Living, Working, and Taking (the metro) in Paris

I am living in the 18th Arrodissement in Paris near the metro Guy Moquet. In the mornings I take dance classes at Menagerie de Verre. A two hour class only cost 6 euro here. In the afternoons I go to my nannying job. I live with Kéwé, who is dancing with me in the above photos. On the weekends we explore different parts of Paris and dance in the spaces where we feel inspired. We do this in order to combat against the cold greyness that is this city. We do this so that Paris is not only limited to this greyness because really it so much more.

But it is hard. Sometimes at nighttime we look at my videos from Ecole des Sables and practice the choreography we learned there. Sometimes we just look at the pictures of our beautiful friends and the stunning landscape. Sometimes we just listen to the drums.

But the secret is not in Ecole or Sénégal. The secret is in these difficult times. How do we find the creative space? How do we tap into the texture of this landscape?

From the beginning I was taken by the metro. My mind seems to wake up when I'm on it alive with observations and theoretical pensées. In the beginning I couldn't stop moving, always choreographing something. I couldn't stop writing, always making a poem. I thought about what the metro represents. where it takes us. Who is on it. What it means to be on the inside and what it means to be on the outside. And then, I began to take the train to work. I could see above ground. Everywhere in Paris, from every form of public transportation, graffiti can be seen. Various levels of property defacement range from simple tagging to incredible mural art work.

I wonder why I am so taken by this form of artwork. Partially it is my inner rejection of authority. My anger issues cause me to want to deface property. And while I am riding a train that ultimately takes me to market, I watch the remnants of a person at work, working against the grain of money. This artist does not get paid for her work. And this artist is often making commentary about who has access and who does not have access to working for money.

I told a man in a bar the other night that I was choreographing a dance inspired by the metro. What I took from the varied and stimulating conversation was a question I had not asked myself. What is capitalism? Because I have been accusing Paris of being more capitalistic than L.A. or the Bay. And when I went to Edinburgh, I couldn't stop thinking about Adam Smith and my money minded people. I use the word as an adjective as if to explain a way of thinking, a group mentality reified in the murky undergrounds of the metro. There isn't room enough for all during the rush hour craze. Some must be left out. This Parisian ethos tugs at my core possibly because in this, I see where I come from. And yet, I must clarify capitalism. Because like every 'ism,' "individualism,' ect. there are multiple facets to the definition. Entire books are written about this one word.

I looked up the wikipedia definition and it said, Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production and capital goods, and the production of goods and services for profit in a market economy.^[1][2] Central characteristics of capitalism include the process of capital accumulation, competitive markets, and wage labor.^[3] In a capitalist economy, the parties to a transaction typically determine the prices at which assets, goods, and services are exchanged. (wikipedia) 

It then goes on to say that there are varying degrees of regulation on the competition and this is where one of the problems occurs. But of course nothing is so simple. From what I observe when I go to the super market, there is very little competition. The same products ranging from Ariel laundry detergent to Nestle everything, exist in the markets of Sénégal. Perhaps there is a model of capitalism that isn't so terrible with proper regulation. It wouldn't be a bad thing to pay an artisan what they are worth. In other words, I don't think it is private ownership and means of production that I object to because as we have seen without proper check, communism can turn into totalitarianism. And this is what we have today, totalitarianism, with Monsanto, Nestle, Disney, Dupont, ect. ruling the world! 
These are just my thoughts on something I am beginning to scratch at the surface of. 

Update on the Project and Travel News!

Robyn and I have been talking about the project, and it's definitely going to be longterm. We are thinking about developing a book together first, to organize our independent research. The film is going to take a while, but we are collecting visuals and interviewing as many people as we can along the way.

Dance is starting to become a really important factor for my research. I decided to connect my identity journey with my IMS project, which means it's now part of my choreography piece Pieces of Her. A dance theater piece about my relationship to my grandmother, our distance through immigration, and what makes us individuals. It's a tall glass of water, but here I go diving in as much as I can.

I am currently in Berkeley, CA. I am in the process of moving in with my partner, and collaborating on various art projects with wonderful professionals in the Bay and outside. To say that I am overwhelmed is an understatement, but if I'm not doing something I might just shrivel up and die from boredom. It's just who I am.

I hope you are all well. I am looking forward to what the future holds.

More soon!

Upcoming Events: 

• IMS Session 3 (LMA/BF Participant) / Salt Lake City, Utah
• Dance Conference for Pieces of Her (Choreographer) / Riverside, CA
• Life Machine Play (Actor and Dancer) / Berkeley, CA
• Travel to Peru (Research and Short Film for Pieces of Her) / Lima, Peru
• Travel to Brazil (Research continued and Video work for Amara Tabor-Smith) / Salvador, Brazil

Check out my blog for more information!

Done with the Summer Intensive

Well as you can probably tell by the lack of posts on my end from this summer that the IMS Summer Intensive, was truly an intensive. I feel as though my brain and body have gone through a process of being mashed down into a substance that I am still trying to identify and piece together. I hardly had time to do other work, much less fit in time to film the beautiful landscape that Utah can provide. Thought I'll be back there in October (post Interim period), so I am not too worried.

The point is, my summer was difficult. Sure there was play, fun, down time, reflective moments, but overall the program has a lot information to take in about Laban and Irmgard Bartenieff. And rightly so! Their work, when they were on this earth, is monumental and still being practiced today. Okay, I don't want to paint the experience as gruesome either. I had a lot of fun finding new ways to create movement, express movement, and find healthier passages to allow my body to function in a powerful but thoughtful way. It's actually, now that I think about it, getting harder and harder to describe what the experience has been like. And I think it's because it's A LOT of things. I made new friends, I connected with my body in ways I never knew I could, I experienced the physical, spiritual, and emotional changes of self. I identified things about myself that I want to change. I realized how much I rely on assumptions when it comes to other people. So is this work going to help me in the process of  filmmaking, you betcha. So although this post is kind of vague, I plan on using the tools I am learning from Integrated Movement Studies to describe and develop the process of this film. Step by step, I will be sharing the language I've learned through the images we share.

A quick update on Robyn! She has little internet connection in Senegal, but will be on her way to Paris soon. She's going through a very transformative experience herself. Can't wait to see her next year so we can compact all our information and create something that is meaningful for us. For now, the travel continues!

I am in L.A. visiting family right now, but will be returning to the Bay on Monday. Wow. The summer went by so fast. Onward.

IMS: http://imsmovement.com

Expressivity through Laban Movement Analysis

University of Utah, Dance Studio in Marriott Building

I am learning about Expressivity in Laban Movement Analysis, and I am really enjoying the process. Well, actually it's two in one: Functionality-Expressivity. Let's say you have a choreographed section of a piece where your dancer just puts his arms up and down. That is the functionality of the movement. You might say, "Dancer, please put your arms up and down any way you like." After a while, you decided you want more energy and liveliness in the body, so you think to yourself hmmm, (s)he should be in Passion Drive! (Check out Robin Konie's Effort Bank site by clicking here for more details!) So you tell your dancer to add some weight effort, time effort, and flow effort into the mix of the function. Now the dancer is living in Passion Drive as the Functionality. However, there is something missing---a je ne sais quoi? Of course! EXPRESSIVITY. Hazzah! Expressivity is my new favorite topic in our LMA theory and movement classes because it involves creating images, characters, and worlds to help you achieve the clarity and goal of your choreography and/or movement. That is to say, for example, you tell the dancer -- Your arms remind me of a sling shot being stretched and then released, can you move with that image in mind? And you would explore this and watch the dancer move. Or you can create a small narrative like, You are five years old, you just found out your mother died. You run to your bedroom balcony and reach up to the heavens because you know your mom is living among the clouds. You want to be with her, but your arms get tired and you have to give away to the weight and drop them. Suddenly the dancer is not just moving the arms up and down, but now other parts of the body enliven. The face, the fingers, the tension in the neck, everything is involved. The face of an eager five-year-old reaches up desperately towards the sky, her/his toes are pushing against the ground with desperation, and perhaps the dancer becomes emotional. Then the dancer's body gives up and drops down with weight, but this time (s)he falls all the way down to the floor, defeated and heavy. Not only are you being clear with your dancer, but you are taking them on a journey. In addition, you are watching the choreography become clearer, cleaner, and more alive. The quality has improved. There are many other ways to practice Expressivity, but I was just introduced to it and I'm taking it all in one step at a time.

In our sessions, we will be doing more explorative movements in the next few days. I cannot wait to see what other wonderful tools my LMA/Bartenieff Fundamentals training with Integrated Movement Studies will provide me with. I hope this inspires you to bring some Expressivity into your own creative lives. To me, it feels like freedom.

LMA Effort Bank: http://www.lmaeffortbank.com
IMS: http://imsmovement.com

Knowing our Roots

Maman Germaine taught class yesterday in the morning. She is the founder of the school and a very powerful woman who commands presence and respect. When going across the floor during a specific exercise, she asked us all to keep our heads straight. You must know the base, the beginning, she said, so that you can know who you are. Even in contemporary dance, you must know your roots, for clarity. When you know who are and where you come from, you are a very powerful person.

Then she had us create a simple movement signature. Something we must show her every time we see her. I'm glad I kept mine simple!

We watched a video in the afternoon showing the beginnings of School on the Sand. It was fashioned after the idea of a New Babylon, where people around the world could come and share what they know and who they are. One dancers in the video said, black or white, art is not hypocritical. It does not lie. Maybe we do, but in art we show our hearts. Ciré Beye, who came to teach us Sabar at UC Berkeley was in the video. He was one of the first students to arrive here. Maman Germaine said in the video that at first there was nothing but sand. We put our tents down and called this our home! We take our time to know each other. We sleep together, eat together, dance together, and we take our time. It was an incredible video. Good for us to know the roots of L'Ècole des Sables. Good for us to think about our own roots. And how when we stomp the floor in the beginning of Patric's class, we are waking up our ancestors.

L'École des Sable--School of sand. Jant Bi--The Sun

I am here at a world class dance school in Toubab Dialow, Senegal. We are learning contemporary and traditional dance forms. You have no idea how fortunate I feel right now. There are dancers here from all around the world. France, Spain, Japan, England, Switzerland, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Benin, Congo, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil, Canada, New Caledonia, and then myself and another from Florida. It is an amazing group of people. The energy is incredible. We are dancing for almost seven hours a day and at the end we still have full energy that we put into our dance. We speak different languages the two common languages being French and English. We eat different food, have different customs, different ways of relating to family and friends. But it is not a problem at all. We all communicate. We all laugh and smile. We all have fun together. We are all grateful to be here. And we all dance. And when we dance together, I cannot explain the power that we have as a group. I have never in my life experienced anything like it.

So what are traditional and contemporary African dance forms? Well first off, we were asked to prepare a traditional dance to bring from our country. I could understand this as being relative to some, but for me, I have not traditional dance forms. Maybe modern dance, but that's so vague. Patric, the director clarified for us but only slightly. He said for Africans, it is clear what traditional dances are, for others, we will have to ask ourselves some hard questions. Already the guy from Florida brought up hip-hop as a possibility. No way I said. That is a tradition based in a particular marginalized group's rejection of power structure. The girl from Canada who we were grouped with suggested a native American circle dance. Even worse, I thought to myself.

For me, I have already been thinking a great deal about my relationship to my cultural positioning. How being an American pretty much means appropriating from sub cultures and then commodifying it. I was already holding some questions about my coming to Senegal in the first place. In some ways I accept that I have access to an incredible amount of information from many different places in the world. Good information. But I have to have respect for that information. I felt that for me, my tradition in dance most recently has been steeped with a bay area tradition. I think about Anna Halprin, Sara Shelton Mann, Kathleen Hermsedorf, Lisa Wymore, Peggy Hackney, Joe Goode, Amara Tabor-Smith, Dana and Shinichi Iova Koga and so on. A rejection of the norm, a questioning of structure, deep reflection on the body processes in conjunction with the mind, somatic awareness, core connectivity, and much of the teachings I have experienced have had influences from many parts of the world.

It has not been decided what we will share with the group, but I have an idea about how I want to approach the topic of what is tradition for me. In many ways, it is staying true to my own personal experience. It is my willingness to face a challenging question with honesty and integrity.

As for the distinction between contemporary and African dance forms . . . more to come!

We drove her to the airport

                              

We celebrated alongside some of the most talented people in the Bay Area. We toasted and danced with the cast and crew of "He Moved Swiftly...". We laughed at each others' jokes. We snuck in strawberries and hummus between every hip roll. We witnessed a flowing rap artist freestyle to the beats of Mario Bros.' Nintendo music. We watched the disco lights twirl in the red room and light up the picture frames pinned on the yellow walls. Speckles of glittering teeth, art pieces that came to life, and hands holding onto red plastic cups holding onto secret desires and dreams. Shirtless men, limber women, hammocks being pushed by ghosts, and secret conversations about transitions and growing young. We embraced Amara Tabor-Smith, our dance teacher and mentor, and after a night of music, art, and spirits we left the house of sleepy artist and entered my little tic-tac car. We drove her to the airport. He was at the wheel because my eyes were slipping in and out of sleep from three days of driving and traveling. Our bodies stiffened from the Salt Lake City to the Bay car ride. We were on our way to SFO. She had all her bags in my car ready for her destination: Senegal! She should be there now, connecting with new people and learning about their dance world. I am so glad Robyn and I had one more chance to see each other before her trip. I am so happy that I was with her at the beginning of her adventure. This Sunday I return to my Summer Intensive training with Integrated Movement Studies. The more I think about this project, the more excited I get over the possibilities. Safe travels Robyn! Open heart, open mind, and open doors!