okay. so i have had so much in my head lately.... ever since completing the (head-y) MFA -
and: have been feeling stuck in my artmaking. I have been bored (maybe not "bored" but feeling empty) with the performance mode of performer/audience seperation of roles. Performer performs, audience watches. I know I can do it. I do it well. But it is feeling empty. but this information has been making me just want to go take a nap.
so it was such a gift to be invited by Ann to perform The Annunciation at Virginia Tech a few weeks ago. In an environment that encouraged (challenged) me to step beyond the limits of
THIS IS A PERFORMANCE...
THE PERFORMER GOES HERE, THE AUDIENCE SITS THERE.
LIGHTS ON,
PERFORMANCE GO,
LIGHTS OUT,
PERFORMANCE OVER.
But here is my favorite thing that happened.
I ran into a wall.
Literally.
Twice!!!
During the performance - both performances! Same Wall!
Really hard. I could have (or maybe I did.....) given my self a concussion.
(Ann checked my eyes, said they looked ok)
The performance really pushed some boundaries for me of how to engage the audience, how to play with time, engagement, intimacy, "celebrity" -
ANd I am very excited about what happened. I realize I am stepping even further onto the fringes of the dance and performance world. Its bad enough I dance, then I dance and talk, then I get old and refuse to stop dancing, then I reject the marketplace system that has provided my "success" and "getting a gig" life for so long..... and now I am messing with core fundamentals of the relationship between performer and spectator, while still desiring to make meaning and to make it matter.
So I ran into a wall.
twice.
hard.
same wall. and the second time i did it, i was also locked out of the theatre because for some (unknown) reason the door for my entrance was locked and i had to find a new way in...
so here I am - running into walls, getting locked out.... and really excited about what happens next
