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.
A place to share my thoughts on dance, writing, performance, inspiration, intuition, & creative processes...wallpaperperformance.com
Monday, February 23, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)