Category Archives: moving, breathing, feeling

Nov7

let’s get physical

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I read an interesting article in the New York Times from October 30, which we got yesterday because of the snow storm the week before.  It is called The Lynda Barry School for Drawing Spirals, Confronting Demons, Learning to Sing, Being Terrified and Maybe Becoming A Capital-W Writer. Lynda Barry is the cartoonist and now a creativity guru.

Here are her instructions;

“Think back to early days.  Write the first 10 images that come to mind when I say ‘Money.'”

And next, “Choose an image that has some kind of trouble attached to it.”

Trouble made me think about powerful black women like Maya Angelou or Oprah or Toni Morrison.The Color Purple.  Lots of TROUBLE there.

She then asks questions to help them find detail:  “Is it day or night in this image?”  “What’s behind you?”  “What’s beyond what’s behind you?”

I like this because it fills in the image with lots of physical detail  – makes it immediate and hot.  It gets writers into the tissue of themselves.  Writing shouldn’t be theoretical.  It should make you shiver and dance.

If I give you this word – hands – what are your images?

 

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Nov6

reveal/conceal

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“Unmade Beds” by Paula Josa-Jones — Photo:  George Sakmanof

This is a photograph from a VERY early solo that I made.  What I love about it is what is there and what is not there.  What is revealed and what is concealed.

Reveal/conceal is a favorite theme for me.  When I am teaching movement classes, I will often ask a performer to reveal one thing while concealing another. For example: reveal falling down and getting up while concealing a specific movement phrase.  It challenges the mover to dig deeper and makes the performance more mysterious, more layered.  I want them to surprise me with something less obvious.

Each day in the writing, I look to uncover something fresh..  Writing and publishing each day is a way of outing myself, of being sure that I show up, that I offer something meaningful. Daily publishing makes my art-making less theoretical, more immediate.

At the same time, I am very aware of what I am revealing and what I am concealing.  Of how I am shaping my digital presence.  Being a performer my whole life means that I have always played with identity and mask.  As I started to plan a shoot for a new headshot, I made a list of things to bring, and realized that I was costuming myself for another role.  Figuring out what to reveal and what to conceal.

So I am curious:  What do you revealing?  What are you concealing?  How do you play with those boundaries?

 

Nov5

the view and the p.o.v.

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Photo:  Pam White

This is a view that I love.  Perhaps my favorite away-from-home vista.  When I am here I see things differently.  I have a fresh p.o.v.

My at-home views changed abruptly last week when a freak storm decimated some of my favorite trees.  Trees that are a daily part of my view and my day-to-day p.o.v.

That sudden, unwelcome change reminds me of the day I was riding Pearl because my own horse was injured.  We were in an indoor arena, trotting in a circle.  Suddenly a large truck rattled by the arena, and Pearl shot laterally about six feet in a nanosecond.  I hung in the air like the cartoon roadrunner, then crashed down onto the arena dirt.  I had a concussion, and how I see things was different for a while.

What happens when your point of view changes?  How do you adjust?

Nov4

sifting

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This is the work I care about in Wordle.  It’s a playful way to sift what is important.  As I am refining focus, Wordle and Michael Bungay Stanier’s Do More Great Work and Get Unstuck and Get Going are great tools.

As you sift, what stays and what do you set free?