New year

Good evening, good morning and hello! I've missed you! Here's a quick month and a half in pictures......

Madeline and Zoe in "Bluette" as part of Blueprints with Jeff and Patrick

Stubby "Vert" Noel


Snow um..Angel? maybe Snow Imp.


Performance for Artichoke Dance last weekend for APAP with Cary....

And now back to our regularly (really) scheduled blogging (about dances)
Miss you, love you, see you soon.

Day Five

Sorry for the silence.......
I have been at the Omi International Art Center Dance Omi Residency for a full 5 days now.
Each day at least two (one day it was all we did so there were four) of the other residents taught a workshop based on their own creative process. The assignment was to use techniques that inspire them to create or, as I did, bring the other residents directly into their process by creating dances within the workshop time.

I am in love and fascinated and swept away. The space, depth and the intelligence of the people around me ..... and experiences of improvisations and creation we have already explored.

The only thing missing to make it completely impossible for me to find my way back to good old NYC is that those people that actually make my world my world are not here.

This is a new universe and however wonderful it may be, I have learned one more thing about my sense of home....it is connected to people that ground me in who I am, love me for it and play with me in it. However....in a very selfish move I would like each one of these amazing artists (that you will be slowly meeting as I introduce them to you) to come live with us in New York (some of them already do...other live in places like Rotterdam, Riga, Budapest, London and Hong Kong)

This is Marie, she is French but living in London for the past four or five years training at The Place.
she is dancing on an art installation called Stepping Stones by Jean Shin and Brain Ripel that is in The Fields...it is pots and pans, and their tops.

I am also learning that I connect to sculptures that are organic and natural (like a Noguchi for instance) or junky and strange (like a bunch of pots buried in the ground) or the piece Mach 2 by Mary Mattingly.

As for dance making up here I find I am drawn to the pieces that are:

• large enough to climb on or frame a body
• create an unusual landscape and therefore world/environment for the dance or interaction...
• white enough to project something on to....

This all starts tomorrow...and I find can't help but be connected to my questions of home and communication over distance........

Circle of Friends, By Alena Ort

a bench seeming to be patiently waiting for a dance to happen.......

Residing

Patrick and I were sitting, sipping various beverages and talking yesterday and I said:
"Well you know, I have that residency that I'm going to in a couple of weeks...."
P:"What residency??"
M: "The one in Upstate NY, I'm there for 3 weeks"
and we realized that maybe, just maybe I had mentioned it, but maybe I hadn't with all of the talk of life and love that had been fluttering around in our brains.

Wow. How could one girl get so distracted.
Here is the wonderful scoop:
I was nominated and accepted to join the Dance Omi International Dance Residency as a dancer and choreographer who is curious about collaboration and process.
And yes, I am going-
To be fed good food (from all I've heard, its yummy stuff up there) be up in the Hudson Valley and dancing with other curious souls...I'm excited..and have been in a bit of denial that I am really going...

Looks like I have no choice but to accept and enjoy!
more on what my hopes are to work on soon -

This away

Working away from NYC right now for another dance company -Truths:
You can make dances away from NYC and easily keep in contact with those who are there
It is great to have social time amongst dancers to aid rehearsal process
Living in a house of dancers is easy
Making dinner as a group makes for an enjoyable meal.
Dancing in the heat for 6 hours a day feels really good!

Did I not know these things? No, I knew them, but it is nice to have reminders.
I have goals connected to building Kinesis Project to the point that allows us to make dances out of town and bring them in to perform them...I just need the company to get a stable enough place that I can bring the dancers out of their lives and pay them for all of their time.