modern dance speaks - explicadansa.com€¦ · presentation the explaining dance project began in...

Modern dance speaksToni Jodar

Beatriu Daniel _Toni Jodar [email protected] - T. +34 678 420 020

www.explainingdance.com

3 Presentation 4 Aims 5 What does the activity consist of? What are the tools that we use? 6 Credits 7 Biography 9 Principal performances 2002-1210 Sample programmes and press

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dance

Toni Jodar explica...


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presentationThe Explaining Dance project began in 2002 after sensing the audience’s need to know and understand dance in general better; especially modern and contemporary dance.

Toni Jodar and Beatriu Daniel, together and each using their individual abilities (artistic first and foremost and later management), have developed this educational activity with the aim of explaining dance history from the perspective of real stage experience of a professional, in this case Toni Jodar, one of the most significant contemporary dancers in Catalonia and the Spanish State.

Over the ten years throughout which this project has been constantly developed, we have achieved the following:

To put words to a dance and a mature dancer’s experience (something generally difficult for dancers to do).

To prove that a dancer can remain active on stage in another way: the need to perform and stage presence does not get lost with age, though physical resistance may wane.

To explain dance to people in a friendly and pleasant manner; contribute a tool to compliment and bring dance represented on stage closer to the audience; a strategy to participate in the creation and education of audiences.

To lay out history in a different way, adding stage experience, and stretching beyond strictly theoretical norms.

To create different applications and formats according to various commissions and audiences, as well as opening and sharing the process with other professionals, with the aim of using knowledge from dancers who are hardly or no longer on stage.

To work around a small format, so as to obtain greater flexibility to adapt to the various needs of programming, context and space.

Toni Jodar, explica...

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Distribute the language of dance using tools and content that facilitate the interpretation and identification of the different elements that make up a choreography and a performance.

Explain basic knowledge of modern and contemporary dance history to understand how other vocabulary has been developed on a parallel to ballet.

Get to know movement and choreography as intelligible and significant language, be it narrative or abstract, with the aim of familiarising the audience with contemporary concepts.

Perceive the possibility of expressing social and personal ambitions through dance. Recognise that we all own a body and that it is susceptible to movement.

Transmit different values of dance. Educational value: the search for creative solutions, inventiveness, flexibility, resistance, discipline, effort, constancy, dedication, concentration. Social Values: respect, help, gratitude, silence. Emotional Values: survival, complex-free, trust, confidence, personal development, self-esteem. Spiritual values: happiness, silence.

aims


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what does the activity consist of? what are the tools that we use?We start off with a basic format that we later adapt to suit each commission and collects the following information:

1.- Theoretical information following information:1- Theoretical information (“spoken –action” Historical chronology, Dance Styles, Relationship between dance and other art forms)

2.- Kineseological Knowledge(physical demonstration of a concept through static and moving images demonstration inserted into a choreographic phrase)

3.- Visual information(through the dancer/performers body photographs video images)

4.- Practical Information:a workshop where the aforementioned concepts are incorporated.The general need within cultural society to obtain information about dance lead us to develop this project. We have created and formalized different applications, which now form part of our flexible repertory and are modified upon the demands of each client.

Activity for children

of 12 years and over


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creditsConcept and script:

Toni Jodar and Beatriu Daniel

Performance:Toni Jodar

Stage adaptation and support:Víctor Molina and Ana Teixidó

Image:Toni Roura

Management:Silvia Lorente / Nats Nus

Production Assistant:Mariona Galter

Project director:BdDANSA-Beatriu Daniel

moviment-performer-dancer


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Biography Toni JodarArtist and dance teacher for over 25 years. He broadened his studies through several stays in the USA. He combines physical training of actors, work on postural awareness, speciality in jazz dance, and the holding of different movement workshops for students, professionals and artists from all spheres.

During his artistic career he has given over 900 performances worldwide. As a dancer it is important to highlight his collaboration with Gelabert-Azzopardi (1989-2000, 2005-12). One of his particularities are his interventions as a performer in shows directed by: Albert Vidal (1978-83), Carles Santos (1984-85, 1998-12), Jerome Savary (1986-87), Magda Puyo-Marta Carrasco (1997-98), Joan Baixas & Jordi Sabatés (1998). He has also collaborated with Dagoll Dagom, Comediants and La Fura dels Baus, among others.

He is currently assistant director with the Gelabert-Azzopardi dance company and has collaborated, since 2000 with the Companyia Carles Santos, for which he has taken on choreographic responsibility.

He habitually collaborates with the Auditori de Barcelona’s Education Service. He has choreographed Metàl·lics for Spanish Brass Luur Metalls, as part of the “L’Escola va a l’Auditori” and “Concerts en Família” cycles. He has acted as narrator at the “Orquestra per a joves” concert by Britten. In 2006 he was stage director for the project “El poble de vent i de fusta”.

He combines his choreographic work with interventions as a performer. He created the spoken action: Toni Jodar, Explains: modern and contemporary dance, designed to raise awareness about dance and for which he received a Stage Arts Special Mention at the Ciutat de Barcelona Prize of 2002 and the APDC Prize of 2006.


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Arts producer and cultural manager, specialized in dance.

B.A. In Philosophy- Fine Arts by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She gets her skills as cultural manager through experience and training with the Group Xabide (Vitoria), among others. She broaden her knowledge with studies of coaching and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). In the 1970s, as co-Director of the Magazine DANSA-79, she had an key role in the development and creation of a contemporary dance scene in Catalonia, documenting all the activities of that period.

She has worked with Gelabert-Azzopardi, Dance Company (she started the company together with Cesc Gelabert and Lydia Azzopardi in 1985), among others. Together with Catherine Allard, she started the project for the IT Dansa (Young Dance Company of the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona). Also, she coordinated the project TotDansa for the Bureau for Arts Promotion of the Diputació de Barcelona (City Council), as well as Ballarins a Palo Alto for TV3, Catalonia National Television.

She has been Director of Administration of La Caldera; Centre for Dance and Stage Arts (2005-11), and member of the board of the Association of Dance Professionals of Catalonia (2005-11).

As a producer she has worked on projects by La Fura dels Baus; on the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies of Barcelona’92 (Ovideo-Bassat- Esport), and on the International Puppet Festival (Institut del Teatre de Barcelona). In the visual arts field she has worked with the artist Frederic Amat. She has also worked in cinema and TV for Ovídeo Productions. Currently she is co-Director with Toni Jodar of the project Explaining Dance and is a member of the management group Umésdos www.umedos.com

a r t i s t s m a n a g e m e n t

Beatriu Daniel

Principal performances 2002-12


Les Corts Community Centre– 2002+03+04+05+06+07+08+09+10 Lanònima Imperial residency in Vic (10 schools)-2003+04�Tensdansa Festival in Terras-sa 2004+05+06�Terrassa en Moviment Festival’09Spanish Theatre Network Meeting-Donosti 2005

Festival PNRM Olot 2006

Extended University classrooms for the Elderly/University of Barcelona, 2006 +07+10 +11+12

Fundació Joan Miró, Mercè’06

Master in Spatial Design, Catalonia Politechnic University, January’07

Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, March ’07

Tour through the regions of Albacete and Alicante

Villena,Universitat d’Alacant, Casas Ibáñez, Higueruela, Caudete, Barrax, Almansa and Lezuza, March ‘ 07

Basque Theatre Network, Bilbao 2008

Opening of gestural theatre fair Mostra de Gest d’Esparraguera’08

Vitoria International Dance and Theatre Festival,2008 Fashion school, Escola de Disseny Elisava’07-08-09-10

County Drama College, Ourense , June’09

Tour of the Basque Country- Euskadi Dance Circuit:

Durango, Elorrio, Amorebieta and Arrigorriaga, October ‘09

Dance for Christmas: Ton Gerona-Group’08 and Silvia Duran Team’09, December’10

Meekers / Rotterdam, March’10

Mercat de Les Flors, Barcelona Presentation of Let's Dance a Film + Dance is Nothing to be Afraid Of cycle. 2008 +09-10+11 Co-ordination Half an Hour Before the Show, season’10 +11 + 12;�Dance is Nothing to be Afraid Of – Libraries, May-June’10 +11+12

Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona presenting Nederlans Dans Theater, March’09; Giselle –Dresden Semper Opera, November’10 and IT Dansa, March’10 + February

2011+ January 2012.

Circuito de “Danza a Escena” / Red Espa-ñola de Teatros Teatre Escorxador, Lleida 26 /01 ; Teatre Principal, Tàrrega 04/02 ; Teatre Victória Eugenia 21/04 Donosti; Teatre Auditori Felip Pedrell ,Tortosa 27/04 ; Dia Internacional danza / Centro Comercial, Albacete 28/04; Teatro Principal Zizur Mayor/ Pamplona 11/05;Teatro Leal / La Laguna.Canarias 9/06; L’Estruch de Sabadell 5/10 ; Teatro Rosalia de Castro /La Coruña 11/10; Auditorium / Leioa 18 /10 ; Casa de Cultura, Almansa 17/11.

INTERNACIONAL

Republic of Niger-Niamey-Centre Culturel Franco Nigerien, CCFN, Workshop and 10 sessions on the dance history, October’09

Sadler’sWells, Londres, 7 i 8 /11/2012

Meeker’s, Róterdam, Abril /2010

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SAMPLE PROGRAMMES AND PRESS

Dance in the classroom

Dance in the classroom

University / Elderly

Libraries

Libraries

Dance explainers /Gran Teatre Liceu10


Toni Jodar explica...11


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solo

war-

MODERN DANCE SPEAKS! 7 & 8 November 2012!

Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells London!

Photos: Pau Ros

Performance Reviewed & Testimonials

Review

Toni Jodar is a compact, athletic man whose body communicates a wealth of knowledge as clearly as his voice. His Modern Dance Speaks! takes the form of a lecture demonstration, in which he ambitiously takes us through

the history of modern dance from Isadora Duncan to the postmodern experimentations of the Judson Church choreographers. Jodar’s physical and verbal explanation of how one pivotal choreographer carried on from the last both simplifies and clarifies the progression of dance from the 19th century to the contemporary from a practitioner’s perspective. He explains what it feels like to dance in the style of each luminary, translating the technique, motivation and intention through his own personal connection with it.

Enlightening for an uninformed dance audience and engaging for all, he’s a jack-of- all trades as he travels across the stage in regal balletic jetés and pirouettes, emotes in contraction and release à la Martha Graham or falls and triumphantly rebounds in Doris Humphrey’s obsession with the vertical axis. More difficult for Jodar is to disengage with the emotions and theatrical familiarity in the execution of mechanical upper-torso curves of Merce Cunningham, or to release his muscles in the fluid, organic improvisation of Steve Paxton and Trisha Brown. But he’s comfortable in his rendition of angst-ridden German expressionism, in the percussive, tense moves of Mary Wigman and the tormented lyricism of Pina Bausch’s dance-theatre.

A Catalan from Barcelona, Jodar trained in both Barcelona and New York prior to his long standing career as a performer, teacher and choreographer and he communicates his breadth of knowledge not as an academic but as an embodied educator. His unbridled enthusiasm for dance is infectious as is his charm and generosity on stage. He is a commentator, not a critic and while there is some over simplification and a disconcerting lack of critical thinking, nevertheless, he successfully illuminates what is the interesting and important core of each dance genre and the context that produced it. As well as the extracts of danced examples and some wonderfully obscure film footage, he embellishes his lecture with humorous reflections and anecdotes. For example, how he struggled to understand the “emotionless robotic” style of Merce Cunningham from the position of his emotionally demonstrative Catalan identity, but had a break through when he concluded that this was because American people had suffered less than their

ravaged European neighbours; therefore without having to carry around emotional baggage, American experimental choreographers could concentrate, with detached objectivity, on movement ‘per se’. While Jodar’s use of language and stuttering delivery is sometimes awkward, he makes up for his linguistic imperfections [in the English language] with his physical prowess and embodied wisdom. Thoroughly likeable, he would be a welcomed lecturer in any dance institution.

Josephine Leask. Lecturer in Cultural Studies on the BA (Hons) degree course at the London Studio Centre and London correspondent for The Dance Insider.

Read Toni Jodar interview: http://londondance.com/articles/interviews/toni-jodar-modern-dance-speaks/

Testimonials

Modern Dance Speaks! is a highly enjoyable and instructive show, halfway between a lecture and a performance. Toni Jodar takes the audience on an exciting journey through his selection of key choreographers of the 20th century, using both his body and his (charming) Spanish accent to explain and illustrate various approaches to dance. It constitutes a unique opportunity to watch different choreographic styles performed by the same dancer and therefore understand that a body can move in an infinite number of ways.

*** Toni Jodar delivers an engaging performance lecture in his charming, witting and endearing style. Drawing his audience in for an hour, he entertains and informs with a snappy history of modern dance. This is a performance that will appeal to anyone interested in dance and its history. Delivered through a combination of movement and lecture, Toni’s warmth and wit is infectious, his use of movement to illustrate the different schools of dance aids our understanding so much better than a straight lecture or anything that can be gleaned from a text book.

*** This was a fantastic evening and a novel idea – using the language of dance to illustrate its history.

*** Modern Dance Speaks is a performance that shares with its audience a love of dance and a deep understanding of its development from modern to contemporary. Toni Jodar's passion for dance is tangible and fills the stage with movement and laughter.Thoroughly enjoyable!

*** Toni Jodar’s artistic staging Modern Dance Speaks! breaks the invisible barrier between the artist and the audience to immerse everyone into a journey through the history of dance where the narrative melts with the choreographic movements in a unique and magic experience.

Toni Jodar explica danza

Toni Jodar actuó la semana pasada en el Sadler's Wells, el centro de exhibición de danza contemporánea más importante de Londres. Lo hizo durante dos días en la sala Lilian Baylis Studio, donde ha presentado su espectáculo Modern Dance Speaks! (Explica Danza), un proyecto que justo ahora cumple 10 años. Sin duda, qué buena manera de celebrarlo, en la prestigiosa casa de la danza londinense.

¿Por qué explicar la danza? Jodar lleva haciéndose esta pregunta durante muchos años. Su proyecto consiste en una especie de conferencia bailada sobre la historia de la danza. Una performance de carácter pedagógico, creativa y amena que muestra la evolución del clásico al contemporáneo. Ha representado este espectáculo en cantidad de sitios: bibliotecas, museos, casas particulares, centros cívicos, halls de teatros, etc. Muy ligado a los programas educativos del Mercat de les Flors, Toni Jodar se ha convertido en un extraordinado-rio divulgador de la danza entre adultos y adolescentes. La idea básica es desacralizar la danza y acercarla a gente que a lo mejor no está tan familiarizada con ella. Jodar asegura que se lo pasa igual de bien estando en el Sadler's que en un centro cívico de Albacete.

No pude ver el espectáculo, pero estuvimos charlando la noche antes con Toni i Beatriu, su mujer y el otro 50% del proyecto, en un pub cerca del Sadler's Wells. Iera, mi novia, sí que lo vio. Ella también es bailarina y me lo explica con pasión y entusiasmo unos días más tarde en nuestra pequeña habitación de Finsbury Park.

Sin más pretensión que dar cuatro pinceladas (Toni lo explica mucho mejor que yo), el espectáculo tiene dos partes diferenciadas, la danza en América y en Europa. Isadora Duncan (San Francisco), considerada por muchos como la creadora de la danza moderna, fue la primera en quitarse las zapatillas de punta y salir del edificio teatral. Llevar puntas era acercarse al cielo, a los dioses, pero ella quería acercarse al suelo, tocar tierra, descalzarse. De repente, el imperturbable eje vertical de la danza se rompe y se hace flexible, dando paso a un movimiento libre. Duncan ha dejado imágenes muy bonitas pero ninguna metodología. Martha Graham, en cambio, trabaja con la metodología del "contract – release", es una danza más dramática, conectada con la emoción que provoca el mismo movimiento, en la que "contract" podría sugerir preocupación, miedo, dolor, etc. y el "release", alivio, bienestar, alegría. Luego aparece Merce Cunningham: "Dance is not emotion, but motion". Toni Jodar no entendía esta frase, ¿cómo que la danza no es emoción? Y decidió ir a Nueva York a conocer a Cunningham, que se acercaba a la metodología que John Cage aplicaba a la hora de componer música. El movimiento ya es importante en si mismo, no hace falta que explique nada más. Son pasos, cuentas, números, movimiento. En este momento del espectáculo, Toni Jodar nos traslada al estudio de Cunningham en Nueva York, si necesidad de ningún elemento de atrezzo, con una altísima expresividad y capacidad de transmitirnos su experiencia vital.

Mientras en Estados Unidos se desarrolla todo esto, las dos Guerras Mundiales europeas condicionan la evolución de la danza en el viejo continente. Mary Wigman (Alemania), principal precursora de la danza expresionista, condensa el dolor de la guerra y el dramatismo en sus coreografías. Nace la danza teatro, muy relacionada con la transmisión de una historia, un movimiento artístico que explosiona con Pina Bausch.

Toni Jodar ilustra con su propio cuerpo el paso del tiempo y su experiencia personal con la danza. El humor es presente durante toda la pieza y se mete el público del Sadler's en el bolsillo bromeando con la clásica y tan común confusión entre "he" y "she". ¡Un tipo muy humano!


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Bibliotecas BarcelonaToni Jodar explica...


Mercat de les Flors, Barcelona

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Museu Molí Paperer de Capellades

AlbaceteToni Jodar explica la danza en 50’

Albacete¿En qué consiste la “acción-hablada”?

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Dantza Garaikidearen V. ZirkuitoaV circuito de danza contemporáneaEuskadi


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MEEKER’SRoterdam


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LA VANGUARDIA

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A teaching tool,specialising in dance,for educational programmesand training audiences highly flexibleadaptable to all spaces and situations.todos los espacios y situaciones.The explanation in this“spoken action”is made accessiblefor diverse audiences

In Col labor at ion wit hLa Caldera, centr e de cr eació de dansa i ar ts escèniques; “Danza a Escena-cir cuit o de Danza” Red de Teatr os de España; Mer cat de les Flor s; Bibl io t eques de Bar celona.

it anit anaudiovisuals; l iquidDocs; UmésDos; Nats Nus.

Supor t

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