Life and Art Overlap

This video is a gesture of thanks to the performers of Pressing Empty and the dancers of Kinesis Project, for helping me build this bridge between questions and decisions.
Much love to each of you,
-Melissa

music by Ingrid Michaelson, edited by Katie Down - "Giving Up" off of the album Be OK, used for performance with permission by the artist.

Mapping:Home and Continuing on

we spent time with the talented and flexible Mollye Asher and Ed Barnes two weeks ago - filming segments of Mapping Home that had been borne out of our first Group Interviews.

Most of you know about Mapping Home (I'm playing with it looking like this "Mapping:HOME" thoughts?) our incredibly ambitious project of interviewing as many people from as many places/walks of life as possible about ideas of Home and creating work that is performed in sites that replicate/express/enhance those conversations......  We've interviewed 28 people so far: 30-somethings, retirees, grandparents, teenagers, nomadic artists.... more coming!!

Anyway - all of that to say - here's a little meta video enjoyment for you: we took video of Mollye and Ed actually filming our dances....

Mapping, photos, and caught in the air....

More soon... including video.... in the meantime - here we go:

Mapping Home InStudio at the lovely Gibney Dance Center

From Ashes and Snow

This quote was sent to me this morning by someone amazing who wanted to share it with me...
and now...
I want to share it with you...

It arrived with the "Ashes and Snow" Exhibit that was in NYC a few years ago (2008?).

"It is not what is written in these letters that matters.
What matters is what is written on the heart.
After you read them, burn these letters and place their ashes on the
snow, and when the snow melts, and the river rises, go back to this
place and listen, with your eyes closed and a hand cupped over your
ear, and remember."

Five minutes of dancing.... in process

Hi there - I've been gone a while -
I admit it - but in that time, we were invited to take part in AEP, and thanks to that program, we've had our first group interview for MAPPING HOME -
(how completely cool it was too!)
There will be more coming soon - the events page on our website will fill up quickly, you just watch....

With many thanks to the brave individuals who came and shared their thoughts with us, I offer you our first bit work to come from the interviews: MAPPING HOME / this rock

The phrase work was created by Zoe and Hilary as they zoomed in on aspects of one of our interviewees who spoke of a rock on the tip of an island - each paid attention to a different aspect, one was focused on water, the other, on the foundation of rock...

This, as always, is a very first step - the first version is just their phrases put together as a duet.  Then as I was watching, I felt I wanted another layer....  So as always, layers lead to meaning, and I feel like we've hit a good groove with this beginning.

(rehearsal work in process)
Kinesis Project dance theatre
Mapping Home
Choreography by Melissa Riker, in collaboration with the dancers
Phrases created by Hilary Brown and Zoe Bowick from Mapping Home Group Interview #1
Dancers in full segment: Hilary Brown, Zoe Bowick, Madeline Hoak, Jun Lee
Temporary Music for piece - Meditative Voices

Bundled and Full....

Oh the ideas of Home are flying in and around.... so....
We took one rehearsal off from prepping for APAP (yes. APAP... check us out on Facebook right here: Kinesis Project)
and began really diving further into Home, cycles of life, what you inherit, rituals around building a Home, and how those ideas translate into spaces inside and outside....
So...
Madeline and Ben are building a "negotiations" totem pole, and Zoe is working with ideas of ritual....
and...
We now have a flip-cam to dedicate to interviews and of course Skype will be a big part of that as well - so the next step is to move past our own thoughts, and into YOUR thoughts.

I am thrilled that we are supported and moving forward in this personal, yet universal theme...that the concept of crowd-sourcing is moving beyond finances and into how this art will actually be made....and that the myriad of environments we will visit to build this work are so full of potential!

and here's a lil' Mapping Home blog bonus!
Joe Silver was at our showing on Nov. 18 and took some great pictures:

Rebecca Patek and Hilary Brown

Zoe Bowick

Jun Lee, Madeline Hoak and Zoe Bowick

Benjamin Oyzon and Zoe Bowick

Rebcca Patek and Jun Lee

Jun Lee, Zoe Bowick

Zoe Bowick, Rebecca Patek, Hilary Brown, Ben Oyzon

Benjamin Oyzon

Ben Oyzon, Jun Lee, Madeline Hoak

Rebecca, Jun, Madeline, Zoe, Hilary

Rebecca, Jun, Madeline, Zoe, Ben

Zoe Bowick, Jun Lee

Jun Lee, Madeline Hoak, Zoe Bowick

Jun  Lee, Madeline Hoak

Hilary Brown

In it. Again.

An Iron. Curtains. Chairs. Soup. Cooking. A comfy bed. Freedom to yell from room to room. A cast-iron skillet. Knowing where things are, even in the dark. A toilet. A coffeemaker...
Some things sound funny when people realize what it is that makes an indoor space feel like Home.
and then... there is the abstracted idea of Home -
A place outside of the "normal" idea of home that brings you a feeling of self. Of peace.
Rolling water under a surf board.
A wide vista from a breezy hillside.
Family members.
Contraptions that Move you (ski lifts, trapeze, swings...)

.....

here's a little video of our (slightly messy) process from recent days in the studio

and a gentle reminder to those of you that haven't yet explored the full project...

visit our Kickstarter page to get involved... :

A tidbit....

pulled straight from the middle of the piece.

musical editing by Katie Down
source music Greg Laswell (Cindy Lauper), Penguin Cafe Orchestra and The Turtles.

Mixed, Relieved and Happy

I have been working on Pressing Empty for three years. You have been reading about it for roughly the same amount of time - not sure you believe me?
Here's the first process post from Dec. 2007.

Emotions after such a large undertaking is accomplished are always complicated. This experience is nothing different. I have moments of utter joy that it has been completed and accomplished after years of thought, movement and writing - and then moments of abject sadness.
HOWEVER, the sadnesses seem to be much more temporary than the joy.
A good sign of more to come and continuing to hone "what it is".

I'm complicated. What can I say?

With the amazing power of music by Katie Down, the lovely lighting of Zac Mosley, the final costuming by Tracy Klein, the incredible support of my right arm Laura Schlachtmeyer and this amazing, fearless cast I have been so lucky to gather - it can all happen again, each time a better stronger work.

Images I love from this performance:
Photos by Bob Riker

Hilary Brown, Madeline Hoak, Jun Lee Zoe Bowick, Nik Priest, Ben Oyzon, Hilary Brown, Rebecca Patek, Wiebke Shuster, Madeline Hoak, Laura Colon Jun Lee, Madeline Hoak, Rebecca Patek, Hilary Brown, Ben Oyzon, Haley Willcox
Jun Lee, Madeline Hoak, Wiebke Shuster, Rebecca Patek, Hilary Brown, Haley Willcox Hilary Brown Hilary Brown, Zoe Bowick, Rebecca Patek, Jun Lee

OPENING

Pressing Empty Opens tonight....

words. escape. me.

There is a still some work to do on the technical details....but I love the way tech-ing a show creates the necessary repetition so I can see these beautiful dancers digging up their stories and placing them on the stage for you...

Empty. and Walking.

In 2007 I choreographed our show Right Before You Fell - it was a piece that explored what might happen if all of the elephants-in-the-room, or things we don't manage to say, were physicalized. To serve all that is unsaid.....there needed to be an awkward love story (or two) wound in for good lack of communication.

One "love story" was a series of duets between a singer and a dancer to Crazy by Willie Nelson.
The internal narrative of the dance is a women walking the city to clear her mind of love...but she imagines hearing his voice and his kisses flying towards her on the air.


While I was building the piece with Zoe, my Grandfather (Poppy) passed away.


I came back to the studio knowing deeply that this dance was not just about a break up, but also the intense sense of presence and forever that now fully immersed my Grandmother.

Poppy was gone, but Nanny was feeling him around every corner, and waiting patiently (most of the time) for him to show up, laugh and help her make some sauce.

It didn't happen. Until now. Yesterday my Grandmother passed away. Quietly ushered into death with words of love from my Mom, Dad and me.

And when we celebrate her life tomorrow and Tuesday these new dances about emptiness and fulfillment will begin to be filled with the wisdom of loss, the joy of finding home, and the bubbling laughter that we all can't help but equate with Nanny.

She has always been a wise voice and good listener. She had the strength of love in her actions and words. She will be missed in body here - but her loving ways and advice are part of all of us and will never be lost or forgotten.
Theresa Cerone Sanducci 1926-2009

New Blood....

We've had auditions for Kinesis Project and I am excited about what may happen in the next weeks with new dancers coming into the creation process. The dances so far have been Zoe, Madeline and Rebecca....even though both Zoe and Madeline are always helping me push the boundaries
already I've had people say Rebecca's movement changes the work significantly - that makes me happy - I love that we grow and change based on the dancers that are working at any moment -
However, I also trust that it is teachable movement, interpreted by the body doing it -
Next post: Video - Beach. Dancing. Sunset.