Life is quite sweet sometimes isn't it...?

An adorable dance company named Under One Dances (founded by Kyla Ernst-Alper) proposed folks send in choreographic ideas for 1 minute #TweetDances to be performed at this year's #Figment Festival on Governors Island in New York. 

I thought...what the hey...I'll play.

They ended up using the idea and here's what they did...performed by Meladonna.  
So sweet.




#TweetDance: Meladonna dances "giving in to love..."
from Kygwen on Vimeo. Meladonna
Figment, Governors Island, New York, NY

@SeBiArt:
'giving in to love...again'

At the start, every 15 seconds, and at the end of the 1 min dance - cup one hand in the other (gesture of offering) and then
cup it over your heart. (so the gesture would happen 5x)
For the whole piece - Improv a movement story of heart break followed by a heart riZe to love in between each gesture.
-To learn more about Meladonna visit http://www.underonedances.com/#!meladonna/c1zp

SUPPORT POST: Death of the Diva

What is a diva?

Answer (from Wikipedia):

A diva (English pronunciation: /ˈdiːvə/, Italian: [ˈdiːva]) is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music.

Okay.  So we know who those are - the far and few between who happen to be celebrated.  But we also know the new divas...the Kardashians, the Hiltons, or others who I can't name because frankly I just don't pay close enough attention.  

I'm not an avid TV viewer, I go for days, sometimes weeks without touching the clicker.  This wasn't always the case.  There was a time, back when television and cable programming had more 'original', and gasp (!), creative content, and less mind-numbing carnivals* showcasing the most base of human behavior under the heading 'reality'.

At the heart of this soul crushing content is not the celebration of women but the degradation of them.  And though many of us protested this shift that has now become the norm; the reality IS, that this demeaning content 1) entertains the masses, 2) catapults many a vapid being to undeserving supernova stardom from such spectacle, and 3) creates associations for all womanhood that serve more to undo the triumphs for equality and respect so hard won.  The new diva represents nothing of any progressive use, and so hurts those of us who have something inspiring, magnificent, or unique to offer. As performer/actor/DJ Amanda Seale (formerly known as Amanda Diva) aptly notes "we're put in this corner where I may have to be less than the woman my mother raised me to be".

This concern is at the heart of her new one-woman show now up in New York, Death of a Diva, directed by Roger C. Jeffrey.  Roger is a dear friend, past dance teacher of mine, and an accomplished dancer and choreographer.  He has deep social concerns for women, youth, racial inequities, and matters of the soul - he's a gapminder, who works always with superior talent.  So no surprise to me that he's a part of a most meaningful project written and performed by this accomplished female talent.  Seale's conscientiously written work tackles the attack on the image of women in all media and  appears to be every bit as heightened, intelligent, and damn funny in her performance.

Seale takes the stage this month offering ideas, and stories of the woman and the diva, through voices of multiple characters in this performance, each of whom will provoke thought and reopen active dialogue on what appears now to be a frighteningly passive issue.  This is too good, and too important to miss. I mean really, have we killed the diva?!

Amanda Seale's Death of a Diva plays:

March 23rd - April 1st 

at The Helen Mills Theater, NYC

135 West 26th Street (btw 6th & 7th Aves) 

Get Tickets HERE!!

Why do women look so silly on Reality TV?

Support Video:

March 5th, UPDATE:  

ADD'L Performance dates and Venues:

Sat 3/3: Death of the Diva at NCCU Durham, NC 7p

Tues 3/13: Death of the Diva FREE live sneak peak! 8-10p @ Bleu Violin (116/5th ave) spec perf by: Kimberly Nichole

Thurs 3/15: Death of the Diva FREE live sneak peak! 8-10p @ Free Candy

Fri 3/16: The Schomburg Museum presents: Theater Talks w/ Amanda Seales hosted by Elon James (Time TBD)

Mon 3/20: NYU for Women's History Month Events presents: Death of the Diva

*(for further reading that supports this gripe - please see my favourite article ever written on the matter: I'm A Culture Critic...Get Me Out of Here! by James Wolcott, Dec 2009)

Photo Gear Desire: Vol.1 of Endless...

My first SLR ever was the Canon T70, with a few other learner bodies like Pentax K-1000 with Ricoh lenses, the Nikon FE2 (which I loved!!), and my first year as SeBiArt, I used the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. Though the Nikon FE2 in particular is still a hot collectors item - it's  amazing to see how much these cams have dropped in value over the years.  I'm now firmly planted in the Nikon system but if I had $$$ druthers I'd have multiple systems - Leica, Hasselblad, and Canon.  

I  spent much of last year salivating over the Canon EOS SLR D series - specifically the 1D-X.... and after I rented 5D system + lenses for a video and stills theater assignment I thought I'd die if I didn't own this machine. 

But now...Nikon just dropped this on us - the new D800+D800E and I'm near asphyxiation:

Acting in Evolution

This is new kind of share (and update for some of you) about a most timely and beautiful opportunity I had this summer.  I'm always going on about 'the journey' and usually a very internal and personal one at that - with the occassional dash of work/professional news.  But as these two aspects of our lives are intrinsically tied - I must share this recent and particularly meaningful connection. 


I have been excavating a whole heap of stuff over the past couple of years, and one aspect of my past has been left unexplored:  acting.  It's kinda ironic, but not entirely uncommon, to find myself on a professional journey that has little to do with my course of study in college: Theater Arts.  I have certainly created real connections between this and photography, in so far as how I develop my work, and how I attempt to go about the business of creating it.  The principles of collaboration that I seek always to work by, come directly from the culture of the theater world.  But acting - well, this I have not done for some years now. As I often would put it when it came up:  I haven't spoken text on stage/on camera for....  

As I've been on my other artistic explorations, I've missed acting, not sharply mind you, but rather, I've been aware of its absence as a form of expression.

My friend Danae Grandison, another soul-searcher/explorer and accomplished graphic designer, decided to switch gears and explore the artform of film making.  Her first film, Unconditional Love, is a work straight from the highway of personal explorations, directly from the heart, a beautiful distillation of what it means to come out on the other end of a growth passage emotionally in tact, and in fact, to find yourself utterly in love with life and all the vicissitudes therein; to arrive at acceptance, wonderment, and open curiosity to what comes next.  We can only be in such a place when we are willing to release the past, and thus the expectations it invariably breeds for the future.  


I auditioned at precisely the right time for the part in this 2 minute short - when I could understand the meaning of such a personal evolution.  It was also therefore, the right project to bring me back to this art form.  Oh the connectivity!  


Danae's work premiered at SVA (School of Visual Arts) at the end of her film course this past August, and she received the Audience Award for her work.  I was so chuffed too of course - haha! 


Here's our Labour of Love - which was shot in the New York City heat wave of 115ºF!  Not easy, but totally cathartic.  Thank you for this journey Danae!








 
Unconditional Love from Danae Grandison on Vimeo.
Time to release the bags you collect along the way...

Featuring Berette Macaulay
Written and Directed by Danae Grandison
Edited by David Lee

Nacho Duato's "Multiplicity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness"

I don't know if I would go so far as to say Nacho Duato is my favourite choreographer...ever...but, he's so very close to being so.

His movement and interpretation of music is so specific yet loose, so perfect yet such a celebration of emotional erratic flaws of the soul. The shapes from the relationships he creates with dancers is a rare beauty to behold; it's heart-stopping; it's heartbreaking.

SUPPORT POST: Vote for my sister for The Anchor on CVM-TV!!

Hey guys,


Asking for your support again - but this time for blood!  My sister has been sticking it out on a local television show host competition, The Anchor, on CVM television.  She's been competing for 3 months and now its down to the last vote.  

She's in the top three and after this week there will be a final two and that's it - so this really counts.  If you're in Jamaica - follow the instructions below and cast your vote as many times as you can! 

**Note: Votes are reset to zero every week - so you must vote this week for your support to count! AND - voting is unlimited!

Also my KOTE exhibit at Wijicoon is still up until Saturday - get over there before you miss it!

Thanks guys and much love

SeBiArt Showing Work at KOTE!

So, truth is I never heard of the annual KOTE (Kingston On The Edge) Art Festival until just a couple months ago, so I'm happy to be showing my work in it so soon after my knowledge of its existence. 

From everything I've heard from artists and supporters, this promises to be quite the exciting festival here in Kingston, Jamaica, with no shortage of events and exhibits in the visual and performing arts fields all over the city.

It's been a bit of a mad dash for the organizers and artists alike to get things together - but the seams are now sealed, and the festival kicks off this weekend, from June 18th - 26th. 

I will be showing (and selling!) a few pieces (from LIQUID, CrowDeD, and SMOKE series) with a small group of locally established photographers at the Wijicoon Gallery this Saturday:

 

For those of you who are here - I hope I see your ass at this show!  (*cheeeeeez*) And look how they embraced my MIND THE GAP image for the flyer.  (*cheese*cheese*) 

For the complete schedule of events and venues please check out the KOTE website or  http://www.kingstonontheedge.org/schedule/

LABYRINTH of FOREVER: Doorway for the Spirit Chasers

So I'm doing it again. I've entered the annual Art For Progress competition: Clash of the Artists 2010 and I need YOUR VOTE!  

It's a small annual global contest with a handful of competitive categories: Visual Art, Music, Film, Fashion, DJ, and Creative.  I've put a video in the Creative category.   Some of you may remember I won this back in 2008 with a video presentation of my photo series SPLIT.  

This video is a new edit of work I directed (shot by Fury Young) last Spring.  I prepared a treatment and scripted scenes for this a couple years ago, originally to be part of my CrowDeD series.

I then adapted it for a projection piece used in a 30 minute dance performance at Nina Buisson's Avant Garde Festival in June 09'. 

It's a much shorter edit now, at 7 mins, with the new title, LABYRINTH of FOREVER: Doorway for the Spirit Chasers. Mystic Urchin supplemented it with some great text too! I hope you like it. 

Please click the links to vote - when you get there, scroll down on the Art for Progress Creative voting page to find my video.  Thanks y'all!


NOTE: You will be sent a confirmation email with link that you need to click on or your vote won't go through. 


---

VOTE FOR THIS VIDEO


LABYRINTH of FOREVER: Doorway for the Spirit Chasers from SeBiArt on Vimeo.

|excerpt|

the promise of forever frightens us,
threatening to bury us
in an immeasurable matrix
of darkness…

hold to your frequency
to live forever


~Mystic Urchin~

CREDITS:

Art and Film Direction by Berette Macaulay

Performers in Order of Appearance:
Maki Shinagawa
Cristal Albornoz
Berette Macaulay

Shot by Fury Young

Text by Steve ‘Urchin’ Wilson

Painting and Costumes by Cristal Albornoz

Additional photography SeBiArt

Film, Sound, and Text Editing by Berette Macaulay

A SeBiArt Production.

*Add'l Behind the Hidden Gate colour foto inserts I promised in a recent post.

RELATED JOURNEY POSTS: 

I Friggin WON!!! Ha - I got support like Obama!! lol! (Feb 2008)

Avant Garde Festival (May 2009)

Behind The Hidden Gate (Jan 2010)

Behind the Hidden Gate

Because I never did show you.

This is the first set of a no-frills view of images I have lying around. My friends and fellow collaborators Nina Buisson and Devin Pullins got together to do this shoot with me last summer - intended to be a part of Nina's Avant Garde Festival show at JUDSON Memorial in New York. A handful were used in an onstage projection as part of the show, but most of these never saw the light of day, until now. 

NB: You will need to update Flash Player to view this.  If viewing from Facebook - please click 'Original Post' to see slideshow.
 

I'll post the other set of colour images when I get a few finals sorted. For those of you following my work - you'll notice that the light, abstract period I'm currently in, directly followed this work. The images were created using a similar lighting style as CrowDeD and other dark and isolating portraiture methods that I  employed up until Summer 2009. Things started to get more colourful as my travels began last year in Germany.  (Yes, I've yet to post my video diary - but I will, one day.  haha! )

Concept and Design:

Berette Macaulay and Nina Buisson with commissioned painting by Cristal Albornoz

Title by Nina

All Photography by Berette Macaulay

Location:

Millenium Studios (arranged by Artistic Dir. Devin Pullins)

Make Up: By Margherita Tisato and Cristal Albornoz

(Devin's Make up Designed by Berette)

Costume: Cristal Albornoz & Maddy Kebedjs

RELATED JOURNEY POST:  Avant Garde Festival (May 2009) 

Support Post: Epic Theater Ensemble Just Won BIG TIME!

I'm so proud to show support for a deserving group. My acting teacher from college, Godfrey Simmons Jr, serves as one of the artistic producers at Epic Theater Ensemble here in New York, and one of their after school theater programs "Shakespeare Remix" has just received a most prestigious reward:

WE HAVE WON

...the 2009 COMING UP TALLER AWARD presented by the PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE on the

ARTS and the HUMANITIES for our SHAKESPEARE REMIX program. This prestigious award 

recognizes and supports outstanding after-school arts and humanities programs for 

children, especially those with great potential, but limited outlets for creative 

expression.

Here is a breakdown on what they are about, with board director and kick ass actor David Strathairn:

Check out their website for more info plus showtimes for Shakespeare Remix and other projects: Epic Theater Ensemble 

(www.epictheatrectr.org)

Support Post: "Nouveau Americain" with Naganuma Dance & AFP's "Sunset Jam in Central Park"

Here are two events coming up this November that will be well worth your time.

Naganuma Dance is a modern dance company here in New York that produces interesting and provocative pieces where movement, imagery, and text are presented on stage in a way to stimulate senses and to spark intellectual examination and discourse. My dear friend Justin became a part of this company a little over a year ago and I'm so proud to support his efforts, but more proud to spread the word so you do too - as honestly, it's not some piece-of-crap company - thankfully!!


Click on the image below to see the postcard bigger and in a separate viewer.




You can also see more of them at the new Naganuma Dance website!

Photo of Justin from a shoot we did together recently:



___

Avant Garde Festival

So I've been a bit quiet about doing stuff I know - so here's a mini news brief.

I'm now in preparation for a show with Nina Buisson of NBCM Dance co. I used to dance with her and collaborated on a few shows back in the day. It 's amazing how easy it is to create with this special talent, as our tastes are similar. And I owe much gratitude to the universe that we still continue to inspire each other's creative growth because it's so rare and satisfying as an artist to experience ease in collaboration. She loved the work I was doing with my photo series CrowDeD (which features a few dancers from the company), and I LOVE her choreography, so it was a long but natural progression I guess that it would all come together in a show.

She has created what we hope will become an ongoing event entitled the Avant Garde Festival which will debut at JUDSON MEMORIAL in Washington Square Park this coming June 12 & 13th. It is an incredible space (see flyer below for more show details and RSVP to your right on the GOING.com flyer AND buy tickets HERE!)

The Festival gives dancers, artists, and choreographers the opportunity to present their latest work professionally. In this space we will create a fantasy world full of surprises. There will be works by other groups also, but for us, we will at last realize what has been a brewing idea for four years - to finally stage an interdisciplinary collaborative work featuring dance, photography, theater arts, and film entitled Behind the Hidden Gate. I hope many of you will come to see Nina's incredible choreography, and my most honest photographic work to date blown up to gigantic proportions of 20x30 feet!!







Secondly, I will have prints on view in a one night show with Antagonist Art in the East Village in June also. Will post details for that soon!

See the full series CrowDeD HERE!!

One Love