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...