Afterwards

The week after a large production is always an interesting time. When I was younger I would certainly have alittle post-performance depression because after a week of intensity there was nothing to do (or it seemed that way). Now, since I have ongoing projects that overlap, there is not that same feeling, but it still is a shift in attention. I think right now it is an especially big shift since this last weekend was the end of "My ocean is never blue" - the only thing I've been working on for 3 years. I have some new projects coming up, but after such a monumental project there is a feeling of, I guess, melancholy. Just a touch of sadness that the project is over - I've lived it with it for so long and now I don't have to think about it anymore - I don't have to think about creating new sections, or rearranging the structure, or props, rehearsals or musicians. It is also a relief, of course. The only thing I have to do now is to reflect on whether the project was a success or not - or what was successful, what was not, what part of the process worked, what could have been clearer, stronger. This post-project process of reflection takes a while - we'll see what it brings...

Beginning of the End

Tonight we had our first performance of what will be the last version of My ocean is never blue. My company has worked exclusively on this for 3 years and after many variations, in many venues we are going to let it rest. It has been a fascinating journey exploring water from multiple perspectives ranging from water's molecular structure to the scarcity of water, the Japanese Tea Ceremony and our Hurricane solos. We've performed it as a loosely structured 20 minute improv to a highly structured 55 minute work with a cast ranging from 5 dancers to 28 dancers in formal theatrical venues, studio performances and outdoor site-specific locations. And now, as I think back over the versions we've created and certainly the many people that have performed the work I am feeling melancholy about it ending. Usually you stop performing a work because you are ready for another challenge, to explore new material or find a new inspiration. This work - My ocean is never blue - has continually been a new thing to work on. Whether we are creating new sections, changing or deleting others, rearranging the structure, putting it in a new venue or adding new performers, it has always been shifting, transforming, and evolving. Even though we're performing the last version, it is not the final version nor the version - it is simply a version. One of my goals with My ocean is never blue was to never create an authoritative version of the work - and we haven't. Tomorrow night will be the last chance to see My ocean is never blue in any form and it will be the last time we will perform it. That thought both makes me smile and tear up some.

The coming avalanche

Today was our last rehearsal in the studio - yea! yikes! Monday morning Arachne Aerial Arts and I meet at 11am to rig their fabric for tomorrow night's first rehearsal in the theater. Today we ran through the piece from beginning to end without stopping and it went amazingly well - everyone mostly (mostly) knew what they were doing and doing it at the right time. We're still working on certain transitions (if I'm allowed to use that word) as well as clarifying intent in certain sections - but overall I think were getting there and right on track.

I've mentioned this before, but again, I find the hardest thing is the translation of language between the companies - I mean, we all speak english, but the language of intent, meaning & image is very different in post-modern dance, West African dance, Classical Indian dance and even aerial dance - in addition to the musicians. Each form - really everything - has its own short hand words and phrases for things that we don't often acknowledge or recognize on a day to day basis. So, when working with other forms all these short hands need to opened up and examined. One example is using just plain walking in the work - in post-modern work this is not uncommon and understood (at least by the performers) to have evolved out of a history of using common place movements in performance works. But when artists who don't know that history nor is it apart of their history then walking becomes something that you have to explain in some way or another. This process has been great for me as there are now many things that are apart of My ocean is never blue that would never have been apart of the work if it was just left up to me, or even my company. I look forward to performing all this work together on stage, with lights and an audience.

Subtracting, Leaving Out, A Fond Farewell

What makes a dance that dance? I mean, what makes it it and not something else? Yes, I know - a dance is a work of art that explores a subject using a specific set of movement phrases or structures to specific music with specific costumes, or not. But, what I mean is - how much can you remove and a dance still be that dance? We are finalizing the structure for our upcoming Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center show and I am wrestling with including our Falling Section or not. This section was inspired by Rachel Carson's The Edge of the Sea - an interesting, if overly detailed, look at the tidal zone of the Eastern Seaboard. It is a physical section with a strong athleticism to it - not so 'dancey'. But, for our upcoming show it doesn't fit in with the more etherial material of the other sections. I feel conflicted leaving it out since it has been central to the work since its beginning. The other sections that have been in each performance include H2O Trio, Christine's Solo w/ Bulking, Hurricane Solos, and some version of Drench. Additionally there are statistics about water always used as part of the sound score. Now, for this last performance, we aren't using the statistics nor the Hurricane Solos, and (I guess) the Falling Section. It would be interesting to see how much I could remove before My ocean is never blue stops being itself.

Music, Glorious Music

Up to this point we have not have had much music in our rehearsals because most of the music for this newest version of My ocean is never blue is being played live or is being recorded specifically for this performance. But in our last rehearsal (Sunday) we had almost all the music - with the exception of alittle that still needs to be recorded. And, predictably, it was amazing. I mean, we had to slosh through a lot of nitty-gritty details of when people play and how transitions will work, but to have 3 afro-cuban percussionists, a classical piano/string quartet and a post-modern guitarist all playing live is pretty great. I think one thing that worried some was how all these styles of music (and dance) would work bumped up against one another and I myself had moments of being worried too - but, after today it clearly is not going to be a problem - it just works. There is something pleasing starting the piece with a recording of Indian music that's meditative and have Jonathan's guitar slide in over that as we transition into the next section. And, there is something pleasing to hear the classical music follow some repetitive pattern on the guitar. The similarities and differences between the Afro-Cuban percussion and Indian percussion is wonderful to hear - at one point the Indian music began and you could see Sam (a Afro-Cuban percussionist) just smilling as he was listening. As I said after last week's rehearsal about the dancers, I think today was important to get the musicians understanding how the piece was working and that each group is not seperate, but we are overlapping, supporting and juxtaposing each other. It certainly was a dense rehearsal, but really a good one.

A Big Rehearsal

Today's rehearsal felt like a big deal - like today could make or break this project with these four companies. We started to put our different sections together in bigger "chunks" and, honestly, I wasn't sure it was going to work. I was worried because I wasn't sure how we would connect the different material, and secondly I wasn't sure dancers of the other companies were buying into this project. I am asking people to step out of their comfort zone in a number of ways and have felt some resistance to the process. But the other company directors and I had a good meeting this week and I think they talked with their dancers to get everyone focused - and I think it worked. I kind of took charge of today and we put together about 40 minutes of material - that was good. Some sections are individual companies, some a mix of companies and the transitions between sections. I am trying to make transitions fairly straight forward, simple and not a big deal. In college (undergraduate) my teacher and mentor, Viola Farber would say that "there are no such things as transitions", which I love - either it is something or not. So, I'm trying to make keep transitions moving - not making them a big deal. After the rehearsal a number of dancers from the other companies expressed how impressed they were with how material was weaving together, which made me happy - mainly because that means they will be more engaged as they become more interested. It was a good day - though exhausting. Of course, next Sunday we have the all the musicians coming and they have to start getting along...

JMU Post-Post

Despite my desire to report on our week at James Madison University I only spent time on the essentials - rehearsing, planning, teaching, some sleeping and too much driving. In one week student and community dancers learned and performed "My ocean is never blue" with the company, and I created a 15-minute work for the Virginia Repertory Dance Company. Aot of time, organization and creative umph was needed to get through the week. The dancers in "ocean" did a great job with the material - which ranged from simple walking structures to improv scores and athletic choreographed phrases. We spent time talking about the content of the work, each section's origin, how its evolved and fitting the pieces into the whole. It has taken us - the company – time to develop and clarify all this and getting new dancers on the same page was a challenge. But, as I said, they did great and both our performances were really wonderful. I, and the whole company, felt that they were some of the most satisfying performances of the work.

The work I created for the Rep Company was an outgrowth of the works I created this summer. I combined this previous material with new material, created a new sound score and came up with a dance for 9 dancers. This work is an exploration of 'home' and 'leaving home' and are the first bits of a larger project that explores human migration and immigration. As I started researching this larger project I wanted to clarify this idea of home for myself – both as a place we leave and as a place we create or arrive. Right now the work is pretty abstract, but as the project evolves I plan on bringing more concreteness to these topics/issues. I, again, was really satisfied with the students attention, creativity, commitment and dancing.