Saturday, August 23, 2008

performing... in my mind




This is a fantastic group from Wales. Their work is generally sit-specific, collaborative and improvisational. In this particular durational performance, I was struck by their ability to navigate the barrier of the forth wall and engage the audience, it was in a word "sublime".
I have a lot to learn from this group.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

on or off


i have been on a rest finally, after a non-stop year of travel, work and research. while on my break i am starting to feel the absence of my daily practice of dancing. the practice of letting my thinking (skull based) brain to share a communion with the much deeper body based brain.
i have got to get into a groove for myself soon.
below is a posting from another conversation with a couple of friends whom i shared a two month-long daily practice with.
as i currently find myself in a physical limbo, swilling around in my mind wondering how to return to the reality of my body, i thought this entry was an appropriate reflection.



on or off.

i am here in a far off location trying to remember my experience of the daily practice. obviously not the formal framework of it, that has been clearly articulated by j and l. but the rest of it - the physiological dimension. the memory dimension. the body fleshy dimension. the experience of coming clean with the truth of a particular moment or three minutes of moments strung together, our theater and performance.

were we on, within the experience of expressing a period of our lives. at times we succeeded and were real with one another and at times fell short and hid, perhaps just a little behind clever moves. going to the silent place of dance - as known territory, veiled in exploration. and many more times, beautifully articulating the raw state of ‘egg on face’. dont know what to do - AND - am not going to try to pretend i do - BUT - staying with you. the vulnerability can be palpable and then in an instant, complete recognition of the obsurdity of all of it. hysterical laughter. i loved those moments. not knowing and communicating not knowing. but i observed, and experienced, that only by doing that do you really have any control. and then something occures that tickles the soul dimension.

because really, its all over in an instant anyway. like a great photojournalist who can capture that one passing instant on film, we as performers also do the same - we read our environment - and monitor our sensations - and report on our experience, in an instant - many instants in a row until times up. thats it.

having spent years perfecting my acting skills of illustrating being in control (often in white tights or sleek ass shorts as a classical/contemporary dancer), i see i am still a student at living within a certain dimension of my work.

the performer practices saying - I DONT HAVE A CLUE (when they really dont have a clue). but in that admission, is everything. that admission is truth, in most cases, but it is precisely that admission that is culturally denied, especially in presentational dance.

this two month long period of daily practice with j and l, was a form of ‘articulating’ the ‘i dont know’ - and celebrating that.

its weird even to say it that way - “articulating not knowing”.