The Arts in the Corporate Workplace - Why?

I've been working diligently for the last year on the who, what, where & when of my project Process Works but with our performances at the Sanford Consortium quickly approaching, I think it's time to return to my "why". Why do I want to bring dance into the workplace? Why do I think contemporary dance could have a relationship to science and technology...let alone corporate businesses as a whole? Why do I think dance should matter to the rest of the world?

Big questions...I think this is going to be a multiple part answer and a multiple part blog post - so here is why #1:

Dear Ol' Dad

When giving a post performance talk for my thesis dance piece Space Between, I explained the details of the dance and how each night we created the dance new with a certain amount of improvisation. My father raised his hand and asked "Why Improvisation". Knowing that he came from many years of watching me perform more traditional dance, I assumed that his preference was the structure he was used to. I explained to the audience that I long for awareness of the present moment both in performance and in life. Improvisation is not a “style” of dance but a way of being in the world.  A way of never allowing life to become “fixed” or “stale”. A reminder to listen to what my intuition is asking of me at every given moment.  

The next day, my dad said to me, "You do what I do".

Wait - what?! My dad is an engineer. He's supposed to be a lover of systems and strict protocol. But what I found out was that engrained in my father's philosophy of engineering, is the importance of constantly checking in with these systems to ensure they still make sense within the current circumstances. His philosophy reminds us that we are human and things change or at the very least shift. He felt supported by the work I was making. No more auto-pilot. No more blindly following a model that is no longer relevant or interesting. With even a small bit of attention on the present moment, our ability to respond to the specific needs of this moment becomes possible. 

So - WOW - if my dad could relate to my work at this level, are there others? Are there pockets of individuals out there who would feel supported in their work by becoming aware of our work? If so, I look forward to finding and building on these connections.

Process Works @ The Sanford Consortium

Process Works @ Bella Vista Social Club at the Sanford Consortium - Oct. 15, Oct. 29, & Nov. 12 @ lunchtime!

I am thrilled to announce that my current project Process Works; An Arts Integration Program will have its premiere performances at Bella Vista Social Club and Caffe @ the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine. We will perform Three Thursdays this Fall - October 15, October 29, and November 12. The performances are set for lunchtime starting at both noon and 1pm on each of these dates and they are all FREE to the public. Bring your lunch or enjoy an amazing meal, coffee, or vino at Bella Vista. All are welcome.

As the culminating event for my Creative Catalyst Fellowship, this project brings live contemporary dance performance directly to individuals working in the fields of science and technology. Choreographed by (me) Alicia Peterson Baskel and performed by Wallpaper Performance Company, Process Works aims to support creativity, collaboration, and innovation in the workplace.

Process Works is funded by the Creative Catalyst Fund at The San Diego Foundation and supported by Mojalet Dance Collective.

A Performative Moment - Ocean View

I sit in my car. Parked on a road that looks straight at the ocean. At first all I see is what I already know about the ocean. Blue/Grey color, constant motion, splashing. Breathe in…breathe out. I see surfers' torsos in a collective on the far right side of this tapestry. This is where I'm supposed to be looking. I've seen it now, so I open my book to read…

But I quickly put my book down and stare up at the ocean again. Thinking - not seeing. Then I see again. Then I choose to see more.

I look to my right at the pattern of succulents arranged in their concrete planters. Some tall and green and prickly. Others small and black and curvy.

I see cars pass by in the corner of my eye along the road that runs parallel with the coast. Suddenly, I notice that I can see their reflection in the window behind these succulents as the car drives on.

Then I notice there are two window panes and two reflections.

Then I see my car as myself. Twice. And somehow I am surprised. I didn't recognize that I am a part of this world. I am looking AT it, but I am also IN it.

Slowly my eyes drift down, wondering what other details I might be missing.

Scratches and indentations in the concrete take me to the construction site that this once was and the thrill the owners must have felt in their ocean front purchase.

Suddenly, I see two men enter the frame I've created. Both drenched in sweat. One with a ladder and one with a squiggy coming to clean the windows I've been staring into.

How Funny - I think - the many layers of reality.

Work That Inspires Me...

There are moments in one's creative life when she is inspired by all the work she sees. And there are moments when nothing is sparking those much needed creative juices. I see A LOT of dance, so I have a tendency to rely on the dance performances I see to bring me this satisfaction and forward momentum. But when I can't find inspiration through dance, I have to find it outside my craft.

So how about finding inspiration from popular culture? Not necessarily the place you'd expect to find artistic inspiration but I've found two HBO productions that inspire and excite me. Let me explain why...

1. Foo Fighter's Sonic Highways Album

What I find Inspiring: 

The Creative Process: Here is a band immersed in popular culture without intending to be. The group's leader, Dave Grall, coming from 20 years of song writing proposed a NEW process for this album. They would travel to eight different recording studios in music communities that are steeped in history. The band allows themselves to be inspired by the people and stories they come in contact with. They then write and record a new song at the end of their week in this place. They did this at each of these 8 cities.  

Revealing the Creative Process: Not only did these artists follow this process, but they documented it with cameras. They reveal their process, while telling the story of each city's deep music history. There is an hour documentary on each of the 8 cities and at the end on each the song is revealed. I didn't always like the music, but I now have a connection to it that goes beyond aesthetics. I know the story behind each song.

2. Newsroom (HBO TV series)

What I find Inspring:

The Form: There is not much a writer/director/producer can do to vary the form of a television series. Audiences have specific expectations. But at least in its first year, Newsroom told their stories from unexpected orientations. In their second season, they tried a new format altogether that was meant to last the entire season.

The Content: This fictional news team aims to tell "the news" which doesn't necessarily make them the most popular news program. While the leading (fictional) programs focus on celebrity and foster dramatic hype, this news room refuses to sacrifice their integrity and struggle with this in the face of a changing culture. Most interesting to me is that these journalists maintain an idealistic view and choose to believe that their audience is intelligent and wants to be challenged. 

Process Works Update #2 - Collaboration

I can't help it - I LOVE my rehearsals. I find deep satisfaction each week as the performers I'm working with engage with the framework that I've provided. The discussions that ensue following each part of the choreography are equally as stimulating as the work itself.

For example: Last night we engaged with a piece of the choreography that we lovingly call Priority 7. It seems like it should be the easiest and most straight forward portion of this work. The dancers enter the space together with the intention of responding to one another (6 performers) and also responding to what is happening in the over-arching "dance" as a whole. This is the 7th element.

Priority 7, while structurally very satisfying, is missing a key element - individuality. The entire focus of Priority 7 is to pursue a selfless collaboration. Agreement is a word we once used to describe this section. But last night, we dove more deeply into what agreement actually means.

I discovered last night that agreement has come to mean some kind of unison, whether it is direct unison or simply an evolution of another dancer's movement. Agreement has meant sameness. But this is NOT what I was meaning by 'agreement' and so maybe this is the wrong word. I think a more useful word (or phrase rather) would be 'serving the whole'.

This is where we started to discuss the 7th element in clear detail. The seventh element again is the dance as a whole. I imagine that the dancers can take a birds-eye view of the dance at any moment. So that they are dealing with their immediate surroundings, but also keeping track of where the dance is going, what shapes are being made, what relationships are being established, etc. This means that the choreographers mind gets to working at any given time during this first section to help create what each individual performer might decide is an aesthetically pleasing dance.

We imagine that this way of working might be universal. Collaboration exists in most fields in various ways. This kind of collaboration can work - it gets things done, keeps individuals working, but in our case it is particularly safe. It doesn't produce the most innovative results. It's not meant to. It is meant to get the job done in a way that is mostly known but extremely efficient and systematic. This is why this section is only the beginning...

Let's have a conversation about having a conversation

Written in December. Updated today:

In November, I had the privilege of seeing/witnessing/participating in Sadie Weinberg's piece "Happiness; an experiment." Sadie has been working on this piece for over a year and in fact, I saw the piece nearly a year ago in another venue. The piece was great, but I'm not actually writing this blog about that dance. I'm writing this blog to unravel the amazing conversation I had with Sadie immediately following the work.

Because I'd had two experiences with the piece, I could clearly see its development. I appreciated the growth the piece was able to undergo within that process. At the after-conversation, I approached Sadie almost right away and stole nearly 30 minutes of her time.  I wanted to tell her how much I appreciated that she'd allowed her work to evolve over time. And because she was so open to hearing my experience, I was able to talk her through some of my own ups and downs within the piece without apprehension. I was able to tell her the things that had concerned me in the original version and how some of her changes in this version allowed me to shift in my perspective. I was able to share with her my journey - not just the good or the bad, but quite simply my journey. She was open to and interested in all of it.

It felt like such a relief. I'd really enjoyed the piece and to be able to talk to its creator in such a candid way was…well…foreign to me.

Okay, maybe thats not all together true. In grad school, I was able to talk with some of my colleagues about our work without letting our egos enter the conversation. We were most concerned with the work. We trusted each other and respected our different aesthetics. We could see the work from both our own perspectives and desires, but also from the other's perspective.

This has gotten difficult for me in my current situation and (I may be making an assumption here)...I think it is an issue in San Diego.

How do we talk to each other about our work??

I attended the Choreolab performance that the La Jolla Music Society offered up in late Janurary (more on that in another blog). I do have some issues I feel need to be raised surrounding the details of this event, but one thing was very clear - the simple feedback from these artists allowed the various works to blossom internally. I wondered what might have been gained if this panel were to include some of San Diego's nationally and internationally known choreographers? We have it within our own community to grow and evolve our work, if we could only open ourselves up to give feedback with respect and receive feedback with an open-mind. Communicating from a perspective that supports the work - that's all.

Process Works Update #1: Casting

I have always been the type of artist who delights in taking my time with the creative process. I cherish time and space as I allow my work to be revealed to me.

I started this process last April (2014) - not knowing where it would lead. My plan was to work with dancers individually for seven rehearsals with the intention to eventually put a group together. It's amazing what these one on one rehearsals did for me and the group. I was able to build a dialog with each of the dancers individually about the internal workings of my aesthetic. Each of them worked somewhat differently, but the 5 dancers I asked to be in the group had several things in common.

First of all, they are each choreographers in their own right so they come to the work with an intrinsic understanding of the organization of space and time. However, though they are experienced dancers and dance makers (mostly in their thirties) they choose to enter into my process with curiosity, vulnerability, and trust. Trust in me & my processes, trust in each other, and trust in themselves. It's a beautiful space to begin making work.

Thank you Kris, Erica, Jenn, Lara, Ariana, and Kyle. It's my pleasure to work with you all!

A quiet community?

Written in October - Updated today:

I've had many contradictory experiences lately relating to the state of San Diego dance. Or maybe they are pointing to a transitional time for the San Diego dance community. Or maybe they are pointing to a gap between what IS happening, what WAS happening, and what COULD BE happening. Or maybe they just point toward what I want to see happening...

Situation #1

My meditation teacher introduced me to a man in our meditation group who used to dance with Martha Graham. I told him that I am a choreographer in the community and he expressed his thoughts about San Diego's community. He suggested we are a "quiet community". He went on to talk about his time with Martha (pronounced by him - "Maww-thaww") and we left with the thought that we might have coffee sometime, but I'm still not sure if he's actually interested.

This idea of "quiet community" stayed with me throughout the day. I think he said this to me during a week when I'd arranged three or four performances to see that week.

Situation #2

Dance Community Meeting - last summer San Diego Dance Connect invited the entire dance community to gather to start a discussion about our needs as a whole. There is not enough time for everything, but something that stood out was the response of the president of DanceUSA saying that she was very impressed with this community after being in San Diego for several days. I don't think she expected to be so impressed.

Situation #3

Gabe Masson, a nationally (if not internationally) known choreographer told me last June that he would be moving back to NYC.  He said he'd been making work and touring it all over the states, but not in San Diego for at least the last 5 or 6 years. He said there just isn't a place for him here.

Situation #4

SD Dance Conversation - Once a month for the last eight months or so, A grouping of self-proclaimed 'dance geeks' (myself included when I can make it) gather to share videos and have discussions. The group is a diverse cut of the (under 40) contemporary/modern dance community with varying aesthetics and opinions. We've had some great conversations and I'm interested in understanding why each individual loves what they love. I feel this discussion is opening me up to new/old ideas, reminding me of my own values and priorities in dance and dance making, and allowing me push against some concepts in a safe and accepting place.

So…

What's the deal? We do seem to be a quiet community, but how do we make our voices louder? There are many of us here who are making and watching and challenging and growing. Do we value our work? Do we value each other for making work (even outside our aesthetic?) How do we encourage non-dancers of San Diego to also value the community of dance artists here. I'm not entirely sure - except I do know that we could all speak up. We could push ourselves more and be willing to completely fail. We could support risk-taking by supporting 'failure'! We could talk about our work more. We could talk about each other's work more. We could market our work more. We could take our work outside of San Diego. We could see more work outside of San Diego. We could share our own work more often in San Diego. We can continue to be willing to grow and evolve and see ourselves as artists instead of entertainment with the understanding that the more voices and opinions we honor within the conversation, the louder we become as a whole. This is my great wish for my/our future as a community.