11.02.2008

We're taking a break...



Moment's Notice is on hiatus for the time being.

We'll be back... probably after the holidays...

In the meantime, here are some photos from past Moment's Notice shows.

(Photographers: Ira Fabricant for the first, of Owen Walker & Kim Criswell; Steelee for the audience shot...)

If you have any photos of Moment's Notice performances you'd like to add, try submitting jpgs or links to photos / videos as comments... and if that doesn't work, email them to us -- moments notice info at gmail dot com -- and we'll try to post 'em.



8.05.2008

We're back!

Moment's Notice has been on a summer hiatus -- but we'll be back on Saturday, August 30. Same time, same place, same price as usual:

8/30/08
8pm

Western Sky Studio, in the Sawtooth Building, 2525 8th St., Berkeley
$8-$15 (sliding scale; tickets available at the door)

August performers:

Liz Boubion --dance
Edward Schocker & Suki O'Kane - music
Imaginary Friends (Abhay Ghiara, Krista Gullickson & Kim Criswell, in collaboration with Edward Schocker) -- physical theater
Nicole Richter & Pamela Marsh - dance with poetry & music
The Olimpias (Petra Kuppers and friends)- dance, etc.


About the performers:

Liz Boubion is a dance-theater artist who has performed locally doing both solo improvisation and collaborative work with choreographers Erick Kupers, Dawn Frank, Rowena Ritchie, Tara Brandell, Jez Lee, Ali Woolwich and Niel Marcus. In 1997 and 1998, Liz danced internationally with Frankfurt-based Vivienne Newport of TanzTheater, Pina Bausch, Estelle Clareton of Canada's Vertigo Danse, Petra Leher of TanzCo-Lab and with the Frankfurt Opera's Movement Chorus.

Edward Schocker creates music with found objects & made instruments. As a composer, his work spans genres and has been performed in Asia, Europe and North America. Google him and you'll be amazed... or just click here: http://www.composersforum.org/member_profile.cfm?oid=2915

Suki O'Kane is one of the founding members of the lo-fi sampling ensemble The Noodles (with Michael Zelner), plays percussion withMoe! Staiano's Moe!kestra! and Dan Plonsey. She works in partnership with House of Zoka, a live recording project that has documented over ten years of creative new music in the Bay Area, is an inveterate phonographer and since 2003 has been curating performances of live music and film, such as The Illuminated Corridor, a nomadic public art project that creates streetscapes of live experimental music and performative projection.

Abhay Ghiara, Krista Gullickson & Kim Criswell have been performing together as
Imaginary Friends, a physical theater improv trio, for around a decade. Their work is influenced by Abhay's and Krista's experience with Goat Island and other Chicago theater groups, as well as by intensives with Ruth Zaporah, Cassie Terman and others. Abhay recently collaborated with Edward Schocker in Bamboo Alley, a site-specific piece.

The Olimpias (Petra Kuppers and friends)
: Burning. Disability Culture Work in Progress. Petra's website describes this as a "performance / drama / movement / visual art / collaborative project."

Nicole Richter & Pamela Marsh will do a dance piece set to poetry by Pamela Marsh and music by Anoymous 4. You might remember Nicole from the many years she served as Axis Dance Company's co-artistic director and education director. As a dancer with Axis, she originated roles in commissioned pieces by Bill T. Jones, Stephen Petronio, Joe Goode, Joanna Haigood and Sonya Delwaide. She's been nominated for Izzy awards and been the recipient of several California Arts Council Grants.

3.31.2008

April 26 show

Moment's Notice performers on April 26 will be:

  • Annah., Hanna Erdman & Kira Kirsch: Dance & live music
  • Catherine Baumgartner: Dance
  • Katarina Eriksson (AKA Dr. Eugenia Frank): Dance theater
  • Evan Specter: Theater
  • Brian P Myers: Theater

Same logistics as usual:

Showtime: 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 sliding scale

(We're funded 100% by ticket sales, so your contribution helps us pay for our performance space rental, flyers, programs... and if there's enough left over, performers!)

Location:
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street (between Dwight Way & Parker St.)
Berkeley, CA

Reservations usually aren't necessary -- we can always add chairs!







Bios:



Catherine Baumgartner
is originally from Minneapolis, MN where she danced on bridges, barges, and buildings with site-specific choreographer Marylee Hardenbergh and explored dance's deeper roots in celebration and intergenerational community as a performer and workshop facilitator with Kairos Dance Theatre. Since moving to the hiker's paradise of West Marin in 2007, Catherine has become a student of Mt. Tamalpais, learning new ways to think about "time" and "space" and the many ways one can cultivate a kinesthetic relationship with the landscape. She also just started the MA program in Transformative Arts at John F. Kennedy University, hoping to focus on movement as a contemplative practice and to explore the nature (literal and figurative) of creative inspiration. Catherine is very interested in connecting with artists who would be open to deep diving into the collaborative process to create multidisciplinary performances and other events.

Lately, dancer Katarina Eriksson has been haunted by the character Dr Eugenia Frank. In this piece, she explores the story of Ms Frank through the form of solo improvisation, and to music by Asa Chung & Junray

Kira Kirsch, born in Berlin, studied modern dance and pedagogy at the conservatory of Vienna. She was granted with scholarships of tanzpool and the Austrian Arts Council to deepen and furthering her movement studies and artistic development. She studied with Frey Faust for seven years and is a certified Axis Syllabus instructor. She gets invited to lead wksps and classes in both dance technique and contact improv all around Europe and California and among others has worked with Half Machine(DK), Frey Faust's ABCD Collective(EU), PARTS(B) and Cie Anna Tenta(A). She is currently dancing with the choreographer Erika Tsimbrovsky and the visual artist Vadim Puyandaev in San Francisco.

Hana Erdman studied contemporary dance and contact improvisation at UCLA and in San Francisco. She dances and performs in the bay area and in Europe. She has had the pleasure of working with Jess Curtiss, Smith/Wymore productions, Half Machine, The Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, as well as in her own work. She currently trains with and dances for Sara Shelton Mann in San Francisco. Most recently she has become obsessed with circus aerial performance and trains at the circus center in San Francisco. Hana also plays music with her experimental band project in Berlin called drowning daisies.

Annah Wilson is a Bay Area, Accoustic-Experimental artist/musician, and the writer of
the zine Resisting Palindromes. myspace.com/annahantipalindrome

Evan Specter is a founding member of Tumbleheart, and he is also developing a solo show about eating too much at the spiritual smorgasbord (please visit http://DragonTree.weebly.com). He has been singing and making theater since grade school in New York, and was introduced to autobiographical improvisation through a chance meeting at a mountaintop monastery. Evan has been studying movement, writing and improvisation with Nina Wise and Corey Fisher for ten years.


3.09.2008

Next show is on March 22

Here's info on our next Moment's Notice show. Logistics are the usual:

Saturday, March 22 @ 8pm
Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley


This month's performers are:


Action Theater: Deanna Anderson, Kim Criswell, Catherine Debon, Hana Hammer, Hank Obermayer, Claire Peaslee, Molly Sullivan, & Owen Walker

It's been a while since we've had a large group of people improvising together at Moment's Notice. This large group has practiced together and worked with Ruth Zaporah for many years. Most teach Action Theater as well as perform.


Dance: Rosemary Hannon

Over the years, Rosemary has performed many times at Moment's Notice, and she's always fabulous.


Music: Wayne Grim & Aurora Josephson

You'll have to come to the show to find out about these two! ;-)

2.18.2008

Moment's Notice Feb. 23: Performer's bios!

The next Moment's Notice is this weekend:

Saturday,
February 23 @ 8pm
Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)

Western Sky Studio

2525 8th Street, Berkeley

featuring:

Harmony Gates & TraceyJoy Miller - InterPlay
Cheryl E Leonard -
Music

Rhonda Morton
- Voice & Movement

Andy Strain & Andrew Wass
- Music & Dance

TumbleHeart -
Motion Theater

for info & reservations: email momentsnoticeinfo@gmail.com

More information about this month's performers:

Cheryl E. Leonard will present musical improvisations with pendulums, water, and natural objects from the sea. Cheryl is a composer, performer, and improviser of music and interdisciplinary works. Her interests include finding and building instruments, working with natural materials, collaboration across artistic disciplines, and site-specific work. Many of her pieces explore very quiet phenomena and the intricacies of sounds not generally considered musical. Cheryl received a BA from Hampshire College and an MA from Mills College. She has been awarded grants from the ASCAP Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the American Composers Forum; and artist residencies at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Engine 27, and Villa Montalvo. Recordings of her music are available from Great Hoary Marmot Records, Pax Recordings, 23five Incorporated, Apraxia Records, Old Gold Records and the Lab. When not playing with sound, she might be found climbing in the mountains, studying aikido or collecting pinecones with handles. http://www.allwaysnorth.com

Harmony Gates & Tracey Joy Miller will draw on their life experience and body wisdom to create improvisational storytelling and movement. Harmony is a pioneer exploring the correlation between how our bodies move and how we relate to life and to each other. She is a seasoned contact dancer, body worker and movement collaborator. She teaches Body-centered self-awareness and relationship skills, most recently working with individuals facing the challenge of dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADD, ADHD or Autism. Tracey Joy Miller is an improvisational healer, facilitating body-centered approaches to Spirit. A long-time Interplayer.

Rhonda Morton is a poet, performance artist, dancer and singer with a particular interest in improvisation in all those roles. Equally at home working as a soloist, as an ensemble member, or as a producer/performer, Rhonda uses the transformational power of creativity-in-the-moment, often integrating the audience and/or the site into performances. In 2005, she formed Alligator Mouth Improv, a multi-disciplinary improvisational collective based in Corning, NY. Browse their website for more information and videos: www.rhondamorton.com/alligator.html For the Moment’s Notice performance, Rhonda will either do solo work or perhaps invite some friends to play!


Andrew Wass has danced in work by Scott Wells, Shelley Senter, and Jess Curtis. His performance work has been shown in San Diego, New York, Tijuana, San Francisco and Marfa, Tx. (http://www.andrewwass.com.) For Moment’s Notice, he’ll be collaborating with trombonist Andrew Strain (http://www.myspace.com/andrewstrain.)


Tumbleheart is a 2 yr-old improvisational autobiographical improv ensemble in the Motion Theater style.

Beth Sperry is founding member. She's performed as actor and dancer in Michigan, New York and Los Angeles, and began studying Motion Theater with Nina Wise five years ago. She says, "Autobiographical improv has liberated me in a way scripted and choreographed work never did. It's an artistic and spiritual practice that will be with me for the rest of my life. And Tumbleheart is a creative collaboration I never dreamt I'd have."

Evan Specter is also a founding member of Tumbleheart, and he is also developing a solo show about eating too much at the spiritual smorgasbord (please visit http://DragonTree.weebly.com). He has been singing and making theater since grade school in New York, and was introduced to autobiographical improvisation through a chance meeting at a mountaintop monastery. Evan has been studying movement, writing and improvisation with Nina Wise and Corey Fisher for ten years.

Jonathan Walker is the third founding member of Tumbleheart who will be performing at Moment’s Notice. For the past six years he has been studying Motion Theater, with Nina Wise and Corey Fisher. In high school, he found his first love for theatrical performance as Bottom in Midsummer’s Night Dream and as Tom in Tom Jones. Several years ago, he was asked to invent a male character and costume for the Mayday festivities for his 11-year old daughter’s Waldorf School. He now embodies the Greenman whenever he can, which is a role of gleeful exuberance and playful mischief that he enjoys very much.

2.03.2008

Our next show is on Feb. 23 -- and it'll be great!

Logistics for the next Moment's Notice are the same as usual:

Saturday, February 23 @ 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)
Western Sky Studio
2525 8th Street, Berkeley (between Dwight Way & Parker)

This month's perfomers are:

Harmony Gates & TraceyJoy Miller - InterPlay

Cheryl E Leonard - Music
Cheryl is a sound artist -- check out her website: www.allwaysnorth.com

Rhonda Morton - Voice & Movement
Rhonda is visiting us again from the East Coast. She's a multi-disciplinary improv artist: http://www.rhondamorton.com

Andy Strain & Andrew Wass - Music & Dance
Andrew Wass's performances are always memorable. This time he'll be performing with Andy Strain on trombone. For more info on Andrew, check out http://www.andrewwass.com

TumbleHeart - Theater - Improv in the style of Nina Wise: http://www.tumbleheart.org

for more info & reservations: momentsnoticeinfo@gmail.com

1.24.2008

Program, January 19 2008

Program, January 19, 2008

Catherine Debon has created and produced dance and theater pieces since 1983. She has enjoyed improvising Action Theater with others, and tonight will do her first solo playing with the form. She's also a drama therapist who leads yoga groups for adults and teenagers. She'll give a lecture later this month on teaching yoga to at-risk youth and will be teaching at JFK university March 1st.

“Not More than 21 Facts about this Dance”performed by NoNo Dance Unit music by Alvo Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto with soundscore by NoNo Dance UnitRosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov have been dancing together for 5 years and have come to the point in their dance relationship in which they are giving birth to a performance collective. Their child was born in 2007. The birth was delayed, dramatic and challenging. The name of their child is NoNo Dance Unit. According to Astrology and Tarot readings it will be a talented and healthy baby with lots of creativity and success.

Melissa Margolis has been tinkering with sound since childhood. A classically trained pianist, she spent her early adulthood studying indigenous instruments of various countries while traveling abroad, such as Indonesian gamelan. She has collaborated with the local eclectic noise group Big City Orchestra for the past four years. She has also performed as an Odissi dancer, the classical temple dance form of eastern India. This is her first solo improv performance on the accordion.

INTERMISSION

Lately, dancer Katarina Eriksson has been haunted by the character Dr Eugenia Frank. Tonight she explores the story of Ms Frank through the form of solo improvisation, and to music by Kamtakta College of Percussion.

Claire Peaslee will perform an Action Theater solo as part of an on-going celebration of nature and laughter. Having first encountered Ruth Zaporah in performance about 26 years ago - instantly becoming a student of the form, and of Ruth - Claire considers Action Theater a life practice. She is a naturalist and writer/editor whose home is greater Point Reyes, and Claire invites you out to beautiful West Marin on Saturday, February 16th, for an Action Theater matinee that will also feature Deanna Anderson. Fliers are in the lobby and details at dancepalace.org.

Rosemary, Vitali and Katarina join forces in a trio to music by Psychic TV.

1.03.2008

Details about the January 19 Moment's Notice


Moment's Notice

- a monthly performance series
devoted to improvised music, dance & theater -


Saturday, January 19 @ 8pm

Tickets: $8-15 (sliding scale)

Western Sky Studio

2525 8th Street, Berkeley


This month's performers:

Catherine Debon - Action Theater
Katarina Eriksson, Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov - Dance
Melissa Margolis - Music
Claire Peaslee - Action Theater

January's show will include three dance pieces:
  • a solo improv by Katarina Ericksson,
  • Rosemary Hannon & Vitali Kononov in a dance duet,
  • and all three together in a dance trio.

January, February & March...

It's official -- here are the dates for the next three Moment's Notice shows:

  • January 19, 2008
  • February 23, 2008
  • March 22, 2008

As usual, the shows will combine improvised music, theater and dance at Western Sky Studio in West Berkeley, Saturday nights at 8pm.

We hope you can come!