Choreography Under the Wire
I can’t imagine that I was the only young dancer (or other performing artist) that had daydreamed about suddenly being thrown into a show at the last minute and really rising to the occasion. I can remember sitting in the audience at Clowes Hall and letting my mind drift. The principal dancer would suddenly become sick right before intermission: they didn’t have an understudy nor did they have an extra dancer that could jump into the role. NATURALLY, they would have to find someone from the audience. Of course I would be chosen and I would learn the whole second Act effortlessly during intermission. I would dance it perfectly. Never was there any concern with remembering the steps. No apprehension, no panic, no fear or worry that I might not do the piece justice. No concern that I could not fill the shoes of the beautiful dancer that performed the role before me.
I’m finding out that when this occurs in real life- it doesn’t quite feel the same. Lovely Katelin was
injured in rehearsal on Wednesday night. Luckily it’s nothing too serious but she is on crutches and is unable to dance for awhile. Heidi called on Thursday asking if I would be willing to learn Katelin’s massive part in Michelle’s piece. I said yes.
As soon as I hung up, panic set in. I believe that this is the fastest turn around to learn a piece that I’ve ever had to do. (Shockingly, I’ve never been asked to learn a piece during intermission.) I instantly had “pre-performance butterflies.” What if my old dancer brain couldn’t remember the movement? What if my lack of remembering the piece, messes up Charise and Sarah? I really don’t want to let everyone down. I know that Katelin and I are different dancers but she dances this part so beautifully. She’s got such a light, fragile and battered quality. Her feelings of abuse and inward reflection come across so blaringly yet minimally. This daydream is feeling very daunting.
Michelle and I met on Thursday night and I learned about a minute and a half of choreography in her dining room. I’m hoping that it stuck. Only 4 and a half minutes to go! We met again on Friday to review and discuss the partnering for the remainder of the piece. The first time that I will get to rehearse this piece with the other dancers will likely be during tech and dress rehearsal. SCARY. By the time this blog posts, we will have completed our run in Fort Wayne. I’ll
provide an update if I fail miserably. It will be good for a laugh.
-JT
Katelin in the original production of "IN"
Super Art
What a week! It was amazing to see and hear about all the ways my artist friends were involved in an event that seems at first glance to be the anti-art. Our friends at NoExit and Paper Strangers entertained crowds of thousands at the Super Bowl Village.
Travelers were greeted with live music and performance at the airport. Core Artist, Jenny Thomas and I both participated in a fantastic flash mob welcoming people to the jungle that is the Super Bowl weekend.
A former board member and a Motus dancer shared the stage with Madonna in her half time show. I even had a friend who worked on the production of that fabulous opening number for the Jimmy Fallon show, highlighting Butler, the Colts and everything Indianapolis. Congratulations Indianapolis on valuing the impact of art on your city and this Super event. Well Done. Let’s keep it up, even when the rest of the nation doesn’t seem to be looking.
HKP
Dear Sara, Thank you and good luck!
Sara Yanney-Chantanasombut has been a Core Artist with Motus for 2 years. While she is still planning to be involved as a dancer, Sara has decided to retreat from her Core Artist responsibilities so that she can concentrate her efforts as a teacher at Ball State as well as her own company, Jump Into Motion. She was completely dedicated to Motus as a core artist. Passionate about her choreography, technique and dance history, she breathed life into her dancers literally, by encouraging them to use breath, engage in the core and find softness in their movement. In her beginning modern class she was able to apply her excellent ability to break down movement and find new ways to explore old concepts in order to connect with everyone’s way of learning. She is also a good friend and found personal connections beyond the dance floor with the dancers she worked with. We will miss her contributions and wish her the best of luck in future endeavors. Thank you Sara for all you have done for Motus. –the Motus Core Artists
Dancing on a Dare – Part 2
There are not any words in the English dictionary to describe the rehearsal process of “IN” for me. Since it had been nearly two decades since I had performed in any capacity near the magnitude of this show, sore and achy muscles, an inability to retain the choreographic sequences, and basically asking my body to do things I had not done in what seemed like forever, was overwhelming at first. As I learned how kind and compassionate my choreographers were, my tensions eased.
Every single person involved with the concert has been a delight to get to know and were tremendously supportive of my age restrictions. Very quickly rehearsals became a real source of affordable therapy for me. As my life progressed through a dank fog, the outlet of rehearsals provided me with a safe place for to work through all the wreckage of my past choices.
I know I would have eventually pulled myself up by my boot straps, but this experience with Motus has been a spiritual tool with which I have been able to begin the process of healing. Working with Motus has literally helped direct the rest of my life in a more positive direction. I will forever be grateful to Motus.
JB
Dancing on a Dare – Part 1
I auditioned for Motus’ IN on a dare. I am a half a century old, was in a tremendously dark period of my life, and due to many explosive life changes – made the decision to take the dare and audition. I made it through the audition by the grey hair of my chinny chin chin, certain I needed to rescind my audition after it was over. A few days later I logged on to my email account to take myself off the consideration list, but I had already been cast!
I was shocked and overwhelmed, thinking this surely was a mistake. Eventually I accepted the casting. I began to take classes with the company, then the rehearsal process started. When I learned the pieces I was to be in, I nearly peed my pants; a dysfunctional mother who has marred a daughter and a woman who loses her mind to untreated bipolar disorder. These themes so closely mirrored my real life, I felt it was a sign I was in the right place. I felt that a higher power was at work on my broken soul.
JB
Scars
I stole this from a friend on Facebook… (thank you Emma Kalinowski)
“A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take out a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stomp on it and really mess it up, not to rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty it was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now, even though they s…aid they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bullies another child, they may say they’re sorry, but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.”
HKP
The color of IN
(photo by Karen Kirchman)
The color of IN
When I was about 12 years old, I watched a movie based on an Alex Haley novel called Queen. At that time, my racial identity was never a question. I never asked about how the color of one’s skin and made someone IN or OUT, majority or minority, popular or unpopular, or if you had to belong to a certain race. I grew up in a Californian multicultural neighborhood with a set of parents representing two different races. Being IN was being mixed. At school, and in our neighborhood, we kids all were. Isn’t that how the rest of the United States, this supposed melting pot was? That movie shattered my perfect racial kaleidoscope worldview in that I learned racism existed. I didn’t sleep well at night. I kept wondering what I was. Am I BLACK or am I WHITE? What does society think? What do my friends think? I have tan skin, light eyes, and curly hair. Where do I fit IN?
In high school, I was forced to start choosing. Groups of kids separated themselves into the White kids, the Black jocks, the Asian breakers, and the Mexican gangsters. I drifted from one group to another when I finally settled among the “smart kids” since we were all shapes and colors and inadvertently excluded from the popular crowds due to the fact that we made good grades and that wasn’t cool. When college applications and scholarships came, I had to put on paper what may race was. Check one box that describes your race/ethnic background. (So I checked two.) According to the old “one drop rule,” I was Black but I didn’t dress, talk, or “act” Black according to the other Black girls at school. They excluded me from their groups but not as an acquaintance. In several occasions in high school and college en route to my next class, I was cornered and asked why I spoke White, dressed White, hung out in White groups/sororities, or had a “White” college major.
This show has brought to surface many of my old emotional struggles with the desire to find inclusion while battling exclusion based on the fact that I don’t fit this perfect racial definition. I am saddened that after 150 years since the end of slavery, racial tension continues and those of use who are not 100% of one race struggle to find acceptance. I witnessed it when our nation’s president ran for office. I see it with older civil rights era Americans who want to hold onto the idea that we need to continue racial exclusion that is masked as racial inclusion. I see it in today’s youth. When will we all be IN no matter the color of our skin?
VSF
Religious Exclusion
(Photo by Karen Kirchman)
Becoming Someone You Are Not
Become someone completely different. It’s not something a person is asked to do very often. Yet in dance, we commonly find ourselves thinking, moving, and acting in ways that do not naturally occur to us. We are asked to abandon our identities and become, for lack of a better expression, different. This phenomenon is abundant in the dances of “In.” Dancers are becoming neglecting mothers, homosexual lovers, mean girls, bullies, manipulators, and saddest of all, those beaten down and effected by these malicious characters. If you know any or all of us, you know this could not be further from the true personalities of the compassionate, creative, giving women of Motus and this show. That being said, I think these roles are taking many of us on revealing journeys. I know that is the case for me.
In Katelin’s piece, I am manipulative and controlling. I bear down on Rachel, pushing, pulling, lifting, and throwing her around the stage. I even have to stare her down at a couple different points. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever been asked to do in dance. Stare. After years of dance training, I struggle with a facial expression. Who would have known? I have a horrible time looking at someone like they are truly disgusting. I really just want to flash her a big smile! My true character and the character in the dance practically have an internal brawl as I try and be pleased that Rachel is being degraded, but am very sad for everyone who has lived this scenario at some point in their life. That being said, I must admit that I enjoy releasing my frustrations and stresses each week by channeling my character. The pure physicality and power in the movement is not what comes to me naturally, but I have found it fits me well. My body is almost wishing I had been embodying bullies my whole life! I am invigorated by the movement and find it nice to be in control because I know in actuality I am not inflicting any pain on anyone (except for that one floor burn on Rachel’s arm…sorry!)
I believe that delving into the emotions of someone so different from myself has helped me to evaluate my own inclinations in a clearer light and to understand the minds of others better. I know it would be utterly impossible in life for me to commit the kind of actions I am portraying, but I have started to understand the power and self-importance that must motivate and appeal to those who do. It is an interesting piece of introspection and I hope that the audience in November is able to experience similar insights into the tragedies that revolve around inclusion and exclusion that I am experiencing through the creative process.
Meghan
Dancin’ Mama – How dancing makes me a better mom, and being a mom makes me a better dancer…
I’ll start with the obvious things. Dance provides me with an emotional outlet. I’ve needed it my whole life, and it is no different now. I come back from class clear headed and refreshed (mostly), and best of all feeling great. Motherhood has changed my life and my perspective and has given me a new place from which to draw inspiration.
But there are many unexpected ways in which my two lives intersect as well. Of course we dance around at home, but the fun thing is all the great ways I can swing and lift my boy, a direct result of years of partnering work. At 50 pounds I can’t just toss him in the air like I once could, but using the basics of core strength and grounding my weight we are able to pull off some pretty cool stuff. And speaking of core strength, I think mine has greatly increased, in my life as a mother. Beginning with (his) life in the baby Bjorn, graduating to the toddler back pack, and finally good old piggy back rides. It’s been a slow regimen of ever increasing load bearing, that I’ve been able to keep up with, perhaps because I didn’t have much choice.
By the way, two nights ago my little family took inspiration from former Motus Core Artist Christina Maley, and her piece entitled “Expressions on Canvas”, as we donned old clothes, laid out a white sheet and various colors of washable paint. We painted, skated, stamped, and poured paint to make foot prints, hand prints, and many other prints. And I guess that brings me to the best part of where these two parts of my life intersect, and that is in joy. I am so fortunate to be able to practice an art that I love, to share it with my family, and to show that there is so much to life.
MB
