“You can make music with window fans?!?” & other takeaways from the BMCDE/BGSU residency

Happy Friday - and it’s March 14th, so Happy Pi Day!

I don’t know about you, but there’s definitely a Friday feeling in the air. The sun is out here in the Bronx, I’m writing this at my favorite neighborhood haunt, An Beal Bocht, a traditional Irish cafe/pub that is a well loved community haunt. It’s hard to be down on life when the weather’s nice, and you’re sitting in a cute place with fun people and good vibes.

Back in January, I got to be a guest artist with the Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble for their residency with the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). The residency was an incredible experience, and I wanted to share with you some of my takeaways from collaborating with the BMCDE, my thoughts on the residency experience, and how this all is informing ideas I have for building MANX.

More about the Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble (BMCDE)

Lead by Artistic Director Brian Ellis and Movement Director Erin Landers, the Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble (BMCDE) is an organization dedicated to breathing life into emerging forms of artistic expression. Based on the belief that all people should have the facility and confidence to express themselves, BMCDE is committed to expanding who is considered an artist, and sonically empowering all movers through the exploration of technology-based experience.

I was introduced to BMCDE via Sophie Delphis, a fantastic mezzo and BMCDE member, and was quickly hooked. I am not super tech savvy, but I am fascinated by motion capture technology, and its creative potential to inform other arts disciplines.

This past fall, just as I started MANX, I got to work with with the BMCDE on Three Postures, a BCMDE commission by Kansas City-based composer Stacy Busch. Three Postures is a prelude to Stacy’s opera in process, She Breathes Fire, that reframes the hero’s quest through a feminist lens. Working with Stacy, Brian, and Erin has been a deeply rewarding process. I don’t get to collaborate with other artists as much as I would like, so this was a unique opportunity to work with some fantastic people on a really cool interdisciplinary project.

BMCDE did a film project of Three Postures in the fall, and then premiered it at BGSU, hence why I came along for their residency. At BGSU, Brian and Erin led a workshop for their composition students, and we performed a concert of BMCDE works that included the Three Postures premiere. At the end, I came back to New York buzzing with good vibes, and lots of ideas!

Here are my big takeaways from the experience:

Creating space for creativity is key

The BGSU composition students were on FIRE. I was amazed at their creativity, and how they were given space to experiment, test out ideas, and try new things. My personal favorite was a student who was creating a piece for ten window fans (because apparently, if you stick a bassoon reed inside a window fan, it makes these cool sounds!!!).

Now - you may think this window fans piece sounds ridiculous, but hear me out, because I’m a fan (no pun intended) of this idea. It encompasses one of the most basic and fundamental aspects of a healthy learning environment: creating space for students to TRY THINGS without fear of failure. In my last blog post, I wrote candidly about my own fears of failure, and how those fears are deeply intertwined with my operatic training (I mean, can you imagine walking into a college opera department and being like “hi, let’s make opera using window fans!?!”). If you never get to try something new, how can you learn anything new?

I will admit that in a university music school, composition departments may be more into experimentation than other departments. Still, I can’t help but think that balancing these elements is vital across all artistic disciplines. Just think: how many artists would benefit from getting more chances to try new things in supportive environments? How many dancers feel stifled by certain systems and techniques, and only start to bloom once they’re given space to experiment with different movement techniques, and develop their own choreographic vision? How many opera singers would benefit from having spaces to just try cool shit out and see what happened? Hell, if you’re reading this blog, you likely know at least one artist who would totally dig music where people stick stuff in window fans.

Witnessing the creativity of the BGSU students be embraced instead of shunned was a really exciting and encouraging thing to see. I think there are a lot of artists out there who could benefit from that approach.

Future MANX Residencies?

Last summer, prior to launching MANX, I got to spend time at two incredible artist residencies: Bearnstow outside of Mount Vernon, Maine, and Moulin Belle in Mareuil en Perigord, France. In fact, MANX is returning to Moulin Belle this summer to do a residency and community oriented Movement for Singing workshop.

The BGSU experience definitely got me thinking of university residency possibilities for MANX. After all, MANX offers a really unique combination of operatic singing and dance. What possibilities are there for taking MANX’s Movement for Singing workshops to university dance and opera programs? What about choreographing arias for opera students that fit their unique ways of expressing themselves through movement? Or, choreographing a piece for dance students with different opportunities for speaking and singing, to help dancers begin developing their vocal technique in tandem with their dance technique without the pressure of performing a solo song? The possibilities are endless, and I’m excited to see what comes from these ideas.

Not all is lost.

If you want to feel a bit better about the world, go spend some time with the BGSU composition department. Nowadays, most of the news we take in is….well, horrifying. Let’s face it, the United States is in a rough place right now, and things are not looking promising.

I also think it’s easy to forget that in the midst of so much chaos and upheaval, there is still good happening, and there are more people than not who are eager to think out of the box and show up with creativity and kindness. Walking into a space where faculty and students were creative, collaborative, and engaged in what they were doing was one of the most rewarding parts of the BMCDE residency experience at BGSU.

Let this be a public thank you to Brian, Erin, Stacy, Dr. Piyawat Louilarpprasert at BGSU, and the BGSU composition faculty, students, and staff who made the BMCDE residency such a rewarding experience.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see what cool sounds I can make by sticking stuff in a window fan :).

-Melanie, MANX Artistic Director