Fall Semester Presentation

Each of us doing a choreo project had a small presentation at the end of last semester where the format/content were up to us. I chose to use this presentation as a way to answer some of the questions about language & perception I've been thinking about since the start of this project. I danced my solo (La Religion) four times:

1. I said the name and danced it.
2. I told the audience that my project was about French colonialism and slavery and this solo was about religion.
3. I translated several reoccurring words and the moves that accompanied them. (God, iron chains, centuries, beasts)
4. I danced it to an English translation read live.

It was a small enough group that we were able to have a discussion afterwards. I basically asked what stood out, what did they understand, how did the different levels of 'pre-knowledge' effect their perceptions of the dance. 

I quickly realized that I hadn't told them that I was looking at the subject from the perspective of the colonized rather than the colonizers when they all expressed their surprise upon hearing the English version.

They brought up a lot of the stuff I've been struggling with. For example, that my movement clearly fit better to the french text (because that was how it was choreographed) but that they understood more when they heard it in English. It was suggested that I somehow do it both ways, which I've thought of, but that's an issue of time and understanding by my dancers. While I know the text well enough that I could still time my moves to the equivalent English cue-words, not all my dancers speak French so it'd be like re-teaching them the dance again and, unfortunately, I just don't have the time to do that. 

Celeste and I discussed maybe repeating this exercise in some capacity in my show so that the audience would at least be thinking critically about what I'm trying to say (looking for those re-occurring moves, understanding the perspective, etc). It's such an interesting question that I'm excited to keep exploring it. I really wish I could do two versions of my show. Maybe someday, but it has at least given me a lot to think about. 

Some Thoughts on Race and Advocacy

Got an email with the subject line: Reaching Out in Solidarity Certain student groups on campus were invited to discuss institutional change and "create an actionable strategy to address the national discourse in higher education and create prevention measures here at Grinnell."

We were broken into smaller groups that included faculty, staff, and students. We had 10 minutes to go around in our groups and say why we were there, what we were bringing to the conversation and what we hoped to gain. The first ten minutes was a space to listen to each other without commenting. The whole group came together and summarized what each group had to say concerning one of these questions and then we broke into our small groups again to create a list of actual changes we wanted Grinnell to enact and who on campus would be responsible for making it happen.

Leslie Turner, the Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Intercultural Affairs, created a master list of all the suggestions and is planning on presenting it to the president of the college tomorrow when several speeches and a solidarity march are scheduled.

General Thoughts:

• I appreciated the format. The groups were broken up by counting off so that people of all ages, genders, races, etc were getting to talk to each other.
• That our group was a 'safe space' where people were free to speak their minds was iterated 
• No one was forced to talk, and by asking the question 'why are you here' people were able to state their intentions clearly.
• The groups were a little too big for the amount of time we had but we were still able to talk about a lot even with the limited time frame. 
• The exercise of writing down achievable goals and the practical step of defining who would be in charge of seeing them through was very much appreciated and started to address a problem that many people brought up; that while we keep having this conversation nothing is done afterward. I think this sets up a nice trajectory that has a better chance of being seen through.

Connection to the performance:

I received this email a few hours before I was supposed to have rehearsal today. My first reaction was that I had already sent out the email saying who needed to be there and what we were doing, Wednesdays are one of only two days I have the studio reserved, and that we were going to finish the last bit of cleaning for a section today so I'd have a new video to show at my MAP meeting on Friday. This all pretty immediately struck me as ridiculous. Here the subject of my MAP is colonialism and slavery which has led to systematic injustices that continue to affect the world centuries later, all which I'm trying to help bring into the spotlight and I don't have time to go to a discussion on the subject? It's that constant reminder of how easy it is to not pay attention when you've grown up with something that's so ingrained in your own society but it can seem blatant and atrocious when you encounter it in another society. 

I went in not knowing what the layout of the meeting was going to be. When Leslie posed the first few questions, I realized that the reason I was there today was to listen. I didn't share this with my group but remained silent which, looking back, I'm not sure was the right call but I achieved my purpose nonetheless. 

One student was saying that there was no point to our meeting because these talks never change anything and part of why is because it's always the same people coming. Several people spoke up saying that if he really believed that then why was he there because what's the point. I tend to agree, if we give up that anything can ever change then we're becoming passive bystanders who are actually reinforcing it. Also, I think I feel this way because I wasn't somebody who used to go to talks about race or diversity so I think there is always a chance of changing at least one person's point of view. You've got to start somewhere. 

I don't think my performance is making some heretofore unknown observation or statement but it's making it visible to another audience on another day. It's doing something instead of giving into the seemingly impossible obstacle that is systematic oppression. 

Wanna be an accomplice?

Pages Matam, a spoken-word poet, came to Grinnell yesterday evening. He's amazing. Anyone who's interested in spoken word should definitely check out his work. (http://www.pagesmatam.com/) He created a very relaxed environment where people felt comfortable to engage in conversation with him or each other between his poems. It was great to watch as he switched seamlessly between being a person in the room to the performer we had all come to watch.

Anyway, while he was a great performer, the reason I'm writing about him is that he made a point that really stuck with me. He made this point in the context of talking about women's rights as a man but it resonated with me as a Caucasian American trying to create work addressing French Colonialism and slavery.

He was recounting a discussion with a friend of his who said he was sick of having allies. Instead, he wanted accomplices because that suggests they have something to lose as well.

I think this is an interesting distinction that captures the trouble I have with academia sometimes. It can seem like all we do is talk and talk and talk about issues with no real personal involvement. What's at stake for those who sit in the ivory tower?


The example Pages Matam gave for how he becomes an accomplice is that when he's hired to do a show he asks how many women were also hired. If the answer is none or not very many he gives them the numbers of female artists he knows and tells them to book them over him. I was thinking about this and it seems like he's helping women to be recognized but I don't think it's a sustainable practice. If he continues to turn down jobs, people will stop trying to hire him so he won't be able to promote female artists any longer.

Celeste and I talked about this idea this morning in my MAP meeting. We were trying to figure out ways people could be accomplices instead of allies in a sustainable way. I'm really struggling to figure out how to become an accomplice that's not economic without ending up in the unproductive conversation of expressing all the different ways we're individually oppressed so that we aren't perceived as the most privileged in the room. I don't think the point is to 'empathize', spreading the oppression to include more people in counter productive. But then how do you put something at stake to really make a difference?

We didn't come up with an answer but we did decided that being an ally isn't bad. One might be an ally the whole time and then in small, specific instances figure out how to become an accomplice. It's something to think about.

Continuing Relevence - 60 minutes

Here's a link to a longer video of the segment and additional information: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-slave-ship-60-minutes/ 

Two steps forward and one step back

Grinnell just had their Fall  so we got one week off to recharge and catch up. I stayed here and took advantage of the studio time. I had been getting a little anxious before break because it felt like, while I've been doing a lot of work for the MAP, the majority of it hasn't been on the actual choreography part. I've been working with several faculty members to bring Erick Noel, a French scholar, to campus to present on the history of the slave trade in conjunction with my performance, and with emailing the authors whose texts I used to inform them of the impact their work has had on me. It's been really exciting and I'm continually surprised with the wide-spread support this project is garnering but I was starting to freak out that I was doing all this work to bring people but I have nothing to show them. But over break I finished the first draft of another section, have a movement outline for another that I just need to teach to my dancers, and have the movement base for another section. I feel like I'm back on track, choreography-wise but I've had another collaboration set back. I emailed the student who had agreed to compose the sound for my show to check in as he's had a couple of weeks with my sound outline to get started and he informed me that he had decided he no longer wanted to invest his time in my project. I'm trying to look at the bright side because nobody knows what I want better than I do, so if I do it myself at least I won't do anything I can't stand. Also, I think I'm not freaking out too much because as I've been choreographing with just the voices so far so I know that they can stand on their own. I'm thinking simplicity might be the answer. Overall, I feel that the break was really productive and I'm happy with where I'm at.

Lessons on tricking yourself

I'm working on a solo right now. The way I've been working so far is to generate movement through improv exercises which I record and then pick and choose what I want from what was created. Since it's just me working on this seciton; however, I was struggling to come up with a way to improv without 'already knowing' what I wanted which usually isn't what I actually want, if that makes any sense. Celeste gave me the idea to pick a video of someone dancing and describe all the things they were doing that I liked and then make up my own movement following those directions. I picked a video that I like on YouTube and have watched about a million times. I described about half her movement and then put it in a list randomizer to get a new order. I'm really happy with the result! I got a lot of usable material from it. This exercise is definitely a keeper!


Here's the original description:

Release pose and bring hands to elbows

Drop left arm and head at the same time while bending knees symmetrically

Initiate movement with right hand creating a straight line with body (hand to foot)

Turn in a semicircle with weight only on one part of your foot

Flick left foot then extend leg, drop/pull/throw arms in opposite directions

Bring right leg and left arm together with right arm in the middle (separating the two)

Float left leg, create a bend at the knee while bringing hands together in a ‘push down’ gesture

Cross left leg over right, then right over left while handing at the waste

Bring hands to touch behind your back

Cross arms in front while picking up one foot at a time from the ground

Trace a pathway with right foot with your arms straight

Look at your right big toe while bending your left leg

Swing left leg and arm around for a ¾ turn

Bring right arm across the body, throw it in a sequential manner while moving the left leg directly with force

Make a ‘push gesture’ with both hands

Travel for four steps, clasp hands to pull you in a new direction

Arch with symmetrical arms

Circle hands in a grasp gesture

Bring right arm overhead, pull down, bring left hand to meet it, release gesture at elbows

Bring left hand to ear, extend right palm directly while transferring weight to your left leg

After it was randomized:

Bring right arm across the body, throw it in a sequential manner while moving the left leg directly with force
Release pose and bring hands to elbows
Arch with symmetrical arms
Cross arms in front while picking up one foot at a time from the ground
Swing left leg and arm around for a ¾ turn
Cross left leg over right, then right over left while handing at the waste
Initiate movement with right hand creating a straight line with body (hand to foot)
Trace a pathway with right foot with your arms straight 
Bring hands to touch behind your back
Travel for four steps, clasp hands to pull you in a new direction
Drop left arm and head at the same time while bending knees symmetrically
Turn in a semicircle with weight only on one part of your foot
Bring left hand to ear, extend right palm directly while transferring weight to your left leg 
Look at your right big toe while bending your left leg
Bring right leg and left arm together with right arm in the middle (separating the two)
Make a ‘push gesture’ with both hands
Flick left foot then extend leg, drop/pull/throw arms in opposite directions 
Bring right arm overhead, pull down, bring left hand to meet it, release gesture at elbows
Circle hands in a grasp gesture
Float left leg, create a bend at the knee while bringing hands together in a ‘push down’ gesture

Fun with Ribbons and a Chair

I haven't worked much with props before so I'm having a lot of fun trying to figure out what I can do with my chair. I've been trying to work with this tan string I have but, because it's so thin, it's hard to see it/the visuals I'm creating. I'm now on a quest for 2 inch wide ribbon that is somewhat resistant to pulling and not semi-translucent.

Yesterday, a friend came into the studio and I taught her my A - F movements. They still need some fine tuning but I think I'm close to being happy with them. I'm mainly having trouble with my 'stop' phrase but I had a potential brain wave last night as I was falling asleep so I'll see how it looks when I get into the studio later today.