30 August 08

Day 4.

It is amazing how quickly we are working. My body is feeling it and
my mind is ALIVE.
We finished by talking about the 'contract' we will make with Deborah
about how to proceed once these 10 days of choreography have ended.
What the practice is and how long one is expected to practice after
we've finished here before attempting public performance. Really it
is a way for Deborah to protect herself and ensure that the
performances that result from her choreography and direction are
honored. It is a fair expectation. And it is a radical act she is
putting into the world. These 20 people she barely knows will perform
her work. And then what is it WE bring to the event? How do we meet
her as performers? What do we offer? What will be the 'frame' as we
are calling it for our own adaptations? Good questions. And honorable.

Out of the 20 here, 10 have now offered the 1st solo version/attempt/
crack at the choreography in front of our peers. Really it is nerve
wracking. But it is also true, as Deborah says, that what we
attempting is impossible. And so one watches the others with a great
deal of respect and compassion. We are a real mix of experiences --
some are dancers, some are dancer/choreographers, some have their own
dance theater companies, some are performers meaning "theater people"
I think, and I of course fall into this latter. It is also true that
we all are attempting to eliminate, or somehow diminish our
"choreographed" bodies / selves from the work. Our choreographed
bodies mean the behavior, trained expectations, habits accumulated
from our professional work, as well as the bodies which have been
choreographed by the cultures in which we live. How to get down to
the "authentic self" underneath all the habit, assumption, behavior
patterns, and choreography? Practice. This dance is called a
performance practice. It is a way of seeing. And it is understood
too that the audience is practicing as well while watching the
performer. We are all practicing. There is nothing to show, but the
attention paid in the moment and a way of seeing.

This is getting perhaps a little too heady, and I am simply trying to
wrap my head and myself around it as I work and as I type this.

What is true is that we are all learning the same choreographic
"script" provided by Deborah. What HAPPENS is that each time we do it
it looks very different from the last time we did it, and very
different from those attempts of each of the other performers. There
will be 20 unique versions of I'LL CRANE FOR YOU, and each of these
will change with each successive performance. Get it? Yeah, right?!

Okay, We're all scrambling for inconsistent internet connection and
wondering about the political scene at home (those of us from the
USA). We're a little isolated here.

I hope that this blog situation is interesting, or informative, or
something for you.
I'll keep cracking at it.

Best to all of you. Sending love and respect.

bondo