This season (my first!) with AADW has been quite a windy ride! Having two and a half hour rehearsals every day really gave us the chance to explore our ideas without feeling too bound to any one thing. The most obvious example of this was the What is Wind section of the piece; even the day of the second preview we were playing with it. Personally, I have never had the opportunity to work with such talented dancers that are able to remember these kinds of last minute alterations, so it was a treat for me and also a challenge. I believe that as an artist I have been craving this sort of excitement for a long time. I love when everything feels brand new on the stage; I feel like I have something to discover right in front of the audience. My entry is about my experience/mental process throughout the piece.
From the beginning of the piece, I actually have to remember to stay calm. Although it was choreographed to be sort of a windy chaos, I usually had too much excited energy to get onstage and had to channel it by cooling down (If I didn’t, I usually ran into one of those podiums. Or better yet, a person.). Once set into the clump and traveling back into the time of the factory, I really tried to become that worker. My focus was direct and down-to-business. That is, at least until the factory shut down. I was laid off second to last, and my stepped slowed not necessarily because I was out of a job, but because I was leaving behind a part of me that I knew would never be revived. As I took off my uniform for the last time, I memorized the feeling of the material between my fingertips and the slightly grating pull of the zipper. However, it was time to move on now, and a new energy fills me here. I am grounded yet light as air, and a simple exhale is enough to propel me through the space to pick up every other dancer in the room. Into the Wind is all about feeling the rhythms of my own breathing and connecting it to the others in my trio, Maddie and Nola. I also pay attention to the force coming from my partner, Amy. Coming out of this section, I become entranced by Nola and her sometimes quirky breath movements. I allow my own body to empathize with hers until my breath says it’s time to go. Now my solo begins on the journey of the diagonal, my breath usually suspending me into turns and I soon end up downstage. Honestly, I couldn’t really tell you what I am thinking of here. I suppose I’m not. I am seriously led by the air I am taking in and expelling. Usually it wants to do something crazy that is never premeditated. I just allow. What is Wind is a section I am still trying to understand my focus for; I’ll keep exploring and get back to you in August! The tornado makes me feel broken, but I think that needs some more exploration as well. The new “breath duets” section feels like it needs some kind of initial motivation for me that I haven’t quite found yet, but once Nola and I are dancing in a duet I feel like I have a purpose again. I kind of think we ended up aggressively playing instead of attacking? We could work on it, but I actually like the dynamic as is. The rolling of the platforms is interesting because mostly what’s in my mind at that point is “What count am I on?” but I also have to remember to look like I’m physically struggling, which paradoxically is difficult. The last section on top of the pedestals is all about beauty!...and trying not to get tangled in the fabric...or falling off the thing...or messing up the counts (because alas, I got tangled in my fabric...). In performance I actually did a fair job of not messing up, but all these things were in my head whilst I simultaneously tried to convince the audience that I was a “beautiful vertical in the landscape.”
From the beginning of the piece, I actually have to remember to stay calm. Although it was choreographed to be sort of a windy chaos, I usually had too much excited energy to get onstage and had to channel it by cooling down (If I didn’t, I usually ran into one of those podiums. Or better yet, a person.). Once set into the clump and traveling back into the time of the factory, I really tried to become that worker. My focus was direct and down-to-business. That is, at least until the factory shut down. I was laid off second to last, and my stepped slowed not necessarily because I was out of a job, but because I was leaving behind a part of me that I knew would never be revived. As I took off my uniform for the last time, I memorized the feeling of the material between my fingertips and the slightly grating pull of the zipper. However, it was time to move on now, and a new energy fills me here. I am grounded yet light as air, and a simple exhale is enough to propel me through the space to pick up every other dancer in the room. Into the Wind is all about feeling the rhythms of my own breathing and connecting it to the others in my trio, Maddie and Nola. I also pay attention to the force coming from my partner, Amy. Coming out of this section, I become entranced by Nola and her sometimes quirky breath movements. I allow my own body to empathize with hers until my breath says it’s time to go. Now my solo begins on the journey of the diagonal, my breath usually suspending me into turns and I soon end up downstage. Honestly, I couldn’t really tell you what I am thinking of here. I suppose I’m not. I am seriously led by the air I am taking in and expelling. Usually it wants to do something crazy that is never premeditated. I just allow. What is Wind is a section I am still trying to understand my focus for; I’ll keep exploring and get back to you in August! The tornado makes me feel broken, but I think that needs some more exploration as well. The new “breath duets” section feels like it needs some kind of initial motivation for me that I haven’t quite found yet, but once Nola and I are dancing in a duet I feel like I have a purpose again. I kind of think we ended up aggressively playing instead of attacking? We could work on it, but I actually like the dynamic as is. The rolling of the platforms is interesting because mostly what’s in my mind at that point is “What count am I on?” but I also have to remember to look like I’m physically struggling, which paradoxically is difficult. The last section on top of the pedestals is all about beauty!...and trying not to get tangled in the fabric...or falling off the thing...or messing up the counts (because alas, I got tangled in my fabric...). In performance I actually did a fair job of not messing up, but all these things were in my head whilst I simultaneously tried to convince the audience that I was a “beautiful vertical in the landscape.”
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