"Cage Meets 'Bojangles,' choreographed by Anita Feldman with excerpts by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, performed by Hofstra dance students, April 2011.
CAGE MEETS “BOJANGLES” was inspired by 1935, in honor of
Hofstra’s 75th Anniversary.
In 1935, big band jazzy swing music was the new thing, and was the most
popular music. It originated from
African Americans, influenced by the syncopation and swing of African
music. At the same time, an experimental
composer named John Cage, was beginning to experiment. He made a piece in 1935 called Music for
Percussion Quartet. Later in history he
was a most revolutionary composer, believing that any sound is music, but in
1935 he was still composing for musical instruments, and was even influenced by
swing.
This piece juxtaposes swing music with excerpts of John
Cage’s experimental Music for Percussion Quartet, and steps from “Bojangles”
very famous 1932 stair dance, with original rhythm tap steps inspired by John
Cage’s music. Dancers perform on stairs
built by James Hart, and The Tap Dance Instrument, a patented multi timbre
series of floors designed by myself and instrument maker Daniel Schmidt in
1988.
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The Rhythm Walkers, by Anita Feldman, performed by Hofstra University dance students, April, 2010
Walking is a series of falls. THE RHYTHM WALKERS was an inquiry into how dancers could fall off balance totally and accurately on the beat, and how they could make complex rhythms with various body parts, and propel themselves through space at the same time.
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"Coming Down" choreographed by Anita Feldman, performed by Hofstra University dance students, featuring Logan Miller, performed April, 2009.
COMING DOWN was inspired by the music of Kathryn Hylton, an
alumni of Hofstra University’s music department. Imagery was the main inquiry, of the energies
and sounds of varying weather, including gentle raindrops, breezes, storms,
tornadoes, particularly apt in this time of global warming.
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"Music for Pieces of Wood and Metal" by Anita Feldman, for Hofstra University students, performed April, 2008.
MUSIC FOR PIECES OF WOOD AND METAL was performed with five
Hofstra music percussion students, live and as part of the choreography. They
performed contemporary composer Steve Reich’s MUSIC FOR PIECES OF WOOD, while
twelve Hofstra tap dancers performed choreography that interplayed in similar sound
and movement structures with the music and the musicians.
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City Scraped, by Anita Feldman, performed by Hofstra University dance students, April, 2007
