MAGPIE History
katie duck mary oliver
Magpie was spearheaded by Katie Duck in Amsterdam in 1995. She had a an extensive background making choreographies and collaborating with improvisation musicians in Europe beginning in 1976 and decided to place in studio rehearsals dancers and musicians who were interested in how a improvisation with live music and dance could become a unique experience to share with a public. She collaborated with Michael Vatcher (drums) from 1995 to 2000 and with Mary Oliver (violin) 2001-2006. Katie chose, together with the collaborating musician, the performers for each of the tours, events and workshop platforms. The founding dancers, who added a great deal to how the work was researched and then performed, were Vincent Cacialono, Martin Sonderkamp, Sharon Smith, and Eileen Stanley. Later she added Michael Schumacher, Masako Naguchi, Sylvain Meret, Justin Morrison, Makiko Ito and several others who had been invited as guest or were apprenticing with the company. Musicians included Han Bennik, Cor Fuhler, The Ex, Michael Moore, Wilber De Joode, Ap Baars among many others who passed through tours or performances with the company. Light designer Ellen Knops joined the company early in its development creating a model for how theater lighting could operate within improvisation performance.
Magpie was formed in direct response to a need the artists had to re-consider and re-present Improvised performance within a contemporary context. All of the founding group members were lecturers or former students at the school for new dance development (SNDO). The School had a rich history in the study and practice of improvisation with specific connections to the American Judson Church movement but the work was largely isolated within a community of dancers specializing in contact improvisation and improvisation methods. The founding members of Magpie wanted to develop the work in a contemporary context and re-look at improvised performance as a fundamental choreographic approach to a live event.
Since they first began, MAGPIE took a critical position towards how the established funding bodies directed and compromised the creation of a live improvised event by way of: closed shop election of panel members, politicalized and fashion orientated art values, out of date application processes and a general lack of understanding in how the funds could be spent. Artists who chose to not take part in the funding bodies criteria lost access to perform in the theaters and consequently publics lost choice and access to the wider body of live art events. The original magpie company (1995) were able to work outside the funding body box because of their international touring, workshops and style for creating improvisation performances. From 1995 to 2000 the Magpie artists practiced privately in rehearsal studios and publicly in performances with Katie Duck as the main project co-ordinate. She presented an agenda of international platforms where funding support was available for travel expenses or embassy support in relationship to the international venues and presented in Amsterdam monthly series at the Muiderpoort Theater, Melkweg theater and OT301 cultural center. Katie organized a yearly improvisation festival at the Frascati theater (1995 to 2000) and workshop series in Amsterdam. Together with Martin Sonderkamp and later with technology artist/dancer Justin Morrison, Katie developed an on going and growing mailing list to announce MAGPIE events (that she shared with other artists who do improvisation events) and a compassion for how the internet can help to spread the word. All of these activities placed MAGPIE in both a national and international position to continue their research in the studio setting, performances, teach workshops and spread their manifesto about the vital need to keep work live!
After long debates, in what had now become a collective of dancers and musicians, MAGPIE received national funding in 2001 to 2006 and set up stichting magpie in Holland (non profit organization). From 2001-2006 they toured in Holland with publicly funded projects around themes. In 2005 they celebrated 10 years of performing nationally and internationally with the ‘10 years in a blink’ festival which took place at the Bimhuis and OT301 cultural center Amsterdam. They gathered together all magpie artists, guests and friends as well as other key practitioners in the field of improvisation. This situation of receiving national funding in 2001-2006 was the main reason they decided to fold in 2007. Receiving national project funds proved to limit how far they could continue their research, the amount of time that could be placed in international touring and basically infiltrated the company’s aim and objective of their work. Since 2007 Magpie evolved from a single-focus (MMDC) music and dance company to an umbrella organization. The company folded and stopped conducting performances.
In 2011 MAGPIE was resurrected under the direction of Katie Duck and Alfredo Genovesi. They wish to join the debate today about how artists must continue to make and do work in challenging environments that threaten the arts and community ideologies in favor of capital gain. Katie and Alfredo have a different way to collaborate than the MAGPIE of the past. Alfredo has transformed for Katie the relationship for music/dance collaboration in how he plays and chooses musicians but also with his severe interest in performance. Katie and Alfredo share artistic aims about performance but as well, they share a view that theater, in these times, is political simply because you choose to do it and you choose to arrive at the theater to see, hear and feel it.
the early 2000’s when youtube invaded
katie duck alfredo genovesi
