Embedded Layers

Here are a few pics from my latest work, Embedded Layers. There's one more performance tonight at the Performance Garage.

Thanks so much to Bill H for the awesome pics! Thanks to Scott Park for producing us!

Cassandra Cotta performing Excavations

Me... performing Puzzling Pieces

Rachael Hart performing Faulted Lines

"It's the day of the show, ya'll"

The costumes are steamed.

The extra, just-in-case copy of the music is ready.

Batteries are charged and replaced.

Rehearsal's been in progress.

So, we'll see what happens.

(And with all of the Waiting for Guffman clips on youtube, I'm shocked that there isn't one that proclaims "It's the day of the show, ya'll!" Thanks to my BGW friends for introducing me to the film, so many years ago.)

Here's a picture of our last rehearsal:

Read more about the performance March 29th & 30th


The Performance Garage is at
1515 Brandywine St, Philadelphia

There's lots of on-street parking around the building.

And you can check out more info about the space by clicking here: Performance Garage

And a trailer for Waiting for Guffman... just for fun... (The trailer doesn't do the movie justice..)




See you on the stage!

Showing Up

In her book The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life, Twyla Tharp discusses entering into a new process.

"I walk into a white room.... other than the mirrors, the boom box, the skid marks, and me, the room is empty.... I'm in a room with the obligation to create a major dance piece. The dancers will be here in a few minutes. What are we going to do? To some people, this empty room symbolizes something profound, mysterious, and terrifying; the task of starting with nothing and working your way toward creating something whole and beautiful and satisfying. It's no different for a write rolling a fresh sheet of paper into his typewriter, or a painter confronting a virginal canvas.... Some people find this moment -- the moment before creativity begins -- so painful that they simply cannot deal with it. They get up and walk away... They procrastinate. In its most extreme form, this terror totally paralyzes people.... The blank space can be humbling. But I've faced it my whole professional life. It's my job. It's also my calling. Bottom line: Filling this empty space constitutes my identity. 

After so many years, I've learned that being creative is a full-time job with its own daily patterns...It's the same for any creative individual, whether it's a painter finding his way each morning to the easel, or a medical researcher returning daily to the laboratyry. The routine is as much a part of the creative process as the lighting bolt of inspiration, maybe more. And this routine is available to everyone.

Creativity is not just for artists.... I will keep stressing the point about creativity being augmented by routine and habit...." ~Twyla Tharp

I recommend reading the entire book to everyone, especially my composition students.

I also highly recommend making a "Daily Dance." Your audience might be the plants in your small apartment and your pet fish and they may not offer direct feedback, but the practice of showing up to the dance-making and the dance-performance will provide feedback, especially when habituated.

I'm often criticized for "not taking a break" and "working too hard, on and off the marley." Admittedly, I do, but I also take the process seriously. I take the work seriously, and I know that I need to constantly show up to the process. The performance process. The making of dances process. The dance education/ educator-reflection process. The practice of technique. It is only through regular practices that one will refine the craft (of anything... dancing, writing, teaching, taking care of other people, - maybe that's why many professional fields are called "Practices" - the Law Practice, the Medical Practice.)

In constantly showing up, I know that the results will not always be perfect. In fact, the more I practice, the more likely I am to fail, but I am also more likely to learn from those failures and have more tools with which to create and learn and grow. This process is totally frightening. No one likes to fail (- especially perfectionists).

So, although I just closed an amazing performance experience last night, I'm embarking on another performance journey this week. You're invited to share in the results of the last few weeks & months of research. And I appreciate you showing up to this process with me.

Who's invited? You!
To what? Preliminary findings... embodied research on ideas of beauty, identity, perception, time, and age
When? Friday March 29th & Saturday March 30th, 8pm
Where? The Performance Garage, Philadelphia
Hosted by Dangerous and Movin' Dance Company
Get tickets: Dance Box Office - Evol

I leave you with one of my images of inspiration from NASA's Earth as Art

Thanks for showing up with me!

Many gifts from near and "Afar"

So humbled and honored to have been a part of this process. Thank you to everyone involved and everyone who supported KYL/D!

Here are some more images from Bill H - Check out the rest of his album at One: Gifts from Afar photos

One: Gifts from Afar - sneak peak

Thanks,Bill H. for posting this pics so quickly!
There are still a few tickets left for Saturday

More on beauty

Previews of One: Gifts from Afar

Here's a sneak peak:



And another article about the Open Dialogues KYL/D has been hosting. (Correction to the article, I open with Liu Mo... but you'll have to come to the performance to see that.)

There are JUST A FEW tickets left... get them now, here.

Heading into the theatre today... exciting!

Sharing Stories

This week, KYL/D is opening at the Mandell Theater on Drexel's campus.

Here are some of my thoughts on working with the company and this performance:





And an article from Main Line Times

International Women's Day

Happy International Women's Day!

I've been listening to some awesome stories about super brave women on NPR. Thanks, NPR for sharing their stories.

In the meantime, I'd like to share with you some women who have inspired me (In no particular order, and sometimes, not the best photographs, and not entirely inclusive, but captured moments of these women). Thank you!