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)