The DTRC office is in a beautiful, heritage building downtown. I went there today to have a meeting with Andrea who's in charge of the BC chapter. The DTRC (Dancer's Transitional Resource Centre) is an organization that provides support to dance artists in the form of grants for retraining or skills updates. If a dancer pays into the DTRC for a certain amount of years, then they can apply for a grant when they are ready to retire from dance and retrain for a new career. It has other branches of support and is basically a wonderful thing for dancers.
I'm always contemplation retraining and getting a new career. Dance is a hard, hard life and, being someone who is uncomfortable with change and self direction and takes lots of comfort in stability, I find it very challenging being an independent artist.
Unfortantely, I neglected to pay into the DTRC for 4 years while I was doing an MFA in Calgary and now do not have access to grants for another 3 years. In any case, contemplating a new career brings up so many things in regards to my identity and dance.
For an instant today, I noticed a windblown, delicately curved fron of a fern lieing in a parking lot today. I saw it and the shadows it created on the pavement were like a lace curtain blowing in the breeze. It reminded me of a whymiscal song "The Wolves" sung by Bon Iver that has been the sound track of my last two days. I don't know what the song means, nothing is clear in the lyrics. What is clear is the emotion is stirs up in me and how it is a canvas in my mind for thoughts to be created upon. The fern and the song were both inviations for me to get lost in my creative mind and follow the meandering path of whymsy into some deep pool of wisdom and knowing.
When I was very young, I used to have dreams that a fox lived behind my dresser. He would appear in my dreams and stand in my room and look at me. He was calm and solid in his wisdom, yet his body was delicate and agile. His eyes were black and deep with years of learning. He terrified me.
The fox was my own wisdom and knowing looking back at me. My fear was of the unknown path that following my wisdom would take me along. He was constant in my dreams and relentless.
I know that if I transition out of dance; these aspects of self that lead me to the arts as a career will never leave my personality. The fox will still call me until I answer. This is why I am a dancer. Another career would be only that; I will never stop being an artsit. My identity will never change.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
This is the third post I suppose. I didn't go back and read the other two. They were so long ago now.
This is a blog about being a contemporary dance artist here in Vancouver. Now that it's evening and the sun is setting over the balcony of my cozy and very beloved 1 bdrm apartment in Vancouver, my mind is occupied with the logistics of tomorrow. How I will get from home, into the world and to the various places I go throughout the day with all the objects that will create a productive day rather than a frusterating one.
Just this morning, my mind was thinking nothing. Completely freed by the words "reach and push" that my teacher Helen Walkley was dropping into the air while I was in dance class. She was directing me and others in our movement tasks, our movement explorations and poems. My arm reached, my eyes and feet went with it and there I was, in a whole new place in space. The next second I was to be in another. When does the mind have time to fix on any thought with so much to discover in the simple notions of reach and push?
Helen Walkley is a Laban Movement Analyst and registered Somatic Movement Educator www.yogaon7th.com/HelenWalkley.htm. She is also a senior instructor in my Vancouver dance community and her experience is a gem to me. Even the way a word comes out of her mouth immediately instructs me as to how to embody it. With, plasticity; carving my core through space; allowing the core to be the innitiator and the transfer of information to and from distal limbs. In the safety of the studio I follow a pathway that is set out for me in that instant by my own tuning into a simple instruction. I can follow that path with full commitment.
At the end of class, we sat in a circle and reflected. Helen said she had a thought today of how she could follow her path in the rest of her life outside of the studio with the same commitment and wholeness that she finds within the studio walls.
I think about this as I get ready for tomorrow. "Pack a lunch, change studio booking time so that I can attend class first, find a potential bike route" are some of the things my mind is working on. Also are questions "how will I get a giant bag of crumpled newspaper to the studio on my bike?". Even bigger: "how will I pay for my expenses in July since there wasn't enough registration for the arts acedemy to hire me this summer?". There are bigger one's still but they fragment into smaller questions, each one with either a thousand answers or one answer that is terrifying. Can I simply move along the path that is mine with an easy courage and a lot of engaged curiosity and joy?
Everyone is a master of many things on a day to day basis. But...I really think that this is a very specific opportunity that dance is giving me. The opportunity to truely be independent and therefore "multitalented". This means researching for potential dance pieces; writing applications for funding; piecing together a schedule that includes paid work, training time, creating time, and observing; learning to stay very healthy; adapting very quickly to opportunities that arise.
Around me is my dance community. It's the desire to be a part of that which often helps me get to class, even when there isn't a boss telling me when to be there. I reach in the direction of this path and I push to facilitate the action born out of desire.
I wanted to add to this blog some youtube links to show the kind of dance that engages and inspires me. It looks and acts differently than the contemporary dance that might be seen on shows like So You Think You Can Dance. It's for a different purpose and although it's all dance, what I call "commercial dance" sometimes seems so far from me that I can't even comprehend what it is. At times, I wish I had the skills of a commercial dancer, it would open up more work for me and it would be fun to interact with that community. But, I also know that those movement patterns could become a trap, not allowing the gentle expansion and unfolding of my own pathway discovered through the limit imposed by a simple instruction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBdU7S_Bf8c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRRb6otRuVg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFzCCeUPbys
This is a blog about being a contemporary dance artist here in Vancouver. Now that it's evening and the sun is setting over the balcony of my cozy and very beloved 1 bdrm apartment in Vancouver, my mind is occupied with the logistics of tomorrow. How I will get from home, into the world and to the various places I go throughout the day with all the objects that will create a productive day rather than a frusterating one.
Just this morning, my mind was thinking nothing. Completely freed by the words "reach and push" that my teacher Helen Walkley was dropping into the air while I was in dance class. She was directing me and others in our movement tasks, our movement explorations and poems. My arm reached, my eyes and feet went with it and there I was, in a whole new place in space. The next second I was to be in another. When does the mind have time to fix on any thought with so much to discover in the simple notions of reach and push?
Helen Walkley is a Laban Movement Analyst and registered Somatic Movement Educator www.yogaon7th.com/HelenWalkley.htm. She is also a senior instructor in my Vancouver dance community and her experience is a gem to me. Even the way a word comes out of her mouth immediately instructs me as to how to embody it. With, plasticity; carving my core through space; allowing the core to be the innitiator and the transfer of information to and from distal limbs. In the safety of the studio I follow a pathway that is set out for me in that instant by my own tuning into a simple instruction. I can follow that path with full commitment.
At the end of class, we sat in a circle and reflected. Helen said she had a thought today of how she could follow her path in the rest of her life outside of the studio with the same commitment and wholeness that she finds within the studio walls.
I think about this as I get ready for tomorrow. "Pack a lunch, change studio booking time so that I can attend class first, find a potential bike route" are some of the things my mind is working on. Also are questions "how will I get a giant bag of crumpled newspaper to the studio on my bike?". Even bigger: "how will I pay for my expenses in July since there wasn't enough registration for the arts acedemy to hire me this summer?". There are bigger one's still but they fragment into smaller questions, each one with either a thousand answers or one answer that is terrifying. Can I simply move along the path that is mine with an easy courage and a lot of engaged curiosity and joy?
Everyone is a master of many things on a day to day basis. But...I really think that this is a very specific opportunity that dance is giving me. The opportunity to truely be independent and therefore "multitalented". This means researching for potential dance pieces; writing applications for funding; piecing together a schedule that includes paid work, training time, creating time, and observing; learning to stay very healthy; adapting very quickly to opportunities that arise.
Around me is my dance community. It's the desire to be a part of that which often helps me get to class, even when there isn't a boss telling me when to be there. I reach in the direction of this path and I push to facilitate the action born out of desire.
I wanted to add to this blog some youtube links to show the kind of dance that engages and inspires me. It looks and acts differently than the contemporary dance that might be seen on shows like So You Think You Can Dance. It's for a different purpose and although it's all dance, what I call "commercial dance" sometimes seems so far from me that I can't even comprehend what it is. At times, I wish I had the skills of a commercial dancer, it would open up more work for me and it would be fun to interact with that community. But, I also know that those movement patterns could become a trap, not allowing the gentle expansion and unfolding of my own pathway discovered through the limit imposed by a simple instruction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBdU7S_Bf8c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRRb6otRuVg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFzCCeUPbys
Friday, March 6, 2009
inside the frame/ outside the frame
Well, this entry is going to be about inspiration. When I moved to Calgary 4 years ago to begin an MFA, I was very upset to find that all the things which inspired me in Vancouver, did not exist here. The last 4 years I have collected other things connected to this city which have sunk into my skin and now fuel the desire to create.
After many hours of mind numbing sitting in front of the computer and squeezing out my thesis, I find that the ideas for pieces are overflowing in my brain. There's nothing like a little bit of entrapment and restraint to get the imagination working overtime. This has increased my ability to find inspiration everywhere.
Here, in Calgary, I find inspriration in boxy shapes. Calgary has many windows, square buildings and straight lines in abundance- frames basically.
I am fascinated with what is revealed inside of a frame and what is not seen....I know not the newest of topics but still something I find so much joy in exploring. I love looking into the windows of the office buildings to see snipets of life and become curious about what else exists. My favourite place to look through windows is on the C-train. All those bits of edited life briefly coming into contact with each other whenever the trains pass.
It's like a badly edited film with pieces randomly put together so there is no throughline or conherance. When I am on the c-train and I pass another c-train, I see the briefest of glimpses into other people's lives, each frame not really having a relationship to the next accept for the fact that it is all part of the c-train.
Last night, I went to First Thursday events at Art Central. This is a great Calgary happening that takes place at different spots around town on the first Thursday of ever month. Art Central is always bubbling in the evening. I love all the small galleries there with windows pointing towards the hallways. Looking into the windows at the hanging work is like looking at a frame, which is hung in a frame through a frame.
All the dancing that I will create when done this thesis:) Thank-you to my Calgary experience I think I have become less of a BC snob and my appreciation for this city has grown and grown. With that I hope to keep increasing my ability to find inspiration in all things.
After many hours of mind numbing sitting in front of the computer and squeezing out my thesis, I find that the ideas for pieces are overflowing in my brain. There's nothing like a little bit of entrapment and restraint to get the imagination working overtime. This has increased my ability to find inspiration everywhere.
Here, in Calgary, I find inspriration in boxy shapes. Calgary has many windows, square buildings and straight lines in abundance- frames basically.
I am fascinated with what is revealed inside of a frame and what is not seen....I know not the newest of topics but still something I find so much joy in exploring. I love looking into the windows of the office buildings to see snipets of life and become curious about what else exists. My favourite place to look through windows is on the C-train. All those bits of edited life briefly coming into contact with each other whenever the trains pass.
It's like a badly edited film with pieces randomly put together so there is no throughline or conherance. When I am on the c-train and I pass another c-train, I see the briefest of glimpses into other people's lives, each frame not really having a relationship to the next accept for the fact that it is all part of the c-train.
Last night, I went to First Thursday events at Art Central. This is a great Calgary happening that takes place at different spots around town on the first Thursday of ever month. Art Central is always bubbling in the evening. I love all the small galleries there with windows pointing towards the hallways. Looking into the windows at the hanging work is like looking at a frame, which is hung in a frame through a frame.
All the dancing that I will create when done this thesis:) Thank-you to my Calgary experience I think I have become less of a BC snob and my appreciation for this city has grown and grown. With that I hope to keep increasing my ability to find inspiration in all things.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Night time Dance in Night time pants
This is my first blog. Committment to anything outside of dancing is...well, let's say something that I am working on becoming better at. This blog is a small step in that direction.
I'm setting this up as a means to share my experiences as a contemporary dance artist.
Currently I am in Calgary and part of the close and friendly Calgary dance community. These first entries are going to be short as I am finishing a thesis for an MFA in contemp. dance choreography and performance. I may chat about that more later, when it is all over and done with...but not now:)
Well first thing's first, I'd like to talk about going out dancing. For me, the best time to go out dancing is after seeing a dance show. After sitting that long and taking in all that inspiration, there's nothing like letting it rip on the dance floor.
I saw Alberta's Dance Explosions last week at Dancer's Studio West in Calgary. After seeing some of Alberta's choreographic movers and shakers I naturally felt inspired by the performances and was happy to discover DJ Rice at the Ship and Anchor.
As I am a contemporary dancer I am learning to get grounded and down into the floor in a whole other way here in Calgary with the DJD jazz infused into the community. Going out dancing is a great way to see what styles my body is picking up and integrating into my natural movement patterns. I'm glad for the bits of Funk, Swing and the bit of African that has krpt into my movement. Thanks for the House and Funk DJ Rice.
Afterwards, it was only 2:30 and I couldn't go to bed without another hour and a half of living room dancing when I got home. Yes, I have a life that allows for living room dancing until 4:00am. Taking in the night and allowing the fantasy that is available to my brain at that time is something that will always be a part of my life- and why not:)
This morning, I taught 2 and 3 year olds and ran around the studio following the spontaneous explosions into space that is available to them. I realized why 4 am is so important to me- it's the time when my imagination comes first and judgement falls away.
That's it for now, who knows where this blog will go as I am much more of a mover than a writer;)
I'm setting this up as a means to share my experiences as a contemporary dance artist.
Currently I am in Calgary and part of the close and friendly Calgary dance community. These first entries are going to be short as I am finishing a thesis for an MFA in contemp. dance choreography and performance. I may chat about that more later, when it is all over and done with...but not now:)
Well first thing's first, I'd like to talk about going out dancing. For me, the best time to go out dancing is after seeing a dance show. After sitting that long and taking in all that inspiration, there's nothing like letting it rip on the dance floor.
I saw Alberta's Dance Explosions last week at Dancer's Studio West in Calgary. After seeing some of Alberta's choreographic movers and shakers I naturally felt inspired by the performances and was happy to discover DJ Rice at the Ship and Anchor.
As I am a contemporary dancer I am learning to get grounded and down into the floor in a whole other way here in Calgary with the DJD jazz infused into the community. Going out dancing is a great way to see what styles my body is picking up and integrating into my natural movement patterns. I'm glad for the bits of Funk, Swing and the bit of African that has krpt into my movement. Thanks for the House and Funk DJ Rice.
Afterwards, it was only 2:30 and I couldn't go to bed without another hour and a half of living room dancing when I got home. Yes, I have a life that allows for living room dancing until 4:00am. Taking in the night and allowing the fantasy that is available to my brain at that time is something that will always be a part of my life- and why not:)
This morning, I taught 2 and 3 year olds and ran around the studio following the spontaneous explosions into space that is available to them. I realized why 4 am is so important to me- it's the time when my imagination comes first and judgement falls away.
That's it for now, who knows where this blog will go as I am much more of a mover than a writer;)
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