Tiffany Mills Dance Company

I wrote the following article for the Oregon Daily Emerald. Tiffany Mills is a distinguished graduate of the University of Oregon, and I attended her lecture on Monday. I'm not sure I communicated the extent of her success, but I figure that most people who are interested in the dance industry will understand my meaning:

Lithe figures writhe around each other in a chaotic jumble onstage, each being lifted high by the others before being pulled back into the group. The six artists are clothed in layers of tattered clothing and remind the viewer more of struggling survivors than the professional New York dancers that they are.

However, in time an order begins to take hold. The frenzy slows to a controlled movement. A lone woman emerges, balancing carefully upon the backs of the others. The men and women form a human chain, slowly guiding their cargo offstage.

Applause. But this isn't a live performance, the video, part of a larger piece entitled "Landfall," is part of a presentation by UO honors graduate alumnus Tiffany Mills. She visited the university campus on Monday, Aug. 4, to talk about her experience founding a successful New York dance company.

Mills spoke at the UO Robert D. Clark Honors College to a room of more than 15 faculty and guests, several of whom had taught Mills during years at UO.

"She's doing really cutting edge work," said Theresa Picado, the honors college communications coordinator. "It's really quite exciting."

Mills’ presentation comes at the end of a month-long visit to the Northwest with her husband, Andrew. She says she regularly returns to the West Coast during the summer to visit family and to teach.

This year she spent a week teaching at Conduit Dance in Portland, and three weeks at the Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, where she created a new piece.

“My language is movement,” Mills said.

In her presentation to the honors college, Mills said she is a Eugene native whose interest in dance began in her early years with tap lessons and gymnastics, and eventually involvement with musical theatre and the Eugene Ballet.

After graduating from the University in 1992, she received a Master's in dance from Ohio State and moved to New York in 1995 to work as a dancer and choreographer. Five years later, she had started the Tiffany Mills Company, a nonprofit dance studio.

Mills says she wants to use the company to diversify interest in dance as a medium for communication. To expand beyond the "same people at the same concerts," and to grapple with broader issues that affect a wider audience.

"'Modern' dance is a problem word," Mills said. "We're neither modern nor post-modern. We are contemporary but that's not the right word. We are creative moving beings. We need a title."

Following that creative vein, Mills' work in progress is entitled "Tomorrow's Legs," which incorporates movement and speaking to explore real stories in the dancers' lives.

Produced in collaboration with British theatre artist Peter Petralia, Mills used a Skype-equipped laptop to allow Petralia to work with the company from his home in England. "Tomorrow's Legs" will premiere in February at the St. Mark's Church in the East Village, New York.

To prospective dancers and choreographers who want to make their living in the industry, Mills has both words of warning and encouragement.

"Cultivate lots of skills," Mills said. Competition is forcing many professional dancers to work at several dance companies at once. Dance companies like hers, with a dedicated cast, are a dying breed, while "pick-up companies" with one-time dancers are becoming more popular.

"Gotta love what you do," Mills said. "That carries you on."

The Tiffany Mills Company offers internships to university students interested in the dance industry. More information can be found at http://www.tiffanymillscompany.org/.

Seattle Critical Mass Incident

A quick mention of an incident last Friday up in Seattle that is beginning to hit the national wires.

Seattle, Wash. - A group of Seattle Critical Mass riders were involved in the assault of a driver that put the man in the hospital and caused $1,500 in damage to the vehicle.

The incident on Capitol Hill has led to a reopening of the car versus bicycle debate, with some - including one of the nation's largest bicycling clubs - calling for the contentious Seattle Critical Mass program to be disbanded.

Two of the riders have been charged in the attack, and police are searching for a third man who is alleged to have struck the victim in the head with a bike lock.

While it will take some time for the issue to fully develop and play out, online forums and blogs are already deeply embroiled in the debate.

Some supporters of the Critical Mass dispute the police version of the events, saying that the driver initiated the attack. Their opponents contend that this is evidence that Critical Mass is mere hooliganism.

Link to more media coverage

Flesh and Blood Defense

Washington Monthly recently published a fascinating article written by Kevin Carey, the research and policy manager of Education Sector, an independent think tank in Washington, DC.

"Too Weird for The Wire," the article is titled, "How black Baltimore drug dealers are using white supremacist legal theories to confound the Feds."

Upon finding it I quickly found myself engrossed in the extensive article, but when I tried to tell people about the article, it was difficult to relay my fascination. Detailing the history of a legal defense, it reads less like a documentary and more like a mystery novel.

"I am not a defendant,” Mitchell declared. “I do not have attorneys.” The court “lacks territorial jurisdiction over me,” he argued, to the amazement of his lawyers. To support these contentions, he cited decades-old acts of Congress involving the abandonment of the gold standard and the creation of the Federal Reserve. Judge Davis, a Baltimore-born African American in his late fifties, tried to interrupt. “I object,” Mitchell repeated robotically. Shelly Martin and Shelton Harris followed Mitchell to the microphone, giving the same speech verbatim. Their attorneys tried to intervene, but when Harris’s lawyer leaned over to speak to him, Harris shoved him away.

Judge Davis ordered the three defendants to be removed from the court, and turned to Gardner, who had, until then, remained quiet. But Gardner, too, intoned the same strange speech. “I am Shawn Earl Gardner, live man, flesh and blood,” he proclaimed. Every time the judge referred to him as “the defendant” or “Mr. Gardner,” Gardner automatically interrupted: “My name is Shawn Earl Gardner, sir.” Davis tried to explain to Gardner that his behavior was putting his chances of acquittal or leniency at risk. “Don’t throw your life away,” Davis pleaded. But Gardner wouldn’t stop. Judge Davis concluded the hearing, determined to find out what was going on.

Link via The Washington Monthly