Category Archives: the dance

Nov25

the performative face

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Photo:  Pam White;  Paula Josa-Jones in DIVE

This week in The Journal, I am writing about identity and what I call the cage of concealment.  What came up for me when I went to have new head shots taken.

It is about that dance between what we conceal (from ourselves, from others) and what we reveal.  How I (we?) edit the details and tweak the image.

This photograph is part of a series that was taken during a shoot for a videodance performance.  I am deep in that dance here – showing and not showing.

More about that Sunday.  In The Journal.

What are you revealing today?

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Nov23

allowing part 2

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Last week when I went to work with Nelson I took some photographs.  Because I have been Clicker Training Nelson for a while, the clicking of the camera was soothing to him.  What was even more surprising, is that this formerly wild Mustang was posing.

Nelson has taught me a lot about allowing.  He has taught me invaluable lessons that translate into all the other parts of my life. Here are just a few:

  • How to wait.
  • How to move when the moment opens.
  • How to listen.
  • How to ask a different question.
  • How to soften.
  • How to allow the other to be who they are.
  • Persistence and devotion.
  • Unconditional love.

So as Thanksgiving approaches, I am thankful for Nelson.  That he is safe.  That he is in my life.

Where are you learning about allowing?

Nov19

barking woman

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Yesterday morning at breakfast, our Spanish Galgo, Cho, barked loudly right behind me.  I yelled, “Cho!” and then laughed because I sounded just like him.  Barking woman.

Which brings me to the topic of reactivity.  Knee jerk reactions.

Many years ago, during a creative residency, composer Pauline Oliveros taught me several of her Deep Listening strategies.  One she called the instantaneous strategy.  It works like this:  when you hear a sound, you respond with a sound immediately. Or you move as fast as you can when you see or sense a movement.  Being good at this  strategy demands that the response bypasses conscious thought, which tends to slow things down.

Practicing the instantaneous strategy is different from a knee jerk reaction, in that it is intentional.  I have discovered that practicing the instantaneous strategy can tune you up for those moments when you may need to respond instinctively very, very fast.  Like when a cup slips out of your hand.  Or when a child or an animal is in danger.

Here’s is today’s recipe:  find a moment to practice being instantaneous.  Tell me about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nov17

catching the wind(horse)

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Photo:  Jeffrey Anderson from the performance of Flight, by Paula Josa-Jones and her company.  Paola Styron, dancer and aerialist with the stallion Capprichio ridden by Brandi Rivera.

Twelve years ago we adopted our daughter from Nepal.  Doing that was a leap of faith, requiring great steadiness of purpose.

During the seven weeks we spent battling American and Nepali bureaucracies, we hung prayer flags, poured rum into the belly of the Mahakala (on the advice of a lama) and sought the counsel of Tibetan Buddhist seers, who threw what is called a mo, and told us time and again that things would eventually work out.

We harnessed the windhorse – the bearer of prayers.  Which, in my experience, requires a certain kind of diligent daily yoga.  Again, you show up each day and begin again.  Take a daily leap of faith.

Little ones count.  That is the theme this week in The Journal.

How are you catching the windhorse?