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.

- feedback comments for digital archive and trace notes--

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
 

Spreading horizontally, oscillating, Offering negative space

Where is tension missing? Frontal gaze, Cutting through space with focus, just as when body cuts through space

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 2^nd 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

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.

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 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 (1^st 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 1^st Set and 2^nd Set.

The 1^st 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 2^nd 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 (4^th 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.

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.

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"

Tenderness, Nobility and Tools

Here I am embarking on my usual procrastination strategy.... fill the blog!


Although lucky for me I am not procrastinating on anything academic, in fact I wish I could bend time for a momentarily pause in all this research of duration, so that in fact I could sort out and digest the many concepts in my presence. I dodge the big G word, G.R.A.N.T -wishing that I can hold my time for reflection more closely and telescoped in and out to many forms, not crammed into this one posting.

My workshop door is open and I see a million tools I could pick up and sharpen, hold, discover, re-order/organize, craft to make something new. This thought is invigorating and overwhelming.

A sun dial  aligned with Halifax time and not daylight savings adjustments.

The moment of attention is by far the most important tool. This is the one I am currently picking up, dropping, hanging on to, and noting to come back to. It is not repetition but a stretch of time, time expanded (although extremely dense) in order to begin to gain the capacity to simply notice.

The delicate task of looking and not overdoing is a difficult one and I am reminded of the tenderness concept.  I have the utmost reverence for all the gifts of research around me, I am floored every day with the questions that are presented and that I get to ask. I feel simultaneously noble and a hot mess in my quest to learn, to face, to interrogate.

duration, non-eraser, risky weight, finishing, dominant/sub-dominate, hot mess, muscle/bone/fascia, go to the place you want to dance, subordinate, merge and separate in a parallel universe. These are my tools to discover.....

A hot mess of ideas in the studio and two very willing bodies on the quest.

Arranging things in Choreography and Design with my colleagues and Chris Aiken!

Research in the Studio

an idea in research: Parallel Universe/Merge and Separate

A new publication in the making

Hmmm... it seems a new cross border publication is waiting to be made:
 the improvisor's gossip gazette for conceptual wars. 

Looks like I have a new project in my hands connecting east, west and south. Hope I don't split myself apart on this one!! :)

Mid-Semester Squeeze

I am at the mid-semester squeeze, exhausted and the deadlines just keep accumulating. The light at the end of semester tunnel will hopeful show itself soon. In the meantime to keep our spirits high we have taken up singing. Inspired by a song written by second year Kelly Silliman. This definitely was a treat at the end of another intense week.

One Month Recap..... I can barely breath and full of breath!

One month in and I can't believe it! I still keep thinking that this is a creative retreat that will end soon, much like my previous recent patterns for professional development, but instead 15 more amazing months await me.

I am taking 26 credit hours this semester, that's 9 courses plus my teaching on top of that. I am visiting two campuses a day for a total of 4 campuses per week. I didn't realize how a la carte my course selection could be and I am really taking advantage of the  Five Colleges Dance Department set-up.

Good thing I brought my car. There is a free bus service between all the campuses that range from 10-20 mins away from each other , but instead I have been using my car to get to my teaching load on time and for a chance to listen to my CBC podcasts!!  Can't live without my daily CBC hit, I might lose my Canadian edge. My schedule is definitely full, but luckily even more inspiring.

My theory courses consist of two grad seminar classes:

• Literature and History of Dance -a research methods and writing course in preparation for my summer paper and end thesis.

• Music and Dance- a theory and studio based course led by Mike Vargas. In this class we draw from the text Audio Culture- Readings in Modern Music. The text is full of inspiring readings about music trends, movements, and composition theory. We then take the base of each text and apply it too the body and dance composition. This Friday morning class is an excellent way to end my week, so far we've had pots and pants in the room, tied ourselves all together, and had guest artist Janet Feder who plays and composes for "prepared guitar."

In the studio, on my feet running, I am taking two technique classes and one creation/repertory class, dancing minimum three hours a day plus my teaching days.

Crew House Dance Studio

Gardens at Smith

I am taking technique from the lovely Angie Hauser, faculty member at Smith, who also dances for Bebe Miller. Angie is premiering a big piece with Bebe Miller called "Tracing History" this weekend at Ohio State University. Even in her busy schedule she took a few moments to skype into our class and introduce us to the production team!

On the Amherst campus I am taking technique with Paul Matteson and his repertory class on the Mount Hoyloke campus. Paul danced with Bill T Jones for many years and now holds a joint faculty position with Amherst and MHC. I am really enjoying his class, Paul has really soft, spongy and buoyant joints and way of moving. I am beginning to feel the effects on my plie and release in my ankle joints. The piece we are working on is investigating soft collisions and layering gestures and people. Some days I think I should be wearing a hockey helmet (in true Canadian fashion) for the amount of times someone is jumping over my head, but we magically bounce around and through each other like in bouncy castle or on the clouds.

Scott Dance Studio

Scott Dance Studio Entrance

Later on in the semester I am taking part in the creative residency with guest artist Colleen Thomas. Colleen is a New York based dancer/chroeographer and performing artist. She too also danced with Bebe Miller and Bill T Jones, along with Nina Wiener Dance, Donald Byrd and Kevin Wynn and now directs her own company Colleen Thomas Dance.

My other courses are:
1st Year Performance, Crew Assignment, Creative Process (where I am making a solo).
More to come on these later..... :)

Grad Office in the Green Box

In the teaching department, I am teaching contact improvisation at Hampshire College and am the TA for Intermediate Composition with Angie Hauser on the Smith campus.  I am really enjoying the teaching aspect and love the groups of students that I am working with. Contact has been particularly enriching and I have gained a lot from developing an arc for the class, quantifying my shared weight knowledge (in this formal manner but keeping creativity and process at the forefront,) and delivering interesting readings for the students to learn more about the CI form.

I could say more, and more, and more, and this has only been month one!

I am surrounded by so many inspiring improvisors (Chris Aiken, Angie and Mike Vargas, etc.) that my creative edge and the creative edge of the room is always being tested, tapped and tweaked. The many readings and amazing performing arts library complete with rich video and audio streaming resources, the landscape and the people. I am truly blessed to be here and looking forward to the months ahead!

Smith starts and away I go

Young and old, excited and bewildered, relieved and uncertain.... I am back in school. 

An empty studio awaits me,

 

 The work of many inspiring artists around me infuses my blood stream and gets my pulse going,

 

It begins and here is where I will share my stories, thoughts, and fears.....