My First Butoh Ride

I was just in Katsura Kan's 'Curious Fish'. This was my first real Butoh experience and I loved it! I loved the use of internal story, the concept of filling a mask with emotion, the sense of ancient-ness, the taboo and beauty and absurdity. I especially had fun as a chicken. And I got to be naked - woohooo! On the whole, I went on a rich internal journey within a landscape of sparse and delicate physicality. Lovely.

Study 349

The Spiel Uhr show on Oct 18/19 went quite well. We got lots of great feedback on 'Study 349' – "interesting use of character and abstraction" – and the dancers seemed to enjoy themselves. This is the project on Flow theory that I've been working on and in this phase I was able to introduce some methods like repetitive movement and Viewpoints. Unfortunately our rehearsal period was so short that we hardly scratched the surface. In some ways it boiled down to standard rehearsals – shaping choreography, getting the details, etc.. So I'd like to get back into the studio with the dancers and really have an extended lab around the Flow state.

photo by Bill Hebert. dancers: Jodi Obeid and Sara Narva

Impatient Patients

I can't believe the incredible thick bureaucracy of the medical system! My husband and I just spent six and a half hours in the hospital trying to get two different kinds of scans done. My husband has been dealing with brain cancer for two and a half years now, with a recent recurrence this summer. So while waiting two hours for his second scan of the day, a CT scan, we also find out that a particular conversation between two of our doctors, regarding an important transfer of information, has never transpired. We've been waiting for three weeks for information to pass between these two. How FRUSTRATING! My husband's treatment is waiting on all these people to get COORDINATED! Meanwhile the cancer cells grow... Really, what kind of person do you have to be to get efficient medical treatment in this country? A Senator?

Here's hubby's blog: http://brain.fraczard.com/

So how can I continue to be an artist during all this? Jon says that knowing I'm following my path is what keeps some sense of sanity in our lives. I keep grasping for threads of integrity. How can I spend so much of my time in a field that seems so narcissistic and ego-centered? By telling myself that I'm investigating embodiment - how can we live in our diseased bodies in this toxic environment with any hope of Grace. I'm looking for Grace.

Which brings me to Flow theory and my project incorporating Flow into the choreographic process. It's an odd task I've set for myself and my dancers... finding this expansive state of mind and body during a creative process. What I'm finding is that the Flow state is really more accessible at the beginning of the process – in the improvisational stages – and in performance. The middle is full of nuts and bolts dance crafting. But we keep our Flow lens on, attending to the 'how' of the making and hope that it will all make sense in the end.

The Next Project

I'm working on a new project wherein I, with Ring dancers, am investigating Flow Theory. Flow is the state of consciousness that is achieved through a practice of total attention and absorption in an activity. Major research was conducted on Flow Theory by Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and later published for the layperson in his book, Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience. It is from this book that I will be basing my experiments on the intersection of the choreographic process and the Flow state.

I have two methods for entering this state and am relying on the group process and feedback at each rehearsal to modify add or delete any aspects of these. The first is Viewpoints which is a technique of improvisation that provides a vocabulary for thinking about and creating movement for the stage. Viewpoints separates the various components of stage action into nine categories: spatial relationship, tempo, kinesthetic response, shape, duration, gesture, repetition, architecture and topography. The practitioner is to stay aware of what category he/she is operating in in any given moment. Thus it is an exercise for mental clarity.

The other method is a movement score involving the extended repetition of a Qi Qong movement. I call this the Swing Score and it is one simple movement performed right and left for 15-20 minutes as a kind of meditation. The repetition activates a different part of the brain, taking us out of analytical thinking and putting us into a calm, receptive presence.

I'm relying on these two methods to bring us into a Flow state from which we will generate and shape movement material into a new piece which I am currently calling "Out of Play". We will be performing the first draft of this as guests at Group Motion's concert, Spiel Uhr, at the Community Education Center, October 18-19.

The SEEDS Festival at Earthdance!

SEEDS stands for Somatic Experiences in Earth, Dance and Science. It offered numerous workshops. I took two - Karen Nelson's 'Pause' and Olive Bieringa/Body Cartography's 'Micro/Macro. Great stuff, both of them. Plus lots of SEEDS events – panel discussions on science and art, performances by Daniel Lepkoff and Suprapto Suryodarmo from Indonesia, lectures such as Complicities with Racism by Dr. Enoch Page, Associate Professor of Anthropology Department, UMASS. And then of course there's all the yummy food and communal vibe of Earthdance ... and the SAUNA!

The 2008 National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, Colorado

I’ve just returned from the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver and I’m so fired up about the events, conversations and art that took place there when over 3000 people gathered to discuss the art and business of live performance. Here’s some info that I’d like to pass on to the dance community at large.

The most inspiring aspect of the convention was the caucus discussions. To sit at a table with the general manager of a high budget ballet company or a the marketing directors of the symphony or opera as well as small dance and theater company directors like me, from all over the nation, was a unique and enlightening experience. Our mission was to tackle the concrete issues of moving the performing arts field forward (advance our vision), to identify our weaknesses and strengths as a community, find strategies for strengthening arts education, arts advocacy and relevance to our culture at large, to take the idea of diversity a little bit further. The beauty was that we didn’t just talk, we came to agreements, got it all down on paper, handed it into a ‘theme team’ who synthesized all these words into concise language overnight so that we could take the ideas another step further the next day. On the last day of the conference, we, 1600 people, gathered in one huge room in the Colorado Convention Center and voted on our top priorities. Here’s what we came up with, summarized from the printed daily discussion guides.

Vision statement
We are a performing arts community, inclusive of all the disciplines, that coordinates and collaborates effectively at both national and local levels to multiply the public benefits of the performing arts and to enhance each art form. We create optimum value for our constituencies and their communities by ensuring:

• Highly innovative and sustainable institutions
• Fully supported artists
• Meaningful opportunities for education in the arts for all children and lifelong learners
• Robust artistic collaboration among disciplines
• Strong and effective advocacy for public policy conducive to the full spectrum of the performing arts
• Authentic and diverse public participation in the performing arts
• Deep and widely acknowledged contributions to the public good by being vitally connected to other individuals, groups, and organizations
• Relevance through our presence in the marketplace of culture and ideas.

We identified the community’s three most pressing issues and were asked to vote for the strategy we felt most important to take in order to advance our vision.

Issue #1. Our communities do not sufficiently perceive the value, benefits, and relevance of the arts, which makes advocacy and building public support for the arts a challenge at every level. Top three strategies:

On the national level:
#1. Organize a national media campaign with celebrity spokespersons, catchy slogans (e.g. “Got Milk”), unified message, and compelling stories.

#2. Create a Department of Culture/Cabinet-level position which is responsible for implementing a national arts policy

#3. Lobby elected political officials for pro-arts policy and funding; demand arts policy platform from candidates

On the local level – local being the regional, state and civic levels
#1. Create an arts coalition to get involved in local decision-making, take leadership positions, and strengthen relationships with elected officials.

#2. Forge partnerships with other sectors to identify how the arts can serve community needs

#3. Foster cross-disciplinary conversations to share data and best practices, develop common goals, and create joint activities/performances.

On the individual/organizational level:
#1. Build relationships with non-ars groups, including governments, corporations, community development organizations, etc.

#2. Create opportunities for active participation in the arts for all ages (including interactive websites, open rehearsals, etc.)

#3. Expand relationships across the community to find and develop new leaders (e.g. through Board development) and local champions for the arts

Issue #2. The potential of arts education and lifelong learning in the Arts is under realized. Top three strategies:

On the national level:
#1. Devise an advocacy campaign to promote the inclusion of performing arts in core curricula

#2. Lobby for education reform, including rescinding No Child Left Behind

#3. Enlist artists as full partners in all aspects of arts education through training and creating an AmeriCorps/WPA- program

On the local level:
#1. Mobilize and collaborate with K-12 and higher education institutions to strengthen arts education and arts participation as core curriculum

#2. Strengthen relationship with school boards and policy makers through lobbying, electing “arts friendly officials”, involvement in local politics

#3. Integrate arts teaching in educators’ professional development and integrate teaching programs in artist organizations

#4. Innovate financial models to fund the arts: link to tax base, develop dedicated sales tax, connect to corporate funds

On the individual/organizational level:
#1. Lead lifelong education programs that actively involve people in multigenerational groups. “Make the arts part of a lifelong wellness plan”

#2. Directly engage teachers to integrate the arts into their teaching and create professional development programs to address their needs

#3. Commit your entire organization to arts education in mission, budget, programs, and collaborations

Issue #3. The increasing diversity of our communities creates an opportunity to engage a variety of ages, races, identities, and cultures in our audiences and organization. Top three strategies:

On the national level:
#1. Charge national service organizations to create dialogue at convenings, create training programs, promote diverse art and artists, and partner with grassroots organizations who are already connected to diverse communities

#2. Diversify boards, management, and staff in all national arts organizations

On the local level:
#1. Open an honest dialogue across community groups and sectors to share priorities and identify barriers to participation

#2. Partner within the arts, as well as with community organizations, to build relationships

#3. Expand beyond traditional venues to establish new points of access

On the individual/organizational level:
#1. Discover arts in our community offered by cultures other than your own and establish peer relationships

#2. Set long term goals and plan to have staff, board, programming, and audiences reflect the demographics of your community

#3. Program more diverse artists and content

National Performing Arts Convention

Getting ready for the National Performing Arts Convention - I leave for Denver tomorrow, bright and early! I've received a scholarship from Dance USA to attend. Yay for me! Thirty-five hundred people in the performing arts field will be spilling into the Colorado Convention Center tomorrow to "find ways to communicate the importance of the arts to national life and to identify new ways to convey the value of the arts in America to a wider audience." Cool.

I've volunteered to be a 'table facilitator' for the 21st Century Town Meeting Caucuses. For four days, I will facilitate table discussions for a group of 9 on creating a blueprint for action for our emerging performing arts community. There will be 300 other tables with ten people each, doing the same thing. Each participant's voice will be heard as concrete ideas and actions are compiled and woven into the next day's discussion. The whole thing culminates on Saturday with a big action plan to implement on the local, state and national levels. Whew!

Glad I've got my business cards....

Thinking about the body...

Thinking about the body, about movement, about states of being. Where am i now? In a chair at my desk. Tea from mug still warm on my tongue. Unanswered bills, scattered lists of things to do. How does this dance of paper shuffling go? This is a state of being... observing, not trying, simply noticing.

I babysat today. Smiley, happy boy, so full of movement, eight months old. He's trying to find his crawl. Only managing some spasmotic Twister moves. Still able to truck along somehow, not very fast. Very interested in pulling himself up to standing though not really strong enough to do it without help. Neuron pathways still forming, coordination on its way.



photo courtesy new york weill medical center archives

My Dances Dance Me

The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

photo from Cynthia's Polar Adventure

I build dances about the body and its languages. I pursue its eloquence, subtleties and intelligence while investigating the various ways we, as humans, communicate or might communicate. I look for the awkward and unusual to see who lives there, what lives there and what they are saying. My dances twist and grow in obscure ways, with surprising torques and redirections, as if they are trying to trick me.

I strive to not ‘know’ what the dance is about as I am making it, but instead to let movement and images surface from the subconscious, to bubble forth from improvisational states and daydreams. My artistic practice is about getting out of the way, getting lost, wandering. It’s about finding the venue for the subconscious. Much like a tree grows toward light I am striving to follow an organic path that is led by my guts and instincts, not my head and what I think you want to see or hear. But don’t be scared. I’m not interested in pushing your buttons or showing you my dark side. I’m really interested in the whimsical beauty in life, the way we talk and play with our bodies, I want to bring back our five-year-old playfulness and wonder with life.

Composing an Artist Statement

I've been grappling with an Artist Statement. Every artist needs one. I come up against the need to sound coherent, polished, sane, adult-like. I struggle to write in complete sentences or sound cool and hip, like I'm really the shit. Mostly I'm just trying to honor what's really true for me and that has to do with tapping the subconscious, with playing, with getting out of the way and letting the work come through. I'm trying not to work from my head; trying to let it come from the gut or heart or ovaries or whatever else wants to speak.

Maybe next time I'll have an Artist Statement to post.

It's January 2008 now and we just completed another successful run of Disarray. We were part of a group concert at the Community Education Center last weekend (11-13) called the New Edge Mix. I'd say we reached an even wider audience and got an even more enthusiastic reception, much to our delight. I really enjoyed reworking the piece with the same performers. Karin, Lindsay and Erin reached deeper into the work and found new levels of trust and play. And surprisingly, it worked quite well in a black box space so I'm glad I went against my first impulse which was to keep it in its original long, narrow configuration.