a body is always creating

processing | dancemaking

[synapsearts]

NEXT SATURDAY//EL PRÓXIMO SÁBADO [English version appears first, the Spanish version is below] [La versión en inglés aparece primero, la versión en español está debajo] . Mural Dances kicks off on Sat July 17 in Pilsen! Amanda Ramirez is directing this first event in the series. The afternoon will be a cookout style event, including live dance, music, chalk drawing, and FREE paletas. Bring your picnic! . More about the mural: “Libertad” – Barrett Park Bordering the playground at Barrett Park in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, Libertad is a vibrant mural created in 2008 by a group of After School Matters students. Under the direction of artist Jesus Chucho Rodriguez, these talented teens first learned the history and tradition of mural making and graffiti art and were then encouraged to incorporate what they learned into their Barrett Park mural. It was the teens themselves who selected the theme of portraying leaders, activists and artists whom they found inspiring. Using a combination of traditional techniques and spray painting, they created a composition that revitalized the playground with a striking color palette while also reflecting the spirit of their community. Against a background of bold geometric patterns and budding flowers, they painted cultural luminaries including Cesar Chavez, Mahatma Gandhi, Frida Kahlo, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X, Rosa Parks and Emiliano Zapata. . Sat, July 17 in Barrett Park between 1pm and 3pm 2022 W. Cermak Rd, Chicago Mural Dances are FREE for all ages. BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) . Images 1 and 2 from rehearsal, taken by Amanda. Image 3 is a detail of the Libertad mural, taken by Rachel Image descriptions in alt text . #DanceEverywhere #PublicArt #MuralDances #ArtInMotion #SupportTheArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity #NightOutInTheParks #MyChiParks . ¡Danzas Murales se estrena el sábado 17 de julio en Pilsen! Amanda Ramirez será quien dirigirá este primer evento dentro de la serie de Danzas Murales.  La tarde será un evento tipo parrilla, donde disfrutarás de danza y música en vivo, tizas para dibujar y paletas GRATIS. ¡Es una gran oportunidad para traer tu picnic y disfrutar en comunidad! -continued in comments- (at Barrett Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRKgoMDjVg3/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

Meet the first Mural Dances director, Amanda Ramirez // Conoce a la primera directora de Danzas Murales, Amanda Ramirez *English version appears first, the Spanish version is below* *La versión en inglés aparece primero, la versión en español está debajo* . Amanda Ramirez is a Chicago-based choreographer and dance performer, as well as a company member with Synapse Arts and VADCO. Since earning her degree from Texas Tech University with a Minor in Dance, Amanda’s many accomplishments include her selection in 2019 for Synapse Arts’ New Works mentoring program and residencies with the Chicago Cultural Center and Links Hall’s Co-Missions. Her choreographic and performance credits include the Detroit Dance Festival, the Austin Dance Festival and the Harvest Chicago Contemporary Dance Festival. . Amanda’s Mural Dance event takes place on: Sat July 17 in Barrett Park 1 to 3pm 2022 W Cermak Rd Free! All Ages BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) . Image description: a Mexican American woman wearing a peach colored dress and hoop earrings with shoulder length wavy black hair leans to the right as she looks to the left of the camera. Her arms are curved up with her left elbow resting on her left knee. She appears to be seated and the background is full of tall leafy plants. . #DanceEverywhere #ChiDance #MuralDances #ArtInMotion #SupportTheArts #ChicagoDanceCommunity #NightOutInTheParks #InTheParks #MyChiParks . Amanda Ramirez es una coreógrafa y performer de la danza basada en Chicago, Illinois y miembro de la compañía de Synapse Arts y VADCO. Desde que se graduó de Texas Tech University con un diplomado menor en danza, los logros de Amanda incluyen haber sido seleccionada por el programa de mentoría de New Works de Synapse Arts en el 2019, y dos residencias artísticas con el Chicago Cultural Center y Links Hall’s Co-Missions. Sus credenciales performáticos y coreográficos incluyen el Festival de Danza de Detroit, el Festival de Danza de Austin y el Festival de Danza Contemporánea Harvest Chicago. . El evento de Danzas Murales, donde Amanda participará, tomará lugar el: Sábado 17 de julio en Barrett Park de 1 p.m. a 3 p.m. Dirección: 2022 W Cermak Rd -more in comments- https://www.instagram.com/p/CRFeXaJDD8m/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

Mural Dances, our summer series! . Synapse Arts presents “Mural Dances”, a series of dance performances that take place outdoors at murals, with live music, event design, and choreography that dialogue with the public artwork. . -Sat July 17 at Barrett Park in Pilsen, directed by Amanda Ramirez -Sat Aug 21 at Jessie "Ma" Houston Park in Bronzeville/Kenwood, directed by Tim Tsang and Kara Roseborough -Sat Sept 18 at Loyola Park in Rogers Park, directed by Rachel Damon . 1-3pm FREE All ages BYOC (bring your own chair) . . #DanceEverywhere #PublicArt #ChiDance #MuralDances #ArtInMotion #SupportTheArts #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity #NightOutInTheParks #InTheParks #MyChiParks . Photo is a screenshot from video by Matt Griffo . [Image Description: Text reads July 17 - August 21 - September 18 Mural Dances. A woman with short pink hair, black street clothes, and sneakers leaps through the air with her arms extending out wide. She is outdoors in front of a painted mural under an elevated train station.] (at Chicago, Illinois) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ82jV9jl63/?utm_medium=tumblr

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We had a great time kickin’ around McKinley Park this afternoon with @seechicagodance! Inverted dynamos are @lauratennal and @modernballerina, photo by @mattgriffo #textiledances #chidance #chicagodancemonth #sitespecific #armknitting #danceeverywhere . Image description: a long green textile hangs from a tree in a sunny park. In the foreground a young person with long dark blonde hair wearing a blue tshirt faces away from the camera, watching two dancers, one on either side of the tree. Each dancer plants her hands on the ground, kicking her legs up with flexed feet while bending at the waist, forming an upside down “L” shape. (at McKinley Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQxGLboDN9O/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Repost from @seechicagodance • We still have high hopes for the weather tomorrow 🤞 Get outside and celebrate #ChicagoDanceMonth by joining us for our closing event at McKinley Park, a self-guided Dance Scavenger Hunt! *If needed, a rain cancellation will be made by 1:00pm on June 30. Announcements will be made on seechicagodance.com and all SCD social media channels. 
PERFORMANCES BY: @danceintheparks (films, 4:30-6:00PM) @projectbounddance (films, 4:30-6:00PM) @synapse.arts (4:30-5:30PM) @ishticollective (4:30-5:30PM) @groundrhythmdanceproject (4:35-5:35PM) @momentumsensorium (4:40-5:40PM) @raksinferno (4:45-5:45PM) @lawsondancetheatre (4:55-5:55PM) Don’t miss out on this fun, FREE opportunity to witness site-specific performances by some of our favorite #chidance artists and companies. [Pictured: artists performing as part of the June 9th Dance Scavenger Hunt. Photos by @philamonjaro. Featured artists tagged.] PSSST: We also have a few giveaways left! Take a photo of yourself at the scavenger hunt, post to social media, and tag @seechicagodance. Winners will be announced Thursday 🥳 (at McKinley Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQuMw28Dvia/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Rehearsing for a live, outdoor #chicagodancemonth event on June 30! #linkinbio #textiledances Come stroll through McKinley Park and catch site specific dances by a variety of Chicago artists, in a gorgeous setting. Presented by @seechicagodance #mychiparks #sitespecific #chidance #artinmotion #dance #textiles #armknitting #dancingintrees . image descriptions: 1) an outdoor setting with trees and a sunbeam where two dancers stretch large green textiles that hang from a tree branch into a cocoon shape, enclosing themselves 2) left side of frame a dancer moves with a purple textile, right side of frame is dominated by a large tree trunk with a picnic table in the background 3) a long green textile trails from a large tree on the left. On the right a dancer drapes a purple textile across her back as she reaches her right arm up. 4) two women dancers wrapped in purple and green textiles twist and stretch the knitted stitches, counterbalancing with the tree. Green foliage creates a natural ceiling. (at McKinley Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQbeBEQBgs-/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Check out Loyola Park Advisory Council’s Artists of the Wall event in Rogers Park through June 20th! Synapse Arts will perform Mural Dances along these murals in September. . #MuralDances #DanceTogetherApart #ArtInMotion #SupportTheArts #DanceEverywhere #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity . Image Description: Text reads Poetic Painting Artist of the Wall Festival June 18-20, 2021 9:00am-2:00pm Loyola Park Advisory Council. Background of drawn vine flowers and a bird over a sky blue sky with clouds. (at Loyola Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQWMcXFB8mq/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Back from a break! Thank you to everyone who supported New Works 2021 - our first ever livestream premiere. Having an international audience was so wonderful. . Congratulations to Maggie Bridger and Rahila Coats, and huge thanks to their mentors Bryan Saner and Jenn Freeman/Po’Chop. Special thanks to discussion moderators Alison Kopit and Abra Johnson, and to Chicago Dance History Project for all of the video support. . New Works 2021 was so successful because of these beautiful people and because of our hardworking staffers Rachel Damon, Megan Rhyme, and Molly Hillson, interns Jacob Buerger, Mickey Huang, and Dylan Roth, and support from Tim Tsang. . #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity #SynapseNewWorks #NewWorks2021 #WorksInProgress #ModernMovers . Left photo is a screenshot from footage by Sean Rafferty of Chicago Dance History Project Right photo is by Matthew Gregory Hollis . Image Description: Split image. Left side- A woman in a beige button up shirt wrapped in plastic sheeting lunges on the beach. Right side- text reads Thank You. A woman with a heating pad wrapped around her waist sits with her back against a wall. https://www.instagram.com/p/CQPLz7bBV-e/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

Repost from @banksperformanceproject • Up next we have Rachel Damon with Synapse Arts (@synapse.arts) and Aaron Greer (@greerfr3sh) with their work “Leverage”! Here is a little bit about their work: "Leverage" is a 7 minute dance film co-directed by Rachel Damon and Aaron Greer, which was completed in January 2021. The film brings together a series of mini-dances about making an artistic life; glimpses into the freedoms, tensions, and absurdities that come with running a creative enterprise. Four women dancers manipulate the viewer’s experience through handheld light bulbs - choosing in every moment what will be concealed or revealed. Each episode prods an aspect of making, including curiosity, drive, tension, freedom, pressure, willpower, and control. At their root, these dances examine the momentary turns of chance and long-range decisions that have shaped my dancemaking career, often weighted by the opportunities we've been able to leverage. This introspective dance film grapples with the challenges of creativity, gender, and an embodied sense of overwhelm by giving four women dancers agency to conceal or reveal their own bodies and voices. You can catch Leverage in our film festival June 25th @ 7pm! Link in @banksperformanceproject bio! . ID: a white woman wearing a black tank top faces the camera holding a handheld light. She shines the light toward herself with her thumb on the light switch. Half of her face is in shadow and the background is black. Image is a still from the dance film. #dancefilm #dancefilmfestival #womencreatives #lightingdesign https://www.instagram.com/p/CP0v3NUhVUk/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

New Works 2021: TODAY! At 2pm Chicago time . Tickets available at synapsearts.com #LinkInBio . Livestream event featuring premieres by Maggie Bridger and Rahila Coats, plus a look back through New Works since 2012 . #SynapseNewWorks #NewWorks2021 #WorksInProgress #ModernMovers #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity . Image is from footage by Sean Rafferty . Image Descriptions: 1. Text reads Synapse Arts New Works Today at 2pm cst. A woman wrapped in a clear plastic sheet stands in sand, folding her torso over her legs with a rounded spine. She wears a tan shirt and blue leggings. Lake Michigan is in the background. 2. Text reads Chicago Dance Month in black capital letters on an orange circle. A small image of a dancer jumping appears to the left of the text, inside the circle. 3. Icons for access services ASL interpretation, audio description, large print, and closed captioning on a white background. https://www.instagram.com/p/CPx69dHBpaV/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

Repost from @chicagodancemakersforum • Synapse Arts - New Works 2021 premieres TODAY June 5 @ 7PM and TOMORROW June 6 @ 2PM Central Time via livestream with fresh dances by Rahila Coats and Maggie Bridger! synapsearts.com @synapse.arts 📷: left: Grace Kerpan right: Maggie Bridger [ID: a split image shows two soloists, on the left a woman entwines herself in plastic sheeting, on the right a woman sits against a wall with a heating pad around her middle] #chicagodancemonth #newworks #premiere https://www.instagram.com/p/CPwBidAh5q-/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

New Works 2021: TODAY! At 7pm Chicago time . Tickets available at synapsearts.com #LinkInBio . Livestream event featuring premieres by Maggie Bridger and Rahila Coats plus a look back through New Works since 2012 . #SynapseNewWorks #NewWorks2021 #WorksInProgress #ModernMovers #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity . photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis . Image descriptions: 1. Text reads Synapse Arts New Works Today in the upper right. Main image is of a white woman with short brown hair and blue eyes sitting on the floor in a navy blue nightgown. She is facing the camera and holding the controller for the heating pad that is wrapped around her waist, pressing a button. 2. Text reads Chicago Dance Month in black capital letters on an orange circle. A small image of a dancer jumping appears to the left of the text, inside the circle. 3. Icons for access services ASL interpretation, audio description, large print, and closed captioning on a white background. https://www.instagram.com/p/CPvhS6SBNjA/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

New Works Countdown: 2 Days left . Maggie’s dance film “Radiate” premieres this weekend! Tickets available at synapsearts.com #LinkInBio . #SynapseNewWorks #NewWorks2021 #WorksInProgress #ModernMovers #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity #ChicagoDanceMonth . Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis . Image descriptions: 1. Text reads Synapse Arts New Works 2 days left. Text is laid over a photo of a white woman with short brown hair wearing a light blue nightgown as she sits in front of a radiator. Her body faces the radiator as her head turns to the right showing her profile. 2. Black icons for access services ASL interpretation, audio description, large print, and closed captioning on a white background. 3. Text reads Chicago Dance Month in black capital letters on an orange circle. A small image of a dancer jumping appears to the left of the text, inside the circle. https://www.instagram.com/p/CPrC2gZBTQ_/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Chicago Dance Month Featured Event! Read the article at the #linkinbio and at SeeChicagoDance.com . #chicagodancemonth #chidance #danceevent #onlineevent #newworks #newworks2021 . Image descriptions: 1) A screenshot from the See Chicago Dance website. Text reads Headlines, Chicago Dance Month, Synapse Arts New Works 2021. Featured event: Synapse revives New Works with digital premieres inspired by two dancers’ personal histories. Images of solo dancers are layered over each other picturing Maggie Bridger and Rahila Coats 2) The See Chicago Dance logo. A purple circle with cutout white words in sans serif text that reads See Chicago Dance. The GO inside Chicago is colored turquoise. 3) A grid of icons for audio description, ASL interpretation, closed captions, and large print. The icons are black on a white background. . photo of Maggie Bridger by Shawn Guiney photo of Rahila Coats by Bill Cameron https://www.instagram.com/p/CPlnMUPBDN-/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

New Works Countdown: 6 Days . What access services are available for these online events? Both live-streamed shows will have ASL interpretation, closed captioning (edited for correctness), and audio description via conference call. The artist discussion will have ASL interpretation and auto captioning. All events are sensory friendly and a full schedule with timings is on the ticket page. . #LinkInBio and at synapsearts.com . Image Descriptions: 1) Text reads Synapse Arts New Works 6 Days, Tickets at synapsearts.com. A woman wrapped in a plastic tarp extends her arm long, reaching toward the camera and clawing her hand. 2) Text reads Chicago Dance Month in black capital letters on an orange circle. A small image of a dancer jumping appears to the left of the text, inside the circle. 3) Icons for access services ASL interpretation, audio description, large print, and closed captioning on a black background. . Photo by Grace Kerpan . #SynapseNewWorks #NewWorks2021 #WorksInProgress #ModernMovers #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity #Accessiblity https://www.instagram.com/p/CPf4M8EBcCW/?utm_medium=tumblr

[synapsearts]

New Works Countdown: 7 Days remain! . Tickets $10-$50: $10 tickets are livestream only on either day $20 tickets with a See Chicago Dance Hot Deal code $25 tickets for livestream and artist discussion $50 tickets grant supporters the chance to ask a question of the artists NOTE: there is no on-demand viewing, only the livestream show! . #LinkInBio and at synapsearts.com . Image Description: 1) Text reads Synapse Arts New Works 7 Days, Tickets at synapsearts.com. A woman with short brown hair sits on the floor in black clothing with her legs crossed. A heating pad is wrapped around her waist. 2) Text reads Chicago Dance Month in black capital letters on an orange circle. A small image of a dancer jumping appears to the left of the text. 3) Icons for access services ASL interpretation, audio description, large print, and closed captioning on a black background. . Photo by Matthew Gregory Hollis . #SynapseNewWorks #NewWorks2021 #WorksInProgress #ModernMovers #SynapseArts #ChiDance #ChicagoDanceCommunity #accessibility #onlineevent #aslinterpretation #closedcaptions #audiodescription #largeprint https://www.instagram.com/p/CPdXOBtBEHM/?utm_medium=tumblr

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SAY IT WITH ME SVOG APPLICANTS Does the federal government decide if you are a worthy artist? NO . Can a circus of acronyms defeat you? NO . Are you a Construction entity engaged in lobbying activities with more than $1 million dollars in payroll? NOOOOOO . #sayit #crochetit #artists #grantwriting #artsadministration #dog #yawn #pitbulllove #dogsmakeeverythingbetter https://www.instagram.com/p/CPMOhY3BDc6/?utm_medium=tumblr