Lauren Baines
Choreographer | Curator | Catalyst
ARCHIVE
2014
RepCo's In Flux
November 2014
Mills Repertory Dance Company (RepCo) presented In Flux November 20-21 at Lisser Theatre and November 22 at ODC. The performance featured four works, including new works by Mills faculty Shinichi Iova-Koga and Kara Davis, a new work by guest artist Risa Jaroslow, and a MinEvent of Merce Cunningham's works staged by Mills Visiting Artist Holley Farmer.
I performed in Lapse Continuum by Davis and Sororus Jaroslow.
Iceland Residency
July 2014
nær umhverfi
Gullkistan
July 26, 2014
For the month of July, I was in Iceland at Gullkistan, residency for creative people (website here). While there, I worked on several new short dance films investigating dance through reflective surfaces, and also responding to the landscape. For this project, I traveled around Southern Iceland and filmed on location in both natural and urban settings. I also generated some new choreography that is being integrated into my thesis concert for my MFA at Mills and several other performances as well.
The resident artists at Gullkistan, residency for creative people, held an open house and exhibition/reception with artist talks and performances showcasing works we had developed while in residence. I shared some of my screendance projects and a new choreographic work.
nær umhverfi (close surroundings)
Saturday, July 26 from 1-6pm
Artist talks and performances begin at 2pm
Gullkistan, residency for creative people
Kistan Gallery
Dalbraut 1, 840 Laugarvatn, Iceland
Free event
Facebook event here
Dancing Feet
History Park San Jose
June 22, 2014
Site-specific performance conceived of by BihTau Sung (Artistic Director, Dancing Sun Dance Company) and Wen-jinn Luo (Artistic Director, Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company) presented in response to the Ng Shing Gung temple (the reconstructed temple that now sits at History Park San Jose is home to the Chinese American Historical Museum). Featuring contact improvisation and choreographed intervals, Dancing Feet explored the five gods associated with the temple (Ng Shing Gung means "Temple of the Five Gods").
It was a pleasure to work with Sung once again (I danced in her company for several years) and to collaborate with Luo as a dancer (I had previously worked to present her company at Montalvo Arts Center while I worked there as Project Manager).
BEAMS
Mills College Art Museum
April 1, 2014
B E A M S
A collaboration between composer Alvin Curran and choreographer Molissa Fenley. BEAMS is a structured improvisation piece composed by Alvin Curran for upwards of 15 musicians playing primarily acoustic instruments and objects. For this particular performance at the Mills College Art Museum, Curran wrote a series of instructions to be interpreted by his musicians and sent those to Fenley. Fenley, in turn, reconfigured the musical instructions into a dance language that could be interpreted by her dancers. This new collaboration between Fenley and Curran introduces a new and exciting layer to Currans’ original piece and also to both artists’ well-established creative processes.
I was one of the performers at the 6:30pm performance, there was also an earlier performance at 5pm that same day.
More information available at http://mcam.mills.edu/events/
Schema(tic)
Mills College
April 18-19, 2014
MFA Thesis Dance Concert Schema(tic) features the choreographic showcase of MFA candidates in the Mills Dance program. I performed in Program B in works by Rachel Caldwell and Shannon Stubblefield.
Program B: April 18, 8:00 pm; April 19, 2:00 pm
Lisser Theater at Mills CollegeTickets $10 general, $8 student/senior w/ IDFree to Mills Community with ID
Tickets are available at the door. No advance tickets.
Each candidate premieres both solo and group choreography for this event. Program A of schema(tic) featured Sarah Shouse, Claire Augustine, Jenna Jones, Annabel Clarance and Kevin Loveland, and will be presented on April 17th and 19th at 8:00 pm. Program B featured Rachel Caldwell, Joslynn Mathis-Reed, Shannon Stubblefield, Jiaxin Guo and Alexandra Cummins, and will be presented on April 18th at 8:00 pm and April 19th at 2:00 pm.
Dance-o-rama
8th Street Studio
April 27, 2014
for change dance company premiered a new work at the 2014 Dance-o-rama event at 8th Street Studio in Berkeley. Performances were on going throughout the day, but fcdc participated in the 2pm event.
To learn more about fcdc please visit https://www.facebook.com/forchangedance
In April, students at Valley Christian High School performed a new piece that I choreographed with them for their spring dance concert, Architectural Synapse. The spring concert took inspiration from the TED talk "A Modest Proposal" -- as such, several Bay Area choreographers, including myself, created new works utilize dance to explore various concepts. Our piece, Frames of Mind, uses movement to explore aspects of film technique history.
Architectural Synapse
Valley Christian High School
April 4, 5, 10, 11, 2014
2013
Collaboration with Tiffany Singh
July 2013
In July, I had the opportunity to work with New Zealand artist Tiffany Singh. Singh created a site-specific installation entitled The Bells of Mindfulness at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA. For the opening of the installation, Singh invited me to activate the installation through a performance. The resulting piece, An Offering: for endings and beginnings, was meant as a transition in the life of the artwork and the bells, serving as the blessing of the tree and bells before the public was invited to select a bell to take and bring to their own sacred space. A film documenting the piece was released in January 2014. For more information click here.
Leigh Weimer's Emerging Artists Award
July 2013
I was honored by the San Jose Rotary Club in July as one of the inaugural recipients of the Leigh Weimer's Emerging Artists Award for my work in choreography and dance.
Effect|Affect
August 2013
In August, I presented a new work, Effect|Affect, in collaboration with media designer Matthew Johns at the ZERO1 Garage in downtown San Jose as part of their Bring It! Series. The piece explored the possibilities of a real-time duet between dance and projection technology.
The Memory Tax
September 2013
I was part of an amazing team that brought to life a new play, The Memory Tax, by Chad Eschman. Produced off-Broadway at the Chernuchin Theatre as an Equity Showcase, the production featured original music and interactive projection technology. We are in conversations to bring the play to the Bay Area sometime in 2014 or 2015.