CWF LEAD ARTISTS: CAROL SNOW
GRANT AMOUNT: $34,000
       
 

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SYNTAX: A READING, DANCED


Carol Snow, photograph by Andrea Flores

Project Title: Syntax: A Reading, Danced
Recipient Organization: The Foundry
Fiscal Sponsor: Intersection for the Arts
Lead Artist: Carol Snow
Genre and Date Awarded: Literary Arts, June 2004
To be Completed: Summer 2005

Poet Carol Snow and choreographer Alex Ketley of The Foundry will co-create “Syntax,” a staged reading where the underlying structure of language is accompanied by and echoed in the physical patterns of dance. The finished dance/poetry work of an estimated 40 minutes in length will premiere in summer 2005 at ODC Theater in San Francisco.

Through creating this work, poet and choreographer will explore how dance can serve to underline the experience of language: “A dance could be choreographed—not to music and not the content of a reading—but to the linguistic patterns of what is read. And the reading—though it would have content and meaning—would be composed to emphasize this structuring.” The artists seek to create a “co-vocabulary” to amplify the awareness and sensitivity of the audience to a developing complexity of language structure.

Carol Snow will involve choreographer Alex Ketley from the very beginning of her writing process. Snow and Ketley will confer over draft text, with Ketley helping Snow to create a text usable for dance and Snow helping Ketley to become familiar with the language’s intent at each point in the text. The provisional manuscript will be organized into segments to be shortened, lengthened, revised, and/or re-ordered according to the needs of the dance. As the choreographic movements and structure are set and refined, Snow will be rewriting in addition to adjusting and polishing her own presentation.

Carol Snow’s third collection of poetry was published in spring 2004 by the University of California Press. She has been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Poetry Center Book Award, and the Joseph Henry Jackson Award in Literature. Besides having presented her work at venues from local bookstores and college campuses to the Library of Congress, she has participated in public readings of work by William Butler Yeats and from various anthologies. She is drawn to the sound of language and the possibilities of linguistic patterning. For Snow, this project represents her first collaborative venture and builds on her previous, extensive work with poems structured in series.

The Foundry, established as a collaborative between Christian Burns and Alex Ketley in 1998, has always been driven by an intense desire to look at how process is applied and challenged in the creation of dance work. Many of its projects have been interdisciplinary and collaborative in nature. Choreographer Alex Ketley is constantly looking for new ways to challenge himself and his artistic process. He sees “Syntax” as a movement against popular culture’s abundant use of fast, quickly-cut and over-saturation techniques to “return, at least at times, to a quieter, simpler means of communication—one that allows an audience the ability to think, be moved, and have the courage of attention.”

Also participating as members of the Foundry are dancers Andrea and Justin Flores. Andrea Flores has performed with the San Francisco Ballet, the Lawrence Pech Dance Company, Smuin Ballets/SF, Kunst-Stoff, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and Homer Avila. Flores recently became a member of ODC/San Francisco. She teaches ballet, jazz, and hip-hop. Dancer Justin Flores relocated to San Francisco after performing with the Eugene Ballet for its 1998-99 season. Locally, he has danced with Lawrence Pech Dance Company and Smuin Ballets/SF and is currently a member of ODC/San Francisco.


Justin Flores in rehearsal with ODC/San Francisco, photograph by Andrea Flores

LEAD ARTIST

Carol Snow

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Poetry Publications

  • The Seventy Prepositions, University of California Press Berkeley and London (2004)
  • For, University of California Press, Berkeley and London (2000)
  • Bowl, (limited edition letterpress chapbook) EM Press, Mill Valley, California (1998)
  • News Of: Short Poems, (limited edition letterpress chapbook), EM Press, Mill Valley, California (1990)
  • Artist and Model, 1990 National Poetry Series Selection, Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, New York (1990)

Anthologies

  • Berkeley Poetry Walk, (public installation), The Addison Anthology, forthcoming
  • Poetry 180, Random House, New York (2003)
  • Appetite: Food as Metaphor, Boa Editions, Ltd., Rochester, New York (2002)
  • The Pushcart Prize XIX: Best of the Small Presses, Pushcart Press, Wainscott, New York (1994-95)

Journals:

  • The American Poetry Review, Antaeus, Berkeley Poetry Review, Colorado Review, Countermeasures, Denver Quarterly, Five Fingers Review, Fourteen Hills (San Francisco State University Poetry Review), Interim, Mary, New American Writing, Pavement, Pequod, Poetry Flash, Syllogism, Verse, Vivo, Volt, Xantippe

Literary Grants and Awards

  • Fund for Poetry Grant (1999)
  • National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1997-98)
  • Pushcart Prize (1994)
  • Poetry Center Book Award, San Francisco State University (1990)
  • Joseph Henry Jackson Award in Literature (1985)

Teaching and Other Employment

  • Roberta Holloway Poet, University of California, Berkeley (fall 2002)
  • Visiting Writer, MFA Program in Creative Writing, Saint Mary’s College of California (spring 2001)
  • Creative Writing Instructor, Napa Valley Writer’s Conference (summer 1997)
  • Co-director, Blue Bear School of American Music, San Francisco, California (1971-present)

Selected Poetry Readings Since 1990

Libraries

  • The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  • The Mechanics’ Institute Library, San Francisco, California
  • Oakland and San Francisco Public Libraries

Colleges and Universities

  • Pomona College, Claremont, California
  • University of California, Berkeley
  • Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
  • The Poetry Center, San Francisco State University
  • University of Denver
  • University of Miami
  • Colby College, Maine

Bookstores and Literary Centers

  • A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, San Francisco, California
  • Bas Bleu Theater, Fort Collins, Colorado
  • Black Oak Books, Berkeley, California
  • City Lights, San Francisco, California
  • Cody’s Books, Berkeley, California
  • Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California
  • Modern Times, San Francisco, California
  • San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, California
  • San Jose Center for Poetry & Literature, San Jose, California

OTHER COLLABORATING ARTISTS


Alex Ketley in rehearsal with The Foundry

Alex Ketley

Professional Performance Experience

  • LINES Contemporary Ballet (1999-2002)
  • Repertory (all by Alonzo King): In to Get Out, Tango, Soothing the Enemy, Torab, Who Dressed You Like a Foreigner?, Koto, People of the Forest, Sweet Etta, The Heart’s National Inclination, Rieley
  • San Francisco Ballet (1994-98)
  • Repertory: The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (Forsythe), Company B (Taylor), Bugaku (Balanchine), Back Home (Seyffert), Rodeo (De Mille), Glass Pieces (Robbins), Theme and Variations (Balanchine), Romeo and Juliet (Thomasson), Terra Firma (Kudelka), Pulcinella (Caniparoli), Swan Lake (Thomasson), Western Symphony (Balanchine), Lamborena (Caniparoli), Le Sylphide (Thomasson), Rubies (Balanchine), The Nutcracker (Thomasson), Fly by Night (De Bois), Filling Station (Christensen), Tuning Game (Thomasson), Stravinsky Violin Concerto (Balanchine), Sleeping Beauty (Thomasson)

Professional Choreographic Experience

  • Co-artistic Director, The Foundry, direct and create works in collaboration with other artists in the company; handle concept, choreography, improvisation, video, text, lighting, scenic and sound design (1998-present)
  • Within Once, The Yard, Chilmark, Massachusetts (2003)
  • The Fleshing Memory, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (supported in part by a grant from the Creative Work Fund) (2003)
  • Kid Thunder, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2002)
  • Capacity from Shallowness, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2001)
  • Yosemite (video), Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2000)
  • Sea Green and Blue Already Rising, commission for LINES Ballet, San Francisco, California (2000)
  • PaintParkTalk, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1999)
  • Current Form, Dancer’s Group, San Francisco, California (1999)
  • Salt Flat Piece, Shotwell Studio, San Francisco, California (1998)
  • Independent Work (1997-2004)
  • Trace Fulfillment (Rework), Hubbard Street Dance Chicago for Florida State University (2004)
  • Fragments (Repeat Forever), commissioned by Hubbard Street 2, Chicago, Illinois (2003)
  • Shop (video), Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2002)
  • Trace Fulfillment, commissioned by Hubbard Street 2, Chicago, Illinois (2001)
  • Rodeo Room (video), Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2001)
  • Tar(c)JMP, Marin Civic Auditorium San Rafael, California (2000)
  • Garage (video), Dancer’s Group, San Francisco, California (1999)
  • T. Rosa, Columbia, Maryland (1997)

Installation Pieces

  • Joygame, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2003)
  • The Fleshing Memory, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2002)
  • Open House, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2001)
  • Saltwater, JennJoy Gallery, San Francisco, California (1998)

Teaching and Public Talks

  • “Master Class,” Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida (2003)
  • “The Creative Process,” Alliance of Artists Communities, Djerassi Institute (2003)
  • “Ballet, Improvisation, and Repertory,” LINES Ballet, San Francisco, California (2003)
  • “Choreographic Applications,” Lou Conte Dance Studio, Chicago, Illinois (2003)
  • “The Creation of ‘Fragments,’” The Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois (2003)
  • “Improvisational Process,” Lou Conte Dance Studio, Chicago, Illinois (2002)
  • “Under Surveillance,” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2002)
  • “Improvisational Technique and Choreographic Process,” Lou Conte Dance Studio, Chicago, Illinois (2001)
  • “Rethinking Live Art: Collaborative Methods and Improvisational Strategies,” The Lab, San Francisco, California (2001)

Accomplishments

  • Company Residency at The Yard, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts (2003)
  • “25 to Watch,” The Foundry, Dance Magazine (January 2003)
  • Wattis Artist-in-Residence, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2002)
  • San Francisco Chronicle, “Top Ten Dance Events of the Year: Kid Thunder” (2002)
  • National Choreography Competition Winner, Hubbard Street 2, Chicago, Illinois (2001)
  • San Francisco Chronicle, “Top Ten Dance Events of the Year: Capacity from Shallowness” (2001)
  • Artist-in-Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (2001)
  • Co-founder, The Foundry, Berkeley, California (1998)

Training

  • The School of American Ballet (1991-94)
  • The New School of Social Research (1993)
  • The Washington School of Ballet (1988-91)
  • The Royal Danish Ballet (summer 1990)
  • The Boston Ballet School (summer 1989)
  • The North Carolina School for the Arts (summer 1988)


Video still, Alex Ketley working at Headlands Center for the Arts


Andrea Flores, photograph by Marty Sohl