Exploring the ways in which artists, artisans and technicians are intelligently expressing their creativity with a passion for culture, technology, marketing and advertising.
We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another. Admitting this to ourselves isn't an embrace of mediocrity and derivativeness, it's a liberation from our misconceptions.”
Kirby Ferguson
It started with “Dance You PH.D.” (covered here yesterday) and now John Bohannon, accompanied by Black Label Movement, takes the concept of communicating ideas through dance further in this fantastic TEDxBrussels talk.
Music by: Greg Brosofske Minneapolis, USA based composer. Dancers: Jessica Elhert, Bryan Godbout, Stephanie Laager, Edward Bruno Oroyan Nelle Hens, Camille Prieux, Mariel Blaise, Gabson Nenaks, David Zagari & Marcio Canabarro This performance originally took place at TEDxBrussels on 22 November 2011 info: http://www.tedxbrussels.eu About TEDx, x = independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience.
In a follow up post at TED.com he explains how and why the talk came to be.
Over the summer, I worked with Black Label Movement, a dance company based in Minneapolis led by Carl Flink. We had a shoestring budget, not even enough to get all the dancers to Brussels. So we had to create the dance and rehearse in Minneapolis in our spare time for free. Then we hired 6 Brussels-based dancers and arrived in Brussels 10 days early to rehearse with them. I’m amazed we pulled it off, but Carl wasn’t surprised. Professional dancers find this kind of pressure routine.
The piece changed drastically over the course of its creation. As I got to know the dancers and see how they struggled to make ends meet, especially when injuries occur without healthcare coverage, my mood darkened. What began as a small piece of optimistic theater about science turned into a satire about the status of artists in the US. As inspiration, I looked back to Jonathan Swift’s 1729 essay, “A Modest Proposal,” It was a masterpiece of political satire that proposed a seemingly rational solution to the problem of the poor in Ireland: They should sell their babies as food, generating much-needed income and reducing their population in one stroke. It was a reply to some of the brutal utilitarian policies being discussed at the time by the aristocracy. Where you hear antique language in my presentation, I am quoting Swift verbatim.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
Here is Brown's closing talk of this year's TED conference. Let us be inspired by what she shares and go forth into the world daring greatly.
[ This post is an update to Vulnerability (A Mini TED Remix) ]
Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change. Introverts and extroverts (and even ambiverts) need to learn how to embrace who they are while simultaneously allowing themselves to be vulnerable.
Susan Cain’s TED Talk on The Power of Introverts comes directly from this year’s TED. Brené Brown’s 2010 TEDxHouston talk The Power of Vulnerability led to her delivering the closing talk of this year’s conference, expanding on themes she explored above.
To learn more check out Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking and Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.
On June 27, 2006, we flipped the switch on TEDTalks, bringing talks from TED to the world for the first time. It was early days for online video — YouTube was just a year old; the video iPod had been around for six months — so we launched with six talks and modest goals, and have been amazed by what’s happened since. Five years and nearly 1,000 videos later, TEDTalks have been watched 500 million times, and translated into 81 languages by volunteers worldwide.
In fact, we’ve seen a number of key milestones in the last month: We welcomed our millionth fan on Facebook and our millionth iPad app download, and marked the 2000th TEDx event.
We’re filled with gratitude for the global community that has made all of this possible: the TEDx organizers, the translators, the corporate partners who support our work, the speakers who offered the world their words, and the wider TED community, who amplify the talks, and continually energize us with their own ideas.
I learned of Jill Bolte Taylor and Sir Ken Robinson via TED and remember vividly when I discovered the talks as podcasts on iTunes the week they became available. The iPod had just gained the ability to play video and I was looking for things to watch on my commute. I am a big fan of TED, I've seen all the talks since that first week and find myself making connections between them. I've compiled various themed "remixes" of talks including:
The Small Details
Statistics
Education
Dance
Listen
Mind, Body & Soul
Storytelling
How Do You Create?
The Meaning of Work
The Meaning of Life
Mystery
Look for more TED remixes in the coming weeks.
A collection of links, ideas and posts by Antonio Ortiz.
What are you looking forward to?
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