THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF SOUNDS AND SIGNS – Part 2
April 27th, 2010 @ Mobius
This was the first event I attended at Mobius in many, many years and I was very impressed with both the Dancers and the Musicians. After the performance I told Liz Roncka I “fell in love”… “with all of them”!
The Dancers in this troop, Olivier Besson, Ellen Godena and Liz Roncka were absolutly exceptional interpreters of the Musicians mastery of improvizational sound. The sound was created by Haggai Cohen Milo (bass) and Amir Milstein (flute) with an exceptional guest, Jamey Haddad (percussion).
The Dancers used both indoor and outdoor space, breaking “planes” and “line-of-sight” , when outside the dancers drew the audience out with them involving street-sounds that are familiar to us, into the mix of tones and rithems being played inside. Oliver started the session by a very subtle series of “motions” that first gave you the appearance of warm-up exercises, and then gradually lured you into the start of the performance.
The music was fantastic, very well arranged, and played masterfully. The tones, rithems and sounds married perfectly the motion of dance, creating and orgasm of sound and visuals I havent had the pleasure of experiencing in a long time. Jamey’s guest appearance was truly a treat, his sound blended into the experience as if they were ment to be there from the start, if you didn’t realize he was a guest, you woudl think he was a long standing member of the band, what a performance!
Truly the whole experience is wonderful, it leaves you wanting more, it leaves your mouth watering, it dosent leave you!
I highly recommend this performance, it is not to be missed. I cant wait to be invited again to experience more!
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THE ANCIENT LANGUAGE OF SOUNDS AND SIGNS – Part 1
Look for Tracy’s Choice! – 30 of the best photographs in the three-part Abstract Series – AS71,AS72 & AS73.
April 27th, 2010 @ Mobius- 725 Harrison Avenue, Suite One, Boston MA 02118
DANCERS – Olivier Besson, Ellen Godena, Liz Roncka. MUSICIANS - Haggai Cohen Milo (bass), Amir Milstein (flute), Jamey Haddad (percussion)
A very special evening of improvised music and dance featuring musicians Haggai Cohen Milo (bass) and Amir Milstein (flute) and movement artists Olivier Besson, Ellen Godena and Liz Roncka.
ARTIST BIOS
Olivier Besson – Movement Artist – is an improvisational movement artist who hails from France and is based in Boston. In the period from 1980 until the mid 90′s, Olivier studied Contact Improvisation with Robin Feld, Nancy Stark Smith, Lisa Nelson and Andrew Harwood, and Improvisation / Real Time composition with Daniel Lepkoff and Julyen Hamilton. During that time, he also practiced and performed Bugaku (Court dance from Japan) with Arawana Hayashi. Other training includes Butoh with Maureen Feming and Action Theater with Ruth Zaporah.
Most notably, Olivier’s work has been presented: *in the US – at Dance Theatre Workshop (NYC), Judson Church (NYC), New York Improvisation festival, Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis), Boston Dance Umbrella, Florida Dance Festival, Dance Place (Washington DC), The Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Radford University (Virginia), *and internationally – at the National Institute of the Arts (Taipei, Taiwan), Die Pratze (Tokyo), Art of Movement Festival (Yaroslav, Russia), Micadanses (Paris) and with Compagnie Vertige (Nice, France). He has collaborated with many individuals including Chris Aiken, Lisa Schmidt, Debra Bluth, Ming-Shen Ku, Pamela Newell, Toshiko Oiwa and musicians/composers Mike Vargas, Peter Jones, Jane Wang and Grant Smith. Locally, he has guest danced for Dawn Kramer, Micki Taylor-Pinney and Diane Noya. His ongoing performance projects involve collaborations with Liz Roncka in Boston and Emmanuelle Pepin in Nice (France) .
Olivier is currently on faculty at The Boston Conservatory (dance division). He has been on faculty at Canal Danse (Paris), the French National Circus School (CNAC), Bates Dance Festival, Emerson College and the School of Fine Arts at Boston Universtity. He has taught residencies at the National Institute of the Arts (Taipei, Taiwan), Le Centre Choregraphique de Danse / Daniel Larieu (Tours, France), the University of Minnesota, and Radford University (Virginia). He has also taught masterclasses for teen / pre-teen programs at Walnut Hill, Cambridge School of Weston, Jeanette Neil Dance Studios, Brookline High and Cambridge Rindge and Latin.
Haggai Cohen Milo – At the young age of 25, bass player and composer Haggai Cohen Milo is already a known name in the international music scene. Mr. Cohen Milo, currently operating from Berkeley, CA, brings exotic flavors to his music from his native middle east country, Israel. In both his compositions and in his playing, there is a contemporary mix of sound between East and West. His group the Secret Music Project, that features his personal musical sound and vision, has performed in some of the most important festivals around the world including the Aspen Music Festival, the Atlantic Jazz Festival (Canada), Boston First Night and many more.
Mr. Cohen-Milo first gained international recognition when he won the First Prize in the International Ensemble Competition in Belgium 2006. In the same year, Cohen Milo was also awarded the DownBeat Magazine Music Awards and the grand prize at the Fish Middleton Jazz Soloist Competition held in Washington, DC.
As a Composer, Cohen Milo has composed the score for two full enough feature films, Intimate Enemies (2008), by the internationally known Mexican director Fernando Sariñana and SPAM (2009) by the director Charlie Gore. Cohen Milo released his debut album in January 2007 under the prestigious record label “Fresh Sound – New Talent”. The album received enthusiastic reviews in the US and in Europe. Cohen Milo also recorded with different artists for Warner Music, Sunnyside Records and more.
With a fast growing touring career, Cohen Milo has already performed on some of the most important stages around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Birdland (New York), Getxo International Jazz Festival (Spain), The Jazz Station (Belgium) and Rome Music Festival (Italy), to name a few.
Cohen Milo graduated in 2009 from the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied with such masters as Danilo Perez, Bob Moses, Jamey Hadad and Jerry Bergonzi.
"… Haggai Cohen Milo revealed over a set of ridiculously infectious music that he’s in the soul restoration business. Yessiree. He is!" (Graham Pilsworth, "The Coast", Canada)
Amir Milstein – Flutist and composer – is a graduate of the "Rubin Academy of Music" in Jerusalem (B.M. in jazz and classical flute), and the New England Conservatory (Masters degree in music performance, 2010) Amir established his career in the world-music scene founding acknowledged ensembles such as Bustan Abraham and Tucan Trio with which he has recorded and performed worldwide.
His musical background represents a variety of styles and cultures including classical, jazz, Mediterranean and Latin. He has collaborated with artists such as Zakir Hussein, Tito Puente, Ross Daly, Omar Farouk Tekbilek and Armando Macedo, among others and has participated in distinguished concert venues and festivals, both as a player and a composer.
He has collaborated with several choreographers, with whom he has composed for modern and flamenco dance groups and has composed and recorded several film scores. (His recent work on the documentary film "The Case for Israel- Democracy’s Outpost" is currently presented at film festivals worldwide). Amir played in musical shows in the Israeli television and has collaborated and recorded numerous albums with Israel’s leading artists, such as Matti Caspi, Shlomo Gronich, Gidi Gov, Miki Gavrielov, Leah Shabbat, and many others.
With over twenty years of experience teaching flute, recorders and music theory, Amir developed a unique musical education program and has instructed at the "Karev Music Educational Program" in Israel. He currently teaches at the New England Conservatory, Boston, and has lectured and presented workshops at music schools such as the Berklee College of music, Boston and Berkeley University, CA. Before moving to Boston, in 2004 Amir was also a faculty member at the "Hed College of Contemporary Music" in Tel Aviv, Israel. Amir presents an interactive workshop for schools and colleges called: "A World of Flutes"- Introducing the evolution of woodwinds through live music, stories, and a demonstration of over 80 musical instruments.
Ellen Godena – Movement Artist – is an experimental performer, choreographer, and Mobius Artists Group member. Her recent work has focused on the relationships between human, non-human (organic), and machine (non-organic) movement as a method for studying human development. Recent solo and collaborative works have been quests to define these relationships through the use of primitive, robotic entities in performance.
Ellen’s training, artistic influences and inspiration derive from the study of Japanese avant-garde movement and theater forms that have developed since the early 1960’s, primarily the butoh dances created by Japanese artists Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata, physical theater, and contemporary dance. Since 1998, she has performed solo, group, and ensemble work in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence, and New York City. She was a former dancer with the Boston-based Kitsune Dance Theater (2003-06) under the direction of Deborah Butler, and the NYC post-modern butoh troupe, the Vangeline Theater (2006-08) under the direction of Vangeline. She has performed with Master butoh artist Katsura Kan (Curious Fish, 2002, 2008), and has studied with internationally recognized artists such as Zack Fuller, Hiroko Tamano, Su-En, Diego Pinon, and Katsura Kan. Her primary, long-term training has been with American artists Deborah Butler, Vangeline, and Jennifer Hicks. Currently, Ellen is presenting solo robotics – movement projects in addition to performing regularly with Liz Roncka’s Real-Time Performance Project in Boston, MA. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design in Studio Painting (1997), and a Master’s degree in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University (2005).
Liz Roncka – Movement Artist – is an avid practitioner of movement improvisation and contemporary dance. She is the director of lizroncka/Real-Time Performance Project,a Mobius Artists Group member and a collaborating artist with Emma Jupe, a Paris-based improvisation collective. Her work has been presented in Boston, NYC, San Francisco, Budapest and Paris.
Liz’s early training was in the tradition of classical ballet at the School of the New Bedford Ballet. In college, Liz’s focus shifted toward contemporary dance and improvisation. She was a member of the Dance Collective of Boston from 1998-2005. Liz has had the pleasure of performing modern dance and improvisational work under the direction of: Ramelle Adams, Emily Beattie, Ruth Benson-Levin, Debra Bluth, Alissa Cardone, Sean Curran,Ellen Godena, Andrew Harwood, Michael Jahoda/White Box Project, Dawn Kramer, Light Motion, Karen Murphy-Fitch and Micki Taylor-Pinney.
Much of Liz’s work is developed in deep collaboration with sound artists, most notably Jane Wang, Haggai Cohen Milo, Jessyka Luzzi, Sean Frenette and Akili Jamal Haynes. Current projects include an improvisational duo with Forbes Graham (trumpet) and an collaboration with Philippe Lejeune (visual artist) developing a movement piece within a glass installation exploring the intersection of reality and reflected images. For more information please see:
<a href=”http://www.dailydanceproject.blogspot.com” rel=”nofollow”>www.dailydanceproject.blogspot.com</a>
<a href=”http://www.myspace.com/realtimeperformance” rel=”nofollow”>www.myspace.com/realtimeperformance</a>
<a href=”http://www.mobius.org/user/29″ rel=”nofollow”>www.mobius.org/user/29</a>
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Renowned User Experience Director Hans Wendland joins Six Red Marbles’ Research and Development Group
August 24, 2009 – Cambridge, MA - Six Red Marbles announced today the addition of Hans Wendland as Director of Digital Strategy. Wendland will report to President Sarah White and be part of the R&D/Innovation team. The team’s focus is on analyzing the educational marketplace and technological trends to seek out ways that potential solutions can create opportunities for Six Red Marbles and its clients. “An artist by spirit, an educator by nature and a technology guru by trade, Hans’ creativity and insight into both the logic and art of technology go hand in hand with Six Red Marbles’ philosophy,” White said. “We are very excited to have him on board.”
“Six Red Marbles is exploring new and original methods and working with both old and new clients,” CEO Jacques Driscoll said. “With Hans bringing his passion and modern thinking to those clients, the possibilities are limitless. He is fond of saying that his four drives are art, music, technology and the streets. I look forward to what those drives, combined with Hans’ solid understanding of what our clients need, can accomplish.”
Wendland’s global career experience stretches from the dawn of the desktop era through the rise of Web and Web 2.0 and the growth of mobile applications. He has been consistently focused on improving the technology-user fit through innovative development and creative user interfaces. Wendland has worked in all aspects of multimedia and software development and deployment. He has been a project manager, a userexperience consultant to several Fortune 500 companies in Europe and in North America, and director of IT for a Swiss pharmaceutical company. He is also the educator who launched the Multimedia Program for the Harvard University Extension School.
More recently, Wendland was Director of User Experience at Monster.com, and a part of the team that created the Playyoo.com mobile-to-mobile social networking and gaming site for Imaginventure. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director for a new User Experience consultant group within the Accenture family of companies. He has done contract and consulting work for clients including Adobe, Apple, General Electric, Lotus, Macromedia, Microsoft, Siemens and Swiss Air.
“The most successful digital products are usable, useful and engaging. In the end, the success or failure of any digital offering is determined by the end-users,” Wendland said. “With Six Red Marbles’ extensive experience and exclusive focus on education coupled with creativity and forward thinking, I know that I am working with the team that is going to make a difference.”
Hans can be contacted at h.wendland@sixredmarbles.com
About Six Red Marbles
Reed the Blog – http://blog.sixredmarbles.com/
See the site – http://www.sixredmarbles.com
With offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Baltimore, Maryland, Six Red Marbles is an award-winning provider of educational solutions serving the K-12 and college markets. Six Red Marbles is known for its passion for education and for delivering creative and quality products to its clients. In 2008, Six Red Marbles merged with Baltimore-based Monotype and is backed by private equity firm Calvert Street Capital Partners. The combination of Six Red Marbles’ innovative approach to content and technology with Monotype’s widely recognized page composition expertise and experienced, progressive editorial staff results in a forwardthinking, no-boundary company ready to deliver superior solutions for today’s toughest challenges.
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