Bates Dance Festival 2013

This summer marks my fourth summer at the Bates Dance Festival in some capacity; my second as a full-time staff member of the Youth Arts Program. I love this place! I write this entry Saturday night, one full week into the program. I've seen amazing performances as part of the festival, had epic jam sessions with incredible musicians, and I've even gone roller skating! Coming up this week: the Musician's Concert. I'm excited to perform for a wonderful community, with great musicians in a wide variety of styles, in a beautiful hall with a great sound technician. It's a blessing.

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From last year's camp: leading a small string ensemble, rehearsing for the Bates Finale Concert! 

Published!

I'm very excited to announce that as of May 6th I am a published author! I recently co-wrote an article with my former professor, Dr. Larry Scripp, and my former classmate Devin Ulibarri. If you are in any way involved in the arts, please go to the Taylor Francis website, buy the article, and read it.

Alison Chase @ 92nd St Y

This week I'm in New York City, working with Alison Chase / Performance on a weeklong masterclass series called "Art at the Heart of Partnering". The company teaches professional dancers tools for improvisation and weight sharing, plus lots of other general awesomeness. Then, Friday the 10th, I'll be performing our new collaborative work, "Red Weather", as part of the culminating show​. Also featured will be new improvisations and an Alison Chase classic: "Tsu-Ku-Tsu".

OST CD Release Party

Next Friday (May 3rd), Orquesta Sin Trabajo is holding a CD release party, to celebrate our new album, ¡Viva Tango! Please join us at the New England Tango Academy, where we will be playing as part of their Milonga Nueva (a monthly event). There is a quiz on the band that, if you're coming, you should fill out: each correct answer equals one entry in a contest to win a free CD. NOTE: This event was rescheduled from a previous date due to extraordinary events in Boston.

Alison Chase / Performance @ Miami

"Star Cross'd", based on Romeo and Juliet

Greetings from sunny Miami (Actually from Cutler Bay, as I type this)!​ The South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center is a beautiful performance venue.

We've been rehearsing our new piece, "Red Weather", this afternoon, as well as the other pieces on the show (in which I do not play). Last night was dinner in Key Largo... who knows where tonight is going?

OST has an album!

I play bass in a tango band, Orquesta Sin Trabajo, based in Boston. This past week we hit a milestone that will propel us to opportunities and shows all over the place: we have a full length album recorded! It's currently being pressed. We hope to have a few prerelease copies just in time for the Yale Tango Festival, which we're headlining.

Stay tuned for updates on a CD release party!

Shows with Alison Chase / Performance

I am very excited to be working with the wonderful choreographer Alison Chase and her company! Alison and I met this past summer at the Bates Dance Festival.There I got to play for her improv class, and we clicked: our compositional processes are very similar.

​Since September, we have been working on a new piece, which now has a name: "Red Weather". The work features seven dancers and me, accompanying the performance with live solo violin and voice. In January we presented a rough version at a work-in-progress showing in NYC, at the APAP conference.

After six months of creating, we're ready to take this show on the road! ​We have a few shows in the works: one at the end of March in New London, CT at the Garde Theater (read about it here), and one at the South Miami Dade Cultural Center (yep, Miami Florida!) on Sat, April 13th. The choreography is beautiful and the dancers are phenomenal. I can't wait to share this work!

​-Rob