New Century

I did some video recording last weekend with some friends for an application for the State Department’s Music Abroad program. It was way too much fun. We spent an afternoon in the studio working up some material. Here are the results…

Enjoy!

taking pictures

Maybe I’ve always been a bit of a shutterbug. I can remember gleefully snapping away in highschool with a cheap little 35mm, and the joy with which I discovered the Polaroid, which subsequently documented a large chunk of my life. For whatever reason there’s something I find deeply satisfying about the whole process. From the sound of the shutter, to the enjoyment of capturing a moment for later memory, like a journal in pictures. But what I like best are those happy accidents; pictures which you could never plan out.

After a hailstorm at Pinewoods one summer, I caught sight of the above image while walking to dinner. Couldn’t quite believe my eyes. There’s something wonderful about the combination of colors and the liveliness of the mushroom surrounded by ice.

Anyway, here are some photos that I have very much enjoyed taking. More can be found by clicking the “photography” link in the toolbar.

I’m a sucker for color. I love the textures of the paint in this picture.

Wonderful contrasts in the above picture; of color, of shape, and especially the feeling that here, those who have passed on are surrounded by things both living and dead, and that life is not static, but is rather a state of continual change.

Recently I’ve become fascinated by footprints in concrete. It’s fun to imagine the formation of these modern day instant fossils. I enjoy the mental image of a dog out for a stroll, leaving behind a record of his footsteps.

I can’t pretend to understand even remotely what is going on in this photo. I’m just glad to have captured it for the record. If my brother ever runs for president, I hope this comes out. The expression on Lydia’s face says it all.

Walking through the woods near a friend’s house recently, we came across the above display. It’s just a tad bit scary.

This was taken a couple of years ago at a church perched high amid the ruins of a pyramid in Cholula Mexico. My small child is provided for scale.

I love the religious iconography of Mexico and parts of South and Central America. There’s something wonderfully unexpected (to more northern eyes) about the combination of obvious reverence with gaudy colors and skeletons, right alongside more traditional fare.

Our last exhibit? Of course, like any parent, some subjects never get old.

Want to see these and more? Just click the menu button that says “photography.”

(All images copyright 2011 by Matthew Olwell.)

The Mountain Music Project

If you have not already done so, I invite you dear readers to take a look at this documentary. It’s about a musical collaboration between some amazing Nepali and Appalachian musicians. Really wonderful, and worthy of your support. You can see the trailer on the Kickstarter page. I will be pledging money to help get it out into the world. You should too! Check it out here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/737800704/the-mountain-music-project-documentary-film-and-cd

And their blog is here.

Vaudevival at CSPAC

The show is coming up soon!

Many of you have met my wonderful and talented wife Emily… well, her MFA thesis concert here at UMD is coming up.

Vaudevival: Old is the new New ricochets through pockets of 20th century American vernacular dance and popular entertainment to reflect the cyclical nature of art and society. The theatre will reel with live music and vintage dance re-imagined, re-invented and re-respected, churning up a new flavor of culture jam.

The show is 8pm, October 20th and 21st at Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland College Park. Click here for tickets.

(If you play the banjo and are interested in GETTING IN FREE, please contact us as soon as possible to find out how you can join the Banjo Ambush.)
For those not able to attend this show, never fear! Save these dates: June 30th and July 1st, 2012. That’s when the next incarnation of the show will be born, AT DANCE PLACE IN DC!!!

Hope to see you there…

Old Joe Clark

We had an absolute blast last weekend at the Newport Folk Festival performing with Matt Kupstas and Becky Hill as Seeger’s Clogging Allstars.

Much fun was had, and we tore it up to some excellent music by Tao Rodriguez-Seeger
, Charlie Rose, Peter Siegel , Rosie Newton & Corey Dimario. Even a special guest appearance at one point by Chris Thile & Michael Daves. Woohoo!

More video and pics in the works, but here’s an appetizer:

Now, off to Augusta!

Augusta Dance Week

We’ve got a great program lined up for Augusta Dance Week! It’s not too late to sign up for a fantastic week of flatfooting, contras, salsa, Irish sets, squares, tango, body percussion and more in beautiful Elkins WV.

Click here for the schedule.

Don’t miss Sam Bartlett’s Giant Feet:

Staff lineup:

• The Figments
• Notorious
• Rhiannon Giddens Laffan (of The Carolina Chocolate Drops)
• Cis Hinkle
• Nic Gareiss
• Wendy Graham
• Matthew Olwell and Emily Oleson
• Sam Bartlett
• Laurie Goux
• Megan Downes

The fabulous Figments

Dance week students can also take class from both Vocal and Old Time Week offerings with an amazing line-up of singers and musicians including:

• Joe Newberry
• Flawn Williams
• Elizabeth LaPrelle
• Chance McCoy
• Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin
• Bob Carlin
• Joebass DeJarnette

…and many more!

Nic Gareiss

Last but not least, optional mini-classes for the week include Mexican Cooking, West African Drum and Dance, Old Time Banjo from Scratch, Fiddling the Blues, and Shape Note Singing School. Whew! Going to be a heck of a week. Hope to see you there…

BEAT RETREAT

!!!Update: We have added a show for this Friday night at the Hamner Theater in Afton VA!!!

What’s that sound? It’s the pitter-patter of dancin’ feet!

Please join us this weekend at The Hamner Theater and Live Arts for 2 performances and a day of Master classes and  with Good Foot Dance Company, Nic Gariess, Ellie Grace and Caleb Teicher.

Class Schedule: Saturday July 2nd $10 per class*
1-2pm Tap with Caleb Teicher
2-3 pm Clogging and Flatfooting with Nic Gariess

3-4 pm Cape Breton with Ellie Grace

4-5 pm Irish step dance with Kate Spanos

Evening Performances:

Join Good Foot, the instructors, fabulous live musicians and more for two sensational evenings of percussive dance…

Friday July 1st, 8pm Hamner Theater, Afton VA. Tickets at the door: $10/Adults $5/Children
Saturday July 2nd, 8pm Live Arts. Tickets at the door: $10/Adults $5/children

Ticket info: Tickets for the workshops and the evening concert are $10 each. Available only at the door.

Where: Never been to Live Arts? Click here.

Hamner Theater? Click here.

All Master Classes and Saturday’s evening performance will be held in the Upstage Theater at Live Arts.

*Sign up for all 4 workshops and get a half price ticket to the evening performance* (Now come on, you can’t beat that with a stick.)

We are having a grand time in Maryland where Emily has one more year of grad school left (stay posted for details about her thesis concert), but we miss our C’ville community a lot; that’s why we decided to hold this event back in VA instead of here in MD. The guest artists coming in from out of town are some of our very favorite dancers, and bringing them to Charlottesville has been a dream of mine for a long time. I hope you can join us!

Can’t make it this time but want to know more? You can live the life vicarious by subscribing to this blog. We’ll be posting as the week unfolds and hopefully uploading some video…

Beat Deaf

So a while back I came across this article about a neurological condition called “beat deafness.”

The basic idea as I understand it is that there exist a small number of folks whose ability to recognize and respond to rhythm is impaired for neurological reasons. Now, I am not a scientist, but I have been teaching dance and music for over a decade and my life has been intimately concerned with rhythm, and while the idea of a neurological foundation for rhythmic impairment may indeed prove to be true for a small and specialized segment of the population, I can just hear legions of people who think they can’t dance and have no sense of rhythm saying “Yes! That’s me!” and feeling like they have been let off the hook somehow.

Well I just don’t buy it.

I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have heard people say things like “Oh, I love what you do, but I could never do that. I have no sense of rhythm.” Or “I wish I wasn’t completely tone-deaf.” Or my personal favorite; “It must be wonderful to have so much talent.” (This last is an actual quote. It’s a pretty difficult statement to think of a comeback for.)

Here’s what I think often happens. People see the end result of a lot of practice and some pretty hard work and think it’s some magical ability. I don’t know, maybe there is some magic in it, but what is not always visible when watching someone do something they do well is the unbelievable amount of tenacity that goes into that process. Part of skill is making the execution of that skill seem effortless. But that is because the effort has already happened.

I don’t mean to discount natural ability. As a teacher one does encounter students who seem to take to music or dance more easily than others. We could debate the nature/nurture question until the cows come home, (I personally believe in a mixture of both innate and environmental factors) but let’s skip that for the moment and accept that there do exist dance or music students who struggle a lot less than others for the development of the internal metronome. However, for every one of them, I guarantee you there is someone out there who plays/dances like a natural and had to fight for every inch of their skills, paying for their ability with practice, frustration and long stretches of “why the hell am I doing this? This is really hard…”

I believe that what separates most people from skilled musicians, dancers etc is blind persistence. It’s the old 90% perspiration idea. The inspiration is important but even more so is the willingness to go ahead and learn. And big part of that process is learning to accept being bad at things for a time while your brain and body synthesize new skills

Which is, let’s face it, pretty hard. Some of you may remember my struggles at Jacob’s Pillow last summer. The ability to accept being a beginner and not take yourself too seriously is really tough. It’s one thing if you are an autodidact, working by yourself. It’s quite another in a group situation where a fair amount of personal humiliation crops up for most of us when we are learning alongside others.

But somewhere along the way, if you spend enough time doing something, especially if you are not just going through the motions but actively trying to get better and really focusing as you work, you experience this weird feedback loop. Things fall into place and it starts to feel good, just for a moment. You get it. And the memory of that moment’s elation drives you to keep working on it. And then at some point it actually is easy.

So easy that you don’t have to think about it. And someone watching you thinks “Well, clearly she came out of the womb that way.”  I can forgive them for thinking that, but as you may have guessed, I am on a little bit of a mission to convince people that they can do it too. They just have to make the mental leap, believe it’s possible, and then spend time doing it. And getting frustrated. And coming back to the table (or in our case as dancers the floor) with a willingness to remold themselves.

Why do I care if folks think they can dance? Not just because I am a teacher and stand to benefit from more people wanting to learn…

I believe that as a culture we have gone badly astray somewhere, becoming deeply disconnected from our physical selves and from our fellow human beings. It maybe sounds trite, but how many ills, social and otherwise could be solved by people gathering regularly to dance, sing, play music? Not hard to answer for anyone who dabbles in an instrument or has ever been social dancing. Once you have felt the raw power of that kind of shared experience, I don’t think you can ever go back.

How does the saying go? Something like “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right.” Well guess what? It’s true. I didn’t mean for this to end up as a pep talk, I think I started out ranting about the misguided belief so many people seem to have that they are missing some critical piece of hardware, preventing them from dancing or playing an instrument, but now I bloody well am cheerleading. Whether you realize it or not. You need dance in your life.

So the only question is, where are you going to dance?

Clogging and Pie

Tomorrow night…

I’ll be at a song workshop with Malcolm Dalglish and Carpe Diem Singers. And after? A pie potluck (pieluck?) and a clogging workshop by Y. Truly. Silver Spring Civic Building (Ellsworth Room) 7:00-9:30pm Click here for tix. Hope to see you there!

UMD Tap Jam

Like to tap? Or just dance? Come to an open jam, class and dance party at UMD. It’ll be fun and FREE!

When: Thursday April 21st, open beginner class 7-8pm, jam and dance party 8-10pm

Where: University of Maryland College Park, in the Preinkert Field Hall Dance Studio; (scroll down for directions.)

What: For those unfamiliar with the idea, a jam in this instance means a chance to improvise and converse through rhythm with other dancers. We help each other create a welcoming environment where each dancer has freedom to create a conversation with others. As someone said this weekend at the DC  Tap Fest; “dance to express, not to impress.” The jam will morph into a dance party so if you are not a tapper you should still come!

Who: University of Maryland has a new tap club called the Terrapin Tap Troupe. Emily is acting as their faculty adviser and we are helping them get started. This is their first event, so come on out and support them and have some fun.

Directions: Preinkert Field Hall, Preinkert Dr. College Park, MD 20740

From points west, take University Blvd. E to the UMD campus. Just before the light at Adelphi Rd, stay right to continue onto Campus Dr. At the traffic circle, go 1/2 around to stay straight on Campus Dr. At the stop sign, Preinkert Hall will be on your left. Make a right onto Preinkert Dr. At the bottom of the hill, park in the lot on your right, (free but only after 4pm) and walk back up to Preinkert. The Dance studio is on the top floor.

From points east, take Rt.1 to College Park. Make a left into the University on Campus Dr. At the circle, stay straight on Campus Dr. Campus Dr. will curve around to the left as you go through campus. You will come to a 3-way stop where you continue straight onto Preinkert Dr. Preinkert Hall will be on your right. Continue to the bottom of the hill, and park in the lot on your right, (free but only after 4pm) and walk back up to Preinkert. The Dance studio is on the top floor.