James Welsby

Shows I Attended at ImpulsTanz

2011-08-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Boyzie Cekwana & Floating Outfit Project (ZA)
„Influx Controls: I wanna be wanna be“

That man isn’t a suicide bomber, is he? Born and raised in Soweto in the 1980s, Boyzie Cekwana ranks among the most important and most radical political choreographers of his continent these days. His piece “I wanna be, wanna be” is inspired by the South African influx control acts that prohibited the black population from settling down in towns after the First World War. With a painted face, a crown of thorns, in a suit or a tutu, some explosive devices fastened around his chest, the artist gives voice to the fact that racial discrimination and colonialist exploitation still exist.
Akram Khan Company (GB)
„Vertical Road“

At first the path is exhausting, but then there’s a road that leads into the light. Jerking and flailing, people step out from the dust. The spiritual journey from the gravity of existence through life’s thunderstorms of light to the grace of hope by the London choreographer with Bengali roots, Akram Khan, is accompanied by the heavenly sounds of Nitin Sawhney’s music. Eight dancers move about amidst spherical sounds and booming drums. A prophet accompanies them, reading their destiny from black boards. They draw their power from the ground, they spin around their own axis, transforming into Sufi dancers. Khan, who has made choreographies for pop queen Kylie Minogue and has created a duet with actress Juliette Binoche, meditates on rituals and the consequences of human action in “Vertical Road”. The choreography is formally reminiscent of Japanese Butoh, not least because of the fantastically beautiful costumes by designer Kimie Nakano.
Marie Chouinard (CA)
„gloires du matin :)-(:“

“Sheer grace!”, was the reaction to Marie Chouinard’s return to the stage after two decades. It’s a dance in the morning light. A solo named after the sky-blue morning glory, a delicate flower that bears fresh blooms every day the whole summer. The seeds of these morning glories were used by Mexican natives for their magic rituals on account of their hallucinatory effect, which is similar to that of LSD. Chouinard comments: “My dance calls on me. Peacefully, and without haste. When I dance, my self splits up.” In the name of the magnificent “gloires du matin”, the Canadian steps into the light of the rising sun in a white dress and starts to dance.
Ultima Vez / Wim Vandekeybus (BE)
„Monkey Sandwich“

A naked man staggers across the stage between two large ventilators. He burns his fingers. White dolls made of paper dangle around him. A storm is brewing. Turbulent film sequences on a large screen, in which someone says to people standing about: “The Tigris is losing all its water...!” A group of men run through high grass. They carry weapons. Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus pulls out all the stops. In a furious staging he combines live performance and film, dream and nightmare, euphoria and helplessness. Once again, a breathtakingly dynamic, exciting piece by the restless artist and passionate collector of stories.

Monkey Sandwich is selected for the Venice Film Festival in September!
Daniel Aschwanden (AT) & Choreographers’Venture Group

„Parcours II - urban transmedia: lab in performance“

A new part of town is emerging in the east of Vienna, and the Austrian choreographer Daniel Aschwanden accompanies this major project with an urban laboratory. Aschwanden presents the installation on the gigantic building site “Aspern – Vienna’s Laketown” in a “Parcours II”: with 3-D constructions of virtual future spaces, documentary theatre, with the participation of construction workers, residents, urban planners and performers who communicate with zeppelins and dance in an invisible town.
Ultima Vez / Wim Vandekeybus (BE)
„Oedipus / Bêt noir"

A classical Greek tragedy that still fascinates audiences today. The fate of Oedipus, the victim of a curse that fulfils itself mercilessly: that he would once kill his father and take his mother as his wife. Belgian star choreographer Wim Vandekeybus was fascinated by the unconventional adaptation of Sophocles’ dramas by the Belgian theatre maker Jan Decorte. He used Decorte’s rewriting of the material as a basis for his own piece: “Jan Decorte’s language not only establishes very direct contact with the characters, it is also very physical and digs into the raw essence of things in which every word counts.” After “Bêt noir”, a work featuring young people, and a guest choreography for the Gothenburg Ballet, dancers and actors perform together with blues musician Roland Van Campenhout and Wim Vandekeybus himself in the leading part in this version. A great multimedia piece in the style of Vandekeybus’ “Sonic Boom”, which was shown at ImPulsTanz in 2004.
Compagnie Marie Chouinard (CA)

„Les Trous du ciel" & „HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS“

A flood of intense images and rhythmic pulses runs through “Les Trous du ciel”, the debut of Marie Chouinard’s company, with which the ensemble presented itself to the public for the first time twenty years ago. This anniversary led the world-famous Canadian choreographer to bring her “holes of the sky” – which is a term for the stars borrowed from the Inuit – back to the stage in a bigger line-up. In accordance with a legend, Chouinard conjures up memories of a fertile goddess of the sea in this “Northern Lights dance”: in a sound space created by the dancers’ breath as broadcast via concealed microphones. Chouinard also presents her famous solo “Mouvements” again, which was originally created for dancer Carol Prieur. This time round, she extends it into a group piece which will be first performed at ImPulsTanz. The choreography is inspired by a book published in 1951 by the great Belgian writer/painter Henri Michaux, whose image and language “mouvements” were influenced by experiments with the drug mescaline. Chouinard’s dancers take the positions as depicted by images of bodies in the book and present parts of a great poem also to be found in the book. As always, the artist is looking for ways to transgress the horizon of human experience.
Keith Hennessy / Zero Performance (US)
„Turbulence (a dance about the economy)“

With his ironic Beuys reference show “Crotch”, Keith Hennessy, born in Canada and living in San Francisco, won the audience over at ImPulsTanz last year. This year, the winner of many awards returns with plenty “Turbulences”. Economic crises are the focus of his investigative coaching project whose participants will be integrated in the performance in the end: a flashy hybrid of contemporary dance, a performance installation, a spectacle and propaganda rhetoric.
David Zambrano (NL/VE) & Zeena Parkins (US)

„ZETA“

A magical evening where dance and music improvisation come together at their best. David Zambrano, born and raised in Venezuela, now living and working in the Netherlands, actually spends most of his time on the road all over the world as a teacher and performer. “Zeta” is a collaboration with the multi-award winning New York multi-instrumentalist and trained dancer Zeena Parkins. Their first joint project is the result of years of preparations, waiting for the right opportunity to unite the two artists’ passion for improvisation. So here they are now, the pioneer of the electric harp and the inventor of the “flying low” technique, dancing through all aspects of the spontaneous interaction between sound and movement.
Cie. Ivo Dimchev (BE/BG)

„We.art.dog.come“

Death is truly tragic most of the time, and life is often hysterically funny. With the Bulgarian radical performer living in Brussels, Ivo Dimchev, every tragicomic shot is a winner, as his lightning start on the contemporary choreography scene has impressively shown in previous years. In his new piece “We.art.dog.come”, he takes a dog along on his wild chase. Plus: half a dozen charred-looking dolls, a TV, plastic flowers and two performers. Together they examine the relationship between nature and culture, life and death, the boundaries of our subjective reality and the depiction of God. A powerful piece about decay, death and what’s funny and dog-like about humans.
Charles Atlas (US), Michael Schwartz (US), Sally Sommer (US)
mit Archie Burnett (US)

"Check Your Body at the Door"

Special Showing of Check Your Body at the Door, honoring the unique collaborations between the "Check Your Body" project and ImPulsTanz.

“Check Your Body at the Door,” produced by Sally R. Sommer, Ph.D, focuses on some remarkable underground club dancers and dances, filmed during the golden decade of the 1990s in New York City. Following a core group of free-style house dancers into the clubs, at their jobs and in their everyday lives discloses the deeper social and personal meaning that House dancing plays. In discussing ideas and topics important them, the dancers – including the late Vogueing legend Willi Ninja -- shape the script and narrative. Filmed in the streets, clubs, and in the studio against a white background in silhouette, or in light pools, the dramatic movements and lines of their moving bodies are captured. The dancing is improvised, the choreography, theirs. “Check Your Body at the Door” is an essential historical document, revealing the underground roots of House dance in America.
Emio Greco | PC (NL)
„ROCCO in TWO“

Due to the shocking realism portrayed in “Rocco and His Brothers” by Luchino Visconti, starring Alain Delon in the title role, the full-length version of the film was only released in 1993. The tragic story of two brothers inspired Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten to create the dance piece “ROCCO”. Two boxers enter the dimly lit stage. They look at each other, lurking, circling one another. Pure tension. Then the fight begins. Greco and Scholten make allusions to iconic brothers like Cain and Abel or Romulus and Remus, but also to comedians Laurel and Hardy. The boundary between pain and irony, good and bad, love and enmity seems to become permeable in the process.
Cie. Ivo Dimchev (BE/BG)

„X-ON“
Group piece with objects by Franz West

After the solo project "I-ON", the group piece „X-ON“ is the logical continuation of the successful collaboration between the Bulgarian choreographer Ivo Dimchev and the Austrian visual artist Franz West, but with few main differences: There are many more and different sculptures, 3 more performers are involved and a "living piece of art" appars on stage ...the one and only Lili Handel, which is known to the audience of ImPulsTanz from Ivo Dimchev's performance "Lili Handel- blood, poetry and music from the white whore's boudoir" recently nominated for a Bessie Award 2011 in New York.

My third week at ImpulsTanz

2011-08-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

Classes I participated in:

Potential Shamanic Action
Improvisation and Performance as potetial shamanic action

An experiment to investigate the relationship between improvised dance, performance and shamanism. Exercises and experiences in presence, transformation, breath, altered states of being, trance, awareness, healing, ritual, and performance.
I have been studying ritual, both ancient and contemporary, for over 20 years. I recognise the many continuations and disruptions between religious practice and the Western concert stage. Shamanism, in a general usage, refers to the ritual/spiritual practices of working with unseen forces of energy, of transforming space and time, of shifting meaning and perspective, of communicating with the dead or not-human. Performance often engages the same intentions.

Each day we will, in action and conversation, question the potential of energy, ritual and magic. What is it? How do we experience it? Can it be choreographed? What can we learn about presence through improvisation? What is magic? What is the role of presence in making magic, provoking transformation, or sensing the Other worlds?

Keith Hennessy is an award-winning performer, choreographer, teacher and organiser. He was born in Canada, lives in San Francisco and works often in Europe. His interdisciplinary research engages improvisation, spectacle, ritual and public action as tools for investigating and revisioning political realities. He is the director of Zero Performance and Circo Zero, temporal collaborations with artists working in diverse genres and styles of dance, circus, performance, music, visual and conceptual art.
Hennessy was a co-founder of 848 Community Space and CounterPulse, thriving culture spaces in San Francisco. Hennessy was a member of Sara Shelton Mann's legendary Contraband, is deeply curious about improvisation, and has been queering bodies and stages for over 25 years.

Recent awards include two Isadora Duncan Awards (2009) for "Sol niger", a Goldie (2007) and the Alpert/MacDowell Fellowship in Dance (2005). Recent commissions include Arsenic, Lausanne ("Crotch", 2008), Centre Chorégraphique National, Belfort ("Sol niger", 2007), Les Subsistances, Lyon ("Sol niger" 2007, "Homeless USA", 2005), Les Laboratoires, Paris ("American Tweaker", 2006), FUSED (French-US Exchange in Dance), and Lower Left Performance Co, San Diego ("Gather", 2005). Keith's 2008 teaching includes UC Davis, Orvieto (Italy)/Zipfest, Vienna/imPulsTanz, Moscow/TSEH, Montreal/Circuit Est, Toronto/IDA, Chicago/NPN-Columbia College, and talks at CI36 events in Berlin and Juniata College PA. In 2009 "Crotch" will tour to DTW/New York and TNT/Bordeaux and hopefully San Francisco.
www.circozero.org

Waacking
Back to the 70ies!

"I was not allowed to go out and dance except at school so the television became my teacher. We didn't have YouTube then and I wasn't allowed to travel so I had to catch what I could in that one hour Soul Train show every Saturday.I watched the show on the sneak! That's how I got hooked into Waacking. This was the dance I loved but nobody did it here. This was strictly a West Coast Dance from L.A.
I met Tyrone Proctor, a Soul Train Dancer in 1980 then, Shabba-Doo in 2001, then Ana Sanchez in 2007 and Toni Basil in 2009. This dance scene was a social gathering in the seventies and eighties. I continued with Waacking until today.

In this class we will emphasise on rhythm, organic musicality, emotional connectivity, self awareness and being in the moment.
Waacking has ist roots in the nightclubs of the 1970ies. The club is a lifestyle not a pastime. Life is the Club."

Voguing
strike a pose!

"In 1980 I was introduced to Vogue by accident. I met Willie Ninja in Washington square park after coming from the LOFT, (Club founded by David Mancuso). We all back then just danced in the street after the party was over Sunday afternoon. David Mancuso took me to my first Gay Club. The dancing was real electric and I said to myself: 'I gotta learn this shit!'. And I've been Vogueing ever since.

Life is the Club. The Club in my day was the safe haven for all us 'misfits' that just didn't fit in society's mould. I was fortunate to realise that you can be 'In' the scene, but not 'Of' the scene. All urban Dance is important and relevant. It is the voice of today's youth as it was generations before. Because it is real, it will have real perils if one doesn't pay attention. My quest, so to speak, is to share a little of my life with you and hope that one will enjoy the beauty of being connected in the spirit of being free.
The focus of this class will be on proper posture, correct body vocabulary, motivation (meaning indivdual characterisations), the control of being in the moment, and organic musicality. I will introduce old way vogue (male vogue), new way vogue (beginner) and vogue femme (beginner)."

Voguing is a style developed in the 1980ies and is characterised by poses, similar to the ones of photo model poses with some influences from the Harlem ballrooms of the 1930ies. Characteristics are formation of lines, symmetry, and precision in the execution of such formations and graceful, fluid-like action. Since the founding of Vogue Evolution in 2008 in New York Voguing became very popular.

Archie Burnett
Archie Burnett is a highly respected underground club dancer in New York City who was one of the prime dancers during the late 70s and 80s, becoming well known for his individual freestyle of "Waacking" and "Voguing". He was a close friend and assistant of the grandfather of "Voguing", the legend Willi Ninja, and is up until now an striving force in the NYC dance scene. He is invited as a judge for battles, such as for the Funky Stylez 2009 a.o.

He appears in the documentary film Check Your Body at the Door(2001) by Dr. Sally Sommer, (Professor of Dance at Florida State University), that explores the movement vocabulary of legendary NYC house dancers, including Archie Burnett, Willi Ninja, Ejoe Wilson, Marjory Smarth and Conrad Rochester. Made possible in part by contributions from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dr. Somner interviews dancers from the local NYC scene and captures now-vintage footage from the late 80s and early 90s. Check Your Body at the Door now stands as an historical document and testament to the early years of NYC’s house dance culture.

"I've travelled all over the world doing what I love to do best: that's spreading the house vibe that lives and thrives in the NYC. I have a documentary produced by Sally Sommer, Check Your Body at the Door, that chronicles the lives of some of the dancers that are the life's blood of this underground scene. We began filming in 1991. Now I'm happy and proud to say it has become a historical record of that moment in time. Dancing has always been my voice, my body my instrument and music my passion. May the music never die. It's not over till it's over!!!".

My second week at ImpulsTanz

2011-08-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

Classes I participated in:

BodyParkour
Body as Obstacles, Obstacles as Body!?

What is Bodyparkour?
It is a created word of body and Parkour, by Akos Hargitay reflecting on the parallel approach of dance (contemporary) and parkour (art of movement).
BodyParkour is a new urban art and dance related form of movements. Based on the “Global Dancing“ method developed by Akos, linking different, but existing dance-movement information and researching the connection between them. Special focus is given on spiral movements, different kind of running, sliding, rolling and jumping. Influenced and inspired by the current trend sports Tricking, Parkour & Freerunning and from the old school Flying-Low dance technique developed by David Zambrano.
Bodyparkour is integrating information from Open-choreography, Contact Improvisation and Partnering, Breakdance, HipHop and Capoeira, using any obstacles, architecture for dancing-moving in-door and in special cases out-door as well.

Ákos Hargitay (AT/HU) was born in Budapest and is living in Vienna since 2006. Since 1988 he danced in the field of contemporary dance with various local Hungarian, Austrian and international dance groups and choreographers such as Eszter Gál, Willi Dorner, Sebastian Prantl, Tanz*Hotel, Sasha Waltz & Guests, David Zambrano (Ven/NL) for the Ballroom Project in NYC, Scott Wells in San Francisco, Vicky Shick/Joanna M. Shaw/Alan Good from NYC.

Currently he is an artistic director at the Move On Dance Studio/Vienna for a dance education program called CONdance www.condance.wordpress.com. He is teaching Contact Improvisation and contemporary dance & composition at CONdance. He has been teaching dance at Anton Bruckner Private University Linz, SEAD Salzburg, Tanzquartier Vienna, Conservatory of Vienna, Company Willi Dorner, MMS Budapest, Dance Conservatory Györ and the City Ballet Company Pécs, Workshop Foundation Budapest, L1 DanceLab Budapest, Call Arts L.A. a.o. In 2000 he has established the first weekly Contact Jam in Budapest together with Michaela Hargitay.

The Company Two in One was founded in 1996 by Michaela Hargitay (AT) and Ákos Hargitay (AT/HU). Their work has been presented at various festivals and theatres such as Susan Hess Studio (Philadelphia), Aerowaves (The Place, London), Dance Theater Workshop (NYC), Judson Church (NYC), Mains d' Cuvres (Paris), Opening Doors Wales (UK), Tanzquartier Vienna, Imagetanz Vienna, dieTheater Wien, Tanzsprache and Neuer Tanz (Vienna/WUK), Unidram Festival Potsdam, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Wagon Halle (Marburg-Germany), Contemporary Dance Festivals in Luxembourg, Poland, Latvia, the Ukraine a.o. Their full-length evening production "free fall" was premiered in 2003 in cooperation with Tanzquartier Vienna and Szene Bunte Wähne Festival. Prizes and residencies include: 1999 ArtsLink Award (USA) and Suitcase Fund, Residency at the DTW in New York, 2001 Artist in Residence at the Mains d'Oeuvre in Paris, 2005 Artist in Residence at the CCL Linz, 2006 Budapest, 2009 Artist in Residence at SEAD, 2006 Budapest Fringe Award for the Best Performance and in 2010 Freerunning & Bodyparkour nominated for Stella10 - Performing Arts Prize for a Young Audience. NEW WEB: www.companytwoinone.org

Ultima Vez Vocabulary

This workshop will approach the basis of the work of Ultima Vez from Laura’s personal experience with the Company. We will study body mechanisms that allow us to reach physical extremes protecting the body at the same time. We will work with a mix of ideas and material without focusing on any performance in particular.

Laura Arís was born in 1977 in Barcelona (Spain). She followed dance and choreography training at the Instituto del Teatre in Barcelona where she was awarded with the Prize for Extraordinary Student in 1996. Between 1996 and 1999 she was part of Lanònima Imperial Dance Company (awarded with the prize Lladró to the Best Performer at Festival de Valencia 1999) and associated with General Electrica collective in Barcelona (Spain).

Since 1999 she lives in Brussels and has been a member of Ultima Vez/Wim Vandekeybus for the creations and touring of: Inasmuch as life is borrowed, Scratching the Inner Fields, Blush, What a body does not remember (reprise 2002), Sonic Boom, Puur, Spiegel, Menske and in the dance films: Blush, Here After and the short film: Inasmuch as Life is Borrowed.

She regularly teaches workshops related to the Ultima Vez dance vocabulary and contemporary technique lessons worldwide.

In 2009 she founded the artistic platform Ember together with Jorge Jáuregui, an artistic platform that holds their works and collaborations.

Super Hero HipHop
Skills & Drills & Details

An eclectic blend of beats, rhythms, and rhymes expressed physically. Bold movements are connected and organic, creating a seamless transition through space. This Workshop is a refined yet raw interpretation of HipHop and the meaning behind the music. Strength, Speed and Subtlety are the focus. Skills and Drills will also be included: This Workshop takes a deeper look into movement. Foundational movement and HipHop technique are the essence of freestyle and quality choreography. The primary focus is body connection: muscle contractions become Popping, joint manipulation becomes Waving and perpendicular shapes become Tutting, smaller even, into Finger Tuts, Twitching, Time Manipulation. This class redefines and hones new and old school techniques.

Gabriel Francisco
Teaching from Japan to Amsterdam and Russia back to Los Angeles, Gabriel Francisco has toured the world for over 10 years, educating thousands of dancers! A master teacher who believes in quality education and technique, body awareness and real music. He has produced and presented 6 class styles that he offers. He has choreographed for the T.V. show You Can Dance and has trained the dancers for Will.i.am, Hilary Duff, Santana, The Pussycat Dolls, The Black Eyed Peas, Mariah Carey, Chris Brown, and Ne-Yo and Kesha, just to name a few...

My first week at ImpulsTanz

2011-08-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

Classes I participated in:

Fico Training and Improvisation Tools

Fico training is a unique learning programme which provides movement and dance to receive an insight into the own body and self. Fico training is not just a dance class: It is not about how to dance, but what to do with it. With Bogdanovski's self-created training method, participants will train their body, spirit and mind through dance. The training starts with lifting up the pulse, followed by awakening the inner body, the centres and the energy. Afterwards, participants will apply different solo-duet-group tools for improvisation, such as Clear Information, Empty the body, Trust, Opposites, Steal, Decide-Respond, Follow-Lead...

The method for this workshop is a synthesis of dance techniques and tools that Goran Bogdanovski has developed intensively throughout the last ten years. Ranging from classical ballet to martial arts, from modern to contemporary dance, from Qigong to Kundalini meditation and dynamic meditation and from contact to theatre improvisations.

Goran Bogdanovski is a Slovenian award-winning performer, choreographer and teacher. For over ten years he was a soloist at the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre. Since 1989, he has worked successfully with over 70 choreographers and directors in many fields of the performing arts. He founded Fičo Ballet in 2000. Since then, he has developed his own style of expression, combining music, light, dramaturgy, technology, text and body. Until now, he realised numerous dance productions, international research projects and educational programmes. He is also involved with the following projects: Fičo Training, NOMAD Dance Academy, Gibanica - Slovenian dance platform, Festival Pleskavica and Kino Šiška - Centre for Urban Culture.

BALLISTIC BODY

A ballistic body is a body which is free to move, behave, and be modified in appearance, contour, or texture by ambient conditions, substances, or forces.

This workshop strives to find a new mode of performative expression which is not clearly derivative of performance art, nor of theatre, nor of contemporary dance while perhaps touching aspects of all of these modes of performance. Ballistic Body is an intervention in a space with people and ideas. This workshop is concerned with training the senses in a way that the body can be responsive in a performative situation. I try my best to steer away from proposing an aesthetic or physical ideal and try, rather, to emphasise attention to each individuals physical history with all of its influences: cultural, learned, accidental, or otherwise.

The body is central to this work as the interface for the clashing or synthesis of ideas and concepts. Characters are suggested but not fully formed. They are developed through costuming, speech, and movement in order to provide a level of fictive distance from notions of identity. This semi-characterisation is a strategy I use to facilitate the use of the body in a way that is not locked to static notions of gender or race. This also allows an immersion into the content of the work that facilitates new approaches and a playful circumvention of irony or cynicism.

Language in this work is used not to convey a storyline or reveal a character but to give voice to a process of thought unfolding in real time. Additionally, text can proposition an event into space. It is used to create relationships between subjects and interweave the fictional with what is assumed to be real. Content is collaged and drawn largely from the internet, pulling from numerous sources (news, popular culture, art, the everyday, etc.) and connecting ideas that seem unrelated in order to find new connections amongst them.

Isabel Lewis is a Brooklyn and Berlin-based dance artist, curator, and writer from the Dominican Republic. Lewis studied Dance/Choreography and Literary Criticism at Hollins University before forming the Labor Union, a dance collective, in NYC and presenting dance works at several venues and galleries in Manhattan and the outer boroughs.
Isabel has had the honor of being a Movement Research (MR) Artist in Residence and a Fresh Tracks Residency Recipient in 2005-2006 and has also received support from Creative Capital, the Jerome Foundation, New Museum, Harlem Stage, MAP Fund, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
She has worked as an editor and writer for the Movement Research Performance Journal and was the curator for the performance series, Body Blend, at Dixon Place from 2005-2008. As a curator Isabel has also worked on the MR Festival 2004: "Improvisation is Hard" and the MR Festival 2007: "Reverence (Irreverence)" as well as "Re-Imagining Utopia: Austrian/NYC Dialogue" in partnership with MR, the Austrian Cultural Forum (NYC), and Tanzquartier Wien.
As a performer Isabel has had the pleasure of working with Miguel Gutierrez and Ann Liv Young as well as many other NYC-based performance makers.
Recent projects include producing "For the time bring", an independent artist organised mini-festival of performance, discourse, and party (Berlin); presenting her new solo performance work in progress "Strange Action" (Florida) at the Performance Mix Festival (NYC); collaborating in "Casino", a creative lab curated by Stefanie Wenner at the HAU (Berlin), and directing her first feature-length film, "Lewis Forever’s Guide to Kinship" and "Maybe Magic" made in collaboration with filmmaker Anthony Rocco, visual artist Josep Maynou, and "Lewis Forever", a performance collective comprised herself and her three siblings Sarah Lewis, Ligia Lewis, and George Lewis Jr. of Twinshadow.

James Welsby Updated Showreel

2010-11-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

David LaChapelle - Nokia N8 Campaign

2010-10-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

James has been selected for a Nokia N8 campaign to be photographed by internationally renown photographer David LaChapelle .

Fletcher Jones - Time To Change

2010-10-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

James was part of a major stunt held at Southern Cross Station where 50 performers 'spontaneously' stripped during peak hour transit and got changed into Fletcher Jones suits. The campaign title for Fletcher Jones is "Time to Change"

Stephanie Lake's Pop Up Project - Melbourne International Arts Festival

2010-10-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

James was one of four team leaders who helped co-ordinate a live flash mob stunt with several hundred volunteers for the Melbourne International Arts Festival. One Step At A Time commissioned choreographer Stephanie Lake to create several flash mob pieces for the city of Melbourne, James's group performed on the steps at Parliament in Melbourne CBD. Here is a look at the finale which took place at City Square, Melbourne:

Photoshoot Blanka Pociask

2010-10-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

James recently modeled in a shoot for fashion designer Blanka Pociask

Keith! Party

2010-09-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

James is currently choreographing for and performing with Melbourne band Keith! Party. Recent gigs have included The Evelyn Hotel, Brunswick St, Victoria Rocks, City Square, and Pony, Little Collins St, Melbourne.

Chunky Move

2010-09-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

James is now a regular contemporary dance teacher at Chunky Move, the multi-award winning premier contemporary dance company in Victoria, Australia. James is also representing Chunky Move as a weekly teacher at Footscray Community Arts Centre.

http://www.chunkymove.com/in-the-studio.aspx#3|0|3

Dino

2010-08-13T21:09:00.002-07:00

George & Jasmine

2010-08-13T21:09:00.001-07:00

On the Way to Mullee

2010-08-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

Warralong Eagle

2010-08-13T21:07:00.001-07:00

Cow Corpse - DeGrey River

2010-08-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Mullee

2010-08-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

Paperbark

2010-08-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hospitality Inn - Port Headland

2010-08-08T06:08:00.001-07:00

Jigalong Kids

2010-08-08T06:07:00.001-07:00

Pilbara Sunset

2010-08-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Pilbara Brumbies

2010-08-05T07:09:00.001-07:00

Spare Room - Jigalong

2010-08-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

Kingswood Wheel

2010-08-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

Jarred

2010-08-04T03:08:00.000-07:00

Stop Don't Blink!

2010-08-04T03:07:00.000-07:00

James performed in Buzz Dance Theatre's new show, Stop! Don't Blink at PICA from June 24th- July 10th. The show concerns young people adapting to changing landscapes in urban environments.

From The West:

Stop! Don't Blink

Buzz Dance Theatre

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts

A little bit of footy, a touch of Beyonce and a lavish serve of contemporary dance are some of the key ingredients in Stop! Don't Blink, directed by Buzz artistic director Cadi McCarthy.

Add a lot of scaffolding and there is no doubt that young audience members, at whom this work is aimed, will be wishing they could join in the fun on stage.

McCarthy hails from Canberra where she is renowned for making accessible contemporary dance works.

Watching Stop! Don't Blink, which is about four children who lose their playground to urban development, it is easy to see how McCarthy earned her reputation.

Every scene in the show contains a reference to mainstream or popular culture, from builders having lunch on site to a child absorbed in a Nintendo game.

As the storyteller, McCarthy is aided and abetted this season by dancers Laura Boynes, Peter Fares, Hayley Schmidt and James Welsby. The quartet opened with punch, moving effortlessly from hip-hop to contemporary dance, from the ground to the scaffolding, and from one character to another.

While all four dancers were engaging, it was Fares who stole the show. He captured perfectly a child's inability to hide emotion, from debating whether to break rules, reacting to the discovery that his former playground is now home to an office block, or becoming the unwitting victim of a "dakking".

If it all sounds like fun and games, be assured Stop! Don't Blink has a serious side. Nathan Weyers' cleverly designed set gradually encroaches on the space until it has been transformed into a cityscape. In combination with visual artist Stormie Mills' haunting images of an urban landscape, it is obvious that McCarthy wants us to stop and think while watching Stop! Don't Blink.

Judging by the absorbed silence of the school-student audience during the opening performance, Stop! Don't Blink hits the mark with its target pre-teen and early teen audience. The humour and pathos are sophisticated enough to ensure that this one will appeal to parents and other adults too.

The Australian Dance Awards 2010

2010-06-29T05:48:00.001-07:00

James performed with Buzz Dance Theatre at the State Theatre, Melbourne on the weekend as part of The 2010 Australian Dance Awards. Eight dance companies from around Australia were specially invited to perform. Below are photos from the performance.

I MESS YOU

2010-06-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

Inspired by filmmaker Shelly Love, James collaborated with Laura Boynes to create a short video called "I Mess You." The work is dedicated to the one and only Jarred Dewey.

ReelDance International Dance on Screen Festival - Award Winner

2010-05-27T05:23:00.000-07:00

Fantastic news! For his film Saint Sebastian, James has won the ReelDance International Dance on Screen Festival's 2010 'Encouragement Award.' Of the top ten finalists, only three awards (Best Film, Runner Up, and The Encouragement Award) were given. James was in Melbourne performing in Next Wave Festival's Private Dances, but his father, Barry Welsby, was at Carriageworks in Sydney on Sunday the 16th of May to receive the award. Below are photos of Barry with festival director Tracie Mitchell.

http://www.reeldance.org.au/

Private Dances - Next Wave Festival

2010-05-15T05:24:00.000-07:00

James has been performing new Phantom Limbs work, Theodore and the Winehouse, in 'Private Dances' which is a keynote project for Next Wave Art Festival in Melbourne. The concept of Theodore and the Winehouse is the deconstruction of entertainment; mascot costumes are stripped part way through a dance to reveal the identities of the people underneath. Private Dances offers an audience an indoor campground complete with a bar and hor d'oeuvres flanked by sixteen tents, each hosting either a dance film or a short dance performance ranging from contemporary dance, classical Indian, hip hop, contortion, to Korean. Audience members are lead in by a guide one or two at a time into each tent to encounter these intimate, sometimes confronting performances. Performers would average 22 performances an evening!

http://2010.nextwave.org.au/

BalletLab "Aviary"

2010-05-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

James is currently working with internationally acclaimed company BalletLab in a development of new work "Aviary" choreographed by Phillip Adams. A showing of the work in progress is being held at The Australian Ballet Centre on Friday, May 7th, 2010. www.balletlab.com

Photoshoot with Chase Manhattan

2010-04-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

James recently collaborated with fashion and art photographer Chase Manhattan. Here is a sample from the shoot:

www.chasemanhattan.blogspot.com

23rd Singapore International Film Festival

2010-04-24T03:58:00.000-07:00

James's film Saint Sebastian is being screened today at the 23rd Singapore International Film Festival as part of the dance program which is curated by Sarah Kaur.

http://www.filmfest.org.sg

Phantom Limbs meets Luke George

2010-04-10T04:38:00.000-07:00

Hot on the trail of the season of The Memory Progressive, Phantom Limbs commissioned choreographer Luke George to create a new dance work on the young company and worked for three weeks full time at Dancehouse to create performance material and ideas. The basis of the new work is becoming your own fantasy. The outcome of the three week development was performed at 6pm at Danchouse in the Sylvia Staehli Theatre on Friday 9th April , 2010.

Choreographer: Luke George
Producers: James Welsby and Amy Macpherson
Cast: James Welsby, Amy Macpherson, Natalie Abbott, Jessie McKinlay, Estmund Mambwe

Human Life "In It Together"

2010-03-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

James danced in the new music video which was shot this weekend for the song "In It Together" by L.A. based band Human Life. The video is directed by Dan Brophy and styled by Jay Barry Matthews. Here is the video, and a look at James's costume!

Behind the Veneer

2010-03-22T04:27:00.000-07:00

James performed as one of six dancers in the world premier season of Behind the Veneer with Buzz Dance Theatre at the Playhouse in Perth and at Mandurah Performing Arts Centre from March 10 - 17th.

Buzz Dance Theatre, WA’s premier dance company for children and young people, presents a captivating new dance theatre work - BEHIND THE VENEER - a highly physical and accessible dance theatre work that unravels the many and varied masks we wear. Five young professional dancers will bring this insightful production to life this March, under the direction of Cadi McCarthy, in school and public performances in Perth and Mandurah.

This provocative dance work provides an insight into the games we play to preserve inner most feelings and cover insecurities, and use a ‘veneer’ to function in different situations to stay in control, and keep relationships afloat.

The work tackles themes of self-identity, investigating the facades we develop to hide and conceal our true identity. The appeal of the narrative will be magnified through understandable and intertwining relationships and situations between the dancers, that audiences can relate to.

“Behind the Veneer marks the first major show for Buzz in a milestone year where we celebrate the company’s 25 year anniversary. We’re thrilled to kick off this all important year with a refreshed team in such an engaging production,” says Pippa Davis, general manager of Buzz Dance Theatre.

Incorporated in the performance is a visual design by renowned multi-media company dashvisual. The set features a number of moveable venetian blinds which represent the veneer and will act to unveil what is occurring internally for the characters. Each of the dancer’s stories will be projected onto the blinds to create an atmospheric and beautiful setting. A captivating original music score by Ben Collins will complete the production.

Director Cadi McCarthy has worked across Australia and internationally and received a Churchill Fellowship for the accessibility of the dance works she creates. Behind the Veneer is recommended for ages 13 and over and is something that both school students and adults will appreciate.

The Memory Progressive (5 Minute Extract)

2010-03-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

The Memory Progressive - Performance Photos (Photos by James Brown)

2010-03-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

The Memory Progressive - Promotional Photos

2009-12-14T00:36:00.001-08:00

"Sushi" by Otouto

2009-11-24T19:03:00.000-08:00

Here is a recently released music video for the song "Sushi" by the band Otouto. The music video features James Welsby and Heidi Barrett and was shot in May 2008.

Redspan Dance Company

2009-11-09T04:47:00.000-08:00

James is currently back in Melbourne and has started work with Redspan Dance Company on a creative development for VISTA.

www.redspandance.com

Buzz Dance Theatre

2009-10-13T17:34:00.001-07:00

James is currently in Perth working with Buzz Dance Theatre at the King St Arts Centre developing a new full length work for 2010 called Behind the Veneer. James will also be a part of "Short Bursts" which will be choreographed by Marko Panzic.

http://www.buzzdance.com.au

Ganzfeld Frequency in the Melbourne Fringe

2009-10-05T01:27:00.000-07:00

James is currently performing new Phantom Limbs work Ganzfeld Frequency as part of the curated dance event Dance Miniature in the Melbourne Fringe.

Ganzfeld Frequency examines the nature of memory and the phenomenon of telepathy. Sound design is by new Phantom Limbs collaborator Keith McDougall.

Other performance pieces in Dance Miniature are created by Shian Law, Natalie Abbott, Hannah Glennie, Anna Kingston, Elenor Jane Webber, and Chiemene Steele-Prior.

Notions of the Self in Four Dimensions

2009-08-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

James just finished performing a solo he created called 'Notions of the Self in Four Dimensions' for a week in the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. The solo was part of a project called 'Frame Works' which was a collaboration between QL2 Centre for Youth Dance and the National Portrait Gallery. The work featured four ipods playing different soundtracks concealed in wooden boxes with attached headphones that the public could wear.

Saint Sebastian

2009-08-30T05:26:00.000-07:00

New video work by James Welsby exploring alienation. A tribute, of sorts, to Matthew Shepherd.

KAGE Celebration - Hamer Hall - The Arts Centre

2009-08-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

James performed Phantom Limbs work Breakdesta with Amy Macpherson last night as part of KAGE Physical Theatre's Celebration as official company in residence 2009 at the Arts Centre, Melbourne. Other performances included Gerard Van Dyck, Michelle Heaven, and Fiona Cameron in an excerpt from Apetite, and Australian singer New Buffalo performing several solo songs. An exceptional night, and an exceptional celebration of KAGE.

Collage

2009-07-03T00:05:00.001-07:00

If This Skin Could Speak

2009-06-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

If This Skin Could Speak (2009) is a video self-portrait of dancer/ artist James Welsby. It is an examination of four aspects of his life: community, family, peer relationships, and solitude. A representation of Welsby is depicted through recorded projection, but simultaneously rejected as the real Welsby is cut off from the neck up. The work juxtaposes both real time and distorted time. Its reference is the reality of the body and ephemeral memories of the mind. Essential to the work is the idea of identity through physicality. Welsby's rotating body and the bodies of light that dance upon him fuse together to create a distinct canvas. The aim of If This Skin Could Speak is to invite inquiry from the audience into the relationship between Welsby and his illuminated psyche.

Concrete Solace in 2009 Adelaide Fringe Festival

2009-06-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

Concrete Solace in 2009 Adelaide Fringe Festival is a short clip of the debut work of Phantom Limbs (Amy Macpherson and James Welsby). Concrete Solace also toured to QL2 Centre for Youth Dance, Canberra, and to Theatreworks in St Kilda.

Colour

2009-06-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Colour (2008) is a tribute to Australian band Grafton Primary by dance duo Phantom Limbs (Amy Macpherson and James Welsby)

White Bedroom Hymnal

2009-06-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

White Bedroom Hymnal (2008) is a tribute to the U.S. band Fleet Foxes by newly formed Australian dance duo Phantom Limbs (Amy Macpherson and James Welsby).

There's No Place Like Stockholm

2009-06-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

There's No Place Like Stockholm (2007) is a short dance video by James Welsby. The work examines voyeurism and power play and features performances by Lily Paskas and Andrew Minicello.

Disrupted Social Current

2009-06-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

Disrupted Social Current (2007) is a dance work choreographed by James Welsby. The work is an abstraction of a bombing in a night club. Sound is composed by Matthew Cornell and costumes are designed by Chloe Greaves.

Shirley Temple

2009-06-20T06:35:00.000-07:00

Shirley Temple (2007). This is the official music video for Melbourne band Boy + Girl featuring choreography and performance from James Welsby and Ez Mambwe.

The Adventurous Marriage of Melon and Choley

2009-06-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Adventurous Marriage of Melon and Choley (2006). Choreographed and performed by James Welsby and Benjamin Hancock