Saturday, September 26, 2009

Excellent Motivational Video from Katherine Burke

Theatre instructor Katherine Burke posted a link to this video on Facebook; it deserves to be shared in as wide a forum as possible. It's short but powerful. Enjoy!



--Bill Sallak (Asst. Prof./Dance Music Director/Moderator)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Presentations and Powerpoint

Students in the Modern I dance class are preparing class presentations on important figures in early modern dance. As part of their presentation, they are required to prepare a Powerpoint presentation. We've all seen good Powerpoint presentations, and we've all seen bad ones, and the experience of sitting through a bad one should be enough motivation to prepare a good one-- unless inflicting that sort of punishment is part of your goal.

There is one overarching guideline that appears almost anywhere someone offers advice about using Powerpoint, and you've probably all seen it before:

DON'T READ YOUR SLIDES.

If you're reading your slides during the presentation, your attention is away from where it needs to be: your audience. Not only will your audience notice right away that you're not looking at them, but you'll also look like someone who can't give the presentation without consulting giant wall-sized projected cue cards, i.e., like someone who doesn't know what they're talking about.

The problem with this one guideline is that it doesn't give you ideas for what you should do; it only gives you one more thing to not do. What are some affirmative corollaries that will actually give you ways to help prepare for the presentation?

1) There's no substitute for knowing what you're talking about.

You don't have to be the world's foremost expert on whatever-it-is. You do have to be able to get your big ideas across and make your salient points without looking over your shoulder.
You also don't have to memorize everything, but if you need notecards, keep them small and simple, and hold on to them. Your slides are not for you, they're for your audience.

2) Create a final summary slide: a bullet list of your main concepts.

Boiling your presentation down to a list of bullet points will make you clarify your ideas, and clarity is as important here as content. A great way to practice your presentation is to make your final summary slide, and rehearse your presentation using only that slide. Do that a couple of times, and pretty soon the main idea will trigger all of the little sub-ideas buried in it, and you can talk to your audience instead of over your shoulder.

3) Watch your slide presentation without talking.

If all of your content is contained in your slides, then either each slide has too many words or you have too many slides. By themselves, your slides should be woefully inadequate for the presentation, which is good-- you're going to fill in the gaps by speaking. This leads to...

3a) If a lot of people ask you for your slides, that means they contain too much information.

A lot of this comes from an excellent blog post over at Rands In Repose, which is one of my favorite blogs. The author is a software engineer, so while he's not involved in the arts per se, he gives (and sees) enough Powerpoints to have very clear ideas about what makes them effective or not. My favorite suggestion of his is to Invoke A Disaster. It's worth checking out.

--Bill Sallak (Asst. Prof./Dance Music Director/Moderator)

Monday, September 14, 2009

Tony-Winning Alum Returns for Visit

John Moauro, a 2007 Graduate of KSU School of Theatre & Dance, who has been performing with the Broadway production of HAIR will be here September 21 from 12:30 pm to 2:10 pm in Room D205. This will be a question and answer session.

Anyone is welcome to attend.

The Broadway production of Hair won the Best Revival Award, and our own John Moauro was part of the cast.

Please join us if you can.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Recent CD Releases

From the Department of Self-Promotion:

A CD release is a special event, representing the culmination of lots of work from many people. It's also a moment with some gravity-- you're sending a piece of your work out into a world that may be appreciative, critical, or indifferent in turn. I got to experience it twice recently...



The first album is from a trio I was part of back in Phoenix. The group is called Easy Worship Operator, and the album is called what looks like air. We're an electroacoustic free improvisation group-- we each play an assortment of acoustic instruments, but they're all fed into a computer that gently shapes (or mangles) the sounds into something else entirely. We played lots of small gallery venues and festivals throughout Arizona, but when I joined the KSU faculty in October 2008, we weren't sure how (or even if) we could make the group continue. Happily, we recorded the album this past May, and I spent a good deal of the summer mixing it and getting it ready for release. You can stream the whole thing (for free!) and download it at easyworshipoperator.bandcamp.com. That page also has a link to purchase the album on CD from our Kunaki site. (Anyone interested in great ways to release music on the Internet without tangling with record labels would be well-served to check out bandcamp.com and Kunaki.com.) The tracks are all improvised with no overdubs, and range from gently ambient to pretty violent. Any dance students looking for music for choreography might want to check it out...hint hint...



The second album is the New World Records release of the complete Links Series of Vibraphone Essays by Stuart Smith. Stuart has been teaching for several decades at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, and is a leading American experimental composer. There are 11 Links; I recorded Links No. 3 last January in Baltimore. Working with Stuart was amazing, and his wife and publisher Sylvia is equally dedicated and talented. The 2-CD set was released last Tuesday; my copy should be arriving any day now, and I can't wait to hear it. The collection of other performers on the disc is impressive (I'm especially chuffed to be right next to Steven Schick, who recorded Links No. 4), and every element of production, from what I can see at this point, is top-notch. You can find out more about the album (and read Steven Schick's excellent liner notes) here.

I'm writing this from Phoenix, AZ; in two days, my doctoral foreign language test at ASU will be finished, and I'll be heading back to Kent. See you all soon!

--Bill Sallak (Assistant Professor/Dance Music Director/Moderator)

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Kent Dance Ensemble: Prospect & Refuge

This morning I had my first rehearsal with the Kent Dance Ensemble. We are working on a piece called Prospect & Refuge: Stray. Ultimately, it is an evening-length, modular, site-specific dancework for film and stage. I began the project in the spring with Verb Ballets as part of a works-in-progress performance the Cleveland-based company commissioned from nine local choreographers. At the request of KDE Artistic Director Kim Karpanty, I am continuing to expand on the work with the ensemble. My professional company, Antaeus Dance, will premiere the dancework in the spring on 2010. Select modules will be presented between now and then, including Stray which will be completed and performed first by KDE.

Rehearsal went well and I was pleased with how much ground we covered this morning. There are twelve dancers total. This is a larger group than I normally work with and comprises an even number of performers. I do not care for even numbers. I like odd numbers because they are imbalanced, usually leave one person out, and lend themselves to further asymmetry. When we left this morning I had four tidy groups of three. I will have to fix that. But, I digress...

The dancers were willing to try anything and we spent the morning working out the opening sequence, some basic lifts, and the set up for the next section. They are a jovial group, though not at the cost of focus, and asked lots of questions, forcing me to be clear about the work. I spoke to them at the beginning about my interest in the HOW of the dance versus the WHY. I anticipate that one will illuminate the other in the course of our work together.

KDE will present Prospect & Refuge: Stray, a module of formally staged choreography, April 9-11, 2010 in E. Turner Stump Theatre as part of the company's annual concert. Unfortunately, I cannot take the dancers on location to explore site-specific material with Antaeus Dance; but they will leave an indelible mark on the work with Stray. For more information about the piece at large, please visit my blog at AntaeusDance.blogspot.com.


Prospect & Refuge: Come see what's inside with KDE
Photo by Joan Meggitt

Check back here from regular updates on the work!

--Joan Meggitt (Visiting Assistant Professor, Dance Division)

Friday, September 4, 2009

USHERING FOR THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE AND DANCE IS A GREAT WAY TO GET INVOLVED AND TO SEE THE SHOWS FOR FREE!

The sign-up sheet to usher is on office door (B149) in the main theatre office, in the Music and Speech Center, in a clear sheet protector. The list is for all shows this semester. Please come and sign-up to usher! The list is on the front of the door and accessible to all during normal business hours, Mon. to Fri. 9am to 5pm. Ushers must arrive 45 minutes before curtain go time, and stay for the entire performance and help clean up afterwards. We would like ushers to dress in a white top and black slacks or skirt. All clothing should look professional. Jeans, sweat pants, cut offs, bandanas, and baseball caps are not permitted.

If you have any questions please contact Rebecca Balogh Gates, Managing Director at 330-672-0103 or rbalogh1@kent.edu.

(A note from the moderator: I'm not sure how it functions for theatre students, but dance students can earn up to 4 production hours/semester by working as an usher. Sounds like a good deal!)

--Rebecca Balogh Gates (Managing Director, School of Theatre and Dance)

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Proposed Policy for Comments

Greetings-- it's great to see that there are already people posting! I haven't had a chance to check out Steve's link, but it's my to-do list for tomorrow.

One thing we never covered (neither at faculty meetings nor either of the student meetings) is a policy for comments on the blog. On the one hand, this is the Internet, where unexpected feedback from all corners of the globe can easily reach us, and give us all sorts of valuable information. On the other hand, this is the Internet, where there's really no way to stop someone from lying about their identity and saying wildly inappropriate things.

Blogger has several different comment settings; there are only two that apply to our situation:
1) Anyone can comment, or
2) Comments can only come from registered Blogger users, who must log in with a valid @gmail.com address.

Making someone sign up for an email account just to leave comments seems like a silly and unnecessary hurdle. As a starting point for the policy, I propose this:
1) Anyone can submit a comment.
2) All comments will be moderated, i.e., approved by the moderator (me) before appearing on the blog.
3) Comments that are malicious or inappropriate will not be posted.
4) Commenters who feel that their comment was unfairly not-posted can contact the moderator by email (wsallak@kent.edu) and make their case.
5) In the event that Step 4 fails to provide a satisfactory outcome, the comments in question will be referred to School Director Cindy Stillings, who may then make a determination in conjunction with the moderator and any faculty members she feels could meaningfully contribute to the decision-making process.

I don't anticipate this becoming a major problem (inappropriate comments are usually really easy to identify), but it's better to have the policy in place, discuss it, and adjust it to meet everyone's needs, rather than be caught confronting a difficult choice flat-footed.

Students and faculty: please feel free to write me with your thoughts about this policy, or begin a public discussion of the policy in the...ta da!...comments section. Cheers--

--Bill Sallak (Assistant Professor/Dance Music Director/Moderator)

A Bit of Theatre Tech History

Hello everyone! I'm honored to be the first student poster here! I found this link to a couple of YouTube videos detailing what must be the first machine designed for computer aided drafting. We all know theatre history is important, but I think tech history is important too!

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/09/03/sketchpad-the-worlds-first-electronic-drafting-program/

---Steve Meshenberg

My First



The School of Theatre and Dance Theatre Majors/ Minors meeting had record capacity today. In all my eight years here, I cannot remember a time when there were more students packed in Wright-Curtis for the fall season “kick-off.” Alright, so half of them were grad students…the more the merrier! Add a powerpoint presentation and a Blog plug and it became a multimedia event! Well, a high bar has indeed been set.

OK- here’s a piece of information that I wanted to get out to the masses but I was not sure how. Since old EvB has never (no honestly) never blogged, I dip my toes into the lake of media with this trifle.

Recruitment and retention are big buzzwords used around many universities these days, KSU included. As a lover of Facebook, I want all Theatre and Dance students to know that I have started my own retention strategy. I, EvB, will not be Facebook friends with a student until s/he has become a sophomore or at least been here for a year. Harsh you might say. Darn right, theatre is a tough business, but I’m not willing to accept (or ignore) your little green plants, join your causes, or see which famous 18th century painter you most resemble until you have made a commitment to stay here in the School of Theatre and Dance.

So sorry all you incoming fresh-people. But keep those grades up and ask me again next fall. I promise not to ignore your
request. We will be friends for life.

--Eric van Baars (Associate Professor)

FREE DANCE CONCERT!

Get a flier from Joan or Kim for a chance to win free tickets to future Playhouse Square events! Check out the following link: http://www.playhousesquare.com and click on “Upcoming Events for this month”/”Dance Showcase”.

--Kim Karpanty (Associate Professor)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

From School Director Cindy Stillings

Welcome to the School of Theatre and Dance. We hope that you will use this new Blog of communication to keep up-to-date on all the happenings of the School. It will be an exciting year with new construction and renovation. We are also making plans for the new Black Box Theatre in the School and welcome ideas.

Seize every opportunity to participate this year! Audition, join a student organization, volunteer to serve on a school committee, help out in the shops.

There are two school meetings that are very important for you to attend this week:
For dance majors, minors and musical theatre students in professional level dance courses, please attend a meeting on Wednesday, September 2 at 6:15pm in Room 272 Annex.
For theatre majors and minors, please attend a meeting on Thursday, September 3 at 5:30pm in Wright-Curtis Theatre.

See you there!

--Cindy Stillings (Director of the School of Theatre and Dance)