I guess I should give a belated  KW Arts Awards update.  It was a great experience to get onto the stage at Kitchener’s Centre in the Square.  By far the largest stage I have performed on in some time. I forgot how difficult it is to balance when you get heavy duty lights and a soaring ceiling. During the in theatre rehearsals I found myself struggling with balance. The performance itself was great. Nida, the sculptor and I were really able to establish a connection, it took a bit of time, but we got it.  The audience was great and everything came together really well. I wonder if there will be life for “girl on a wire” beyond this first showing. It is a great idea that I would love to work with further.

The next engagement was the Digital Prowess movie night at the KW Little Theatre at the end of June. This was a silent movie with live, improvised scoring. There was live image manipulation to the music as well as two movies by Lesley Loksi Chan. Curse Cures, which I have had the good fortune to see in an earlier form. The score made it come alive in such a different way. Then  an untitled film which Lesley and I worked on taking the doorway as the starting point, playing with the idea of examining the front door in a way that sheds a different light on an everyday thing. I had seen the film several times and I swore I was seeing a completely different edit when the music was added.  I was very touched by the feedback that we received on the new dance film. It really struck a chord with people. One conversation which  took me by surprise was with a gentleman who recounted his experience of seeing Judy Jarvis dance in concert probably sometime in the mid 1970′s. He found a parallel to my dancing in the film and one of Jarvis’ works he had seen. He was quick to apologize, lest he had offended me by comparing me to another artist, I explained it is one of the biggest complements I have received, as I greatly admire her work. 

I also had the opportunity to participate in an evening of improvised music and dance at the Artword Art Bar at the end of July. Behind the Kiln was organized by Hamilton based dance artist Tanis MacArthur. I joined her and Anne Milne, with live music and poetry. It was my first time dancing on stage in Hamilton since 1998 and my first time dancing with Tanis and Anne. Great fun was had by all. I suspect that this will become a somewhat regular fixture at the Artword.

After that it was work work work  and travel travel travel for my client tiger princess dance projects. The company had a great premiere in China at the Guangdong modern dance festival and I am preparing a marketing trip to the International Tanzmesse in Dusseldorf Germany. It is a huge gathering of dance artists from all over Europe, we are excited for our visit and to experience all that dance in Germany’s fashion capitol. We are also looking forward to the debut of a new duet and solo program in April 2011 and a few other things that we have up our sleeves.

On my arts-news front, things are looking good for this season. The Looking Sea Collective (Lesley Loksi Chan, Arthur Yeung, Angela Molina and yours truly) were chosen to be part of Hatch:emerging performance projects at Harbourfront in Toronto. This innovative program grants a one week-in theatre residency with the opportunity to show at any point in the process.  There is technical, administrative, marketing and artistic support as well.This is a great step forward for our work as a collective and also for us individually as artists. I have been very interested in Hatch since about 2005 and finally had the right project and right collaborators to make it a reality. I will explain the project in a later blog entry – too much to write in a quick update. I anticipate going into the studio some time in the fall  for the dance research and development period and our residency is slated for the week of March 7th.

Exciting times, lots of work… I’ll try to get to my summer project of posting excerpts of my works on the blog and online. I ended up having much less time than I thought I would for this project. If it doesn’t happen this summer, it will happen, eventually…

Mantras you shouldn’t say: I don’t know; I’m not ready; I can’t do it

Still by Lesley Loksi Chan

Yesterday, I was supposed to meet with Lesley to do some filming for our newest collaboration. Sadly the weather was dark and dreary, so our plans were foiled by mother nature. She did pass off a first copy. The work has no name just yet,  but like the last one is based in my house and focuses on doors. Last Friday we watched the footage that we shot earlier in the week and decided that we would make two films instead of one. In those moments of watching my body flicker across her laptop screen and discussing what worked, how it might be pieced together a few quiet but profound things happened. They were compounded when I watched the first cut of the film yesterday afternoon.

For some time, I was able to watch the movement one step removed from myself and I actually liked what I saw.  This should be a given, it is my art, why would I not want to see it or like it? Like many dancers, I am hyper critical.  It has become less of an issue over time but, somehow seeing my work through her lense is painting a different picture for me, accelerating the process and freeing me up to create in a new and unexpected way. The beauty of dance for film seems to be the ability to zone in on the action at hand, rather than trying to catch the larger and general picture like rehearsal or performance footage. The angle and the focus seem to make all the difference in the world.

Seeing myself a bit more clearly, I am becoming aware that the power behind my work is in its intimacy. What my work offers to an audience is a glimpse into a more private place where they can see the world anew. It is the fragile moments that are the most powerful. When I look for this, everything else falls away.

In truly collaborative and interdisciplinary work, your choice of partners is key. Lesley said something to me which really struck a chord last week, and it reminded me of how lucky I am to be able to work with her.  It was something along the lines of “when I see you sometimes I can see you the way that you were when we were kids.  Like past and present colliding.”  Lesley and I have known each other since we were about ten, maybe younger.   I am convinced that we are closest to our truest selves as children. There’s less artifice but the personality is all there.  I think that it isn’t often that an artist gets to work closely with someone who can see this spark of childhood, let alone have known that spark of a child. In those moments when the two worlds collide, I like to think that I am closest to  my true self and very thankful that Lesley is able to capture them.

On Wednesday night I had some nice quiet time, late at night in the Stinson Street School lobby to contemplate. There were two groups of dancers creating work in the south school. Lightning and thunder were crashing outside, occasionally shaking the  grand old building.  I  reflected on the journey so far for the hamilton 24 dance event,  which   two weeks back, I was very worried about. The entries were pouring in for every other category but us. Then the day of the deadline came and we reached our max of 12 participants – poof, seemingly out of the blue. Not only did we have the maximum number, but they were also quite diverse. I had said to Martinus that this would probably happen right at the beginning, but managed to forget my own words of wisdom as the deadline drew nearer.

I gave a workshop on Monday May 3; Introduction to Creative Process and Choreography. I haven’t taught in about 5 years, so it was nice to be back in the studio in that way. In many ways, my introduction was not only to dance and movement, but also to the way that I work as a choreographer with other dancers.(since I have been working solo for some time) There was a good turn out for the workshop, 12 in total, about half were participating in the dance event later in the week.   It was great fun to see all sorts  move together and create together, they were open and generous. Something which continued into the kick-off meeting on Wednesday. Once we had drawn the three elements and the questions were answered, everyone seemed to take the time for a friendly chat and a laugh or two. 

Despite the fact that we are technically a competition, the dance event really doesn’t have that feel. And for me that is important, I am not really into dance as a competitive sport, in fact, I really don’t see the value in the traditional dance competition, which  in my eyes is about how many fancy tricks you can stick in 4 minutes and 8 year-old girls doing moves that should be reserved for the above 18 crowd. I wanted this event to be more of a challenge for the choreographer, to create a work, where you have a prop, a movement sequence and a theme or motif to work with that challenges you as an artist. I have a deep admiration for the participants, it wasn’t an easy task. To go through the range of problems (dancers getting sick, injured, or simply not working with the project), figuring out what you were to do with the elements, clarifying your intentions, creating your movement, refining, refining, refining.  A process that happens over a much longer period of time. I think that the real challenge is how to problem solve, how to drop habits, think sharp and hone  your choreographic ability.

Despite the 24 hour format, I scheduled 10 minute slots for each group to run their work on stage, with the option to take it or leave it. Most took the opportunity and  I got a sneak peak on the works at hand, I couldn’t have asked for a better selection of works.  I smiled so much back stage that my face hurt at the end of the night. The performance was electric, and dancers, if you are reading this, the complements I received throughout the festival from photographers, audience members, festival staff and the jury spoke to this. We had three great jury members: Gary Smith, dance critic from the Hamilton Spectator, Jennifer Robichaud of Larchaud Dance Projects and Shawn Byfield of Byfield Dance. They provided commentary after each work and as an artist, I don’t think that you could have asked for more constructive feedback. Everything started off with what worked, then looked at elements that could be improved to strengthen the overall work or performance. It was constructive feedback at its best, like having three free outside eyes. Not all of the dancers agreed with it and some had a hard time taking it, but all and all it seemed to be a positive experience for most of the artists.

At the end of the night, the festival staff had a few drinks and a few laughs at the newest watering hole “The Brain” on James North.  As the inaugural dance event, we were pretty pleased with the results and we’re already looking forward to next year.

I hope to leave you with a few pictures soon!

I am getting ready to go into the studio next week. A bit later than I hoped, but, sometimes that is just the way it goes. Plus, working under a bit of pressure  is something that I find very useful to help me focus. No going into the studio with an endless warmup – keeping things strictly business! I have to pick out 6 images to work from in the nest week. These will form the basis of the piece.

I find myself really wanting to focus on creating a work that has the character generated in the movement. To create the physical persona, rather than keeping it all in the face. I feel like my last stage work was a bit all eyes and smiles, knowing glances. Something that I am sensing is my strength (character based work), but also a way of avoiding myself as a mover. It has been on my mind quite a bit lately, and these upcoming projects are a clear reflection of my desire to break away from the onion girl persona. Lesley Loksi Chan and I are also starting a new film next week. It will focus strictly on the body. I am interested to see how moving in this direction will push me forward.

Well, the sun is shining and the creative juices are flowing. I’ve been finding it hard to sit still for the past few days, something which always happens when I am just about to embark on a new project.

This past December I did a concert with the new music/improvisation group Digital Prowess and two visual artists as part of Digital Prowess’ Interactions concert series, which is designed to promote performance encounters between artists of different disciplines.  Jason White, the concert organizer (and pianist) has invited me to perform  at a similar event with him and a wire sculptor for the Kitchener Arts Awards in June.

He proposed using Philip Glass’ Opening from Glassworks. I’ve never even considered creating a piece to Glass’ music, which, when I write it seems like a strange thing to profess, since his work is very popular with many dancers and choreographers. So here is my opportunity to get better acquainted with Phil! I’ve decided to use images of the silent film star Louise Brooks as a jump off point for creating the movement study. Brooks  actually began her career as a dancer first with the Denishawn Dance company then as a showgirl in the Ziegfeld follies. There’s something in her physical sensibility coupled with her impish personality that is very appealing for creating movement and character.

what do you need this spring?

My dear friend Lesley passed this still along to me the other day. It is from a short film we made last summer called “Was fehlt mir?”  (What do I need?)
The sunny window reminded me of springtime and the promise it holds.

What do you need this spring?

For me, springtime is a time when creation and growth take root….I need to get into my garden, start my sewing projects AND, now that my back injury is healed, get back into the studio to dance, dance,dance.

Why have I chosen to blog? Well, I am undertaking a little adventure, trying to start a professional dance company here in Hamilton.  One that is a vehicle to present my work as well as the work of other dance artists who would not normally be presented in this city. Hamilton is just 45 minutes down the road from Toronto, it has a lively arts scene –  but is still quite removed from Toronto’s dance community.  In short, Hamilton needs more dance! Blogging about dancing, choreography, about shows I’ve seen, artists that inspire me is a way to share what I experience as a dance artist (and an arts manager working mainly in dance) with Hamilton…and the rest of the blogosphere.  It is also a way to keep me thinking creatively and keep Elemental Bodies  moving forward – because, as I have found with two careers,  it is easy to get caught up in one aspect and neglect the other.

So, with this first entry, I enter the blogosphere

- Enjoy!