I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the traditional wooden Russian Doll. It opens up like a box to find another exact replica inside (only smaller) and then yet another, and another, etc. The more I research, the more I find and the plethora of information slowly seeps into my initial ideas. This is how I am feeling at the moment within my own creative process regarding "Koreni". It is so funny how ideas in the brain and
I was in Jamaica a few weeks ago interviewing both academics and healers who are in some way affiliated with Myal or the practice of healing. I also spent time at the African -Caribbean library there pouring over and through literature on Myal and its evolution. I made several discoveries, and was able to photograph some of the basic herbs used in the practice. Tony, a RASTA Brethren, connection to the land and ancestry is undeniable. Tony is a
beginning (circle) kokou katamani When I first formed my company, Ase Dance Theatre Collective, Kokou Katamani taught us a song. I'll never forget that he came all the way from California just to perform in one of my pieces. I was a student at The Ailey School then and it was my first time living away from home. Colette Eloi, Kimberly Anderson and Sekou Alaje came as well. For folks to roll all the way out to the East Coast just to
middle (line) Look fast. Move slow. The ground is on fire, but I don't worry myself with that anymore. If I was at home I would ask if the fumes were toxic. Now, toxic is relative and intersections are the eye of the storm. In Ghana, 'Nature' is the holy book that tells people what to do and how to do it. The land is Jesus. The people his disciples. Judas is the juju that prevents progress, but holds the
My project “From Beijing to San Francisco” at CP is a newly commissioned musical piece, bringing the guqin, a Chinese scholarly art, into an innovative, multidisciplinary stage performance, and introducing the ancient, living tradition of the guqin into modern life. It uses a guqin player’s own story to illustrate the fate of the guqin, an ancient Chinese art form, reflect on what has happened in China during the last 30 years, and interpret the period of the Cultural Revolution (1960s to
I didn't get the memo. You know the one that breaks down the ways in which descendants of enslaved Africans have a different (but just as post traumatic stress disordered psychosis) than the descendants of colonized Africans. To be fair, I looked completely different when I've traveled abroad before (I had long hair), AND there is no pronoun for "he"or "she" in Ghanaian language. Word. My bad. Yet and still, I was expecting some kind of Haiti-ish/Southern American Negro/Caribbean stratification
When you choreograph folk dance and work to transfer movement from its natural habitat to the stage the considerations are: : Is the representation accurate? Am I being true to the spirit of the dance? Have I accurately reflected the integrity and idiosyncracy of the music, dance and people of that area? As important as these questions are, they are also the very elements that discourage creative evolutions from that dance. Additionally, I have always been keenly aware that ,
"He, who is described as male, is as much the female and the penetrating eye does not fail to see it." - Rigveda It is 4.06 AM. My eyes tell me that I need to sleep but lying in bed is proving useless as thoughts race through my head. I was in Cambodia for ten days, just two days ago and have brought so much back with me. New knowledge, new costumes, new energy, and the pop song that currently
Archival Photo of Silayan Dance Company featuring dancers Sandy Mendez and Mandy Burgos from article on "Filipino Life", Los Angeles Times 1986 (Costume idea for Tikling Bird Goddess in "BIHAG" - look at male dancer in the back) I write in my pajamas in this late bright sunny afternoon wondering why I haven’t changed since the morning. I hesitate; feeling deeply exhausted from last month’s activities, I am slow to recuperating. I keep having to convince myself that being
So I haven't been good with updating the blog regularly - I am the same way about my own personal blog - but when I do it is thorough! We have been traveling all summer and I have been very in my head about this work - working on skill building and movement material but not setting anything - that will begin next week - what I have been working on this summer is more the structure and 'script' of
The very spontaneous nature of art rarely gives way to "schedules", ie. scribbling notes on a bathroom floor at 4am so as not to wake up the household, 2-hour rehearsals that turn into 10 hours, starting with violins and ending up with tambourines, constant breaking of commitments due to double-booking or financial constraints...and yet as performers, choreographers, collaborators we must adhere to some semblance of organization so as not to disappear into our microcosmic "bubbles". A famous Spanish dancer who
The Ewe say " ... you must cry into the song." A man in the taxi said "... you are beautiful when you cry." ... But these things are not easy. To cry into the song when you are still so sad ... To let your beauty shine thru when you feel as though there is nothing to hold you up. Today "Ampey!" took it's first breath. It's a girl and a boy. A mommy and a daddy ... very
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Apr. 27th, 2024 @ 3:00PMEvent Detail Button
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