Collage of Images

I created this when I was recovering from my first breast cancer surgery in July and it seems to hit me in a lot of ways. I will just post it and you tell me what you see or feel.

All of the images are from Art In America magazines from 2010.

I feel strong connections with this piece and The Floating City.

The poem that started it all

8/8/11

The Floating City

Even as I sit in this chair, the city rocks.
I am on the boat again or did I ever leave?

Shifting and settling underneath me
It tugs my heart and mind back to this place…

The floating city
There is no escape.
I am no longer trying to get away I am here
When I am here,
I am not sure what is real and what is a figment of this floating world.

Un –realized / realized dreams
Open dialogues of days gone by
The in-between
The middle
The muck

I sit and wait
I actually try to move but I don’t
But I am...you see
The floating city is constantly moving

Amazing Sunset

One of many amazing sunsets on Lake Michigan. I have been lucky to hang out on my friend Glenn Schaffner's boat this summer. The Maru is the name of the boat and you can find us at South Delta Four off the Monroe Harbor most Friday nights from June - October.

I often sit on the front of the boat and feel myself become one with the sped and movement of the boat. The scene of the city lights, the darkness of the water, fireworks overhead, it is heaven!

I try to stand and feel the way the water rocks my body and memorize the disorienting effect of shifting your weight with the waves hitting the boat.

My goal is to let this rocking inform my movement vocabulary.

When I have been on the boat for a while and I step onto land I still feel the rocking and shifting in my body. What is this and where is my body and mind when this occurs. How can I capture that moving and rocking in the work.

I have envisioned a moving set and hope I find funding to make it happen.

Phillip Roth quote

This Phillip Roth quote is still resonating with me as I prepare the Draft solo Work version of this piece.

"The world is full of people who go around believing that they’ve got you or your neighbor figured out. There really is no bottom to what is not known. The truth about us is endless".

Two week Preparation

I am preparing for a performance at Links Hall, Nov. 4-6 in Chicago as part of Erin Carlisle Norton's curated show The Purple State featuring dance works by Meghan Durham-Wall, Erin and The Moving Architects and myself.

I originally reached out to JR Gualtieri for video and Michael Wall for music but as the countdown to premiere began we or I had to shift. As I am not in Columbus to work directly with them, with that said JR and I did a video shoot on Friday Oct. 21st at Columbus Dance Theatre.

The shoot went well at least I had a chance to finally workshop some ideas in front of the camera. Gavin Danger showed up and watched some of my improvisations and JR switched music to help push my dancing body to new places. Geoffrey arrived and witnessed my final dance to a piece of music by Tomita, which has now become one piece of music in this first incarnation.

I am just too uncertain to drag Michael in at this time but I know that what I am showing the first week of November will be a draft work. I know that I want a set and a group of dancers in this work. I am workshopping my ideas and I hope to take a year to develop the final project.

The video concept is to be sitting still while the video behind me representing aspects of myself dancing around me. The urge to move is present but I can't or is it inside my mind.  I am dancing.

I am nervous and excited about what JR and I accomplishing in two weeks - again knowing that we are not in the same city but we are giving it a go.

The Floating City Begins

I would like to introduce my latest creative endeavor, a new dance work entitled The Floating City. This will be my first full documentation of one of my projects since graduate school. Of course I do have photographs and videos of most of my work and notebooks full of thoughts, poems, music, feedback, notes, articles, and reviews in boxes somewhere but this time I am interested in a new way of recording and possibly even in developing the work.

As I have been dreaming and discovering this piece all sorts of interesting side connections keep happening. One thing leading to another and I want to keep track of all of the layers that are pushing me to create this work in the way that I am. One can only hope that this path of discovery and inspiration will create a layered nuanced performance piece.

I usually only share my creative process and ideas with my core collaborators and a couple of friends and peers who I seek input and dialogue. For the typical audience / dance relationship; Dance is a one-time connection, you see it one night it happens and you leave. You feel it, you sense it, you might be moved, and love the movement or you might hate the music, can’t connect, not your cup of tea. But you experience a visceral art form that for the most art not that many people will see.

This blog is for those interested in the creative process and exploring the idea of developing a deeper connection to a particular dance by following the adventures of The Floating City. If one invests in the creation– how will it change what you see or how you see it? Or maybe even how I create it.

This blog is for me to understand the process of this particular piece, to watch it unfold and develop from beginning to end. Each piece has a different process and experience. A lot is determined by who is in the room with me, from the collaborators to the dancers, to the time allowed in the studio. Different vocabularies and different contexts create different environments in the studio, which in turn affects the outcome of the work

The Floating City blog will be like dancing for a small group of people – it may be intimate and telling. I am open to the possibilities of what will be revealed. I am going to dance in words and document the creative adventure ahead of me.