Sanved, Kolkata

Now working with Darpana and doing some amazing work...

http://kolkatasanved.org/index.htm

Spin-ster!

(I wrote this as an accompaniment to a short ariel-dance piece I choreographed for myself as part of a 3 week ariel performance workshop with Brandy Leary... il try and figure out how to put the vid of it up next!)

I awake to the sound of my breathing. Within myself first and then on the outside. Where I have awoken I cannot always tell right away... At times I wake into a dream that resembles a reality, other times into a reality that could be a dream. But then again who can tell which is which?

Haven't you ever wondered if you'll suddenly wake up and find all of this has disappeared? that it was only a dream?

I no longer do.

My faith lies in the laws of gravity. Especially when they fail. I need nothing more, for i know in the end i still feel alive.

I continue spinning, in and out of control... and when the world is a blur even when steady, how does it matter what direction I am turning in?

I am asked to turn in sync with the world by people who do not turn it. But I move to my own rhythm. The one i began with, awoke with.

In and out of consciousness too i go, only to wake some place else.

Rainbow 'Round My Shoulders

I had my weekly dance history class on wednesday morning... and today we got to learn a bit about Lester Horton... and from him of course came Alvin Ailey and all of his work...

The point is, we got to watch a video of the Ailey dancers performing Don McKayle's 'Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder'... first choreographed and performed in 1956, using a series of (chain gang) work songs tied together as the soundtrack.

IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL... and i could tell everyone thought so... as soon as it started we were all completely captured... everyone in the room went quiet, stopped taking notes and fidgeting, eating or finishing their coffee's... we just watched the 12 black male dancers move and listened to the haunting music...

I dont know about everyone, but i could feel at least a couple of us feeling completely taken in... wanting to get up and join them... wanting to move to the music... wanting to feel the extreme emotions it was creating on the dancers on stage and inside us... wanting to express that in our movement...

There is something i would love to see live... and i think its something everyone i know should see as well.... at least all the dancers, choreographers and the likes... im so glad i got to experiance that... thanks Rose-Anne! :-)

Beginning Improvisation on tuesdays...

Something i wrote first in my head while i was still in class... lets just say it counts as a personal reflection piece...!

Tuesday - the 6th of Oct.

Once a week I take a class called Beginning Improvisation, a requirement for freshmen who are dance thirds. Now, I am no stranger to improvisation exercises. Both in theater and dance I have explored the mind/body space that improvisation allows you to tap into. I have found a voice of my own in that space, which, let me clarify, is and hopefully always will be growing and transforming into newer things.

While I do believe the self-awareness and learning one gets from these explorations is limitless, I find myself bored and more importantly, unchallenged in these classes where we are discovering places I have already been. Spaces I have already created and re-created many times over.

I wonder when I think about it, if having to learn how to improvise is in fact as much of a contradiction in reality as it seems in my mind. How can you teach something that by definition is meant to be spontaneous and almost entirely self-generated? If improvisation in the performing arts context means to create something that you have never rehearsed before and do something without any preparation, then how can you learn it?

Unlike me, most of my classmates have never done this kind of thing before. And while the questions I posed in the previous paragraph seem reasonable, if not obvious, to me, I understand the need for these classes and this process. For my classmates this class is an introduction to their spontaneous selves. An icebreaker for them to get comfortable with a side of themselves they have probably never had to interact with in a serious, formal manner before now. And while this is usually a completely personal journey of discovery, a well-intentioned push at the starting line can’t hurt.

Zombie me....

After no sleep for over 3 days... it feels (though untrue) that i have no mind body coordination at all... you know that experiment game thing they make you do where if you hold one part of your body completely still for a while and you end up feeling like its not there... yeah well... this is sorta like that too... and this rambling state comes with... my eyes cant exactly see what im typing... im hoping the words im saying in my head are the ones my fingers are typing... but u never know right!!

strangely, with all this tiredness the last thing i want to do is sleep.... maybe its how when ur too tired u cant sleep... but its also this feeling that i wanna be outside house... and not sitting still... and though my math exam was a disaster today... IT is the reason iv been awake and am feeling so pooped now.... and its over.....!!! NO MORE MATH!!!! lol... i feel like i should be celebrating.... if only A'bad had a good pub/disco.... booze and dance (and some pretty girls if possible... ahem ahem!!).... aaaaaaahhhh!!!

Of course, all these ideas are what i want to do according to my mind.. if my body had the energy it would kick my minds butt for even thinking of moving................... wow! talk about a weird sentance!!!