Thursday, January 28, 2010

dance-offs & movement jam and UW students






As I did my last dishes in the sink I thought it was friday for some insane shcizophrentic-senior moment and panickingly tried to get Christian Swenson's number to appologize that I forgot to go meet him and improvise together.I was very upset about it, I have been looking so forward every week now. But until I realized gradually and slowly that IT WAS THURSDAY TODAY and I still had my runny Butoh makeup on, from comming back from the University of Washington RedSquare Campus an hour ago.I was loading my video artist's friend Ian Lucero's rough dvd edit of the Sonic Tales, my last big project few months ago, and taking notes, I saw that Rex Hohlbein sent me 4 pictures of what happened earlier today, thru email.These are now the right corresponding photos to the text.Rex Hohlbein has been taking these beautiful blk and white magical photos.He is an architect with a big heart and a trementdously passionate eye for the camera.I am very fortunate to have met him in these crazy outdoor training sessions last year... its definitely thrugh this redshoe experiments... I am so happy.
I have recently went to visit the MOVEMENT JAM at the Velocity dance center last week and was able to find very fun, contact improv movers and dancers to play with, and gave me more inspriations for my outdoor trainings.The inexhausitible RedSHoe is my theme, a longing to dance and interact with "the other" in the public, and like the story of Hans Christian Andersen, the redshoes is never tired.It has a will of its own, dancing through life, diffrent people, happenings,....So this is a first stage of my experiments and writing the blog...experiencing the interactions, observations, the research out there, while I train. Today, and unfortunately before Rex arrived, a couple of students were taking phone pictures and gathering around me, and one of them looked so excited he wanted to jump in, whispering to his friends," shall I join her?" and then after a while I almost forgot about him, he appeared suddenly in front of me, prancing,like a happy coyote, he started enthusiastically dancing with me, around me, and improvising, and soon there was a roar from bunch of students running towards us. " Its' a fuck'n DANCE-OFF"and soon behold, there was a crowd of students gathering and jumping up and down, taking pictures and cheering.The dancer boy-student who started to dance with me was SO FUN, I think he is some sort of a hip-hop-dancer, like from the movie I saw called "you got served" wait, was it "served"? no, maybe"who got served"??? oh it doesnt matter,...we listened to each other in the frenzy of movements and expressions and he even started breakdancing.When I started rolling on the ground,monkey-style, my high heel got stuck to my wire skirt and I almost tripped, but I started laughing with so much joy.We finally both fell backwards to the ground, in a big spread, mirror image, and there was a laughter and applause.I went up to him while I continue to dance, and said" thankyou", and soon as he left, the crowd dispersed very quickly.The redsquare is very spacious, large open area with GRAND buildings, and it helped me to project.performing with full makeup and costume is definitely very diffrent from my regular trainings daily..I get so so exhausted very quickly, and my nerves of pin-drop-awareness is a deadly challenge.I must be fully fully committed.... it is tricky for me.When Rex arrived, his presence gave me energy to continue and renew energy to go on.I forgot it was cold.These mornings and evenings have been quite chilly outside..one of these sessions, I was on the other side of the fremont canal( Nickerson street) and while I was dancing by the canal, I can see the two homeless persons siting on the brink of the canal,perched like two birds, one of them, coughed the entire time while I was dancing..that was my soundtrack.I hope he takes care of his painful painful flu.Ok, thankyou for today again, universe :)

3 comments:

Joshua said...

OHHH MY GODDD!!! I REALLY WISH I WAS THERE FOR THE "DANCE OFF!!!""... WAAAAAAA!!!

Keely said...

I have always found Red Square to be a wonderful location for improvisation. So vast, yet contained, and so much possible inspiration. I wish I could have seen the dance off!

If you ever want to dance together, I'd love to join you at one of your roaming sites.

Erica said...

Love it!!! You need to find some of those celphone pics the students were taking . . .