Chris Elam '98 has been called a computer scientist, an innovator and a contortionist. Above all, he may be called a typically extraordinary Brown alum.
While still a student, he founded Misnomer Dance Theater, a dance company which has been attracting attention for both its unique dance performances and its innovative use of technology. This December, Misnomer won $10,000 from Ideablob.com, a Web site created to encourage small business innovators to use the Internet as a platform to get more people involved in Misnomer specifically and the arts in general.
"First and foremost Misnomer is a dance company," Elam said. "But we're looking for greater connectivity with people." Elam began putting up videos of their performances, streaming their rehearsals live over the internet and soliciting comments via text message. At the end of each rehearsal, the performers then respond to the commentary and try to improve their performances by building on those tips.
"Most of the time the performing arts (community) uses the Web to generate ticket sales," Elam said. Misnomer is using the Internet for more than that, he said, by employing it as a tool for improving its performances and getting the audience involved beyond fundraising.
Elam started Misnomer while a senior at Brown. Now based in New York City, Misnomer has toured throughout the world. It has collaborated with the singer Bjork and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon, and the group is currently working with a Danish dance company on a piece that will be performed on four stages in an enormous labyrinth. In 2006, its work was named one of the top ten dance performances in New York City by the New York Times.
"I bring an interdiscplinary perspective to what I do in dance," said Elam, who was a public policy concentrator. He also studied computer science extensively and excelled in the Department of Theater, Speech and Dance. After graduating, he went to Bali, Indonesia to study dance and performance and then to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he further studied dance.
Ten years on, Misnomer's repertoire and its following are still growing. Misnomer's cutting-edge use of both the human body and the Internet have won Elam plaudits from a wide field of publications, including Dance magazine, BusinessWeek magazine and the Times.
The online rehearsal videos have been receiving between 300 and 500 messages a month, most of which come from people who have never seen the performances live. Misnomer has also begun using multiple cameras to give different perspectives on the same performance.
Ideablob, which gave the entrepreneurship award to Misnomer, was created by Advanta, a company that issues credit cards to small businesses. Ami Kassar, Advanta's chief innovation officer, pushed for the creation of Ideablob less than a year ago as a platform for small businesses to spread their ideas. Hundreds of small businesses apply and eight nominees are selected. At the end of each month the winner of the most online votes wins $10,000.
"It's for people who want to do good and also pay the rent," Kassar said. The winners are primarily involved in the arts or social entrepreneurship, a group of innovators whose main concern is social improvement and community organizing. Elam's work falls into both categories, as his use of the Web is free for others in the art community to imitate.
Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, a senior lecturer in theater, speech and dance who taught Elam while he was at Brown, said she was unsurprised by his win. "He's incredibly facile and gifted in science," she said. "He's a marketing genius." Bach-Coulibaly fondly recalled both his imagination in dance and his practical understanding of how to get things done.
"It was great to work with him," Bach-Coulibaly said. "He knew he had a facility for invention. His body just did strange things."
Since graduating, Elam has returned several times to teach. As an adjunct professor in the theater, speech and dance department, Elam taught TA 128: "Improbable Partnering: Movement for Dancers and Actors" in spring 2005.
The Creative Arts Council granted Elam money to teach "Animal Interplay" in fall 2005, a class that brought in professors from the biology and psychology departments to help explore not only the physical aspects of animal interaction, but the ways of communicating that animals employ to cooperate and avoid conflict.
Rachel Caris '08 was one of Elam's students in TA 128. "I was blown away by his completely innovative view of using the human body," Caris said. She added that Elam's course taught her to do things she had previously thought impossible - such as dancing while carrying someone significantly heavier than she was.
"He's a true teacher," Bach-Coulibaly said. "He believes there's an infinite supply of knowledge for all, and thus, he can be generous with his."
