Texas Performing Arts

October 1, 2009/ Contribution by J. Elissa Marshall
When I watch José Bustamante do his own choreography I am not watching him dance alone, I see him dancing with the negative space surrounding him.  The way his movement utilizes space holds and the way it dances around the air, doesn’t allow it to appear as though [...]

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October 1, 2009/Contribution by Lisa Kobdish
Mariclaire, a senior BFA Dance major, a kindred spirit and one of my closest friends is rehearsing with Bustamante and the rest today. I watch her respectfully follow along with Bustamante as he creates material. She, as well as the rest of the group, follow along as he asks them [...]

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September 29, 2009/ Contribution by J. Elissa Marshall
Today the five UT dancers in the Colombia Project, including myself, had a check in meeting with Lyn.  It was supposed to be a quick meeting about our trip to Colombia in December, but sometimes when you get Lyn talking you can’t make her stop…and I didn’t want [...]

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September 24, 2009/ Contribution by Lisa Kobdish
It may seem easy to blog or journal, but for me it is quite frankly a challenge. I have learned over many years of writing essays, short answer responses, short stories and more how to write a comprehensible paper. I understand introduction, body, conclusion. I know the importance of [...]

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September 22, 2009/ Contribution by Lisa Kobdish
Dark skies, pressure, ambiguous temperature…is it hot or cold? At this time in the semester, the cloudy weather is reflecting my cloudy mind. Lots of information coming in and out, schedules get fuzzy, time disappears quicker and quicker. But I am trying to stay on top of my life, [...]

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September 22, 2009/ Contribution by J. Elissa Marshall
I sat in on dance grad student Alvin Rangel’s rehearsal today, and I have to say it was torture!  What I mean (before you get upset, Alvin) is that his movement is everything I want to do because it’s musical, organic, jazzy and athletic all at the same [...]

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September 17, 2009/ Contribution by J. Elissa Marshall
Today I sat in on UT dance grad student Chell Parkin’s rehearsal.  From what I can tell, she has a lot of interesting ideas going on that are clearly related but not quite organized yet.  She admitted at the beginning of rehearsal that she often choreographs by first [...]

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September 15, 2009/ Contribution by Lisa Kobdish
Yacov Sharir (UT professor and choreographer) told our advanced contemporary technique class today that he can no longer teach us technique. He can remind us if we reject certain areas of discipline, alignment, the fundamentals, but we already know technique, therefore this class will not reiterate it. What Yacov [...]

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September 15, 2009/ Contribution by J. Elissa Marshall
With phase one of the Colombia Project complete I turned my focus to the other pieces in Dance Repertory Theatre (DRT).  In addition to the Colombia Project I am in a piece by UT dance professor and choreographer Andrea Beckham; however, the details about this piece are still [...]

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September 12, 2009/ Contribution by Lyn C. Wiltshire
If one holds the belief that things happen for a purpose – which I do – then, the dancers of Projects in Dance Performance and Repertory/DRT, Álvaro and dancers, are together for a reason that is greater than “just” the choreographic process, academic learning and ‘teaching moments’. These [...]

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