening to the next section where the dancer moved through the lights. We saw fragments of light and body, opening up for a second the possibility of the "conversation" between dance and color. Expected more of the "conversation" to develop.
  

Question 2: What were the moments of relationship you noticed?

• Soleá: dancer's hands touching boundary of light and dark in opening dot
• Soleá: traditional dress in media zone (another reference to boundary)
• Soleá: how the color plays on the white dress and reflects light
• Tientos: wind section, almost couldn't see so the focus on the dancer pulled eyes
• Soleá: [cinema 1] dancer fun exchange with slow motion footage, threshold of opening up time dimension
• Soleá: [cinema 3] lit polka dots on white costume dazzling, animal-like, chameleon. brought up foreground/background exchange, image could have lingered much longer, images on white dress - MORE!
• Soleá: opening, it was a surprise to see after the silhouette to see her in white
• Soleá: behind the screens the dancer is a "flamenco dancer," in front of them she is a human being/a woman
• Note overall: flamenco's natural conversation between music and dance lends itself well to an expanded "conversation"
• Note overall: want to gush love to performers! Performers began to reach archetypes: Rebekah/Kali, Pablo/Dionysus, Lisa/Hera, Ashley/Virgin, Veronica/Wise Woman Storyteller, Rudy/Pluto/underworld
• Soleá: dancer's hands mesmerizing in the opening dot, white dress signifies purity, pearl, seemed like end to beginning in one moment
  
• Soleá: pearls are dots
• Note overall: polka dots contain, the transition from one to another could be interesting, breaking apart the notion of the dot/container to see it more clearly

Question 3: Did you see the seeds of the flamenco-media connection?

• Overall note on the main intention to bring the tradition of flamenco together with the media. yes. come to terms with vision, it is difficult, you learned something this time about simplicity because ordinarily the vision can sweep us away. This experiment project is about coming to terms with what is possible. Can do more repetition, use patterns within the tradition and apply to media. Come from the place of simplicity you have reached. Don't be afraid of repetition.
• Soleá: could have a whole dance with just the dots (lights) and color and another dance with the patterns the films bring. There were several seeds there.
• Soleá: [cinema 2] seeing music in image world, felt like part of conversation. LOTS of seeds.
• Overall note: seed of narrative - our experience is to try to find a narrative. Saw seasons, cycles, beginning and end.
• Soleá: beginning image of birth, round, moon/womb, shape becomes specific
• Tientos: intense, life expression at its most developed

Step #3 - Audience asks artists neutral questions

• Soleá: Was it your intention to make more (different) use of the four screens? [A: Yes! It was a lot harder than we thought it would be: limitations of time, knowledge of Isadora, number of tech crew, space/distance. The journey we were trying to create was one of dimension, from the flat 2-D silhouette to the glowing silhouette to a 3-D full blooded woman to the dimension of the unexpected or dream or ecstasy.] Saw dimension.
  
• Overall note: Was there a through-line on the sequence? [A: Soleá made a natural opening piece. After that we debated on various orders of the show and settled on the current one for practical reasons like solo, solo, duet and musical pieces between for dancers to change costumes.]
• Overall note: Why polka dots? [A: Tradition of polka dots in flamenco costumes, graphic beauty of the dot, the dot in media-pixel, wanting to make flamenco more accessible to American audiences.]
• Music: Was there a push toward a more world music sound or away from traditional flamenco sound? [A: No. Adding diverse instrumentation is part of the flamenco tradition and contemporary sound. Wanted more diversity without losing tradition. The urdu, from Africa, and the cajón, from Peru were good sounds to bring in; flamenco can absorb a lot of variety. The rhythms of the dance were accommadated by different rhythmic sounds. The singing was traditional.] Urdu seems mother/womb-like.
• Overall note: Did you want the audience to participate? [A: Yes!] It was great to have musicians invite audience in (clapping and jaléos). In the Soleá, felt the subtlety of it as an entryway into the possibility of participation, wanted to exchange more between audience and performers!
• Costumes: How did you choose costumes? [A: Soleá bata de cola was our focus with costumes. It had to be white for the color and cinema projection and we wanted it to be ultra modern. The other costumes came together from closets, dance catalogs, and last minute shopping trips. Tientos color top matched a fan Pablo happened to have that looked good in the lights after Rebekah broke 6 other fans rehearsing.]

Step #4 Audience offers opinions

• We see the strength of technique in the dancers.
• Seed and simplicity in introducing multi-media work, which could have carried you away and become chaos, instead allowed people to see seed. This made it work! and it eased the audience in.
• Space: Performance is bigger than the available space and the audience, sitting on the floor and standing along the sides, had to struggle to see.
• Soleá: [cinema 3] At first afraid there was a technical glitch with dancer in the dark, so wanted to see her. It worked - very gratifying to then finally see her in the dots.
• Music: Glad they asked audience to join in. Want to be engaged earlier. Wonder about how the musicians enter.
• Costumes: Audience close enough to see details of costumes: zippers, bra straps. [brought up ideas of proximity, distance, intimacy, the realm of screen v live]
• Order of the show: Maybe split the Tientos from its Tangos ending and put the Tangos at the end of the show with all the duets (conversations)
• Soleá: Felt the sense of dimension, even thought it consciously during the piece.
• Soleá: [cinema 2] Combination of two silhouettes, had a moment of seeing ALL flamenco history, moment of transition to media
• Tientos: Play of color set up "conversation" between dancer and color. Use of surround sound/wind powerful.
  

Give us your impressions, emails above, comments follow

Did you attend our performance? We invite your comments. Please post by clicking on post a comment at the bottom.

An email from c & p: It was fabulous!!

An email from kh: That performance was amazing! The musicians were great and I just wanted to clap along. You were amazing! You looked terrific and danced beautifully! It was all I could do to not get up there and dance with you :). My aunt absolutely loved it as well. Thought the music and dancing both were incredible. I was in the front on the floor for a while and then my butt fell asleep so stood for the last dance. It was fun to see you up close! I was realizing that I haven't seen you dance in quite some time. Very fun.

An email from ts: Hey Rebekah, What a delight to see you dance again and with Pablo no less. Same quality of work and innovation you've always had. I loved the polka dot panels and Lisa is a solid dancer with lots of gracia. Besos y abrazos,

Polka Dot thanks ATLAS Communications Team

Wonder where our beautiful design comes from, how you found out about the show, and how the candy got on the seats?

The ATLAS Communications team: Bruce Henderson and Ira Liss. Also contributing was Rebekah's Creative Assistant Britt Markey.

When Bruce came into a meeting with polka dot candy, we knew the Polka Dot spirit was coming to life. Then Ira showed up in a polka dot scarf! Britt pulled the beautiful program together at the last moment when all the artistic i's had been dotted.

Thank you!

Thanks to our technical team

Working to bring a new concept and show to life takes major dedication, precision and calm under the combined pressures of time, physics, artistic changes and high emotion. Our technical team has met these challenges well and we thank them! Rita's lighting and Autumn's precise realization of that design (as well as their ease of communication), Nathan's audio, Kevin's video, and Gary keeping the whole show together.

We are grateful. Thank you!

Daily Camera previews the show - Thank you, Caitlin Coleman!

Multimedia flamenco show at CU

By Caitlin Coleman, For the Camera
Friday, November 14, 2008

The Black Box Studio in the University of Colorado’s ATLAS building is dark except for four bright screens, lit in the shape of large polka dots.

The silhouette of dancer Lisa Trujillo is visible as she twists her arms slowly from behind one of the screens, containing her body to the spot of light.

Then the guitarists start strumming, the choreographer starts clapping and Trujillo starts moving her feet as she dances out from behind the screen and kicks her long, ruffled skirt in front of the light.

This is the start of Polka Dot, a free multimedia flamenco show funded by a small grant from the Boulder Arts Commission. The production will feature flamenco dancing highlighted with live music, lighting, video, costume and sound effects.

“We’re trying to do a multimedia avant-garde, we don’t even know what it is; it’s an experiment,” said choreographer Pablo Rodarte, who has spent his life studying and teaching flamenco around the world.

Rodarte has helped the dancers maintain the traditional aspect of flamenco, while dancer and director Rebekah West has brought multimedia aspects into the performances.

Polka dots, which traditionally adorn flamenco skirts and dresses, confine and highlight Trujillo’s dance and later filter across the room as Trujillo is covered with projections of dots.

During the same dance, Trujillo serves as the screen for a previously shot and edited video of herself dancing.

“You’re going to be all lit up here. You’re cinema!” West shouted during a rehearsal Tuesday. “As a dancer, you’re in a conversation with the media, and you have to place yourself properly for that conversation to come alive.”

The ultimate goal is to make the dance and music of flamenco more accessible to an American audience, West said.

The team of artists plans to build upon this weekend’s shows, creating more multimedia productions based on audience feedback.

“It’s high-energy and kind of blow-your-socks-off entertainment, emotion, music and rhythm,” West said.

Welcome Veronica Medina

Cantaora Veronica Medina, from Albuquerque, adds her voice to the musical mix and high energy. Welcome, Veronica!

The show is this weekend!

We hope you will join us in a dynamic evening of flamenco with a dramatic dash of multi-media,

Saturday, November 15 at 7pm
Sunday, November 16 at 2pm
ATLAS Black Box Studio
University of Colorado
FREE

A last-minute CU Buffs game time change will impact parking options for Saturday evening's show. The game is at 6 and most parking will be filled by game goers. We have alerted Parking Services so that if you are able to park in an on-campus lot, you will be charged normal, not game, rates (a good thing!). However, we recommend you park elsewhere and take a bus in. The Hop, Stampede and 208 drop off on ATLAS' street, the 204, Skip and Denver buses drop off in front of Uni Hill Elementary School/UMC, only about two blocks away. RTD link.

After Sunday's show we will have an audience feedback session to which you are invited. The feedback model we will use is the Liz Lerman Critical Response Process facilitated by Don Atwood. Please join us if you like this sort of thing and are willing to play by the Liz Lerman rules. We appreciate your response.

Can't wait to see you and have you see us! Come to our free show!

we are privileged...

Polka Dot is aware of its privilege in working closely with Maestro Pablo Rodarte.

He is giving the rest of our group the benefit of a lifetime of professional experience dancing and living flamenco; as a result we are growing as individual performers and as a group. He is directing the music and dance, making sure we follow correct form while opening the door to expressive choices. Sometimes, though, he passionately jumps up to dance with us side-by-side infusing us with his experience and fire. Lately, as we "own" the work, he's taken to dancing joyfully in his chair because he just can't help it. He tells us that when he's really fired up the jaléos will just keep coming, cheering us on.

We thank you, Pablo!

Thank you, Russ Schissler and Bret Mann

Learning Isadora for this show's very simple video manipulation has been challenging - mostly from the perspective of hardware communication. Russ Schissler gets a giant thank you for helping sort out issues in the days just prior to the show. Now that some basics are settled, we look forward to developing the video aspect of our artistic presentation.

The technical know-how and commitment of ATLAS Employee of the Year and ATLAS Studios Technical Manager, Bret Mann, supported our experimentation.

Cinema for Soleá

Kevin and Rebekah shot footage of Lisa in shadow lighting. Rebekah is editing the footage into interactive cinema for Lisa to dance with. The top shot shows Lisa in the shadows. In the Soleá, she dances with and against this imagery. The next shot is part of a kaleidoscopic section that happens later and the third a series of dots that will illuminate Lisa's white bata de cola, animating her in space.

rsvp! Tell your friends! Download flyer!

RSVP here!

/DownloadPolkaDotFlyer.pdf

Rehearsal photos

Rehearsal shots from October 28th taken by Nathan Rist. Lisa rehearsing with bata de cola, in the dots and in cinema. Part of Rebekah's media experiment is to animate a dancer with film as if she is the screen, similar to how she has animated dancers with slides in the past.

The creative questions have much to do with dimension - from the 2D effect of silhouette to the 3D of a glow to the 2D of cinema to the 3D of cinema-lit dance. The cinema (video) is of Lisa and her shadows, shot by Kevin Rice and Rebekah, who are editing it to project onto a fabulous white on white bata that Pablo is creating (complete with three-dimensional, white polka dots). We use Isadora for simple image manipulation. Lisa's Soleá, choreographed and costumed by Pablo, designed by Rebekah, realized by Kevin Rice and Rebekah, and lit by Rita, is Polka Dot's first visual multi-media/flamenco offering; we've focused our eyes on this piece.

Guitarists Steve and Kevin (silhouetted) working with Rebekah, and her shredded fan, on her Tientos. The dots and silhouettes you see in the photos are just for fun - in the show, Rita is creating shards and columns of light in the shape of a fan. For this showing, the Tientos gives Polka Dot the ability to play with the multi-media possibilities of sound. Within the theme of fan and wind, Nathan is composing a wind-flamenco section using manipulated recordings of flamenco sounds, such as the fan opening and closing, footwork, palmas, pitos, body rhythms and box drumming, to augment the piece sonically. For an architecturally embodied experience, Nate utilizes the Black Box's surround sound system. Is there still live music? Yep! And lots of it. Guitars, palmas, percussion, fan and footwork at full tilt.

Welcome Rita Kotter + rehearsal shots to entice you

My favorite lighting designer, my mom, is joining us today to add additional subtlety of light and color to the mix of screens, projection and silhouette. Welcome Rita Kotter!

Here's Pablo working with Lisa.

Welcoming Rudi Monterroso

Today we welcome percussionist Rudi Monterroso to our musical ensemble. Wonderful!

Welcome Nathan Wheeler and Ashley Crawford

Polka Dot welcomes composer Nathan Wheeler, as a collaborator on the sonic element of our show, and Ashley Crawford, who joins Pablo onstage with palmas.

Labbing ideas. Welcome Kevin Rice

Boulder, Colorado. ATLAS Black Box. Also, a warm welcome to CU student Kevin Rice who will be lending his visual skill to our efforts.

This is Lisa rehearsing her Soleá. Lighting play of Rebekah's.

When's your show?

Boulder, Colorado.

Saturday, November 15, 2008
7:00 pm
&
Sunday, November 16, 2008
2:00 pm
ATLAS Black Box
University of Colorado
FREE! Works in progress showing

Polka Dot receives Boulder Arts Commission grant!

Boulder, Colorado.
Thanks to the Boulder Arts Commission for supporting Polka Dot!

We just received a mini-grant from the Boulder Arts Commission to host a FREE performance this fall. We want to show you the beginnings of our new show so stay posted - more pix and video soon.

It's a works in progress showing and we want your feedback on how the combination of media and flamenco can "ensnare the senses" and remind you just how much you love rhythm, color, music, dance, and light. Yum.

Hey, and guess what?! Besides being a fabulous showcase for flamenco dance and music, we are going to tell you the Story of the Dot. Get ready for the real thing and a little tongue in cheek. Silhouettes, live video, and surround sound, bata de cola, abanico, falsettas, palmas, rasqueados and zapateos. Together. Sounds fun, doesn't it?