Back in Austin!

I was home in NYC for a very short three days and got to see my family. I was able to share footage of the piece with my father, the composer, and he was very excited to see his music come to life through movement. Now I've returned to Austin and It seems like I never left! As we head into production week the excitement is building and I can't wait to share the experience with the audience which is the icing on the cake. Today we had a big showing of the entire production and tomorrow we go into the theater.

Substrata

(Composer Dennis Bell with Vocalists Sarah Crispo and Suzanne Fiore)




We finished the ballet, "Substrata", on Friday and I am excited about the direction it is taking. The dancers are doing an extraodinary job at interpreting the score which has complex rhythms and with the choreography which is fast and also complex. We have two more full days to delve deeper into the work. I can't wait to see the finished product with lights and costumes!

Days 4-6

Days 4-6 were extremely productive. The dancers and I have completed three of the four movements of the ballet, "Substrata". They are working extremely hard and really throwing themselves into the movement. It has been fun watching them respond to the music and its various rhythms. The piece has become highly physical and it is a treat to watch the dancers explores the full bodied movement phrases. I'm looking forward to seeing the first draft by the end of this week. It seems like I just arrived in Austin yet so much has happened in a few short days!

Notes from composer Dennis Bell

In writing the piece I decided to use vocalists for the first time in Sidra's choreographic work.
My concept was to create a series of soundscapes or musical movements that would articulate and be cohesive. The use of differing styles of music from Electronica, R&B and Jazz to traditional Classical Orchestration is held together by the Lyrical content. I decided to use Latin so a perceived story wouldn't take precedence over the movement. I felt the operatic vocal style with Latin phrases, juxtaposed on the eclectic nature of the instrumental music, was interesting for me.
The creative process is a wonder and we are blessed to have so much of it in our family.

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Sidra Bell Dance New York (Copyright 2007 SBDNY, Inc)

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Days 1-3 in Austin!

I've arrived in Austin and have had three fantastic days working with the dancers of Ballet Austin. I am working with five women, Melissa, Michelle, Ashley, Alison and Jaime, and three men Reggie, Chris and Paul. In the first three days we worked with my movement vocabularly creating duets and solos. The process has been very productive and each dancer is bringing their own unique quality to the movement. The dancers are incredibly strong and creative so it has been quite easy to amass a great deal of material.
As we move into day 4 I will begin to take the movement we created together and collage it in the context of the music. I am very excited about this piece as it begins to take shape.

Thank you for your support in 2008!

To those of you who have written, thank you for your wonderful support. I am looking forward to an exciting 2008. Please check out my website www.sidrabelldanceny.org for all of the details. Continue checking the blog for more updates on my work at Ballet Austin. I hope to hear from you again soon!

Musical Collaboration with my father Dennis Bell

During the holidays I began production of the music for the new work I will create for Ballet Austin. My father, award winning composer Dennis Bell, is in the process of creating a work that incorporates two female vocalists, jazz and electronica. Over the next two weeks, prior to my visit to Austin, we will work collaboratively towards the final version of the music. I am very excited about this partnership. My first self-produced concerts in New York City were live jazz and dance concerts that my father musically directed. Over the past several months my father has composed several dance scores for my work that have been performed at LaGuardia ARTS in NYC, Perry Mansfield School for Performing Arts in Colorado and Canadian Children's Dance Theater in Toronto.