another productive day! since allison and i took our lazy day on monday, we've been set on making the rest count. so today, much like yesterday, we started class at 9am and stuck to a two-hour rehearsal before lunch. we have the material for the most part set, and are experimenting with timing and fine-tuning. detailed movement research. truly one of my favourite parts of being an interpreter: the one place my obsession with perfectionism isn't so embarrassing. we are beginning to find some really beautiful moments, in the relationship between us, and in the relationship between each of us and the camera (which is feeding live onto a television in the corner of the room, handheld during most of piece by allison). it is so much fun to play with material, and to have so much time to delve so deeply into the piece. we are playing a lot with the piece, and workshopping it in such a microscopic fashion that i've not experienced before. it's incredible to have this much time to get to know movement to the point where each second and split second matters, and each detailed eye flicker is a part of the piece - not necessarily set, but to be paid attention to.

we went to an artist's cinq-a-sept (happy hour, gathering, whatever you wish to call it) this afternoon, at the invitation of rolina (one of the two generous organizers of this project). we met mostly local dutch artists, who spoke little english. we met a rather chatty couple, lisa and pete, who live between here and new york: here when he needs to be, and in nyc when she needs to be. rolina also introduced us to the owner of the cafe (uit de kunst - a cafe with two parrots in the jungle patio out back), when we inquired about renting a canoe to take along the canal. he said he'd take us to den hoorn, so we have a canoe-renting date with this mysterious and adventure-enthusiast on friday! whether the canoe happens or not, we had a good evening of meeting interesting folks.

and the week passes on... we have two more days until the duo from groningen return, and then one day until the big day! i think it's time for less words and more pictures...

(note: the next couple pics, and the one at the beginning of the blog, are choreography by allison, and photos by hope)

following are a few snapshots from my piece, set on jasmine.

just some unpublished photos

some pictures in motion from liset, during rabbit filming:






below: us with the couch surfers & their works of art behind us

the day we didn't dance: a poem

we wake bright and early to the sound of a 'whacker
whacking the weeds on the lawn out backer.
our first mistake was postponing our class,
thus the rest of the day was spent on our ass.
armed with the flyers for the upcoming show
the canadian girls with their camera in tow -
a five hour walk through the village called delft
spent all our energy and now nothing's le(l)ft.


as we searched the streets for willen, not witten,
we spotted an ominous black crow a-sittin'.
so out comes the camera, ready to capture
the ominous black crow with naught but a snapture!


with delft under our nails and holland 'neath our toes,
allison rubbed & she scrubbed 'way what was gross (read with a febulous accent)
with the thought of "when in rome", the shameless tourists see:
yonder a crooken windmill, the perfect photo opportunitee!


along the train tracks, merryn did see
a house in which she could live happily.
standing all by it's lonesome, but so proud and so tall,
could be a bit noisy - wouldn't bother her at all.


canal adjascent with picturesque views galore
do we find the humble abode allison wished for.
with her neighbours the leaning clock tower and algae astroturf
she envisioned herself entertaining: "oh yes, it's absolutely perf (ect)!"


the dutch are so wonderfully big, blonde and tall,
and here merryn's worried she's much much too small.
but now we see merryn with a wee passenger aboard
snug as a bug in the only ride she could afford


allison's car is a little more spacious
a literal tourist trap ... "good gracious!"
to fully understand the lives of the dutch
we walked a mile in someone else's shoes, but 'twas a bit much!



all these things we did see on our journey today
a hidden locale, and merryn tries to fly away.
a naughty street sign gave us quite a hoot
and a floating gas station to refuel the love boot!





i swear that tomorrow we'll get some work done.
i think we just needed a day of posters & fun.

so little time!!

the last weekend in our house ... ooh how time flies! hope left friday morning with her hubby martin, but not before capturing a few more moments of our work. she watched a rehearsal of allison's piece, which you can see below, and interviewed us each over breakfast. she asked questions about our work, our process, and our inspirations. it was a difficult task, i found, to try and articulate just the things i'm trying to figure out myself. i found myself sensoring my answers, and judging everything as an answer before it came out of my mouth. just the type of thing i'm exploring in my choreography... how funny.

yesterday we met with chris, our latest and final collaborator, who comes on board in the medium of video. he was a really interesting addition, bringing to the deck his opinions on contemporary dance, not being a great fan of it. he will be assisting us in our attempts at video work, and perhaps he'll help me get some work up on the site... (i swear i'm still working on it!)

pictures galore! (and other dance stuff, too)

in conversation with allison this week i am learning about the vast difference between being a dancer and being a choreographer, and what aspects i should alter from one role to the other. i am approaching the work as i naturally would: physicalizing the movement and focusing on the steps and gestures over the concept. allison has suggested setting material on my dancer without demonstrating. by giving verbal direction and coaching, the piece has the opportunity to becomes a part of jasmine's body without her trying to mimic or copy me. it offers me fresh perspective on the material, and gives jasmine more freedom to make it her own.
oh, and i think i hear allison stirring upstairs. it's nearly class-time! we've been having a great exchange, teaching each other our favourite conditioning, strenghtening and stretching exercises.

***

we visited an old favourite in class today: the graham technique. though neither of us had done a graham class for some years now (maybe since we were each in new york), the floorwork came back to our bodies as though it was just yesterday. isn't it incredible, how amazing our bodies are? that muscle memory is so strong and our bodies can recall movements they haven't practiced for years. granted, we must large tribute to our training, and that we did the same set of exercises daily for years. but just sitting there with the soles of my feet touching, memories of my former mentor & favourite teacher, denise vale, surfaced in my mind. her voice, corrections, and guidance came back to me as i excecuted the floorwork. and as we sat facing the large windows in our studio (the living room), candles lit in front of us to help warm the room - or so i like to believe - the storm raged outside, sheets of rain pounding the ground and bouncing off the orange awning over our front patio. it was beautiful!

and on to rehearsal. but first, a wee break; enough time for a cuppa earl grey & rooibos blend. delicious. i'll use the time to select some photographs for today's entry. but in case i don't find any, i have recently revisited my flickr site (inspired by the lovely hope) and have uploaded a bunch of photos taken over the past month! you can check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/11145046@N02/

mentos moment

today allison and merryn went on an adventure to the post office. being brilliant, they wrote down the directions and set out with their postcards and letters to family and lovers ...


... they look back & forth at each crosswalk, and make only one wrong turn. they find their path towards the center of town, looking for englestraat (or something to that effect), somewhat doubtful of their direction the whole way. when they find english-street, it looks really wrong - as though it would take them back home. just at the right moment, in the moment of need, the magical bus pulls up beside them at the cross light ...


brave allison goes up to the window and asks the gentleman driving the magic tour tram where the post office is. he points in the direction of downtown and then, after a moment's hesitation, invites them on board! they take a seat on the nice wooden benches - feeling much like they are in an old-fashioned cart. they had just been photographing the beautiful cart. mentos moment! they pull out their packs of mentos, allison offering the kind chauffeur one (which he graciously accepts, solidifying the mentos moment) and they sit back down across each other and grin ...


the kind man means well, and drops the girls off in front of the post office ... which had apparently closed down a couple days before. they ask a kind lady on the street, who sends them towards the university. they monkey bar from one person to the next, asking each where they might find a possibly non-existent post office in the area.
inside the university, they feel much like they've landed in oz: they are quite consipicuous, and pretend to be university students of architecture ... as they pass in awe by beautiful work rooms and spacious studios, and through high-tech electric double-doors where the two doors part in opposite directions. they receive their final piece to the puzzle from a lady at the information desk, and are directed five minutes down the university-town street, and into the tiniest of buildings along the street, in which TNT Post is located, along with a candy rack and an ING sign.

success!! the girls jump with joy after their long, nearly 2-hour trek, and get their letters and postcards mailed off. on a roll with asking directions, they step into the student center next to the tiny building and ask if there might be a simpler route home. the kind young lady inside draws up a google map, showing them they are nearly a directly straight line home. not ten minutes later, the girls are back in the poptahof ...

perhaps a preferred time frame to the 2-hour trek, but let's face it: nothing beats a mentos moment!

this picture needs no explanation.

crunch time

i'm starting to get a bit anxious about the passing of time here. we had forever! and now, even though we still have a week and a half, it feels like all the time is slipping through my fingers. yesterday we passed a beautiful afternoon on the canals & streets of amsterdam, letting allison adjust to the netherlands. hope disappears today, off to greet her husband when he arrives at the amsterdam airport (awww). so allison and i will have the full day to focus on beginning our process together: both her piece - in which we are each dancing - and my piece, for which i seek her advice. we are also sent on a mission today to distribute the flyers for the showing! what a perfect way to really get to know a city. i'm almost sad we weren't given the task sooner. so i'm afraid there's not much artistically to mention yet this morning. it is still dawn, after all... (i managed to wake up at 5:30 with a call to the restroom, and found myself too restless to fall back asleep.)

we did do a couple thirty-second photoshoot sessions yesterday. one happened in the closet, which was an interesting challenge for me. the task: use the movement i've created for my piece, and work it in the confines of the closet. hmm, well that's the exact task i had planned to give jasmine during our next rehearsal, since that's the next step in our process. let me tell you: i don't envy her. haha... it was not easy to take the material and try to move it. (considering you can't actually move in there.) this could prove to develop some really interesting material... or, perhaps, it will completely alter the piece. (which, don't get me wrong, would not be a terrible thing! after all, something i'm working on learning is how to throw out material; not being attached to one idea; being okay with saying something doesn't work)

as in good style, i'll wrap this up with some photos for your amusement. stay tuned as the adventures continue, next we begin to explore allison's piece of work. back like in the good ol' days, rehearsing with allison.


allison through the little door! and my favourite wonky building


love birds on a carriage ride
or take a ride on the "love boot"

closets, rabbits, & films

aren't they cute?!
the three others from the weekend: jasmine, hope, & henning.

beginning of my third week! it feels like i've lived here for a year already. jasmine and henning went off yesterday - backpacks, beer, pasta salad, guitar, slackline, and all - to return to groningen for the next five days. we had a good photoshoot and filming of my piece, version 1, in the closet room. it's so exciting to have henning on board, who is hungry to add his artistic input and offering interesting suggestions that fit so perfectly with my developing vision. but the blue room/closet room is a tight space, and leaves little room for the camera plus cameraman (slash choreographer) plus photographer (plus dancer and musician). i am considering making an artistic choice to film in there, however, because it's quite interesting to have moments when body parts are missing from the frame. i have to watch the video again and decide later. i also have to make some alterations to the choreography and smooth out some transitions. but that was to be expected, and i can have it all ready for when the duo returns from groningen and we do our final filming. (** check out hope's site for pics from our filming session in the blue room http://www.flickr.com/photos/hope_davis **)

we also made beautiful headway on jasmine's piece, filming version 1 with me and henning. the piece is really fun to explore: working out how to be a creaturesque human being, making my way out of bed & around the house in the morning, with a harmonica-playing man following me around as though it's all as natural as breathing.

yesterday at noon sharp liset and her husband, hank, arrived at our door with cameras, tripod, and our rabbit replicas (for us to take home while she keeps the originals that sit on our backs). the passage was closed (sunday) but the sky was keeping the rain at bay, so we decided to take the chance and shoot outside. jasmine and i used choreography from my blue room/closet piece, with an added improvisation, and henning played us a beautiful song he composed recently (that you can hear on his site!). it was a lovely afternoon and we danced in a neighbourhood park. you'll have to check hope's photos (again, on her site) and await the video and photographs from liset!

that'll be all for now, i think. allison arrives today, completing our trio of dance artists!! the full house continues to shift and change, and we adapt with it and with each new addition. i love making art! it's art-tastic.

above: a photograph of our photographer; henning working on his headshot

what henning saw