Thirty Days of Thoughts: Day 13

Tags

Conscious Living, courage, Courageous Vulnerability, creative energy, Creative Flow, creative process, creative spirit, Creativity, Dance, gay romance, love, Love Between Men, male love, realization, Soul to Soul, spirit

“That’s the strange thing about us, even if the heart is lost we are still capable of giving love. The only difficulty is when the heart is no longer there, it’s almost impossible to receive love”.

This is a line from one of the characters I am working with on a project that has been whirling around me for years. Last night’s dreams brought so many of the challenges of the story into new light and lifted the veil of not knowing how to connect the dots.  

There were so many lines that revealed themselves along with imagery and poetic metaphors for things that it became all too clear how this story needed to be told. Especially the time frame and the place. 

One thing that struck me was how much I was thinking about the writing as a linear format rather than the organic way I normally tell stories, present imagery or make work. For some reason I never thought to write something like this the same way I make dances. The dream last night basically was the movie of the work and it was unfolding image after image. 

I am pretty excited about rewiring the process abs in some ways making it a little more messy. Layout all the moments and images and then shade shape and form from there. This work is begging for a collage and is needing to be presented through a movement perspective rather than a literary perspective. Spending time in the depth of each imagistic moment is what always works for me in dance and seems to be the way the story is begging to be told here. 

It seems as if I am getting the “picture” that in order for me to write, I must write like a choreographer. In order for me to convey my ideas, I need to shape worlds like I shape dance works in space. It’s a big ah ha for me to realize I just have to keep creating the way that is best and works for me rather than trying to create in a way that works for others. Stay in the creative flow you know and let the medium be the variable. 

I have a lot of scribbling and imaging to do today so I think it will be enough for today’s thoughts. My intention was to talk about the line I started with but I think I will save that for tomorrow. Happy to explain why the character says what he does and what it all means. But for now, I’m rather inspired to get to making; dancing my way through the story. 

Thirty Days of Thoughts: Day 3

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choreography, creative energy, Creative Flow, creative process, Creativity, Dance, dance makers, dance making, dancers, dancing, energetic pathways, Energy, energy flow, joy, Movement, venation

6/3/21

After the last two days of sharing and taking you back to the intersection of creativity and spirituality I thought it might be fun to take a walk down memory lane and share a little about the first seeds of the abundant work that followed from my first professional work called Venation. 

I was so inspired by the Tao Te Ching, Qigong and energy work in general that I wanted to research energy more and pull together the eastern and western essence in this process. So off I went to look to science, specifically contemporary physics, to see what I could see. And there went the box to the lid that has still yet to be closed. 

I researched and researched from both a traditional and contemporary perspective using imagery and concepts from both to create a men’s quartet that would gain a lot of traction by premiering at a shared concert with some of my colleagues in the Chicago modern scene and danced by myself, Raven, Krenly and Troy. It was a powerhouse premier that ended up being performed in several venues and festivals throughout the next few years. 

It was my first taste of doing that kind of in depth research and work which carried me even further down the rabbit hole of inspiration. Oddly I continue the investigation as a way of explaining my belief that “choreography is the art of shaping energy in space”. This very simple belief system for myself was the best way I could explain how I made dances or more honestly how I see dances being manifested in space by how my eyes see time falling bodies organized in an artful and poetic way. 

I worked this way for several years before deciding to run off to graduate school where I would have to really justify my process, clarify the research and be able to qualitatively and quantitatively convince my thesis panel of my beliefs. I remember Donald McKayle expressing what a unique way of looking at dance making and the way I see energy as a way of making sense and the matter of dances. 

This would continue in this fashion until the premier of Amaranth Contemporary Dance in 2006 for a concert entitled Experiment in White. This title was a nod to the company I had in Chicago, Cerulean Dance Theater, and our major concert Experiment in Blue. It is very clear my need to connect the dots, pay homage and to remember where all of the work comes from. The heart has been the energy throughout this process and will always be the fire energy necessary for the art of making dances. That and the art of using conscious movement to heal ourselves physically, energetically and spiritually. Art is really from the heART. 

The photo is from a shoot to promote Venation. Photo Credit: William Frederking

Lean Into the Wind

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art, artists, choreography, creating, creative process, Creativity, dancers, directors, inspiration, musicians, observations, singers, storytellers, work, writer

Lean into the wind of creativity and eventually it will gale so forcibly they will pick you up and carry you.

One might think they are flying, in fact it is actually the wind lovingly carrying you as you express the soul of the world through your work.

Be mindful of making the mistake of thinking it is you who are soaring. Be humble in the act of creation and those winds will always be setting a course for your heart to sail.

Lean into those winds and not for once lose faith in your song.

Lifting Lines/Morphing Visions: Autumn 5

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acceptance, allowing, art, artist, Ballet, becoming, choreographer, choreography, contemporary dance, Courageous Vulnerability, Creative Flow, creative process, Creativity, Dance, modern dance, natural, natural beauty, nature, organic, process, wabi sabi

Of all the work I have created, nothing can compare to the majesty of natures creations. What comes from the flow of energetic creative cultivation can not come close to the magnificence of the natural and loving world. There is a timeless and universal beauty that is without comparison to what can be made of the human body.

Let us also not get caught in the confines of our ego as we participate in the creative process. Let us share in the joy of this kind of blissful flow without finding ourselves attaching our ego to the birth of that which we shape. We should not hold this ephemeral beauty hostage. Work needs to be set free just like the human spirit.

In the moment of unconditional sharing, this is the time when our work and its unique vibration of being is the closest it can get to the beauty within nature. This is the moment when the works speaks directly the the human heart which is the direct line to the nature of humanity and its link to the organic compounds of the universe itself.

And So It Begins

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art, athens, Ballet, Believing, bliss, body, body knowledge, conscious body, Conscious Living, contemporary ballet, Creative Flow, creative process, Creativity, Dance, development, dreams, EBAS, Energy, faith, modern dance, Paris, research, travel, VCU Dance

As I finish up my last day here in RIC for a while, I am profoundly grateful for the opportunities that are opening up before me. Thankful for the freedom to move about the world and share my work and passions with people from all over the globe. I marvel at what dance has done for my life and for how it has carried me to places that I could have never dreamed of as a young man.

As a matter of fact, I had no clue I was a dancer. No clue that I would end up where I am creating three dimensional visceral landscapes, teaching how to create internal space and design external realities or bringing consciousness to the energetic pathways of our technique. I often wonder how I turned down this road.

Yet, I am on this journey. Happily and gratefully on this journey.

This trip to Athens is to present my perspective on teaching by sharing my  research, Training a Conscious Body: Redefining Pedagogy Practices in Contemporary Dance Technique for Increased Architectural Support and Physical Integrity. I am excited to share these examinations and talk about learning through sensation rather than imitation and the reexamining of time within the classroom.

The travel that follows will be to teach and to collaborate on the Paris Semester Abroad program for our students at VCU to take part in Spring 2016. I am excited to meet up with Michael Foley as well as Colleen Thomas-Young to share and organize all of this goodness. What amazing people to walk that journey with. Very grateful to Michael for his brilliance.

In addition, I will be meeting up with my dear friends Keith Bell and Josh Sessions to have a writing retreat. Both myself and Keith are working on books and we are going to spend our time writing in the cafes for even greater inspiration. A little fantasy come true I guess.

And one of the most synchronistic events will be having breakfast with Linda Kohanov. I have long admired her research and work with horses and had the luxury of participating in one of her leadership workshops this spring. She is an inspiration to me and I am tickled to be able to meet with her and hear her stories of the wonderful sharing she is doing with her work and the release of her book Power of the Herd in French.

I am truly grateful!!

And so, this begins the journey.

Kinetic Process West

Tags

allowing, art, artist, body knowledge, choreographer, choreography, Creative Flow, creative process, Creativity, Dance

Underneath the eyes of the watchful mountains
Beneath the vast blue sky
Work is created with the vision of the heart

Movements mirroring the voice of mind
Imagery manifesting micro and macro
Dance is woven as a reflection of humanity

Questioning an Ephemeral Life

Tags

artistic, Ballet, choreography, contemporary ballet, creative process, Dance, ephemeral, heart knowledge, kinetic imagery, modern dance, sharing work, Soul to Soul, spirit, Teaching, teaching dance

As an artist and a teacher of ephemeral kinetics, I often wonder what it is my work amounts to. There is no tangible structure, thing or product to behold. All that is left of my work is what remains in the hearts of those that experience it.  Yes, there are videos of work or photos of moments in work, but really, the work as it is meant to be experienced, does not exist in any kind of totality.

 

Recently I created a very large work and left that work with the company. When I say left the work, I really mean leave behind the spirit of the work inside the movements of the hearts and minds of the dancers. They are the keepers of this energy and of this spirit. They are the guardians of the kinetic imagery and are truly the only ones that can translate the visions of my heart mind.

 

I left this work behind in the hands of many beautiful dancers and had to give away any control or tangible ownership. I sat quietly the evening of its premier knowing, that several states away, my vision was being revealed, moment-by-moment, in a space so very, far from where I sat.

 

This got me to thinking more deeply about what it is I do. How is it I have managed to make a life out of sharing the unknown or unseen? How is it that I have managed to build a body of work that really only exists in the moment? Even in teaching, once the class has ended, one can only know with ones heart what the body is feeling. One cannot really point to a book and say, I know this. Tests do not reflect the body’s knowledge when the heart is the only thing that truly understands this kinetic knowledge.

 

Does the work I do have value? Does what I share within the context of a concert or classroom matter in the scope of things? I know my heart has been moved and my life changed by my own process, and for that there is much value as my life is larger than I ever dreamed possible. Yet, what does it mean and how does one share that with people in the world who are so desperately needed to help support this kind of illusive artistic expression?

 

Our culture puts a great deal of value on product. We are constantly thinking about producing and providing outcomes. Even if those outcomes are really, just place cards to help people assign value to something unseen or unknown. Many times, I wonder why it is we are forced to justify ourselves through sales and seats when we should be spending more time crafting and exploring the value of our hearts.

 

Yet, with all of these unanswered questions, I retreat to the land of kinetic images. I give my time and my energy to creating worlds within worlds that only those that have the courage to walk through, will understand. I choose to spend my time working in the ephemeral world because what has brought goodness and light into my own life, may in fact, be felt by someone else. Moreover, the simple heart exchange, the moment when one basks in the energy and light of the universe through the transference of kinetic heart energy, is the most immeasurable yet profound moment of all.  This is the moment I choose.

 

To Keep in Mind Today

Tags

abundance, artist, believing we can, choreographer, creative process, creative spirit, dance maker, education, educational process, gratitude, learning to fly, making art, making work, poet, poet of space, prosperity, teacher

May I extend the hand of love to those around me today who have the courage to be vulnerable in the act of learning? May I find compassion in my words helping them to release the gravity of information freeing their feet from the weight of knowledge and letting them know that they too can fly? May I also grow through the reflection of their process understanding more deeply the well of creativity that is inside of me? May I find the courage to absorb this information and translate it ever more efficiently folding it back into my process? May I be rewarded as a steward of the creative spirit acknowledging my role in society by being an artist able to continue sharing my work and my thoughts? May I speak of gratitude often today, as I am eternally thankful that I am able to walk the magical path of movement relishing in my abundance and prosperity as a poet of space?

Reconnecting with my Ancestors

Tags

Ballet, creative process, Dance, honoring our ancestors, honoring our past, love, Modern, passing along wisdom, reflection on greatness, sharing in light, Soul to Soul, students, teachers, wisdom

My thoughts have been meandering through the memories of two great dance mentors of mine. For some reason I have been feeling a very strong connection and need to commune with them. Larry Long and Anna Paskevska are two of my ballet ancestors. They are two incredibly influential figures that have played a fundamental role in the dance artist that I am today.

 

These two individuals shared a wealth of knowledge, artistry and compassion to which I am extremely grateful for. Their voices live within me and my work today in not only the classroom, but also artistically when I set bodies in motion carving and shaping kinetic energy in space.  Although they were classically inclined in their work, their voices were universal and in many ways ahead of their time.

 

These great masters both allowed me in. They imparted wisdom, shared space, and supported me in ways that I am eternally grateful. I am not sure why I was so fortunate to be graced by their graciousness, but I am so thankful that I was able to share a small part of space and time with them.

 

Lately my mind has been on them both as I am making my own shifts and deepening my thoughts on technique and the creative process. I see in the memory of my mind distinct images of them both. Poignant moments of brilliance and light. I was listening. Even if I did not quite know how to process it at the time, I was listening.

 

I am feeling as if I need to honor them in my daily activities and ask for continued guidance and wisdom. I am getting a strong sense that it is time to open a dialogue through prayer in which to allow their magic to continue to teach and love this beautiful thing we all hold so dear to our souls.  It is time to open my heart to the possibility of reconnecting with my ancestors to be guided by their greatness. May I be humbled in their energy and light.

A Response for Rachel

Tags

change, choreography, Conscious Living, contemporary dance, creative process, Dance, development, ebb and flow, growth, letting, letting go, listening, Modern, patience, process, Soul to Soul, spirit

 

Our lives as creative energies are always in constant flux. This state of ebb and flow is what drives the tides of our spirits allowing us to listen to the whispers of the wind at one moment as well as feel the heart crashing upon the jagged rocks the next. Despite our lives seeming to be turbulent in the ways in which we live, living in the moment seems to be the best way to be able to see the goodness of all things that are in this very moment.

 

It is tough trying to navigate the waters of our creative life. Difficult because we are constantly developing our own voice while simultaneously coexisting with other processes that we may or may not see eye to eye with but are none the less important to our growth and maturation. We all see work in very different ways. We all understand work to have its range of depth and even, dare I say it, depth to that depth. Often times people involved in the creative process are more comfortable with the noise they are making thinking about the dance rather than the silence of letting the dance exist in its purest form allowing the deepest most honest sense of its being to exist. That is the most honest and raw form a work can take.

 

Even so, we must honor the creative process and current depths of being for all. Yet, while being a passenger on that boat, there is much spiritual treasure for you find within the noisy space that may be whirling about you. Mine those riches by silencing your own heart through the knowledge that you are finding new and expansive nuggets within others chaos.

 

Use these new found diamonds and rubies to work on what your heart wants to speak. Utilize this wealth to create a new and glorious vision letting it spring forth in the ways that speak clearly to your soul. These are the moments when you must remember that even though you are a passenger on someone else’s ship, you must be carrying your sails with you so that at any moment the creative wind calls, you are ready to hoist and being carried by the magic of its bliss.

 

Be ready. Be patient.  Most importantly, remember that your journey is a very long arc that will carry you. Walk it. Sail it. Soar. Trust in your heart that this universe will support the wind underneath your beautiful feet. Some days you will find yourself flying. Others, breathing through the souls of your feet replenishing all that your center-line does for you. Now, all there is left is to just exhale and dive.