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Site-Specific & Staged Choreography
The period for applications is now closed for 2018. We hope you will be able to attend the festival in October. Please check back in the Early Spring for our 2019 open call.
Please read this General Information about applying first.
contact us at contact@theoutletdanceproject.com with any questions
Site-Specific Choreography

Below is the list of the 38 sculptures (or grouping of sculptures) available for site-specific pieces this year. Please make sure to only choose from the following sculptures. You may have gentle physical contact with nearly all of the sculptures. If you have questions about how much you can engage, please ask us. Artists selected to create site-specific work are expected to visit the site at least 2 times while developing their pieces (ask us if you have questions about this). Admission fees to the park are waived for rehearsals. We have listed artist names first, followed by their sculpture titles, in italics. Multiple works by the same artist are separated by commas. Extensive pictures and notes about all of the pieces found here.

www.theoutletdanceproject.com/sculpture-option 

 Fletcher Benton – Folded Circle Ring; Emilie Benes Brzezinski – Lintel; James Carl – oof (in the East Gallery); Walter Dusenbury – Damascus Gate; Marisol Escobar – General Bronze; Sarah Haviland – Trio;  Seward Johnson – Has Anybody Seen Larry?, God Bless America, & Confrontational Vulnerability; Daniel Kainz – Harmony 3; Masayuki Koorida – Memory, Nature, & Black Flower; Peter Lundberg – Where is Geometry?; John Martini – The Couple; Mark Mennin – Amorpheous, Kraken 2 & Kraken 3; Zoran Mojsilov – Cuckoo's Nest; Robert Murray – Hillary; John Newman – Skyhook; Karen Petersen – Beast; Martha Pettigrew – Gossip; Andrew Pitynski – Space, Conquer or Die – Swiatowid; Michelle Post – The Oligarchs; E. Calder Powell – Schatz's Spaceship (Inspired by The Oloid); Michael Rees – Ghraib Bag; Barton Rubenstein – Harmonize; Mary Schaffer – Forth; Ernest Shaw – Sumo; Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas – Arch II Set II, James Surls – Standing Vase with Five Flowers; Gunnar Theel – Nature's Laugh; Herk Van Tongeren –Teatro X;I Bernar Venet – Three Indeterminate Lines & Arcs in Disorder: 4 Arcs x 5; Roy Wilson – Resting Place; Isaac Witkin – The Bathers; Peter Woytuk – Bull #4 & Bull #5.

Extensive pictures and notes about all the pieces found here.

*We are also accepting site-specific proposals for the indoor portion of the festival. We would like to have at least two pieces that are in conversation with oof by James Carl in the East Gallery. More details about that work are found to the right. *

As part of our continued commitment to collaboration, community building, and the exploration of interdisciplinary intersections, we are once again connecting the site-specific choreographers with the sculptors (or sculptor's representatives) of the pieces that they are working with. Our intention is to create a space for dialogue between the visual and dance artists so as to facilitate the creation of dynamic work that is able to utilize a fuller understanding of the sculptures to inform the dance pieces.

All participating artists will be expected to be in regular communication with the directors of the festival. Those artists who are selected for site-specific work will have individual bi-weekly check-ins so that we are able to support your work to the best of our ability during its development.

Applications must include the following and are to be sent to contact@theoutletdanceproject.com with the subject line: Day of Dance 2018: Site Specific. Your Name.

  1. Choreographer's contact information: name, preferred pronouns, address, phone number, website (if available), and email.

  2. Choreographer's bio (200 words or less)

  3. Written choreographic proposal. Please include which of the sculpture from the above list you intend to work with along with your descriptive proposal. (Please note: Applications for site-specific dances that do not have a location selected will not be considered.) Be sure to include how your piece relates to this site-specific location. The length of the work to be presented at the festival should be between 2 and 12 minutes. Include what you anticipate the length of proposed piece to be and how many performers you intend to use. The more you are able to articulate your proposal, the more we are able to imagine alongside with you. 

  4. Web link to a 5-8 minute video sample of a previous work. Please include password, if your video is password protected.

    • Work Samples must be at least 5 continuous minutes in length, without excessive editing. 

  5. Response to the questions: How did you hear about us? How do you see your work fitting into the festival? Do you have any accessibility needs? If accepted, how do you plan to help promote The Outlet Dance Festival? 

  6. Application fee of $12.00 via PayPal (tab below). *Early bird special! If you submit by July 8th, the application fee is $10.

    • This festival is run by volunteers and with the generous donation of space and publicity from Grounds for Sculpture. This small application fee helps defray costs and garners you a complimentary ticket to the festival.​​

    • To pay by check, please inquire for instructions. You may also submit to the film portion of the festival with one application fee (maximum 2 submissions).

  7. If you are submitting both a live performance proposal and a film proposal, please separate the proposals and send in two different emails, one with: Films 2018 . Your Name. in the subject line, and one with Day of Dance 2018: Site Specific. Your Name or Day of Dance 2018: Staged Work. Your Name in the subject line, noting your application fee receipt number in both. 

Staged Dances

 

This year, The East Gallery – the location of the indoor portion of the festival – is the home to an installation entitled, oof by James Carl. As such, in addition to accepting already staged work for the indoor half of the performance, we would like to accept at least two proposals that are in conversation with the gallery's installation. Artists selected to create such site-specific work are expected to visit the site at least 2 times while developing their pieces (ask us if you have questions about this). Admission fees will, of course, be waived for rehearsals in the gallery space .

James Carl's installation has just been completed. It has only been open to the public beginning July 28th. Here is some information Grounds For Sculpture has provided to us about it and provide links to other of James Carl's work.

"Canadian artist James Carl makes his first major debut in the United States with two parallel exhibitions. oof is a monumentally scaled wall relief constructed from brown cardboard. Inspired by the egg carton, Carl has created his own version in a geometric form which will be dye-cut, assembled, and installed by the dozens on the vast 80’ wall. Carl observes that the work’s visual “noise” will contrast with its acoustic flattening on the space.

As with much of Carl’s work, oof makes use of common materials and cultural reference points in the generation of a visually charged experience. The title of the work alludes simultaneously to the visual punch of the piece and to the French word, oeuf, meaning “egg”. Other examples in American culture of such an approach to surface modulation date to the early days of Rock and Roll, when egg cartons were used to balance the acoustics of recording and performance in spaces such as the iconic Sun Studio in Memphis, TN. This approach became the norm and was used by “garage” and “grunge” bands from New Jersey to Seattle.

Relief sculpture is explicit in its reliance on architecture to give it a place in the world. It struggles with three dimensionality and autonomy, using spatial illusion, pattern, and implied movement as means to exceed its architectural confines. In both Neo-Classical and Modern examples, relief is exploited for socially didactic purposes—affording walls a voice. Carl negotiates these various histories in a work which is perceptually disorienting and remarkably mute."

 

Below, we are sharing a photo album of the East Gallery with pictures of the installation. Please scroll down to view.

All participating artists will be expected to be in regular communication with the directors of the festival. Those artists who are selected for site-specific work will have individual bi-weekly check-ins so that we are able to support your work to the best of our ability during its development.

 

Applications must include the following and are to be sent to contact@theoutletdanceproject.com with the subject line: Day of Dance 2018: Staged Work. Your Name.:

  1. Choreographer's contact information: name, preferred pronouns, address, phone number, website (if available), and email

  2. Choreographer's bio (200 words or less)

  3. Title/working title, description (number of dancers, music etc.), and length of work being submitted (between 2 and 12 minutes). *OR, descriptive proposal for new work in conversation with East Gallery installation. If you are making a proposal, include what you anticipate the length of proposed piece to be and how many performers you intend to use. The more you are able to articulate your proposal, the more we are able to imagine alongside with you. 

  4. Web link to video of the work being submitted. If you are making a proposal, include a web link to a 5-8 minute sample of previous work. Please include password, if your video is password protected.

    • Work Samples must be at least 5 continuous minutes in length, without excessive editing. 

  5. Response to the questions: How did you hear about us? How do you see your work fitting into the festival? Do you have any accessibility needs? If accepted, how do you plan to help promote The Outlet Dance Festival?

  6. Application fee of $12.00 via PayPal (tab below). *Early bird special! If you submit by July 8th, the application fee is $10.

    • This festival is run by volunteers and with the generous donation of space and publicity from Grounds for Sculpture. This small application fee helps defray costs and garners you a complimentary ticket to the festival.​​

    • To pay by check, please inquire for instructions. You may also submit to the film portion of the festival with one application fee (maximum 2 submissions).​

  7. If you are submitting both a live performance proposal and a film proposal, please separate the proposals and send in two different emails, one with: Films 2018 . Your Name. in the subject line, and one with Day of Dance 2018: Site Specific. Your Name or Day of Dance 2018: Staged Work. Your Name in the subject line, noting your application fee receipt number in both. 

Film: 

Complete information on how to apply to our Dance On Film Festival here.

A Note About Honorariums: 

 

The Outlet Dance Project is entirely volunteer-run (even the festival directors are unpaid) and does not turn a profit from year to year (yet). We are greatly relieved the years that we are able to break even. As such, while we have come to a point where we do make a point of paying participating artists at least a modest amount, we do not have a set honorarium that we are able commit to giving selected artists, at this time. Being able to offer artists financial reciprocation for their efforts is critically important to us. As dance artists, we know fully well the woeful lack of funding in much of the dance world that often makes it difficult to sustain a career. 

1.  We are committed to providing participating artists an honorarium, albeit a modest one, in the hope that it will contribute to some basic expenses, at the very least. We are fundraising again this year, and since this campaign has not come to a conclusion yet, we cannot guarantee the specific amount at this time. 

2.  Application fees are the primary way we are able to cover our operating costs. If there are any remaining funds, these will be distributed equally among the artists. This is also not something we can guarantee at this point, but we are optimistic and hopeful.  
 
3. One of the ways that we reciprocate with participating artists is to provide every choreographer of live performance at The Outlet professional quality photos (we generally engage at least 3 photographers annually to shoot the festival) and video of their
performance.

4. If you would like any clarification on any of this, please write us at contact@theoutletdanceproject.com.

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