Anima Dance

[Rachel Brooker <brooker.rachel@gmail.com>]

introducing:

The Field Berlin!

The Field (www.thefield.org) was founded in New York City in 1985 to "help artists improve their artwork and counter the isolation that often comes with the territory of an artistic career". It has now grown to an international network with an array of programs serving artists in many disciplines. One of the core programs of the Field is Fieldwork, a feedback structure that I have found rigorous, stimulating, challenging and productive. Participants meet weekly for a 10-week series to share their work and receive feedback using the Fieldwork system, developed in the 1980s by emerging choreographer Steve Gross and friends. More information on the Field and its origins is below and in a Contact Quarterly interview you can download with Steve Gross and Diane Vivona. The Field also organizes exchanges between sites that make touring vastly more affordable for many performing artists. A New York-Berlin exchange is in the planning stages, and we are also discussing connecting with our sister Field site in Amsterdam.

Since moving to Berlin, I've missed the support and challenge of Fieldwork so much that I've decided to bring it here. I was invited by The Field NY to spend this past weekend in New York at the Field Forward Network Conference, where I was trained as a facilitator, and I have been given the go-ahead to start a site in Berlin!

We'll start our first Fieldwork session in the next few months. Fieldwork sessions are not curated, in order to make it available to artists in all disciplines and aesthetics, so this Fieldwork session will be first-come, first-serve and limited to 10 participants. Some of you have experienced the Field's feedback system at post-performance feedback sessions that I've led over the past two years and have expressed interest already. I'm now going to build a larger Fieldwork-specific mailing list. Send a message to info@animadance.org with the subject heading "Fieldwork" to be added to the mailing list- you'll be the first to know when the first Fieldwork session is scheduled. And please forward this message to artists and art organizations in Berlin and surrounding areas who might be interested.

We are also in the process of creating partnerships with local arts organizations who would like to bring The Field to their members at a discounted rate. If your organization is interested, email info@animadance.org.

More information about Fieldwork is below, and in the Contact Quarterly article linked to here. I'll keep you posted as The Field Berlin develops!

Warmly,

Rachel Brooker

Site Coordinator, The Field Berlin

About The Field:

Fieldwork workshops support the development of new work. At each meeting, participants present their works-in-progress and exchange feedback artist to artist. Guided by a facilitator, discussions are incisive and stimulating. The Fieldwork structure reveals how each piece is perceived by others and provides detailed information that helps participants hone their vision. By focusing discussions on what’s happening in the work and how those choices shape the work, the Fieldwork method supports the authorship of each artist. Many groups culminate in an informal showing open to the public.

 

• Gain new insight into your artwork 
• Be motivated by a weekly deadline
• Hone your critical perception

The Field's mission is to serve independent performing artists on a completely non-exclusive basis. This means that everything we do is open to artists from all aesthetic viewpoints, cultural backgrounds, and levels of development. Our priority is to create a climate where risk-taking and originality are championed, and where the broadest range of voices are included. Field programs are affordable, accessible, and rigorous. To support independent performing artists, The Field's programs are directed toward the creation of new work and its dissemination.

The Field's contribution to the vitality of the arts ecology has been recognized through long-term and continued funding from various organizations. These include the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as foundations and corporations such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Jerome Robbins Foundation, and Starry Night Fund of the Tides Foundation.

-- From The Field website, www.thefield.org