Reminders...

"I beg you... to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. do not search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. and the point is, to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." ~rilke


I love this quote. And I have experienced living my way into the answers. I just need to remember that the questions can be enjoyable, as well. 


One of the best reminders I've been given was by a fellow company member. "Keep dancing," she said. Well, what was I doing? Struggling with my body. Not dancing. I was doing the steps, but not dancing. 


Kun-Yang has often said, "Let your body do the thinking. Let your mind dance." 

And in moments of extreme stress, Justin asks, "what would you do, just for you?"

The answer: I would dance.

In this world where letters after my name or lines to my resume mean that I've qualified for... something... the experience has evaded me. I'm on a quest for joy without having to understand that in my head. My thinking body understands joy. My analytic mind gets frustrated that joy and happiness cannot be quantified. But it can be qualified. And there lies the value. Qualitatively living the questions and the answers and being reminded by the memories of our Indonesia trip that the unknown languages can be translated without words.

So, dear diary... I'm on a quest for joy. An embodied fully present, mind-body-spirit experience of happiness. I want to heal the world with dance. Starting with myself... if only for one day.

International Friends

Here's a link that our friends from Indonesia and the JIPA festival created. Great pics! Thanks, friends!

http://jipafestival.tumblr.com/

Trinity Project Phase II with Nora Gibson Performance Project

http://noragibsonperformanceproject.weebly.com/events.html

Dance for PD poem - get out the tissues!

NEW DANCER

by Karen Lynch

I AM STIFF

I AM TWISTED

I AM DETERMINED

I GET UP

I AM ACHY

I AM SLOW

I DON’T SLEEP

I KEEP GOING

I AM TILTED

I FEEL SLUGGISH

I CAN’T DO IT

I FEEL OFF-BALANCE

I GET DRESSED

I TRY TO EAT

I MISS MY MOUTH

I DON’T GIVE UP

I CHANGE MY CLOTHES

I PUT ON SHOES

I TRY TO WALK

I ALMOST FALL

I TRY AGAIN

IT’S TIME FOR CLASS

I AM SLEEPY

I FEEL ANXIOUS

I AM CLUMSY

I DON’T GIVE IN

I CHECK MY WATCH

I  CAN’T MOVE

MY LEGS DON’T WORK

I AM TIRED

I DON’T LAY DOWN

I KEEP GOING

I  FIX MY HAIR

I DROP THE BRUSH

I  PICK IT UP

I HIT MY HEAD

I MUST LEAVE SOON

I GET IN THE CAR

I MUST KEEP MOVING

I DON’T GIVE UP

I STOP AT THE STORE

I CAN’T FIND MY WALLET

I HOLD UP LINE

I DROP MY PURSE

I AM EMBARRASSED

I DON’T CRY

I  DRIVE TO THE STUDIO

I AM A MESS

I PARK THE CAR

I FEEL SCARED

I WANT TO HIDE

I TRY TO STAND

I TRY ONCE MORE

I WALK TO THE ENTRANCE

I PULL THE DOOR

I CAN’T GET IN

I GET SOME HELP

I LOOK AROUND

I SEE A FACE

I SEE A WALKER

I SEE A SMILE

I SEE THE RAMP

I AM NERVOUS

I TRY TO SMILE

I START TO SHAKE

I CAN’T SIGN IN

I FEEL ASHAMED

I TRY TO TALK

I AM NOT HEARD

I GO AND SIT

I AM ASKED

I GIVE AN ANSWER

I FEEL UNSURE

 

I SEE THE TEACHER

I HEAR THE MUSIC

I START TO LOOSEN

I MOVE MY ARMS

I FEEL BETTER

I LOOK AROUND

I MIGHT BELONG

WE FEEL THE RYTHM

WE START TO LAUGH

WE START TO SWAY

WE ARE RELAXING

WE FEEL THE MUSIC

WE ALL ARE MOVING

WE ARE ALL SLOW

WE ALL ARE BEAUTIFUL

WE ALL ARE AWKWARD

WE ARE ALL GRACEFUL

WE ALL ARE JOYFUL

WE ARE ALL DANCING

WE ALL ARE LIFTED

WE ALL ARE SOARING

WE ALL CAN FEEL IT

WE NOW ARE BOWING

WE FEEL ACCEPTED

WE GET EMOTIONAL

WE ARE ALL HOLDING

WE ARE CONNECTED

WE ARE ALL TWISTED

WE ARE ALL WEARY

WE ARE ALL AWKWARD

WE ALL DON’T KNOW IT

WE ALL ARE DANCING

Broad Street Review of Two Hands

The Broad Street Review wrote about "Two Hands." There are a few inaccuracies in the article (for example, Kun-Yang is from Singapore, not Indo), but it is a great review, nonetheless. Thanks so much, Broad Street Review!

http://www.broadstreetreview.com/index.php/main/article/two_hands_at_annenberg1/

Photo by Bill H.

"Two Hands" at the Annenberg Center

Opening night.

Here are a few pictures from the show, thank you Bill H.

(Me. From the final section)

(More of "Dreamer")

Tickets can be purchased at http://www.pennpresents.org/tickets/?id=181

Beyonce's gotta know some smart people...

I have a hard time believing that she's not already aware of this. I want to believe that maybe, just maybe, this is her way of exposing dance history. First Fosse. Now De Keersmaeker. Smart. Really smart. 

It's all been done before, so why not stand on the shoulders of giants?? Those of us who have studied her cry at her concerts (Anne's. yes... I've done that. And I'm sure there are people who cry at Beyone's concerts). Ms. De Keersmaeker is incredibly smart and an extraordinary choreographer.   

When my students first introduced me to Beyonce, I became obsessed. Many of her videos and her songs make my critical mind question. She's making socially challenging decisions. She's copying (sharing?  exposing?) great choreographers. She chose a super smart partner in Jay-Z. There's something to the woman behind the curtain. 

So, my challenge to you is to do your own homework. Here's the youtube video that puts them together. Figure out Ms. De Keersmaeker for yourself....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDT0m514TMw

*and so you know, from my understanding her name is pronounced "Dee-Keers-mock-er"

Two Hands performance tonight!

I'm performing at the Annenberg Center with Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers and Hua Hua Zhang's Visual Expressions.

http://www.pennpresents.org/tickets/?day=2011-10-15

This is one of my favorite sections... I'm a penguin! Bill H took this picture - I'll add more as he posts them.

Research, information, integration!

Miroto's words come back to me. "Dance is about literal movement, abstract movement, speech, and opera." He is sitting crossed-legged on a small futon-like couch next to Kun-Yang, ticking off the elements of dance.

He is sitting in his studio. The sun is fading outside and the shadows are creeping in. His dancers are sitting next to him, his daughter on his lap. Traditional and contemporary masks are being passed between our dancers. He leans forward as if this part of the conversation is vitally important. "Dance is about what's behind the movement!"

The body is the conduit. The transmitter of information.

Yesterday, I performed for Kirsten Kaschock's book reading/ Philadelphia tour stop of "Sleight." I read the book because I love reading, I love Kirsten, and I wanted to research my role in this performance. Great read. But, I learned more about Clef, Lark, West, Kitchen, and the sleight from Kirsten's embodiment during her reading. We began rehearsing several weeks ago and she briefly described the story line. Developing a relationship between an object and the self. Being aware of the space and the audience. Being part of a larger whole. Listening to an object and the larger moving community. Her concepts resonated with the work I've been investigating. I was excited to approach them from a different perspective - from a literary perspective.

Kirsten integrated music, dance, and reading into her performance last night. I learned, from watching her, that  these opportunities provide me with rich, deep research. Kirsten moved as she read, delineating the space, designating space, providing her audience with a visual, physical, and mental image. She engaged all of the human elements in this work - the sound of her brother playing, physical empathy through movement, visual experience, thought-provoking language, the smell and taste of wine and apples... it was a complete sensory experience. This provided me with more data and information to complement my own kinesthetic research.

Thank you, Kirsten!

Dance is about what's behind the movement.


(I may be misquoting Miroto, but that's what he said in my memory, and I'm not that far off, if I am misquoting).

Sleight!

Kirsten Kaschock is a beautiful dancer, writer, thinker, and person. We actually met four years ago taking class together at Koresh. For me, it was one of those meetings where I knew our paths would cross again. 


Kirsten is a PhD candidate at Temple, but that's only one of her many degrees. She's so smart! Her clever mind is very clear in her latest book, SLEIGHT. It's described as än acutely literary sci-fi rhapsody about inter-dimensional dance, and the tortured relationships between the dancers."


She's on an exciting national book tour and her Philadelphia celebration is tonight, October 9th at 7pm, upstairs at L'Etage (on the corner of Bainbridge and 6th Streets). She asked me to perform a translation of her book. 

I love working with Kirsten as a choreographer. She's so attentive to details and clear about her movement vocabulary. I'm honored to help bring her work to life. 


Here's Kirsten's blog:  http://kaschock.wordpress.com/

Back in the studio with NGPP

We began rehearing for Trinity Project - Phase II last night. I love being back in the studio with the Nora Gibson Performance Project.

Getting the material from Phase I back into my body was an interesting process. This is the second piece this year that I've revisited - the first was Kun-Yang Lin/ Dancers' Mandala Project for JIPA.

As my body recovers the steps and movement, I am overwhelmed by the memories of the previous year. The body has so much memory! Things that my mind has forgotten, my body remembers - places and events that have nothing to do with the work, directly, but were occurring during it's creation and therefore hold a place in my body and the work. Old kinesthetic habits resurface. It's surprising to me, in the moment, that when I revisit a piece in my new, current body, that she remembers so much. Much negotiation brings the old material into a new form. It's exciting!

And as I revisit the first movements, the second and third follow on their own. The story of the movement has been latent, but quickly resurfaces.

Exciting adventures!

The performance of Trinity Project - Phase II is at the Painted Bride Arts Center on December 2-3.

Kun-Yang Lin on WHYY

Check out this link:
http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/art-entertainment-sports/item/27488

It was filmed at our last rehearsal before we left for Indonesia.

Video Journals

There are many pictures from our time in Indonesia. I only have a few. As part of my reflection process, I am creating several photo/ video journals. Here are the first two of three.

Part 1: Arrivals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaZAMNd3AOw

Part 2: Movement (Action. Development. Evolution. Passage. Shift. Stir. Voyage. Joy.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jfrlXBxHLQ

This is a picture from our rehearsal for the outdoor performance:

This was taken during our indoor performance:

Java in Java

Not quite knowing what I was in for, I packed enough gluten-free snacks to survive a ten day excursion. Advil, digestive aids, immune boosters, toilet paper, sanitizer... but on the way to the airport, I panicked. What about coffee?!?!?!

Ken, our executive director, laughed at me. "We're going to the island of Java and you're worried about coffee. Where do you think the name 'java' for coffee came from?"

Hey! That's not fair. If I'm not allowed to drink anything but bottled water, how am I going to be able to drink coffee if it's not made with bottled water?

Kun-Yang came to the rescue, "Boiled water is safe to drink."

Saved!

Ken and his first cup of java in Java:

My first cup of java:


mmmmmmmmm!!!! That's soooo good!!!!

So what's in the coffee?
Cat shit.

Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson describe it better than I can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVJqwCdzZnw&NR=1

And it is really good. Further research shows that a half pound of this stuff is sold for $40-$120 US dollars.

Bottoms up!