Day 3 in Studio

Well, day 3 happened a bit ago. I have begun receiving some hours at work and this is making it harder to get into the studio during those early morning, available hours. However, my last time in the studio was meaningful to me in some new developing ways. My entire history of working in dance studios has taken place in the context of choreographing dances. Since my work with the Willamette Dance Company and with the dance classes I took at Willamette, my time in the studio was never very exploratory or development-oriented, but definitely focused on progress in terms of a deadline for a finished, performable product.

So, I have approached my recent time in the studio in a similar mannar. However, in this last session, it began to dawn on me that my approach is a bit outdated, or at least inappropriate for my current adventure. I have no performance to work towards and no deadlines to speak of. In fact, I began to wonder, why even work on creating a piece at all? Of course it is the end goal to create a work of art, but for now, why not take time to explore and research your own body and skills?

So, this last day in the studio I did just that. I worked on played with my bodily connection to the floor, the spaces created between my body and the floor, and the spaces created within my own bodily shape. I wanted to explore positive and negative space. I also wanted to work on creating a fluidity between being on the floor plane and a higher, standing plane.  I sometimes have difficulty phasing between them and I will get stuck in one or the other.  So, I did just that. I put on some music, or not, closed my eyes and just felt my body move.  It was very freeing.

So, I am exploring the creative process in a new way now. I cannot see a direct relation to a work of art from this... but I have faith that it all leads towards my development as a dancer and a user of body in space.

Day 2 in Studio

I started my morning stretching and contemplating the first poem my friend sent me to work with.  I was struck with an idea and decided to turn on the camera and go with it.  My experience of reading the poem and connecting it with dance was one of trying not to be too literal.  The same goes for the lyric of "La Vie en Rose" (but more on that later).  What often helps me with choreography is having transitions and growth in a "story."  Thus far, my dance characters are often not static.  I enjoy trajectory and resolution- it helps the piece seem more meaningful to me.  In the poem God loses his shyness, "thaws as it were, and no matter what now, no matter what you do the sacred will begin to grow inside."  This transition from shyness caught my attention.  The hand gestures I learned from a co-dancer Bethany Williams and I love the way they make the hands look as if they have minds of their own.  For me, in this clip, the hands are God, searching shyly and then not so shyly.  I will have to work more on the body experiencing the growth of the sacred inside (wow).  Poem and video below:

 The Color of Your Ocean Will Change

                                                    It is possible that just a drop of dye from

                                                    a vial the Friend holds could change the color

                                                    of an ocean.

                                                    I know I have talked about this in different

                                                    poems, this basic concept,

                                                    but will now say it from a slightly different

                                                    angle in case that first arrow I shot completely

                                                    missed.

                                                    The presence of a Perfect One reaches a seed that

                                                    is planted in you,

                                                    and from that divine warmth, God will lose His

                                                    shyness, thaw as it were, and no matter what now,

                                                    no matter what you do, the sacred will begin to

                                                    grow inside.  The color of your ocean will change.

                                                    The drop of holy water, the needed dye, has

                                                    touched your forehead,

                                                    the air did that to you at birth, as did the first

                                                    hands that touched you,

                                                    and the soft walls -- so many times -- of your

                                                    Mother's womb you lay against.

 As for "La Vie en Rose," I went a bit of a different route.  It is always so tempting to not change whatever "progress" I have made for the sake of accomplishing a piece of choreography. However, I did just that and abandoned what I had set to the music yesterday.  I have been watching the works of an Italian choreographer named Ambra Senatore whom I discovered in Bordeaux.  Her works are highly theatrical and seem to push the limits of dance.  However, her works are so seamless that when I watch them I feel as though I am watching a brilliant dance piece.  The way themes and emotions are projected from her and evoked from the audience is amazing.  I saw her perform "Passo" live and was just floored.  My themes for this piece are more or less the same as I described before, but I am breaking it into three sections. 1) a woman is caught experiencing sadness and self-frustration, she tries to hide it, but is unsuccessful. 2) the woman indulges in the despair. 3) the woman accepts the sadness and is now able to move on from it.  The theatrics thus far are mostly in the facial expressions. And yes, in me holding a glass of red wine. My video from today is much more of a skeleton for the piece than actual set moves.  Oh, I'll stop apologizing, just watch.

Final thoughts: I believe that creating art is a balance between self-expression and perceptions others will have of the work. "Dance audiences are scavengers for meaning." I read in a NYT article titled ABC's of Choreography: Teaching the Unteachable? I think this is true because I see it in myself.  When we experience work we know that another human created in from an emotional/spiritual place. We try our best to interpret what we see/hear to trace back to those human roots.  However, inevitably each person will see something different, and perhaps no one will know the artist's mind.  The final sentence in the article states "She and other composition teachers seek to provide environments in which choreographers can make their meanings clear." I am not sure if the goal of artists should be to make meanings clear. It seems impossible. Yet, we cannot escape it if we hope to display our art to audiences. How to reconcile?

Day 1 in Studio

It is hard to know what to expect from myself at this stage. I have not taken a dance class in 4 months, nor have I actually tried to choreograph anything since May 2012. It's a weird feeling: I feel at home in the studio, but a bit out of place. I can feel in my body that it is not in dancing shape, and that what I see my body doing in my head does not quite manifest in space. I am so glad to be doing this again, and know I need to get in shape. My first song that I am tackling is "La Vie en Rose" by Louis Armstrong. I am inspired by a video art piece I saw while living in Bordeaux where a man walks across town in a white suit holding a glass of red wine at his waist. As he walks, the wine sloshes out of the glass and eventually down his legs. I thought to include this idea in a dance. While I know that spilling red wine all over performance halls is not the best idea, I am trying to make the dance versatile: performable with or without the wine. As for theme, the emotional theme I am working with is the experience of overwhelming emotions and how one processes their presences. From joy to self-doubt, we often cannot control how we feel and react to life. Sometimes, when emotions are less desirable, we can be resentful of those emotions... but potentially give up and give in to them, weary of fighting them. While I am working with this song for now, I also have my sights on potentially music-less dancing. I have contacted a friend who writes poetry and will be exploring how to collaborate dance and word together. I am not proud of this video, but I am bound by my blog-writers duty to post it as this post is all about the process, no matter how humble the beginnings.

Back in the Saddle Again

After graduating in May of 2012 and jumping straight into the world of organic farming, I have had little time to dance since my dance-intensive spring semester of 2012. This is partly due to the lack of energy left to put towards high-demanding work as choreography can sometimes be, but mostly due to the fact that once graduating, a student essentially loses access to the facilities of a university. For me, this included the simple but essential resource of a dance studio. I have, since graduating, taken ballet classes and participated in the Willamette improv group; however I have not given much time to my personal development as an artist. With my next farm employment not starting until April 6th, I would like to take time to do that now. My ability to do this right now is totally in thanks to a friend who is letting me use his painting studio as a dance studio. Like I said, space is essential and ridiculously hard to find. Today was my first day in the space. I am nervous about undertaking this process. I feel like a painter staring at a blank canvas, except instead of something to stare at it's just an empty room with my body awkwardly seeming to float in space. I decided to put on some music and just move around, without judgement, just to feel out the space and to get my creative juices flowing again. I did this for about an hour, frequently shooing away the urge to label my moves as generic and predictable. I am rusty to say the least, and I need to find my groove. I am excited for what a few short weeks can hold for me and so thankful for the opportunity to follow this through. More to come.