A leaf's turn reveals
hidden notes grow in the field
Whispers from the heart
Working digging dance
Paths far apart but hearts close
A season's cycle
-Heart shaped fruit-
Cucalemon glow
Smiles, desires, warm heart
thinking of you now
Flying high above
Two hearts intent to return
someday soon as one
Eyes close, breath softens
Dreams slip- memories appear
Longing to be close
Warm bread on the stove
A kitchen that is ours
We can make it true
Diligent work flow
Wonder with isolation
I miss you always
Shit in your head sucks
Together we are better
share your hopes and fears
Random thoughts of love
Even in the far distance
longing to hear you
Unsolicited
Reassurance is needed
Sub-thoughts will quiet
Is my love for you
Do I mourn the loss of dreams?
Who should I follow?
When your path crumbles
You can tumble with the stones
Or.....leap like a goat
Distance with distance
I feel a void without you
My heart hangs so low
Alone and not strong
Naïve faith testing limits
Broken and empty
Turn your heart to me
Once courageous you chased me
I will not let go
Fear clouds your sight now
Your heart isn’t as porous
Should we just part ways?
Is it time to go?
Expectations have fallen
Protecting myself
Both feeling so blue
Laughter and hope has left us
A sign to rejoin?
Once Afraid to love –
To admit we were perfect
Now apart too long
So busy it burns
I sacrificed you and I
Forever sorry
I will drop it all
Just to be held in your arms
With you is my place
My heart remains raw
your smile and glow pull me
still waiting for love
Friday, August 1, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Reflections from Northampton
This post is a little late for publication, but as you read you can see where I may have gotten held up...
We did it!
A fantastic piece in full fruition on stage, a cycle of questions and reflections embodied in full form, presentation with many congratulations…it all happened here with the wonderful and…. yes I’m gonna say it…. the beautiful Mocean Dance team. (We discovered during our travels that Northampton loves the adjective: beautiful).
I am extremely proud and grateful for the inquisitive generosity, vulnerability and permeability that was tested and exhibited by all involved. Thank you to Jacinte Armstrong, Rhonda Baker, Sarah Rozee, Susanne Chui, to my collaborators Andrew Hawryshkewichand Phil Thomson and to my mentor/thesis adviser Chris Aiken.
I was proud to witness all the hard work and vulnerability that was exhibited on the Smith College stage:
From my cohorts: Shaina Cantino, Safi Harriott and Mat Elder – we each in our own way took our weight off-balance and tested our tilt in unfamiliar axes to seek disorientation and in this place we were able to find a new sense of clarity from our bewilderment.
To all the range and perspectives in performativity on stage; the enthusiastically green by talented undergraduate dancers, the local professionals from the community, past and
present graduate students, and the professional dancers hailing from Canada
(that’s us!).
During the first 15 days of February my schedule included the following:
Whirlwind doesn’t even begin to describe the intensity of
the artistic craft, decisions and emotions that I have experienced….. just to
survive each day. I am blessed, I feel set
afire and I am wiped at the same time. Pausing to do a rough calculation, from Feb 1-15 my
artistic efforts reached approximately 1100 people.
The premiere came and went and now even March is coming to a close. Yikes! The end of the road is nearing. I have pulled myself out of recovery mode and push through to reflective mode.
It is now spring break at Smith and I am thick into my thesis writing, the final yet maybe the most difficult portion in this journey. Give me ideological questions and an empty studio and I can figure out the message physically no problem…. words on the other hand, this medium is a much different process.
I'm on page 22.... only 38 more to go....
We did it!
A fantastic piece in full fruition on stage, a cycle of questions and reflections embodied in full form, presentation with many congratulations…it all happened here with the wonderful and…. yes I’m gonna say it…. the beautiful Mocean Dance team. (We discovered during our travels that Northampton loves the adjective: beautiful).
 |
| Photo by Derek Fowles |
I am extremely proud and grateful for the inquisitive generosity, vulnerability and permeability that was tested and exhibited by all involved. Thank you to Jacinte Armstrong, Rhonda Baker, Sarah Rozee, Susanne Chui, to my collaborators Andrew Hawryshkewichand Phil Thomson and to my mentor/thesis adviser Chris Aiken.
I was proud to witness all the hard work and vulnerability that was exhibited on the Smith College stage:
From my cohorts: Shaina Cantino, Safi Harriott and Mat Elder – we each in our own way took our weight off-balance and tested our tilt in unfamiliar axes to seek disorientation and in this place we were able to find a new sense of clarity from our bewilderment.
 |
| My loving cohorts and I celebrate! |
***
As I digest, I realize that the first 15 days of February
had been the most impactful and revealing days I have ever experienced in my artistic
career.During the first 15 days of February my schedule included the following:
- My MFA Thesis dance project with Mocean Dance was presented for all to see,
 |
| Body Abandoned in performance, Photo by Derek Fowles |
- I organized an outreach workshop (taught by Susanne!) and discussion with the Southern Vermont IBIT Dance Company Pre-professional Training Division,
- I contributed my lighting and artistic improvising sensibilities for a performance of master improvisers that I deeply respect: Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser and Mike Vargas in Threshold,
- and I taught and performed at the prestige conference loved by all at the American College Dance Festival Association.
 |
| Teaching at ACDFA at Boston University |
 |
| Photos (and below) by Troy David Mercier |
 |
| Performing in "How Did I Get Here?" by Chris Aiken at ACDFA |
The premiere came and went and now even March is coming to a close. Yikes! The end of the road is nearing. I have pulled myself out of recovery mode and push through to reflective mode.
It is now spring break at Smith and I am thick into my thesis writing, the final yet maybe the most difficult portion in this journey. Give me ideological questions and an empty studio and I can figure out the message physically no problem…. words on the other hand, this medium is a much different process.
I'm on page 22.... only 38 more to go....
Yours Truly, Sara
:)
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Productive Instability: the art of fragmentation, coordination and creativity
 |
| In rehearsal with Sara Coffin and Mocean Dancers: J. Armstrong, R. Baker, S.Rozee |
Two-weeks after that the whole project will come to close/full fruition for me, when I defend the written portion of my thesis and I will be able to walk away with the letters M. F. A. following my trail!
 |
| Dancers Jacinte Armstrong and Rhonda Baker |
But the fruits of this work is a real marker for all involved, this project encompasses a lot for both the company and for me personally. I am grateful for the commitment and the support that the new work and I have received from both sides of the border during its creation.
The content of the work is inspired by what I have been coining as my “blue period” – Picasso stuck with his monochrome tones, me, I am sticking with VGA cables and projectors! However, I think I have finally gotten to the essence of my ideological question, one that focus on our existence and the posthuman-machine connection. I may have come to my end point in the interrogation of the body’s relationship to technology, but I am happy, really happy with the product of my research.
The dancers: Jacinte Armstrong, Rhonda Baker and Mocean-founder Sarah Rozee have been real star troopers during the creation. I feel so blessed for the depth of research, commitment and literally the distance they have traveled with me during my inquiry.
 |
| Dancer Sarah Rozee |
Wearing the two hats of graduate student and commissioned choreographer has been an interesting challenge in this beast of a production. However, I feel that a part of my MFA research and study have filtered through the process in an osmosis fashion and a bit of my experience has definitely been shared by all.
In our first working period, Mocean Dance was fortunate enough to host Smith Faculty members Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser for four days in June. During this time they offered master classes and workshops for the community while mentoring me in the studio.
 | |||
| Swell Contact Improvisation Intensive and Eco-Poetic Approach to Performance workshop participants. |
 |
| June 2013 |
 |
| with Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser |
 |
| MFA Advisor Chris Aiken in session "working the work" |
In this phase of creation multimedia collaborator Andrew Hawryshkewich and I worked remotely, sharing files back and forth, and I stayed up late for technical coaching on skype from the west coast.
The dancers were able to test drive the performance space and the sense of the bigger picture or the 'ness' of the piece started to sink in for both me and the dancers. Like the regular star troopers that J, R and S are, the dancers patiently waited and diligently kept working as I tracked the five components: the action/movement, the mediated image, the space, the music and the gestalt of it all.
Now - here in the third leg of creation, back in Halifax, all the hard work is really resonating and vibrating in the studio. We ran part of the piece on Friday and I was in awe and touched by the how far the dancers continue to stretch themselves.
In preparation for the Smith MFA Thesis concert my fellow grads and I have selected a quote from the book: A Choreographic Mind by SusanRehorst, one that really highlights our state of research:
“One has to know and not know, prefer and not prefer, empty oneself and acknowledge one’s fullness, be passive and charged. It has to happen to you and from you. It has to be too fast for you to take in, and done in baby steps, one leaking into the other.”
In the process of this work, I have interrogated my tendencies, embraced my strengths, questioned my doubts, sought new perspectives, and now my skin is raw but my heart is strong. Within the disorientation and bewilderment of my growing pains a new clarity has surfaced, one that I can feel resonating straight from the core of my bones.
 |
| Theatre 14 Technical Residency at Smith College |
In the last 100 meter dash before the curtain rises and the dancers take the stage I am filled with much anticipation and a giant check list.
I coordinate stop watches and emails as I finish the final music and multimedia adjustments (via online communication and file sharing) with my remote collaborators; Phil Thomson and Andrew Hawryshkewich respectively.
I keep an watchful eye on the post, as the costumes are arriving by mail from Smith College... and I am watching the snow report praying for clear driving days.
I coordinate stop watches and emails as I finish the final music and multimedia adjustments (via online communication and file sharing) with my remote collaborators; Phil Thomson and Andrew Hawryshkewich respectively.
I keep an watchful eye on the post, as the costumes are arriving by mail from Smith College... and I am watching the snow report praying for clear driving days.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Choreographer's Musings: My point of depature
I feel fragmented, sped-up and simultaneously a float. I feel decentralized, in which I exist in a disheveled hyper-dream state, continually pulled from my once grounded corporeal self I am positioned in a parallel existence of me and my other.
My sense of otherness is growing as the digital traces of my life, my virtual in-between self, follows me around.
I increasingly notice the separation of my inwardness of experience from the outwardness of my action. The two are constantly separated from what is felt and what is (re)represented in our mediated culture.
I am caught in questioning of the affects of not actually ‘thinking about the body’ when positioning the body amidst the digitized, a culture that exists in temporalized space and spatialized time. A place that fosters the new modality of the “always on” existing in the in-between spaces of neither here nor there, instead encouraging the product of “both-and.”
As I reflect upon this sate of being, I ask what would the vanishing “thinking body” lead to, and more so, what does the vanishing edges of the corporeal self mixed with the digital self create?
I start from this sense of the forthcoming posthuman, in which the extreme perception of self is stretched so thin the very edges of corporeality start to dissolve. Reflecting on the changing ecological field of relationships between flesh and virtual, and self and other, I aim to create a dance reflecting the sensation and consequences of our in-between and multimodal existence.
To do so, I begin with what I know, my own phenomenological experiences and interrogate my own personal modes of experience. I begin with the body. My research serves as both a reflection of this new bodiless state and a source of inspiration to construct from.
I venture into the spaces of formlessness and the unknown. My corporeal edges are thinning and I prepare for what the Body Abandoned might look like.
My sense of otherness is growing as the digital traces of my life, my virtual in-between self, follows me around.
I increasingly notice the separation of my inwardness of experience from the outwardness of my action. The two are constantly separated from what is felt and what is (re)represented in our mediated culture.
I am caught in questioning of the affects of not actually ‘thinking about the body’ when positioning the body amidst the digitized, a culture that exists in temporalized space and spatialized time. A place that fosters the new modality of the “always on” existing in the in-between spaces of neither here nor there, instead encouraging the product of “both-and.”
As I reflect upon this sate of being, I ask what would the vanishing “thinking body” lead to, and more so, what does the vanishing edges of the corporeal self mixed with the digital self create?
I start from this sense of the forthcoming posthuman, in which the extreme perception of self is stretched so thin the very edges of corporeality start to dissolve. Reflecting on the changing ecological field of relationships between flesh and virtual, and self and other, I aim to create a dance reflecting the sensation and consequences of our in-between and multimodal existence.
To do so, I begin with what I know, my own phenomenological experiences and interrogate my own personal modes of experience. I begin with the body. My research serves as both a reflection of this new bodiless state and a source of inspiration to construct from.
I venture into the spaces of formlessness and the unknown. My corporeal edges are thinning and I prepare for what the Body Abandoned might look like.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Process Log #4: Peer Reviewing and Feeling Too Close
In a sense I feel I am returning to the my initial idea of the "micro" as I work to refine and make my small (but hopefully legible) adjustments. I also mourn the loss of my initial idea and wonder if I really fulfilled the question of "What is micro?"
-The cliffs edges and facings are more defined.
-I experiment with different type of ambient sound and try to discern which little tune could lighten my serious abstract dance.
-I try to tighten my timing to fit the piece into one track. However, I give up and let my breath dictate the pacing and come up with a fall back sound plan.
-I lay on the floor for hours finding the perfect balance of facts within poetics as I refine my text.
But mostly I struggle because my universality and goat metaphor are now way to close to home. Rehearsal has become more therapeutic, with less focus on crafting. This is problematic, but I also throw my hands to what I can control at the moment.
Experimenting with revealing my state of mind has now backfired in full force due to my personal circumstances.
Yet I am reassured by my peers that the piece is still legible and valid in its own right, even with my derailment.
-The cliffs edges and facings are more defined.
-I experiment with different type of ambient sound and try to discern which little tune could lighten my serious abstract dance.
-I try to tighten my timing to fit the piece into one track. However, I give up and let my breath dictate the pacing and come up with a fall back sound plan.
-I lay on the floor for hours finding the perfect balance of facts within poetics as I refine my text.
But mostly I struggle because my universality and goat metaphor are now way to close to home. Rehearsal has become more therapeutic, with less focus on crafting. This is problematic, but I also throw my hands to what I can control at the moment.
Experimenting with revealing my state of mind has now backfired in full force due to my personal circumstances.
Yet I am reassured by my peers that the piece is still legible and valid in its own right, even with my derailment.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Narrowing to expand, Expansion to Narrow: Process Log #3
Smith Graduate Seminar: Creative Process
Narrowing to the body, Narrowing to the space. In this narrowing to expand and expansion to narrow much information is revealed.
On my pursuit to localize and map the space more specifically a specific “new” world opened up to me. I immediately fall into a narrative of sorts, one that is slightly odd and slightly obvious. But the foothold involving fear, furthering and the goat offers much potential and provides an anchor for me to hang onto that is worth developing.
Pairing the detailed local choreography with the localization of the space offers a new layer and brings my abstract formalness to a place of porousness and permeability that I wasn’t expecting but gladly welcome!
There are still some sticky moments in my use of space where the map needs to be more clearly defined. I want to interrogate the centre and really consider how and when I cross this valley. I also noticed in my performance that now considering the space and falling into the easefulness of the narrative some of the local choreography felt blurry. This is a habit or an edge I want to avoid.
I am also thrilled that in my placeness of space and adding moments of breaking the tension that I have to go back to the localization of me and really observe the moments before and after: the scream, the hello, and the goat text. What is my permeability in these places? How does the space collapse, how do I collapse in these moments?
In observing my rise and fall and in and out of the floor motif, this repetition/action now has more meaning for me and it is not just a change of level. I would like to consider each of these moments more.
My new sound choices are helping to broaden my understanding of a previous comment – how can I help the audience to know what to feel when and how do I shade the choreography in the peaks and valleys of the movement? The unintended ambient sound could also become intentional and I am excited about crafting more distance and localization through such use of sound.
I would have never imagined the telescoping effect that is occurring in my attention during this process. Although it now seems obvious that such an effect could take place, especially since my leaping point was scale. I think I am just enjoying the fact that the telescoping is bubbling from the bottom up and I am observing that I don't have to exert so much control on the macro from the top down. My attention is going to where it is needed, when it is needed and the legibility of my colours are slowly being revealed.
Thank God!
Narrowing to the body, Narrowing to the space. In this narrowing to expand and expansion to narrow much information is revealed.
On my pursuit to localize and map the space more specifically a specific “new” world opened up to me. I immediately fall into a narrative of sorts, one that is slightly odd and slightly obvious. But the foothold involving fear, furthering and the goat offers much potential and provides an anchor for me to hang onto that is worth developing.
Pairing the detailed local choreography with the localization of the space offers a new layer and brings my abstract formalness to a place of porousness and permeability that I wasn’t expecting but gladly welcome!
There are still some sticky moments in my use of space where the map needs to be more clearly defined. I want to interrogate the centre and really consider how and when I cross this valley. I also noticed in my performance that now considering the space and falling into the easefulness of the narrative some of the local choreography felt blurry. This is a habit or an edge I want to avoid.
I am also thrilled that in my placeness of space and adding moments of breaking the tension that I have to go back to the localization of me and really observe the moments before and after: the scream, the hello, and the goat text. What is my permeability in these places? How does the space collapse, how do I collapse in these moments?
In observing my rise and fall and in and out of the floor motif, this repetition/action now has more meaning for me and it is not just a change of level. I would like to consider each of these moments more.
My new sound choices are helping to broaden my understanding of a previous comment – how can I help the audience to know what to feel when and how do I shade the choreography in the peaks and valleys of the movement? The unintended ambient sound could also become intentional and I am excited about crafting more distance and localization through such use of sound.
I would have never imagined the telescoping effect that is occurring in my attention during this process. Although it now seems obvious that such an effect could take place, especially since my leaping point was scale. I think I am just enjoying the fact that the telescoping is bubbling from the bottom up and I am observing that I don't have to exert so much control on the macro from the top down. My attention is going to where it is needed, when it is needed and the legibility of my colours are slowly being revealed.
Thank God!
Monday, October 21, 2013
Process Log #2
Getting it into the body is the hardest task especially in this disjointed, distracted…. yet highly focused situation that I have place myself in. I am exhausted just writing this sentence.
The deadline of a showing is such a relief and a pain in the ass. I know what I must accomplish and I am reaffirmed where I lie in the trajectory of my choice making. But without such deadlines I am sure my field would remain happily open.
It is has been an interesting process for me to draw from material that already exists, re-working material that is concept base and into something that may (or should) have a life of its own. I see the threads of the material’s origins are still present even in this most recent feedback.
Spreading horizontally, oscillating, offering negative space – check, check and check! It is comforting to hear such descriptions knowing this is my intention in the source material.
However such feedback also restates a question for myself. Is this a sister piece and in the same family or do I continue to re-craft/re-create an entirely new sub-child/piece?
……. In typical fashion I do both.
In such a dual process (or my inability to detach from the original source) this recent feedback has offered new windows for attack to the very problems that I face in my thesis material.
Where is the tension missing? – It is in the lack of frontal gaze: cutting through the space with the focus is just as effective as the body that cuts through space.
So now with this community feedback I am directed two fold. I am grateful for this question/positioning that will narrow the lens on the gaps and concerns that I am currently experiencing in my thesis project.
Onward to the present project I will direct myself forward based on the comments of localization. Ironic that in my interest in localized choreography - concentrated predominately on the body, the audience notices my use of space is the lacking or less considered element. An element that has been left in a broader undefined field. A fitting comment perfectly inline with my personal trajectory of the piece’s development.
A few other mappings can finally be considered or pulled out now that I know the movement initiations and the order of sequence. I am curious about the comments on shading the choreography: when am I super charged and when should I turn the lights down? I feel I have moments of this already but I haven't had time to really consider their compositional placement and how this colours the whole map. I am also a bit confounded but curious in the suggestion to map or direct the audience to feel and when. This seems a little heavy handed and not an aesthetic trigger that I gravitate too easily. I need to unpack this comment some more. I am reassured that being in as deep of abstraction that I am a little heavy handedness or obvious directing will come as a relief for the audience.
Shimmy is against DNA, a mutation = relief (this is at the very end.. do I need some sooner)
Shaping space as substance, Tracking thickness of space, audience wants to tune to this
Reads as density of space
Want to feel directed by hand gestures, are they set/conscious as much as your spine?
Gestures lighten the space.
Repetition reads as a motif, see images repeating not actual movement What is punctuation or is it all a waterfall effect?
Going to the “x” spot on the floor is clear- otherwise field is open for a very long time
Pouring, Holding curves, Dense -Invitation to go along with the ride is present Motif reoccurring, reads as a Journey for the audience, Letting us ride with you.
Porous on reoccurring motif
**Shading/choreography bright light or less bright? Bright light reads in the spine
I felt as though there was a totally different task happening on the inside, I felt it but didn’t need to know what it was. There was a clear navigation of the internal to external and I could see this happening, without needing to know every detail.
I see labyrinth- going deeper into it, levels in the body
Suggestion: Put material in a very small frame
Map of whole world unclear, try localizing
Do you go back to same spot in time, in space, in time-space?
I see measuring/scientific/calculated Proportions?
Place of change- when does something change, use change as nodes, rhythm of change
There is a motif of keep going into the floor- this seems important, an orientation, but why?
The spin to floor 2nd time there is a change, you are stiff- resistant
What is my attitude about the movement?, How is it occurring in the body? Tone, mechanisms, texture
The deadline of a showing is such a relief and a pain in the ass. I know what I must accomplish and I am reaffirmed where I lie in the trajectory of my choice making. But without such deadlines I am sure my field would remain happily open.
It is has been an interesting process for me to draw from material that already exists, re-working material that is concept base and into something that may (or should) have a life of its own. I see the threads of the material’s origins are still present even in this most recent feedback.
Spreading horizontally, oscillating, offering negative space – check, check and check! It is comforting to hear such descriptions knowing this is my intention in the source material.
However such feedback also restates a question for myself. Is this a sister piece and in the same family or do I continue to re-craft/re-create an entirely new sub-child/piece?
……. In typical fashion I do both.
In such a dual process (or my inability to detach from the original source) this recent feedback has offered new windows for attack to the very problems that I face in my thesis material.
Where is the tension missing? – It is in the lack of frontal gaze: cutting through the space with the focus is just as effective as the body that cuts through space.
So now with this community feedback I am directed two fold. I am grateful for this question/positioning that will narrow the lens on the gaps and concerns that I am currently experiencing in my thesis project.
Onward to the present project I will direct myself forward based on the comments of localization. Ironic that in my interest in localized choreography - concentrated predominately on the body, the audience notices my use of space is the lacking or less considered element. An element that has been left in a broader undefined field. A fitting comment perfectly inline with my personal trajectory of the piece’s development.
A few other mappings can finally be considered or pulled out now that I know the movement initiations and the order of sequence. I am curious about the comments on shading the choreography: when am I super charged and when should I turn the lights down? I feel I have moments of this already but I haven't had time to really consider their compositional placement and how this colours the whole map. I am also a bit confounded but curious in the suggestion to map or direct the audience to feel and when. This seems a little heavy handed and not an aesthetic trigger that I gravitate too easily. I need to unpack this comment some more. I am reassured that being in as deep of abstraction that I am a little heavy handedness or obvious directing will come as a relief for the audience.
- feedback comments for digital archive and trace notes--
Shaping space as substance, Tracking thickness of space, audience wants to tune to this
Reads as density of space
Want to feel directed by hand gestures, are they set/conscious as much as your spine?
Gestures lighten the space.
Repetition reads as a motif, see images repeating not actual movement What is punctuation or is it all a waterfall effect?
Going to the “x” spot on the floor is clear- otherwise field is open for a very long time
Pouring, Holding curves, Dense -Invitation to go along with the ride is present Motif reoccurring, reads as a Journey for the audience, Letting us ride with you.
Porous on reoccurring motif
**Shading/choreography bright light or less bright? Bright light reads in the spine
I felt as though there was a totally different task happening on the inside, I felt it but didn’t need to know what it was. There was a clear navigation of the internal to external and I could see this happening, without needing to know every detail.
I see labyrinth- going deeper into it, levels in the body
Spreading horizontally, oscillating, Offering negative space
Where is tension missing? Frontal gaze, Cutting through space with focus, just as when body cuts through spaceSuggestion: Put material in a very small frame
Map of whole world unclear, try localizing
Do you go back to same spot in time, in space, in time-space?
I see measuring/scientific/calculated Proportions?
Place of change- when does something change, use change as nodes, rhythm of change
There is a motif of keep going into the floor- this seems important, an orientation, but why?
The spin to floor 2nd time there is a change, you are stiff- resistant
What is my attitude about the movement?, How is it occurring in the body? Tone, mechanisms, texture
Can you direct the audience how to feel? Map that, map how you turn the corner - be obvious I am already in thick abstraction
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
A line is cast, a solo begins
Entry # 1: Oct 1, 2014
To begin… usually this the biggest question and the biggest hurdle in any process.
In our community sharing, I quickly appreciate the sourcing of this initial feedback as it has helped me to frame my evaluation of the path to travel.
In accordance to my (1st draft) proposal I source from material that is already available to me. I take the time to re-learn and reacquaint with the some-what familiar. This motivation serves me two-fold: partly to prepare for the intensive yet to come/improve my directorial articulation and partly to pull apart patterns, push my own edges and force myself into a refined intentionality (i.e.-go deeper).
Through the powers of video I stare at bodies that are not my own. I am confounded by the what is. I had a heavy hand in the making this material. In fact it is my process, my material. I adapt- where does this material fit on my body?
(I panic, have I picked an uninspiring task to pursue? I breathe - you have only watched two videos. Relax.)
I breathe..
In my presentation of material I presented two sets. They are not connected, for referential purposes I will differentiate the two by labeling them 1st Set and 2nd Set.
The 1st Set was as close to the origin as I could muster, including the initial creation source and the adaptations to present. (This information is beyond this posting, but if you are interested I would be happy to fill in the sub-text, just leave a comment indicating so).
The 2nd Set was a re-approach, a listening. Cryptic I know. But I used my text of perception, listening, and sensing as my first filter in adapting the movement.
An evaluation:
In the 1st set I am drawn to the process of specified initiation and carving/following the path of travel or phrasing through the body. Although I am disenchanted with something slightly familiar to this performitivty or approach to moving. Can I challenge myself to stick to the local specificity of initiation and follow-through and not throw it away to the general sense like I always do?
The tone of the 2nd Set is more unfamiliar to me and less defined. The wavering of time (matter of factness to physical surge) and the scale of performativity could be played, pulled apart, and structured in a way to develop and understand this more seemingly unknown place to me. Through the use of text and addressing the public the line between inviting and intimidating the audience is one not yet- but should be considered. I like this point and now personal challenge.
The question I posed at the end of the community sharing was to solicit verbalization in how to compare the differentiation or legibility of the two… if one was even present that is.
If you, my community had your choice: which of the two sets should I pursue? Or what qualities from each set read as new challenges for me to pursue?
Comments/Observations:
Crossing the mid-line
Beginning had an intentional use of time - sustained
(This was) Lost in the rotations (floor)- I need/use time of physics for thrust to resolve
Initiation of body parts- sometimes overlapping which read as a differentiation from the base line (4th position pivot)
Vertical rotation with looking a thematic repetition
Unexpected weird chicken walk- strange but engaging (Jacinte’s pelvis articulation)
Talking style is reporting, which took place in the talking corner (DSR)
Movement coordinated with text
Shortly after reporting of facts turned into…. Oh this is about dancing (O2 reference)
Viewers gaped out in between surges (Crawl walk on floor to run in circle –was gap)
Pelvis play
Expansion- reach
Back Space was very noticeable- this drew the viewer in
Articulation
Speed noticeable- slow down/rev up
The use of gaze created a knowing/unknowing spectrum.
Retreating sense of space- using the vertical up and down
Clear directions of focus but were many spots- didn’t know where audience was suppose to be lead, they got lost.
Describing and experiencing
Talking was simultaneously inviting and intimidating – it was a fine line and the audience was confused which side to live on.
To begin… usually this the biggest question and the biggest hurdle in any process.
| So I start by casting a few lines... | ||
| weighing my options | ||
| and I am still waiting for the bite. |
Waiting for my own intentions to bite and dig in that is.
In accordance to my (1st draft) proposal I source from material that is already available to me. I take the time to re-learn and reacquaint with the some-what familiar. This motivation serves me two-fold: partly to prepare for the intensive yet to come/improve my directorial articulation and partly to pull apart patterns, push my own edges and force myself into a refined intentionality (i.e.-go deeper).
Through the powers of video I stare at bodies that are not my own. I am confounded by the what is. I had a heavy hand in the making this material. In fact it is my process, my material. I adapt- where does this material fit on my body?
(I panic, have I picked an uninspiring task to pursue? I breathe - you have only watched two videos. Relax.)
… the line is still cast, I can still retreat quickly and find a new cove for entry.
I breathe..
In my presentation of material I presented two sets. They are not connected, for referential purposes I will differentiate the two by labeling them 1st Set and 2nd Set.
The 1st Set was as close to the origin as I could muster, including the initial creation source and the adaptations to present. (This information is beyond this posting, but if you are interested I would be happy to fill in the sub-text, just leave a comment indicating so).
The 2nd Set was a re-approach, a listening. Cryptic I know. But I used my text of perception, listening, and sensing as my first filter in adapting the movement.
An evaluation:
In the 1st set I am drawn to the process of specified initiation and carving/following the path of travel or phrasing through the body. Although I am disenchanted with something slightly familiar to this performitivty or approach to moving. Can I challenge myself to stick to the local specificity of initiation and follow-through and not throw it away to the general sense like I always do?
The tone of the 2nd Set is more unfamiliar to me and less defined. The wavering of time (matter of factness to physical surge) and the scale of performativity could be played, pulled apart, and structured in a way to develop and understand this more seemingly unknown place to me. Through the use of text and addressing the public the line between inviting and intimidating the audience is one not yet- but should be considered. I like this point and now personal challenge.
The question I posed at the end of the community sharing was to solicit verbalization in how to compare the differentiation or legibility of the two… if one was even present that is.
If you, my community had your choice: which of the two sets should I pursue? Or what qualities from each set read as new challenges for me to pursue?
-for digital archive and trace notes-
Feedback Notes:
| 1st Set: -Searching -Shape/Face -Long-stretched time -Syncopated -Intentionality in an interesting way -Initiations -Recognized may be hard to sustain |
2nd Set: -Experiencing -Matter of fact in experience of -Bounce -Long -Not as complex in shape of body -Surging -Acceleration that was interesting but didn’t last - peaked interest than kicked the audience to the side of the road. - |
Comments/Observations:
Crossing the mid-line
Beginning had an intentional use of time - sustained
(This was) Lost in the rotations (floor)- I need/use time of physics for thrust to resolve
Initiation of body parts- sometimes overlapping which read as a differentiation from the base line (4th position pivot)
Vertical rotation with looking a thematic repetition
Unexpected weird chicken walk- strange but engaging (Jacinte’s pelvis articulation)
Talking style is reporting, which took place in the talking corner (DSR)
Movement coordinated with text
Shortly after reporting of facts turned into…. Oh this is about dancing (O2 reference)
Viewers gaped out in between surges (Crawl walk on floor to run in circle –was gap)
Pelvis play
Expansion- reach
Back Space was very noticeable- this drew the viewer in
Articulation
Speed noticeable- slow down/rev up
The use of gaze created a knowing/unknowing spectrum.
Retreating sense of space- using the vertical up and down
Clear directions of focus but were many spots- didn’t know where audience was suppose to be lead, they got lost.
Describing and experiencing
Talking was simultaneously inviting and intimidating – it was a fine line and the audience was confused which side to live on.
Monday, September 23, 2013
A Project Proposal: Interior Details
I am interested in articulating subtle interior details so that I may
broaden my exterior’s edge. This question and subsequent inquiry will
challenge me both as a choreographer and a performer.
I am approaching subtlety through the inquiry of the mirco scale. By
investigating the question “what is the micro scale?” I hope to make
apparent the intention within specific movement locale. Through the use
of such specified intention(s) I am interested in focusing on crafting
the local choreography, the choreography of the body itself. Can the
play of plasticity and breath within the body become a sub-dance to
support the exterior frame?
By paying attention to subtlety and differentiation I hope to access a
new range of compositional choices. I am excited by the possibility of
expanding my path of travel within the body (and in turn through the
space) by constructing a detailed map of movement initiations and to
re-consider the use of phrasing from a more minute perspective.
I will also challenge my choreographic mind and performative self by
devising multiple micro scores that are performed in density or with
simplistic sparsity positioned intentionally within the work. Through
this research, I ultimately want to challenge my permeability as a
performer and find new uncharted ground in my use of tone and control.
As a choreographer I gravitate to the macro structure and large
compositional strokes of my creative work. Through the scope of the
performance project I aim to address this edge and will strive to work
in a more simplistic manner. I want to pare back on my go to
compositional seductions, such as the use of concept as main
choreographic driver, or the use of thrust and power in my movement
invention. By avoiding such former tendencies I hope to find greater
nuance within clear intentions that will affect the micro scale of my
compositional choices, this in turn will feed and create the yet to be
determined macro structure of this new solo work.
broaden my exterior’s edge. This question and subsequent inquiry will
challenge me both as a choreographer and a performer.
I am approaching subtlety through the inquiry of the mirco scale. By
investigating the question “what is the micro scale?” I hope to make
apparent the intention within specific movement locale. Through the use
of such specified intention(s) I am interested in focusing on crafting
the local choreography, the choreography of the body itself. Can the
play of plasticity and breath within the body become a sub-dance to
support the exterior frame?
By paying attention to subtlety and differentiation I hope to access a
new range of compositional choices. I am excited by the possibility of
expanding my path of travel within the body (and in turn through the
space) by constructing a detailed map of movement initiations and to
re-consider the use of phrasing from a more minute perspective.
I will also challenge my choreographic mind and performative self by
devising multiple micro scores that are performed in density or with
simplistic sparsity positioned intentionally within the work. Through
this research, I ultimately want to challenge my permeability as a
performer and find new uncharted ground in my use of tone and control.
As a choreographer I gravitate to the macro structure and large
compositional strokes of my creative work. Through the scope of the
performance project I aim to address this edge and will strive to work
in a more simplistic manner. I want to pare back on my go to
compositional seductions, such as the use of concept as main
choreographic driver, or the use of thrust and power in my movement
invention. By avoiding such former tendencies I hope to find greater
nuance within clear intentions that will affect the micro scale of my
compositional choices, this in turn will feed and create the yet to be
determined macro structure of this new solo work.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Failing Resliency
2nd Year! I continue to dig, reflect and interrogate... and as I do so I am failing at my own assignments. Luckily some of my work has paid off and I can more easily track and identify my creative habits now. Moving forward my challenge is to be in relationship with such familiar paths and try to veer from my typical approach.
I easily gravitate to the macro structure and I am easily distracted by the thrust of my power. I search for resiliency and have managed to keep my pelvis in a perfectly horizontal plane. I lost my swing, buoyancy and hang on to the levity of my upper body as a disguise.
I need to go back into the lab and hit re-set. How can I twist my habits on their edge to access a new road? Further research is needed.
ps- Thanks to Cory Bowles for his supportive tunes, playing in the video is a piece original composed for SiNS dance in the work "Hungry Like the Wolf"
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