It is over. Let us discuss. 20% pictures/80% words

Well the first "revamped" Snip-its went off without a hitch!

Now you ask, what does New Jersey and corruption have to do with it?

Well everybody likes to hate on New Jersey, and corruption is a running trend in art/dance history. No, there is more to it than that.

...I felt a bit like this lady before Snip-Its this past week.

IMAGINE THE TITLE reads "(Bull shit myth) AKA Performer/Audience Balance Rule"

IMAGINE THE STAGE LEFT SIDE OF THE SCALE reads "Audience Gives: $0 admission, their Thursday night, beer donation, a subway ride to Mascher, their feedback, enduring of awkward moments and weird silences"

IMAGINE THE STAGE RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCALE reads "Performers and Lauren and I Give: decently rehearsed work that is somewhat substantial, entertaining, conceptual, interesting, etc., beer for the audience, a band to make things less awkward (oh crap...the band dropped out), decent enough marketing that enough people come so it doesn't feel awkward, and maybe some free cookies from the bodega around the corner"

So either way, I found myself worrying that this scale wouldn't be even...that people may not get enough bang for their free/buck. There are so many ways that we define a successful show, and I think that this "performer/audience scale myth" has a lot to do with it. It creeps into so much of the art that we make, and before we know it our art comes out looking like a screwed up child of this weird Lady Liberty/Justice/Fairness. The art comes out looking metaphorically like the lady above: with a lukewarm cherub smile, robed (like Isadora Duncan) and barefoot (as if to say, "look ma, NO ShOES!. Oh look how modern and daring my dancing is), and our art defensively caries a sword so when we get stupid feedback from stupid talkbacks we can defend our product by saying "No audience member X, I don't think my piece would be better if it had a narrator and if I cut the silence section. And by the way, you weren't supposed to "get it"..."

BUT to my great excitement, Snip-Its was a great first step for me in letting go of my worries about producing a show that is "worth it" or "good". By putting all those expectations aside, Megan, Lauren, Annie, Laura, myself, Tristan, Josh, Curtis, Zach, Christine, Steve, Mauri, Gus, and a few other names I am forgetting were able to blur the lines between audience and performer and actually just hang out like normal people and talk about art and life and such. Three ideas were danced out, and then there was lots of talking and beer drinking interspersed and following this. It went exactly as I hoped it would.

Thanks to all those who made it happen. Thoughts/comments/words??? Blog about it.

Snip-Its: what we are going for...

The first edition of Snip-Its and Sounds for a Thursday took place in May 2009.
Since then 5 more Snip-Its and Sounds have taken place.

The basics:
Christina Gesualdi Lauren Mathis want to get in the habit of piecing together bi-monthly shows at Mascher called Snip-Its and Sounds. We are in the process of fine-tuning our ideas about what we want the series to be and so far we have this:

• it will always be on a Thursday night at 8 so it doesn't compete with other weekend plans.
• we will keep it simple and informal
• we will market it only so the word gets out. It is more about marketing the date and intent of the series than about boasting artists' names or trying to get people to come for name/company name recognition.
• we want to articulately invite artists to show works in progress or snip-its of ideas or finished-works-made-informal in an environment where there are open (not high) audience expectations and where there is a real exchange of ideas between artists and audience simply through hanging out and talking in an unforced manner.
• we want the artists and audience to contribute to the blog. Let's get talking about how we can have in-progress-showings and simultaneously explore issues of: accessibility, art as research in the field or for art's sake, art as a product or commodity, art as a means of inclusion...etc. Lets clarify the artist's intent and the audience member's intent and the "curator's" intent...and just when we put our finger on it, lets overturn it and vow to not let things get stagnant. How bout that?

Ultimately, we are annoyed with all the work-in-progress smorgasbord showings that seem to be so popular and serve up unfinished work as lukewarm products with the intention of exposure, getting feedback from the audience, etc. The feedback often seems irrelevant and awkward, the artists explanations are always littered with disclaimers, and its equally as boring as a corporate power point.

For each show we ask about 4 artists to show work and have a band play and have one case of beer. it is free.

We invite you to check out our first revamped Snip-its and Sounds for a Thursday on May 27th, 2010 @ 8PM. We are working on the line-up as we speak, but we'd rather you come not to support your artist friends, or so you can say you went to see "insert special Philly dancer's name here", but more because you are hungry for ideas and want to be part of a pluralistic and less stagnant night of dance, music, and whatever the hell else the night brings and you bring to it!