Open Studio

VOICE – After nearly nine months out of the studio and out of dancing… this recording is an idea (that I came up with in my practice) while rehearsing what to write to my friends to make them as excited to attend this performance as I am to perform it (promote, promote, promote…). This recording is planned. My practice is also planned. These choices are not.

I am sure I owe the inspiration for many of the movement choices tonight to the dancers in Find Me in Here, another of my current works-in-progress (August 29-30 at Green Space in LIC, 8pm…) because they are contributing most of the movement for that piece, and maybe I am dancing like them today.

[the above is a sketch of an idea for a voice recording I plan to make to accompany my May 28th performance of Open Studio (vs. 7)]

It was difficult today to move without music. I just discovered Sufjan Stevens’ music and am completely enchanted with his song “Sister Winter.” (Listen to it here and check out Sufjan here). It is an entrancing song. Far more lovely to dance with the song than by myself. The music makes my body feel stronger and more alive than it is (well, stronger at least) and it is nearly impossible not to move with the freedom.

But I did resolve to practice in silence for at least half of my studio time (the first half being devoted to warming up) and thus danced alone as planned. I found sort of a melancholy movement – a resistance to moving, but also a playfulness.

Mostly what I took away from this practice is that while I can move big, lush, and flowing-ly in response to the rhythms of sound, my own rhythms don’t seem to exist. I (end up) exploring tensions in the body, stillness, slowness, and control.

In the moments of pause after dancing– in there is what I am looking for.

Get chinese knee pads.

First day into the studio to follow my open studio practice.

I’m both excited by my new relationship with movement and bored with my old tricks. I’m trying to find new paths but also letting myself relax into the comfortable. Let it breathe.

I didn’t work on structures or time goals today, just remembering what it’s like to move. It’s fun – it’d be more fun with strong legs (still working on those knees!), but it’s also fun to find ways around my insufficiences. Yay.

Enough for one day.

Sometime after discovering structure, after I fell in love with “audience design,” I lost my connection to moving. Structured experience replaced “dancing.”

I love my structured experiences, but I miss dancing. I miss the raw connection to an audience, feeding off of them instead of controlling them, giving them my instinct, opening a window to my investigation of the moving body.

Open Studio is my return to solo work with a focus on the body. I expect it to be a bumpy and uncomfortable return. My body has changed and I’m more cautious with myself, more careful with what I will give to an audience.

This is a personal exploration. Key to its success is to perform in safe space with welcoming audiences –and scary spaces with unwelcoming audiences. It is to perform under any conditions.

My art is fleeting and I am working in celebration of that. Here are the “rules” for my process:

Objective
Reconnect with the unique body performing.

Rehearsal practice
- rehearse weekly or bi-weekly
- do not video/audio/photo document these rehearsals
- warm up with music, practice without it
- never use a mirror
- if you can’t get studio time, use your living room
- write for 5-15min sometime during rehearsal (and post the notes here)
- put out seating for 3-5 viewers (using placeholders if no chairs are available)
- open your doors to anyone who wants to watch you rehearse and offer q+a time at the end
- perform as often as possible in as many different environments as possible
- include these notes in programs