Motus Dance Theatre's Blog

The Art of Imperfection

Motus — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:12:00 +0000

As I prepare for my very first Pairings, now less than three weeks away, all of my usual fears come creeping in. Will I be able to fulfill the choreographer’s vision? Will I dance well with my fellow performers? Will I deliver a performance that I can be proud of, and that reflects well on Motus Dance? All of these fears stem from a deeply ingrained perfectionism. Recently however, I came across a theory that has me looking at things in a new way.

I came across an article which highlighted that it is widely believed by astrophysicists that the only reason anything exists, even a single particle of matter, is that there is a fundamental imperfection in nature. And in fact, if nature was perfectly balanced the result would be…nothingness. For a perfectionist like myself this is a relevatory notion. As a dancer striving for the perfect line, the perfect landing, the perfect balance the idea that imperfection is not only okay, but perhaps essential, is liberating.

The true art it seems, is in finding a way to strive for perfection and then not stand in our own way when a beautiful imperfection presents itself. For the truly astounding thing, is that for all of the sweat, blisters, bruises, and hours spent in the studio working to create the perfect moment, it is only when we are able to capture imperfection without artifice, that those moments actually occur. Those are the once in a lifetime moments I live for as an artist.

Imperfection as an engine for creation? If it’s worked for existence itself, I think I’ll give it a try.

motusdance.com/pairings

Cheers,

Melissa

A little bit of this, a pinch of that…

Motus — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:29:17 +0000

Sometimes I think of choreographing as cooking something from scratch. Well, I would assume, you may want to see a dance piece by me, but I doubt you would want to eat anything I made. Luckily, for this dance piece the food that is my inspiration is made by someone who knows what he is doing.

When I sit down-or rather when I stand in the biggest room in my apartment- to create a dance piece I have all these steps and movements running through my brain. I can combine them in any way I see fit. Some I know work better with others from experience, others I just throw together to see what I get. It always comes out a little different, but still has my stamp on it. Then I take this recipe I have concocted and hand it over to my dancers, who then make it their own. Kind of like handing them my cook book and seeing how they interpret it. This is my favorite part, but unlike with cooking, if I see something I do not like I can change it. I can shape it and mold it while it is cooking. I can leave it and come back to it later, without having to worry about leaving it in the oven too long. It can still be hard knowing when a piece is too simple or has too many opposing flavors, if you will, but trying to find that perfect combination is what keeps it interesting to me.

For my Pairings piece, I got to take Adam Ditter’s scrumptious creation and make it my own. Tasting the peach and green tomato bruschetta paired with a Pinot Grigio, I felt like I was sitting on a porch somewhere in the South watching the moon finally come up after a hot summer day. I imagined my three dancers just shooting the breeze, but instead of using their mouths to gossip they would use their feet. Hopefully my dance has combined all the right ingredients, and will be just as enjoyable to watch as the food and wine will be to taste.

motusdance.com/pairings

~AB

15 8′s

Motus — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:10:18 +0000

You would think after all of the times that I have choreographed I would know by now…ALWAYS cut the music before choreographing. What a rookie mistake!

I was feeling great about the start of my Pairings rehearsals. After Cultivate I had a bit of a creative block so I was nervous about getting my creative juices flowing. As soon as I picked my song and got into the studio things really started to fall into place. I was happy with my choices and where it was going. Then, I decided to choreograph without editing my music. To me, where I wanted to cut the music made sense. The music definitely did not agree. After several hours of cutting music I finally had a smooth cut. A smooth cut with an extra minute of music that I was not expecting. A minute in a lifetime is a blink of the eye. An added minute in a piece is a lifetime. Would this totally mess up my vision? Was this still going to make sense? I went into class last Wednesday with a pit in my stomach. I HATE unexpected surprises that I don’t plan for and I know what it’s like to be on the other side when a choreographer comes in and says things need to be changed.

When I arrived for rehearsal I had a plan, I let the dancers know our goal and what happened but I was still questioning how I was going to get through this. 15 8’s. 15 8 counts. I just kept repeating over and over. I can do this. And then it happened. The moment the choreographer and dancers make magic. I felt myself come a little bit more alive than usual. Getting to work with talented dancers and choreographers is a blessing. It’s hard to find, but when you find it hold onto it. And I have found it in Motus.

It’s a special bond; that of a choreographer and the dancer. You are both invested in the same cause, to make something beautiful. It may have been messy the way we got there, but afterwards I have to admit it was pretty beautiful. So, we took a step back and where we left after rehearsal #2 is the same place we left after rehearsal #3 but when we got to the 16^th 8 it was all smiles. We did it, the dancer and the choreographer. Although we have a ways to go, maybe 20 8’s or so, I feel like those 15 8’s rekindled my creativity and reminded me how special choreographing is.

motusdance.com/pairings

Bodies

Motus — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:24:40 +0000

One of the things I love about Modern Dance is how much it’s taught me about bodies. I know dance has earned itself a reputation for driving dancers to practice unhealthy eating and to have unhealthy self images, but I do think that Modern in particular allows for and embraces a lot more variety in who we can be and still be a dancer. For starters, the emphasis on inversions (think cool handstand/cartwheel, variations and then go from there) and partnering (lifting one another), has created a need for much more upper body strength regardless of gender. Even more so, Modern’s wide range of aesthetic and styles, creates room for movers who embody a variety of qualities.

It’s amazing really, how different we all are, and yet we can achieve some uniformity in our movement and quality. Recently, I have been resetting an old group piece on the same set of dancers with one exception. The piece was intended for a diverse cast at a range of heights, and though at first glance the new dancer is roughly the same as the original cast member, her body proportions are different enough that some shapes have had to be altered a bit. To the untrained eye the differences are imperceptible, but it very simply shows what individuals we all are.

I’ve noticed this in classes too, both as a teacher and as a student. Some of us have more flexible spines, or limbs. Some of us have long femurs or short fore arms. It all comes into play when you try to teach choreography. The things that feel good and natural on one body don’t always translate to others, and it’s not just a matter of practice. Sometimes it is a matter of biology and the laws of physics.

Here is a picture of one of the shapes we’ve had to alter. Depicted here is the original cast. See if you can spot the difference on April 20th at Ruckus.

-MB

Deuces are Wild

Motus — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 18:37:53 +0000

I have known how to play poker for as long as I can remember. Old Maid and War always seemed very boring, and for some reason I did not learn to play Euchre until I was older (well, like 12). Regardless, when I first decided to choreograph a dance piece using the shape of a square as my inspiration, my brain immediately went to poker- Texas hold ‘em to be exact. So I took 4 dancers and 4 chairs and set out to make the visual equivalent of a dancing Rubik’s cube poker game. I liked the thought of taking something most people can relate to, and putting all the emotion and intensity into bigger and more abstract movement, while still mixing in familiar gestures and personalities. For our upcoming show, Ruckus, I have been able to add 2 more sections to my Poker piece. Thus, allowing me to follow these 4 people throughout their night of gambling. I have played with how time, money, and other influences affect them as it gets later and later. Dissecting and re-working phrases of movement has been both fun and challenging, and working it so that it can be viewed from all angles was especially interesting for me. Who is playing who? Will it be the shark, the addict, the ringer or the rookie who wins it all in the end? I guess you will just have to come and see to find out.

-AB

Put a Bird on it!

Motus — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 02:44:23 +0000

We had an interesting visitor today in company class. A bird has decided to make Motuspace its new home!

That’s right a bird is now nesting in the walls of MotuSpace. Some may think we are granola however we are not quite ready to dance with the birds or the water the finds its way into our building, we just would rather have a space of our own and not share it with the rest of mother nature. Don’t worry, if you’re a student we won’t make you take class with this new roommate of ours, we have a second home at Garfield Park where a majority of our classes are. But the next time you see a bird think of the core artist and dancers that will be dancing with him and how much we need a new space. Help us get there by donating your dollars and getting us into a home where mother nature can leave us alone!

http://power2give.org/Indianapolis/Project/Detail?projectId=1484

A Few Thoughts on Teaching

Motus — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:21:47 +0000

Why are your best teaching days followed by your worst teaching days? Just when you think you are getting through to them they come back at you with underwhelming results.

I am confident in my teaching skills but, teaching young adult students is vastly different from teaching professionals (both of which I do regularly). The young college students have ideas in their heads about how and what their worlds should be. Daily it is mentally and physically challenging to keep trying to motivate my young students. Dance is a self-motivated art, and that is something that you cannot teach. I wish there were more students on the self-motivated path. Maybe it is generational? I’m not sure. I haven’t figured that part out yet.

-DS

Toe Split

Motus — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:27:32 +0000

This past Sunday was a long dance day. I rehearsed a modern trio with moments of hairography (love!), practiced a structured improv with a Mardi Gras twist, and attended my very first Motus Core meeting. After that I hopped in my car and caravanned with several other ladies to the White Rabbit for a few hours of Hasenpfeffer rehearsals. We reset two pieces, one of which I have never done, and the other one that I performed back in August (poorly).

All in all I wore a leotard for a little over seven hours straight (with a few water and slimfast bar breaks.) My brain was slightly fried, and I may have gotten a little loopy toward the end. Next time, I will plan my coffee consumption more wisely.

Somewhere in the middle of all the dance madness, I felt a stinging pain at the bottom of my left foot, in the space where my pinky toe attaches to the ball of my foot. I immediately recognized this sensation as the ever annoying and deceptively painful toe split. It has been almost a year since I have gotten one. Toe splits are caused by friction from dancing in bare feet. The skin literally splits in two, like a torn piece of paper. It’s only a small rip, but I am reminded of that one turn with the plié and the side curve that caused it with every step.

I know it sounds like I am complaining, but I promise I am only a little bit. I wear my toe split like a badge if bad ass-ery (if that’s a word). I danced hard and here is my proof, living in a slightly bloodied sock.

Sara L.

We can’t save for space if we have to buy to fly…

Motus — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 01:52:05 +0000

Heidi Keller-Phillips

I wouldn’t be here without Motus. I would have left if I hadn’t met Katie Kasper, Emily Bhatti, Vanessa Stowers and Debra Silveus. I would have been bored with sports and family-oriented everything that the surface view of this city provided me 10 years ago. I did meet them and they helped me, along with others, find a world of art that you don’t find in a gallery or museum, budding just under the surface. Back then, it seemed you needed a shovel to find it. Today, you only need a search engine. I like to think that Motus was part of that shift.

Motus has been creating awesomeness in Indy for nearly 10 years now. Along the way we have collaborated with some of the city’s best and brightest artists like Michael Bachman, Kyle Ragsdale, Susan Hodgin, and Kate Lamont. We have worked in tandem with some of the most creative organizations, like NoExit, PaperStrangers, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indy Parks, Spirit and Place, Dance Kaleidoscope, Arts Council of Indianapolis and Indy Fringe. We have continued to educate and provide opportunity for those who have the creative fire within them, helping foster new and incredibly vibrant artistic voices. These voices make this city a cooler place to live, draws to them like voices, and the movement grows.

I have an attainable dream that all these voices be heard and that they all have space to work. MotuSpace can be a place that voices of all mediums can find space to move and to move others, to teach and to grow. I started talking about space 10 years ago. It’s time to move on it. Motus is planning to make this vision a reality, as we grow out (and have to move out of) our current space. This takes funds.

In the meantime, we are also preparing for our first flight to New York City for Spoke the Hub. It’s an amazing opportunity to showcase the creativity of Motus and Indianapolis. We have listed our project on Power2Give, the Arts Council’s online fundraising tool. Your donation will help us fly, so that we have a place to land when we get back.

HKP

Light of Creation

Motus — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:50:04 +0000

2012 was a difficult year for our nation. We witnessed destruction on a scale and of a
type not seen before. I have always been struck by the insidious quickness of

destruction. Cities washed away in hours- decades, centuries of work washed away

with them. Human lives, marvels of creation, taken in a fraction of a second. The ease

of destruction is unsettling. It can leave us feeling fearful and helpless. I submit,

however, that we have a powerful tool for quelling these fears- the power of creation.

How often have you heard of “senseless violence”? Have you ever heard of senseless

creation? Neither have I. There is no such thing. Creation requires sense, vision, and

a desire to add something to the world- instead of take it away. It requires

thoughtfulness, passion, patience. Creation is the light we cast into a world which can

often feel very dark.

Perhaps this is why the performing arts have such power in human existence. The

performing arts are a platform for creations which can never be destroyed. As long as

humans exist, songs will be sung, plays performed and dances danced. It is true things

may be lost or forgotten, but never destroyed. All physical things will be reclaimed, but

the intangible monuments of human history, our music and dialogue and dances can

never be reclaimed.

As Motus Dance approaches its 10th Anniversary, I am so proud to have

become part of a group which is spreading the light of creation throughout our city. I

invite you to become a steward of this light. Be creative! Or offer your support to the

creators you appreciate! Let us be defined by what we bring into being- not what we

take away. And may 2013 be a year filled with grand, new things for Motus Dance

and for each of us.

Cheers!

Melissa