Skydancers IV by DC Spensley (Dancoyote Antonelli)
For Immediate Release
DC Spensley Presents ZeroG SkyDancers IV – Virtual Flight Choreography
Pioneering Performing Arts Soar in the Metaverse – Again – Under the Direction of DanCoyote Antonelli
January 29, 2009, (Second Life) – Avatar DanCoyote Antonelli is accustomed to setting the bar in virtual art and performance. Even in virtual worlds he is considered avant garde. The real man controlling that avatar, DC Spensley, has been wowing virtual audiences since 2006 with art installations that would not be possible in material space, but perhaps the most coveted ticket in all of Second Life is one to a performance by his ZeroG SkyDancers. On January 29, 2009, the premiere of the highly anticipated, fourth, completely redesigned production of ZeroG SkyDancers will debut.
Second Life’s history-making, critically acclaimed world performance group, the ZeroG SkyDancers is a new form of ensemble performance that uses the airspace of this virtual world, in a cross between water ballet and aerial acrobatics, in ways that would not be possible in the physical world. Wearing spectacular, flowing costumes called cascades, many times larger than their avatars, the SkyDancers move through space and become part of the stage themselves. Altering and evolving, their flight triggers audio samples, which provide a unique layer to the original musical score commissioned for the production.
The fourth production “Let Love Live” (L3), hosted by the New Media Consortium (NMC), will introduce an unprecedented 3000 meter (3km) reactive-interactive stage set that is repeatedly and dramatically transformed over the hour-long performance as seating flies through gravity-defying monoliths of breathtaking beauty. The ZeroG SkyDancers IV will formally debut at 8PM Pacific Standard Time, Thursday, January 29, 2009 in the virtual world of Second Life. Seating is limited, but the show will run twice a week during the first 90 days of 2009 to accommodate the most guests possible. Tickets are L$1000 (less than US$4) and may be purchased by contacting Lina Lageos in Second Life or DanCoyote Antonelli at dc@spensley.com
Guests that are not yet residents in Second Life will need to complete a five-minute registration process with Second Life ( http://www.secondlife.com ) in order to access the ZeroG SkyDancers IV performance. A basic account is absolutely free, and includes unlimited access to Second Life’s tools, events and communities. Spensley recommends that audience members spend a minimum of 15 minutes learning the basic skills of the Second Life world prior to attending the performance. “Familiarizing yourself with basic navigation of Second Life will add even more enjoyment to the show,” said Spensley.
Video of a ZeroG SkyDancers performance is available at http://www.dancoyote.com/?page_id=85 and has received more than ten thousand hits. “It’s difficult to convey the dramatic and immersive effects of the Second Life virtual world in a 2D web environment; however, the video does convey the overall concept of the performance,” said Spensley.
About DanCoyote Antonelli
The avatar DanCoyote was created as the proxy for David “DC” Spensley in the virtual world of Second Life. The name DanCoyote is derived from Cervantes’ Don Quixote and in honor of a coyote that Joseph Beuys lived with for a time at the René Block Gallery in New York during his 1974 action, “I like America and America Likes Me”.
About the New Media Consortium (NMC)
The NMC is an international consortium of more than 250 world-class universities, colleges, museums, research centers, and technology companies – and the largest educational body in Second Life – dedicated to using new technologies to inspire, energize, stimulate, and support learning and creative expression.
About Second Life and Linden Lab
Second Life is a 3D online world with a rapidly growing population from 100 countries around the globe, in which the Residents themselves create and build the world, which includes homes, vehicles, nightclubs, stores, landscapes, clothing and games. The Second Life Grid is a sophisticated development platform created by Linden Lab, a company founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale, to create a revolutionary new form of shared 3D experience. The former CTO of RealNetworks, Rosedale pioneered the development of many of today’s streaming media technologies, including RealVideo. In April 2003, noted software pioneer Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation, was named Chairman. In 2006, Philip Rosedale and Linden Lab received WIRED’s Rave Award for Innovation in Business. Based in San Francisco, Linden Lab employs a senior team bringing together deep expertise in physics, 3D graphics and networking.
System Requirements
Your computer must meet specific requirements, or you may not be able to successfully participate in Second Life. Learn more about those requirements here: http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php
Contact for tickets or more information
DC Spensley
Producer/Director
dc@spensley.com
CONTEST! – SL Shakespeare Meets Koinup
PRESS RELEASE
February 25, 2009
Contact: Lora Constantine
SL Shakespeare Company’s Twelfth Night, Act 1 Photography Contest on Koinup
Shakespeare, Second Life and Brescia, Italy: The SL Shakespeare Company joins forces with Koinup to launch the world’s first major photography contest featuring a professional theatrical production based entirely in the virtual world of Second Life. Starting March 1, the contest invites participants to attend the SL Shakespeare Company’s open-ended run of Twelfth Night, Act 1 and take photos. Over L$100,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winners.
The contest consists of a main contest whose final submissions deadline is June 15, 2009. Several mini-contests with weekly or bi-monthly deadlines and prizes will be held starting in April. These mini-contests will be held in conjunction with several “Variations” on the open-ended run, where, for example, an all-female or switched-genders cast interpretation is tried.
To give all participants a chance, the contest introduces a special “Unedited SL Photography” category with its own exclusive prize.
The contest also has a special Avatar Photography category for photography that focus particularly on actor avatars. To help facilitate this specialized component, the SL Shakespeare Company will be holding special actor avatar photography sessions starting in April.
In efforts to recognize photography based not only on artistic merit but also on their appeal to different people, the contest will be judged by a panel of well-known Second Life residents from several different arenas. Judges include AM Radio, Ananda Valeeva, Beyers Sellers, Dana Vanmoer, Eshi Otawara, Frolic Mills, Ina Centaur, Jaymes Kjeller, Prad Prathivi, Rightasrain Rimbaud, Saffia Widdershins, Sarah Nerd, Tara05 Oh, Vint Falken, Verde Otaared, and others.
Shows occur weekly on Sundays at 1 PM PST and Tuesdays at 6 PM PST at the SL Globe Theatre. Performances are free except for shows on the last Tuesday and Sunday of each month. Donations are gratefully accepted.
About Twelfth Night, Act 1
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is the story of a shipwrecked girl named Viola, who chooses to go incognito as a boy eunuch. Act 1 establishes the love triangle that Viola, Duke Orsino, and Olivia become entangled in, and also introduces some of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters—Malvolio and Feste. Unlike the Bard’s other plays, Twelfth Night exists only in the folio editions.
About the SL Shakespeare Company
The SL Shakespeare Company (SLSC) is a resident-funded and resident-supported professional theatre company that embraces the best of what Second Life (SL) has to offer. While it is primarily known to provide quality live Shakespearean theatre available to anyone in anywhere in the world, SLSC is also the curator of Second Life’s most historically accurate theatres and architecture relating to William Shakespeare.
About Koinup
Koinup is a media-based social networking platform geared specifically for virtual worlds. Koinup users submit and share photography and machinima to share their stories and art outside their virtual world. The Koinup website features many tools to help users present and syndicate their work, and is also a center for some of the most exciting photography contests in virtual worlds. Koinup currently helps share the following virtual worlds: Second Life, The Sims, World of Warcraft, IMVU, OpenSim, Lively, vSide, Kaneva, There, and Other Worlds.
PORTFOLIO REVIEW- Layachi Ihnen (Layachi Hamidouche)
I was very happy to see an artist requesting a review from me within an hour of me posting about being up for it upon request. And indeed a great surprise- a wonderful body of work out of which I pointed out 6 of my favorites. We communicated the best we could considering I don’t speak French. But the points came across. I am thrilled to have had the first call-in review to be an extraordinary experience, though reviewing was completely transformed into ‘reading’ and ‘experiencing’ than anything else. The ones I pointed out simply ’spoke’ to me. I did not care too much for the rest, nevertheless- it’s a must see exhibit of a great volume by a mature and skilled artist. Enjoy!
Cienega Soon
View the show here! (If you haven’t joined Second Life yet, you are missing out, btw.)
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Simuality/38/204/35
Cienega Soon
Artist/Writer
“Cienega has taken in the beauty of SL and all its talented artists
by taking Second Life Snapshots, but she calls them her SL photo Artistry.
Not having a background in doing post work with a computer program made it difficult to enjoy photo taking in SL as the screen snapshots are basically flat. Depth and layers were missing. Acquiring her first Photoshop program in August of this year she stumbled along experimenting with all its hidden tools. “Accidents are great when you do something exciting to a shot with a new found filter or mix of layers, but not remembering what you did to be able to do it again is very frustrating.” She says. But practice has produced other things and the accidents will happen again for sure. Cienega has her own small Castle Valeriya Artist Gallery with her second story gallery unadvertised. Although seen and received with interest, which brought her to her first showing out side her own gallery. She has just concluded her first invited month long showing at Fantazy Images.
Cienega is also a Music Journalist for The Looking Glass, A new weekly Lifestyle Magazine in SL www.slookinglass.com”
The art of DB Bailey- ‘Windows’
I generally just click out of art show group announcements knowing that if I even attempt to take a peek during the opening I will be lagged the hell out of, annoyed by blingtards and end up hating the experience. This time around, I must say I am truly happy I have not simply disregarded the announcement made by Jenn Hienrichs in Things To Do group.Windows by DB Bailey, showing at the Bomb Factory.
Penetrating the hole of ‘Cosmos’
So, I have decided to spend a part of my day exploring art events in SL. I came across a pretty interesting and down to the point announcement in events; “ACT Designs presents a display of original abstract art penetrating the mysteries of the cosmos.”- by resident Adrian Cardiff.
SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Erzulie/68/176/68
Compelling announcement. As I teleported in, I was instantly stunned- frozen in place, lagged the hell out of that is. The TP lead right in to the middle of this little gallery, fortunately, so I did not have to to much walking to check it out. I waited a few minutes for all the ‘art’ to rez as I noticed there was nobody around. I was the only visitor. Not even the ‘artist’ himself. Then I thought to myself, truly, what is this display about? I had noticed quite a few pieces scattered on the glass wall, which resembled some sort of computer created imagery which might have represented some kind of cosmos, but which one remains a mystery. Micro? Macro? They looked like a cross-breed of chakras, spider veins and kaleidoscope gone broken.
As I stood there for a while trying to cope, I thought perhaps the artist had announced this display in events and then cleverly played out his anti-social nature by hopefully leaving some sort of a note card giver to explain his concept behind these works of “art”, but none found. I have noticed how cleverly this space was composed though; the overstretched red carpet texture forced me to look up on the walls! Very clever. I could not help to wonder, really, were the poo-brown frames which were imprisoning some of the pieces deliberately placed to take away from the vibrant colors of each piece or to reassure the viewer that those pieces had something in common? And the glass gallery walls….the final spit on aesthetics of this place- showing through the despicable advertisements from the outside which only took away what was to take away from the pieces on display. Then I saw planet Earth spinning on what resembled an inverted push-pin, and Mars and Venus mounted on a stick with a pink satin textured base, spinning harmoniously in one direction at the same speed, titled “Mars and Venus collide”. Tumble weed rolled by. Half an hour later (trust me, I spent that much time there *only* due to lag!) there was still nobody around. I took my last look at this place and disregarded the second thought of hitting the cone shaped teleporter with a hover title “TELEPORT UP TO ACT DESIGNS PENTHOUSE LAMPS, SKETCHES, AND MORE ART”. As I was teleporting out, the artist got detected in range by my wonderful Timeless Gadget. I proceeded to stop myself from verbally attacking him for this experience. I am sure he did not mean it.
The same Display was announced in Events a few hours later. Perhaps this was only a V.I.P. opening….or something..
