Last Ping Pong rehearsal

Today was the last rehearsal for the Ping Pong Dance before Saturday's performance for Art On The Fly. As I reflect back on my choreography to date, I have been such a serious artist. This year feels new. First "Wall Street" in February and now "Ping Pong", I have been exploring more playfulness with the dancers and the style of piece. It has been a lot of fun and I laugh a lot at rehearsals, which I think is great. However, I feel a lack of depth of content. So this is my edge (one of many): How can I create playfully and use comedy AND have satisfying content?

Do you know of other choreographers that have accomplished this? Please offer their names or links to their work in the comments.

Day 21-Preparing for class

Today I took time to plan for a modern dance class I'll be teaching later in the week. The combination for the end of class is full of what my San Francisco friends call "Classic Elizabeth Mendana Moves." I lumped together a bunch of my favorite movements to do. This is not a new choreography in that most of it comes from a piece I did titled Flying Dream, A Woman Wrestles With an Angel. But, at least I danced today and here's the video to prove it!

Mother's Day

For the last week, I have been on new-mother-overload! Hence, no new videos for awhile. I could have even posted videos I took of rehearsals for the performance on June 2, but even uploading those was beyond my bandwidth. Today was a beautiful sunny and relaxing day--exactly what Mother's Day should be! As I was putting my baby to sleep this evening, I thought "Today, I'm glad to be a mama." That's not necessarily something I have thought very often over the last eight months. I chose to dance outside in the evening light and to improvise "On Behalf Of" being a mom. My husband ran the video camera and encouraged me to do a triptych.

Day 7-Adagio

I am a momentum addict. I love release technique modern dance classes because it's like riding my own little rollercoaster. I love going upside down and rolling around and jumping off the ground. It's what I call fun! But right now, I am exploring ideas for a piece that will be quite the opposite. The title is "Sanctuary" and the content has to do with rest and restoration. Not quite the adrenaline rush I am used to. Today's choreography begins to explore this concept. Not satisfied with it, but here it is nonetheless.

Day 5-Give Yourself a Hand

Today I had a conversation on Facebook with the other dancers participating in this 30 day challenge about Dance For Camera work and the frame of the camera as the stage, which allows a choreographer to create differently than for a live performance on an actual stage. Tonight, as I was procrastinating doing my 30 seconds of dancing (choosing to analyze that at a different time!) I remembered a vision I had several years ago for a Dance For Camera piece of dancing hands. So, tonight, in my exhausted-haven't-had-a-full-night-of-sleep-in-8-months-state of being, I decided to try a sample Dance For Camera Hand Dance.

Day 4: Dancing in the Rain

Ok. I confess. I didn't dance today. My main excuse: my baby only napped in the car while we drive to and from rehearsal. However, I did play choreographer at rehearsal today. It was a rainy day, but these dancers are fearless! Here are some pics:

Day 3-Finding the dancer

Yesterday, someone posed the question of intention. In my own rewording of her question: What is your intention in this 30 day challenge? What are you moving for/towards/away from? I jumped into this challenge initially for the spiritual practice of it. Create 16 counts a day for 30 days. I know, not very deep and earth shaking. But as I swam laps last night, I meditated on the question and realized I do have a deeper answer.

8 months ago, I gave birth. For the nine months before that, I threw up twice a day. So, I have not danced in a year and a half and (to state the obvious) my body has been through a very physical transformation. This 30 day challenge is about rediscovering and reclaiming myself as a dancing body. As a new mama, I struggle with feeling comfortable in my body again.  Who am I now? How do I move now? I realize as I write this, these are both physical questions as well as philosophical ones.

Tonight I let myself improvise, temporarily lifting the restriction of "choreographing", inspired by Bobby McFerrin's song "Brief Eternity" as well as my inquiry of finding the dancer.

Day 2

Today I took advantage of my napping baby to multi-task! I created my phrase in the kitchen while hard boiling some eggs. However, since I really do not want to share how dirty my kitchen is with the world, I went back to the living room to record. It's a decent set-up: I put my flip video camera on the window sill, hit record, and go do my thing. And since the baby is still asleep (miracles never cease!), I did take time to edit out my walking to and from the camera.

So, here goes Day 2:

The 30 Day Challenge-Day 1

May Day! It feels like spring here in the Northwest. Flowers are blooming and temperatures are warming. That must be the reason for renewed energy in dancemaking! In addition to currently choreographing two pieces for the Seattle International Dance Festival and another piece for a show in July, I am taking on the challenge of choreographing 16 counts of choreography every day for 30 days. This challenge is inspired by Jamuna Chiarini, choreographer in Portland, OR.

I do not promise to be brilliant! Merely, to create 16 counts of movement each day. So, here goes Day 1! Thanks Jamuna for the challenge!

The Labyrinth Project

Yesterday I had my first site rehearsal for the Labyrinth Project with two Mendana Productions dancers. We used the labyrinth at St Paul's Episcopal church in Seattle as it is open to the public and we mostly had the courtyard to ourselves. And, in true Seattle fashion, it did rain on us, but only a little bit.

I am relatively new to labyrinths. I went to a labyrinth workshop earlier this spring and learned about how this concept stretches across centuries, across cultures, across religious traditions. They are meant to be a meditation practice, a personal journey into the unknown, a time for self reflection or soul searching. Then, last Saturday, the labyrinth was introduced in my birthing class as a metaphor for going into labor. (Perhaps I will write more about that another time!)

Now, I am bringing the labyrinth practice together with my dance practice.

In rehearsal, we played with the InterPlay concept "Dancing on Behalf Of". The invitation to the dancers is to hold an intention, a question, a concern, while moving. This gives us something bigger than just ourselves to relate to while doing what we do best: dance. We danced on behalf of our own question. We danced on behalf of each other's questions. And we ended by dancing on behalf of the abuse of power in the world. These intentions give our improvisations a sense if immediacy, a way to relate to the world and each other in our abstract expression.

Please share your own labyrinth experiences. What kind of questions do you hold as you walk a labyrinth? Has it been a transformational experience for you? Have you learned something new or gained a new insight? This project is in the very earliest stages of exploration. I would love to hear your labyrinth stories!

Contemplative Dance Practice

This morning I went across the street to participate in Contemplative Dance Practice at Joan Hanna's barn. This is a form developed by Barbara Dilley that begins with seated meditation, personal warm-up time, Open Space (during which participants can enter and exit the circle, as they feel called, improvising movement) and finishing with time to write or draw in response to their experience. Today, there was a children's camp happening in the space upstairs above the dance studio. Here are my reflections on my experience:


Contemplative Dance Practice downstairs. Young boys masquerading as elephants upstairs. I smile as I realize this is what my future holds. ENERGY. What do I choose to do with it? I begin to dance. And I surprise myself with more than I thought possible. More stability and balance on one leg. More quickness than I expected. And the solo becomes a duet, then a trio. And I have a brief moment of sadness that I cannot roll around on the floor like they can, like I'm used to. That I cannot take weight and do partnering like they can, like I'm used to. But the jealousy is brief because look at how much I can still do/move!

Is the baby still while I am dancing or can I just not notice the simultaneous dance? He was so busy during my stillness, like the boys over my head. And it makes me think about the phrase "Movement as a primary language." My baby moves. Some days I think he is swimming, diving off the high board, turning tricks and landing in the pool below. Other days, he is an acrobat in the circus. By moving, he is letting me know that he is there and he is healthy and I am grateful for the language of movement. Like I am grateful for the trio of women, moving together, sharing touch, creating a dance together without words, sharing our common language of physicality and movement.

Welcome Home

We made it. T and I bought a house and moved in! It's been a little lonely, moving to yet another new community. But something has shifted for me this week. Just today, I was bringing in the mail, the trash can, the recycling bins, the sky is overcast and the air is breezy and chilly, and I was looking out at our forest, thinking "This is home." It has been very windy over the last week and our forest has dropped most of its leaves. Lots of tall alder trees with bare branches. I spent a little time in town today, browsing at the local artisans' shop, checking out home repair books from the library, and eating an amazing scone while sipping fantastic coffee at The Monkey Tree, which, by the way, will be closing for good on December 27. I have only been in there three times now, but I am so sad that such an amazing bakery is closing its doors and before my father-in-law will ever get to try its goodness! Two nights ago, T and I finished putting together our dining room table. We obtained this beautiful piece of furniture off Craigslist for free. The legs were a little unstable, so we filled the holes with wood putty, re-drilled, and put them back together. Such a small project that fills us with a sense of accomplishment! I am looking forward to serving our first Thanksgiving meal in our new home on our beautiful table. Today I feel hopeful and grateful to live in this home and to be part of the Vashon Island community.

Finding a place called home

I am in the process of thinking about developing a new choreography. One that explores themes of displacement. Many people around the world are displaced from their homes by war, natural disasters, foreclosures, or by choice. What do we cling to when we are displaced? What gives us a sense of who we are and where we belong? How do we make “home” when we are immersed somewhere else? I want to explore ideas of belonging, determination, persistence, coping, longing.

I am inspired by my recent research on refugees in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as my own relocation from San Francisco to Seattle. Their displacement is much more violent than my own. Yet there are some human similarities: yearning for familiar routines, familiar surroundings, familiar faces. In no way is my displacement by choice the same as their displacement by war. Yet can we find common emotions in our disparate circumstances? I am interested in the themes that link disparate people, using the language of movement to express our common humanity.

Do you have a story of displacement or relocation in your life? How do you answer the above questions for yourself?

A Welcoming

Since moving to Seattle, I have been out and about taking in as much dance performance as I can stand. In the last week I have seen about 16 Seattle modern dance choreographers. The breadth of style and diversity of expression is exciting and energizing! I am astounded by how much the modern dance community has grown since I moved away ten years ago. Last weekend I went to Northwest New Works at On The Boards and I have been going to Beyond the Threshold: Seattle International Dance Festival all week. My brain is buzzing when I get home each night processing all of the images and ideas I have just seen.

Last night in particular. Cyrus Khambatta (festival artistic director), Eva Stone, and Donald Byrd had a Q&A or Talk Back after the show. Each of them curated an evening of Seattle choreographers this week and they talked about their intentions in creating these evenings. What stays with me the most from that discussion is Byrd's articulation of the value he places on diversity of expression and the need as a dance community to foster and nurture those voices. The attitude I heard coming from him is the more dance the better! He exudes openness and acceptance and support for dance artists at all points along their professional journey. Both Byrd and Stone were incredibly approachable after the show.  Neither of them has ever seen my work nor seen me dance, but they welcomed me to town as if I were a long lost friend. And that kind of welcome makes me more excited then ever to start choreographing and presenting work here.

Thank you Cyrus, Eva, and Donald for your generous welcoming of me last night. Thank you to all of the Seattle choreographers presenting work over the last week for your evocative images and tenacious creativity.

Transitions

The other day I read Gretchen Wegner's blog post entitled "How to be a Sensuality Slut" and it started a chain reaction thought process about my current transitional phase. If I may dare to sum up her post in my own words, it was about slowing down and taking time to appreciate life. (As a coffee enthusiast, I love to appreciate the smell and the ritual of it and love that Gretchen took time to notice the steam coming off her morning cup!) Then, for some reason, I began to contemplate my own definition of productivity.

In my life in San Francisco, productive meant running around to three different jobs in a day plus managing to squeeze in a household chore and a little computer time to work out logistics for upcoming gigs.

That's part of the reason for this transition, this relocation from the Bay Area to Seattle. Whether or not it's true, my perception of life in Seattle is that the pace is more manageable (already I notice I can get places in 15 min instead of an hour!), the cost of living slightly lower so that I don't have to run around like a maniac, and I can take more time to enjoy the sensory experiences of life. Like sitting in a friend's living room on soft lambskin rugs listening to the gentle fall of light rain and writing in a journal.

In choreography, the transitions are the key to the flow of a piece. When I make a dance, I know this in my core. As a dancer, when the transitions are awkward, I feel disjointed from the piece. And so, here I am, in a transition between the dance of life in San Francisco and discovering the dance of life in Seattle. Some times it's hard to have faith that the transition will work itself out. Yet, as a choreographer, I know I need to give the transition it's due time and not rush the next idea.

Transitions are the brewing pot for the next great idea. Give the tea time to steep, the coffee time to percolate. Listen to the spring rain, and lest I be too cliche, stop and smell the lilacs.

(Pictured: Liz Fong and Elizabeth Mendana in Trolley Dances 2008. Choreography by Kim Epiphano. Photo by James Frye)

I can talk about...

I can talk about backpacking with my sister-in-law, Hilary Shaw.

In InterPlay settings, we practice a form called "I can talk about..." We don't actually talk about the subjects we list, we just list topics we could talk about at some future time. It is a great form for conjuring ideas when, perhaps, I think that I don't have anything to say.

I can talk about being inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert over breakfast this morning.

I can talk about auditions, how similar it is for me to audition as a pilates instructor and as a dancer.


I can talk about my impromptu trip to Bainbridge Island for the first time last night.


I can talk about my current struggle to structure my transition time.


I can talk about my coffee shop choreography idea.


I can talk about some of the "tight" movement vocabulary in Amy O'Neal's choreography last weekend.


I can talk about how "tight" means awesome rather than rigid.


I can talk about Gretchen Wegner's blog posting about "How to be a Sensuality Slut."


I can talk about wanting to learn to play mandolin.


I can talk about singing harmony with my husband in the car on our drive to Seattle.


I can talk about the difficulty of obtaining a Washington Driver's License and the ease of obtaining a Seattle business license.


I can talk about the creative and funny 10 and 12 year olds in the house where I am staying.


I can talk about planning my honeymoon.


I can talk about kayaking on Lake Washington on Sunday.


I can talk about the canoe that flipped over.


I can talk about people watching, laughing when I probably shouldn't.


I can talk about my epic quilt project.


I can talk about my trips to the hardware store.

I can talk about spilling coffee on my computer keyboard first thing Monday morning.

That's probably a good list for today! What are some topics you can talk about?

"How Have You Changed As A Performer?"

This week I taught my final InterPlay Performance Technique class. (The class will continue with the awesome leadership of Gretchen Wegner! Read more about our last class and our F-ing Great Art.) As Gretchen and I took some time to reflect on the past three years of teaching this class together, she asked me, "How has InterPlay changed you as a performer?" What a great and profound question! Several answers came to mind fairly quickly:

1) InterPlay has given me access to a full range of expression. I used to be scared to death to talk or use my voice in front of people. Ask me to move? No problem! I could do that for hours. I did not know at the time that I wanted more possibilities than that. But now that I have those possibities, I can't imagine dance-making without it! This has come in handy specifically when performing with Epiphany Productions Sonic Dance Theatre and when I played the role of Miranda in Shakespeare's Tempest.

2) InterPlay has awakened a passion for integrating story and choreography. When I first moved to San Francisco in 2002, I choreographed a solo as a response to my overwhelm with homelessness and panhandling. I had never lived anywhere with so many homeless people. The dance was abstract and perhaps a little indulgent (debatable, I'm sure) and I did NOT speak onstage. In 2008, I interviewed female WWII veterans to use their stories and their words as inspiration and as text for In Remembrance Of. All of the dancers (me included) sang, spoke, and danced our hearts out onstage.

3) I have new visions of gathering stories from the street, partnering with some organizations that are helping people on the margins, and creating more dance theatre--not about indulging my desire to express my overwhelm, but truly trying to bridge a gap in our society. Ambitious--I know! InterPlay has unlocked some big visions. There will definitely be some smaller projects along the way to fruition. This one could take a few years.

4) Through the InterPlay community, I received so much affirmation and validation of myself as an artist and the art that I create. I feel a little squeamish admitting this one. I shouldn't need external validation to claim myself as an artist, right? But in a little way, I do. I need to hear, every once in awhile, that what I am creating or what I am offering the world is valid and valued. I have the deepest gratitude to the InterPlay community and to the co-founders, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter, for their continued support and affirmations.

Thank you, Gretchen, for asking. And thank you for being such an incredible co-teacher. Thank you to all of the individuals who have been "regulars" to this class at various times.

Small Art

Art Every Day Month

Last night T and I visited our friend Gretchen Wegner.  She pulled out her collection of simple art supplies, recently purchased while visiting Leah--founder of Art Every Day Month, and we made small art.  In this case, small=2 1/2" X 3 1/2".  So fun to sit in her new living room, chatting and creating things together!  We talked about art tools and feeling intimidated by not knowing how to use them. With permission to create Bad Art, I tried a new-to-me tool: watercolor crayons. I love how the colors smear and mingle as I add water to the paper. And then Gretchen pulled out some glitter glue. I am not ashamed to admit that I LOVE glitter! For some inexplicable reason, I feel so satisfied with my two little pieces of art and I have no idea what to do with them now.

Art Every Day Month has turned into Art On Some Days Month. My original vision was to commit an hour a day to art every day, and that worked for the first few days. But then my Pilates certification process began and I took a trip to Seattle and I said yes to working on the tech crew for Smuin Ballet for their Christmas season... I feel a life lesson lurking in here somewhere.  Perhaps my vision was too big to sustain and I could practice in smaller incremental ways. Or, perhaps, I could learn something about prioritizing and if I want to accomplish big art visions, I need to not take on so many other activities. Both could be valid lessons for me to learn!

Painting with Light

Art Every Day Month Day 12

A lighting designer paints the stage and the dancers with color, light, and shadows. I love this quote by lighting designer Jean Rosenthall:

“Dancers live in light as fish live in water. The stage space in which they move is their aquarium, their portion of the sea.”

I spent 10 hours at the theatre today in tech and dress rehearsal for Shared Space 3. The choreographers, Todd Eckert and Nol Simonse, are two of the best artists to work with. Their creative vision is inspiring and they are incredibly great individuals. Who wouldn't want to spend the day with these guys?

The show includes a Greek myth, love stories, and a wake. The lighting is simple yet evocative--at least I think so. I enjoyed playing with deep saturated color to evoke Hades and hell. The love stories are accompanied by gorgeous operatic music and crisp clear light. The last piece feels dreamy and I played with different blues and purples for the various sections.

Today's images are captured with my oh-so-consumer level camera.

Art Every Day Month--Nov 11th

Ack! The month began to slip by without documenting my art making!

A quick recap of the last few days:

Nov 7--I performed with WING IT! Performance Ensemble for our InterPlay celebration and fundraising event. I had a friend take some video for me during the event, but then lost the camera on my way home. Nothing to post. :-(

Nov 8--I spent the day at my Pilates training, met up with friends for Tiki drinks, met up with other friends for a late night cup of tea. The tiki drinks were very creative! Does that count even though I didn't make them?

Nov 9--I spent the day in the theatre hanging lights for Shared Space 3. I am designing the lighting for this dance show this week. If you are in San Francisco this weekend, I highly recommend coming to see it!

Nov 10--Spent the day working in the InterPlay office and then taught my InterPlay class. We practiced different vocal techniques for storytelling. We did some small mini performances at the end--Three sentence stories to be exact.

Nov 11--TODAY! Well, you can see I finally went back to painting again. I felt a little out of the groove and am not satisfied with the final product. Maybe I will revisit it again in a few days and see if I feel inspired to alter it then.

And there you have my series of Three Sentence Stories covering the missing days of art making on this blog!