Hello, Northrop family! I hope you are healthy, feeling well, and staying home.
On Mar 20, I began a practice of sending Daily Inspiration emails to my colleagues at Northrop. These notes are a way of keeping myself sane and productive in addition to providing encouragement to others to move our bodies, keep watching dance, and experience other art forms in ways that are available to us.
I’m delighted now to be able to share my favorite highlights from those messages with all of you. Northrop began posting Daily Inspirations to our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts, and I’ll compile a weekly roundup of those posts each Friday on this blog. You’ll find a mix of participatory experiences like online movement classes and dance parties, viewing and listening experiences from the archives of Northrop artists, and other interesting resources curated especially for Northrop fans.
Let’s get started!
If you missed Paul Taylor Dance Company as much as I did last month, the company has made their documentary Dancemaker available for free on Vimeo. Sections of this documentary were shot at the American Dance Festival while I was an intern there in 1997, and Piazzola Caldera remains one of my favorite Taylor pieces.
We’re missing our friends and colleagues at the Minnesota Orchestra who were scheduled to co-host a concert at the end of March with Cameron Carpenter at Northrop featuring the Northrop Organ. Until we can hear them again in person, enjoy the video and audio links on their Minnesota Orchestra at Home website.
Artistic Director Janet Eilber emailed this video made by dancers of the Martha Graham Dance Company a couple of weeks ago. The dancers, who are currently on layoff, recorded excerpts of Acts of Light from their homes (and rooftops and gardens) to thank the donors to their Dancer Relief Fund.
Bonus inspiration: ICYMI last week, the Graham company is also hosting Martha Matinees every Wednesday and Saturday on their YouTube channel. Each matinee features a live stream of film from the Graham archives accompanied by conversation and live chat, hosted by Janet Eilber and featuring special guests!
Enjoy, and until next week…
