At Woolly Mammoth Theatre on Friday, Robert Bettmann, artistic director of Bettmann Dances, presents a powerful performance he choreographed and calls “Quis Custodiet,” which refers to the Latin phrase “Quis Custodiet Ipsus Custodet,” meaning “Who Shall Watch the Watchers Themselves?” Bettmann hopes to create a conversation about “what security means to us and how we pursue it.”

The dance, in three sections, starts with a retelling of the Adam and Eve story, comparing Eve to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and examining the question of too much information made public can be dangerous.

At a rehearsal in Takoma Park, Bettmann watched as dancers practiced — soaring, twirling and trying to translate into dance the fragile concept of security.

“I want the audience to leave feeling empowered,” Bettman says. “I am not trying to moralize one way or the other. I don’t understand how terrible things happen. As an artist, it’s easy to describe a problem. It is harder to suggest a solution.”

To read the entire story, click here.

Image in the article of the company and in this post by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post.

For Immediate Release – March 22, 2011

February 22, 2011 – Journalists and the public are invited to celebrate the awarding of the inaugural winner of the DC Student Arts Journalism Challenge March 22nd, 2011 at Yola in Dupont Circle. Open to undergraduates in all DC area colleges and universities, Bourgeon’s DC Student Arts Journalism Competition was created to identify and encourage talented young arts journalists.

Washington Post visual arts critic Michael O’Sullivan states, “At a time when the future of arts journalism—indeed, the future of journalism itself—is at stake, Bourgeon’s Student Arts Journalism Challenge offers encouragement to the next generation of arts journalists, along with a reminder that the arts, and those who write about them, still matter.”  The Bourgeon editorial Board has selected the five finalists from over twenty entries, and a jury of professional critics including Post critics Michael O’Sullivan and Anne Midgette will select the winner. The first year of the contest, which closed on Feburary 15th, 2011, will culminate in the awards ceremony. All five finalists will be at the event, and the winner will be notified live during the presentation of the award.

The awards ceremony is being hosted by Yola, a fresh (not frozen) yogurt parfait and espresso bar located in the heart of Dupont Circle. Yola is run by father/daughter team David and Laura Smith. Laura, who is herself a Bourgeon contributor stated, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to host the awards ceremony at Yola. I had always envisioned Yola as a gathering place for the arts, and I can’t think of anything better to gather around than celebrating young talent in arts journalism…. In the modern publishing environment quality journalism and arts writing can often be obscured by flashy headlines, and there is no better time than now to celebrate young talent.”

Founded in 2005, Bourgeon’s mission, through an online publication and community initiatives, is twofold: to increase participation in the arts and to improve access to the arts. Bourgeon is a project of the non-profit Day Eight. To see more about Day Eight please visit www.dayeight.org. Visit the Bourgeon magazine site at www.bourgeononline.com.

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To download a pdf of this release, click here.

December 10, 2010 – Non-profit Day Eight is excited to announce that eight award-winning artists are contributing to the inaugural Bourgeon Prints project to support the arts magazine Bourgeon. Artists Dave Peterson, Ellyn Weiss, Marie Ringwold, Helga Thomson, Roberta Gross, Nora Weiss, and Ruth Trevarrow have all contributed prints. The accomplished group of inaugural artists were selected by Project Curator and Artist Ellyn Weiss.  Additional details about the participants can be seen alongside the artwork on the Bourgeon prints site at www.bourgeononline.com/prints.

The inaugural Bourgeon Prints project is a way to support the work of local visual artists, and raise funds for the arts magazine Bourgeon. Donors of $100 to Day Eight may make their choice of an original piece of art by one of the participating artists. The artwork available through the Bourgeon Prints project has been donated in support of the magazine’s efforts to connect artists and audience.

Bourgeon’s mission, through an online publication and community initiatives, is twofold: to increase participation in the arts and to improve access to the arts. Bourgeon serves as a bridge-builder between contemporary artists and audiences. Although artists and audiences are diverse, often they are not equally represented in the mainstream press. Bourgeon projects the voices of artists, helping them document their work, and leading audience toward personal and social understanding of arts issues and art-forms. In addition to serving as a fund-raising tool, the Prints project is one of the ways that Bourgeon is again expanding to further fulfill its mission.

Founded in 2005 as a dance-focused publication, in 2009 the magazine expanded to cover all art forms. In 2010 the content program again expanded to include aggregated content from local arts blogs, and direct feed from participating Bourgeon blogs. The magazine recently began programming live, in-person, events, and to handle all of this expansion the organization is raising money to create a new online platform with the capacity to effectively host, display, and distribute content. Arts supporters are asked to visit the bourgeon prints website, make a donation of $100 dollars or more and take home a valuable print as well as the satisfaction of supporting a growing District-based non-profit organization.

Images here are Ellyn Weiss’s ‘Contintental Divide’ and Dave Peterson’s ‘Untitled (birds), 2008′, both prints available in the Bourgeon Prints project. For more information on the arts magazine Bourgeon and the Bourgeon prints project, contact prints@dayeight.org.

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To download a pdf of this release, click here.