Pulse

FIVE POINTS success

Last night ended a quite successful run of the project FIVE POINTS with Pulse and Take Dance! Thanks to all that came to Merce Cunningham Studios to fill the house each night. Here's a good write-up with photos from Oberon's Grove, also here's a link to an interview I gave to Sequenza 21 about FIVE POINTS.

(also posted at http://numinousmusic.blogspot.com/2011/12/s-wonderful-five-points.html)

Photo by: Kokyat

All systems a go

We reached our Kickstarter goal, so thank you to all who are helping to make our Pulse-TAKE Dance collaboration happen. Now, if you haven't bought your tickets, they are selling fast so you might want to click this link so you don't miss out...

FIVE POINTS
TAKE Dance + Pulse: Part II 

FEATURING 

COMPOSERS: Jamie Begian, Melissa Dunphy, Joseph C. Phillips Jr., JC Sanford, Joshua Shneider

MUSICIANS: Hannah Levinson, Jacob Garchik, Ana Milosavljevic, Chris Reza, Mariel Roberts

CHOREOGRAPHERS: Takehiro Ueyama, Jill Echo, Kile Hotchkiss, Kristen Arnold, Milan Misko

DANCERS:  Kristen Arnold, Brynt Beitman, John Eirich, Jillian Hervey, Kile Hotchkiss, Gina Ianni, Cliinton Edward Martin, Sarah Mettin, Milan Misko, Nana Tsuda Misko, Lynda Senisi, Kristi Tornga and Marie Zvosec.
Where: Merce Cunningham Dance Studios, 55 Bethune Street, NYC
When: DEC 15-16 @ 9:00PM

DEC 17th @ 8:00PM

Tickets: $20/$15 Students & Seniors        
Can purchase tickets in advance only, HERE

We're back...Pulse & TAKE Dance with FIVE POINTS

Pulse will present "FIVE POINTS" on December 15-17, 2011 at the historic Merce Cunningham
Studios in NYC. Tickets are ONLY available in advance, which you can get here. Our second collaboration with Take Dance, FIVE POINTS "showcases an omnivorous collection of 'synaesthesia', i.e. an exploration of the potential mash-up of the senses including touch, sound, vision, etc…" Representing five distinct points of view, each piece is by five different choreographers of TAKE Dance (Kristen Arnold, Jill Echo, Kile Hotchkiss, Milan Misko, and Takehiro Ueyama) set to new post-classical/jazz music by the five different composers of Pulse (Jamie Begian, Melissa Dunphy, Joseph C. Phillips, Jr., JC Sanford, and Joshua Shneider) performed by five musicians of Pulse (Chris Reza, woodwinds; Ana Milosavljevic, violin/Viper; Hannah Levinson, viola; Mariel Roberts, cello; Jacob Garchik, accordion, laptop, trombone).

From our press release: 

FIVE POINTS is a true marriage of contemporary dance and music inspired by the senses and synesthesia – people’s different perceptions on reality.  In Summer Collection 2012, choreographer Takehiro Ueyama pairs up with composer Melissa Dunphy to examine the deceiving sense of vision.  Influenced by Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” painting, it takes a look at the blurry line between beauty and terror.  Choreographer Kile Hotchkiss brings together six female dancers in The Substance of Things Unseen, an exploration of the science of Cymatics, the visual and physical impact of sound upon matter.  The music of Joseph C.Phillips, Jr., creates "adventitious synesthesia", altering personal perceptions and amplifying an integrated state of mind.

The third piece, From Over Here, brings together choreographer Milan Misko and composer Jamie Begian.  Instead of probing the actual senses, they’re probing the brain and how it processes sensations out of normal context such as mystery, confusion and enlightening analogies.  In Views from the Inside, composer JC Sanford questions the universal truth through the usage of a “sonic palette.”  Staged for seven dancers and choreographed by Jill Echo, the recurring ‘sonic palette’ evolves, leaving the dancers to question their own individual truths. Finally, unclearly departed investigates phantom limb syndrome - the sensation of an amputated or missing limb still being attached to the body and capable of moving.  Featuring choreography by KristenArnold and music by Joshua Shneider, the piece delves into the intersection of science and art and the aspects of human resilience in response to a physical change. 

We need your help to make this project happen. We have a Kickstarter fundraising campaign that we are trying to raise $4000 to allow us to realize this incredible project. Hope you can help and/or hope to see you at one of the shows!

Five Points: Pulse & TAKE Dance

Help us make this project happen, see our Kickstarter page to donate. We need your help!

FIVE POINTS
TAKE Dance + Pulse: Part II 

FEATURING 

COMPOSERS: Jamie Begian, Melissa Dunphy, Joseph C. Phillips Jr., JC Sanford, Joshua Shneider

MUSICIANS: Hannah Levinson, Jacob Garchik, Ana Milosavljevic, Chris Reza, Mariel Roberts

CHOREOGRAPHERS: Takehiro Ueyama, Jill Echo, Kile Hotchkiss, Kristen Arnold, Milan Misko

DANCERS:  Kristen Arnold, Brynt Beitman, John Eirich, Jillian Hervey, Kile Hotchkiss, Gina Ianni, Cliinton Edward Martin, Sarah Mettin, Milan Misko, Nana Tsuda Misko, Lynda Senisi, Kristi Tornga and Marie Zvosec.

Where: Merce Cunningham Dance Studios, 55 Bethune Street
When: DEC 15-16 @ 9:00PM, DEC 17th @ 8:00PM

Tickets: $20/$15 Students & Seniors        
Purchase tickets HERE

Survey of the Distance of the Moon

Scene from Jill Echo ad Yumiko Sunami's "Moon"

Yesterday was our first rehearsal combining the live musicians and the dancers for the Pulse project The Distance of the Moon. So, while I've heard all of the pieces from our musician's rehearsals and have seen video of the dancers rehearsing my piece The Distance of the Moon, this was the first time seeing and hearing everything together. And I can say it is going to be quite a dynamic and exciting show; you really should make one of the evenings (details below).

Scene from Kile Hotchkiss and Darcy James Argue's "Imperfect Synergy"

BTW, next week on Wednesday October 13th from 6pm to 9pm some of us Pulse-sters will be hosting WKCR's Jazz Alternatives Musician's radio show where we'll be talking about our music, the upcoming project, and our influences.

Scene from Julie Tice and JC Sanford's "Lunar Cycles"

TAKE Dance and PULSE present
the world premiere of
THE DISTANCE OF THE MOON
Featuring choreography by Takehiro Ueyama, Jill Echo, Kile Hotchkiss, Julie Tice
Music by Darcy James Argue, Jamie Begian, Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.,
JC Sanford, Joshua Shneider, Yumiko Sunami

October 14 and 15 at 8:00 PM
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South at Thompson Street
Purchase tickets online now at: BROWN PAPER TICKETS
 
Scene from Takehiro Ueyama and Joshua Shneider's "And Dance by the Light of the Moon"

Help us meet our fund raising goal !!!
visit our project at: KICKSTARTER
WE HAVE UNTIL OCTOBER 10th to reach our goal!!!

DANCERS
Kristen Arnold, Elise Drew, John Eirich, Kile Hotchkiss, Gina Ianni, Mariko Kurihara,
Clinton Edward Martin, Nana Tsuda Misko,  Jake Warren, Marie Zvosec

MUSICIANS
Woodwinds: Ben Kono
Guitar: Pete McCann
Violin: Ana Milosavljevic
Cello: Will Martina
Bass: Eva Lawitts
Percussion: Max Jhin Jaffe

For more information contact TAKE Dance
[email protected]  |  917.591.1413

(Photo credit: all by Joseph C. Phillips Jr.) 

(also posted slightly differently as "On Earth, our Moon shines brightly"
at www.numinousmusic.blogspot.com)

The Distance of the Moon with Take Dance

Hey everyone, it seems like you haven't heard from us in a while but we have been busy. While each of us individually have been tending our own musical flocks, we have been coming together in our months-long hiatus to plot our next act of Pulse-tastic adventure.

And next month you can see and hear the results.

Pulse will be presenting our long-awaited collaboration with Take Dance called The Distance of the Moon. If you are a fan of Italio Calvino's 1965 book Cosmicomics then you might recognize the title, which is the name of one of the chapters in the book. And while Calvino's story is actually the starting point behind only my composition, in general the moon and its various phases and cycles are the inspiration behind each composer's piece, which will be performed live by the 6-person Pulse Ensemble (woodwind, violin, cello, guitar, bass, percussion):

Joseph C. Phillips Jr. The Distance of the Moon (choreographed by Takehiro Ueyama)
Joshua Shneider And Dance By the Light of the Moon (choreographed by Takehiro Ueyama)
Jamie Begian   Moonshine  (choreographed by Jill Echo)
Yumiko Sunami   TBA (choreographed by Jill Echo)
JC Sanford     Lunar Cycles (choreographed by Julie Tice)
Darcy James Argue  Imperfect Syzygy (choreographed by Kile Hotchkiss)

Here are the deets:

Thursday, October 14^th & Friday, October 15^th @ 8:00PM
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square Park, NYC.

Train A/B/C/D/E/F/M to West 4^th Street

$20 General/$15 Seniors & Students. 

To purchase tickets, visit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/126175

And because we are 21st century new media like that, we have set up a way for you to directly be a part of the experience. Go to our Kickstarter page and donate a little to help us make this project a reality. You won't be sorry...

Check back in the coming weeks as each composer will post something about their composition.

Joe

Pulse blog updates

A heads-up to all -- we have just updated the Pulse blog with all kinds of tasty new audio and visual content. Check out our new MP3 page, which now has audio from our recent Chamber Pulse + Triocracy performance at the Brooklyn Lyceum, and lots more besides, going back all the way to our debut show at the Puffin Room back in December 2004. We also added new photo galleries from Roulette, Galapagos, and St. Peter's. The About Pulse section is now a wee bit more descriptive, and the individual composer pages linked in the left sidebar have been updated as well. We've also added ShareThis support for the social networking sites you kids love so much.

We're also very pleased to make a couple of quick announcements about future projects -- in the fall, Pulse will be working with singer-songwriter Joy Askew, and in 2009 we will be bringing your our first dance project in collaboration with TAKE Dance. We'll have more to say on both of those projects as we move forward, so why don't you go ahead and subscribe to our RSS feed or join our mailing list?

Pulse @ Brooklyn Lyceum, 16 Jan 2008

We (i.e., Joe, Jamie, Josh, JC, Darcy, and Yumiko) are pleased to announce

The Return of

Chamber Pulse

Presenting
6 virtually brand-new pieces written for

Triocracy

featuring

Chris Bacas, woodwinds

Andy Laster, woodwinds

JC Sanford, trombone

@

BROOKLYN LYCEUM
227 4th Ave (btw President & Union)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 857-4816
R train to Union St

View Larger Map

Wednesday, January 16th
8:00 PM

Hope to see you there.

Chamber PULSE featuring Triocracy

On Friday October 19th, 2007 we'll present a new collaborative project, Chamber Pulse featuring Triocracy. The performance is 8:00 PM at Barbes located at 376 9th Street (between just off 6th Avenue) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Triocracy, featuring our own JC Sanford wearing his trombonist hat and saxophonists Andy Laster and Chris Bacas, has been in existence since 1998 when JC formed the group in Boston, MA. The character of the group is intended to be difficult to classify as the music crosses over defined genre lines.  "I like to describe the group as 'free-ish chamber jazz,'" JC says. "Originally our repertoire was spontaneous improvisation or tunes written as a vehicle for free improvisation, but it has evolved to include some other flavors, including some works from the 'classical' and 'pop' worlds, along with a few jazz tunes where we actually improvise over traditional harmonies." Though an unorthodox instrumentation, the rhythm-sectionless ensemble is capable of maintaining rhythmic drive and variation through the players' musicality, both as individuals and as a collective entity.

We hope you can come out, have a beer, and listen to some great music!

Joe

Open Sihr Halal Rehearsal Tomorrow

The final pre-Roulette rehearsal for Sihr Halal is tomorrow (Friday) afternoon, and it is an open rehearsal. Pulse would like to invite you -- yes, you, gentle blog reader -- to stop by AMF Local 802, located at 322 West 48th Street in Manhattan, between 8th and 9th Avenue (take the A to 42nd or the C, E to 50th). The rehearsal is in the "Club Room" (the main space on the ground floor that looks like a cross between your high school gym and a church basement) from 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM. You are welcome to come and go as you like any time during those four hours. The composers and musicians will be delighted to talk to you during the breaks.

Maybe you're a composer who's been harboring a secret desire to write for 21-string koto, or maybe you're curious about how an improvising musician like Jacob Garchik approaches live laptop performance. Or maybe you just want to take a peek behind the scenes, see how a concert like this comes together. Whatever the reason, you are all welcome to stop by Friday and check out our rehearsal.