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 However, in this last session, it began to dawn on me that my approach is a bit outdated, or at least inappropriate for my current adventure.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.