Awareness is key

Long day today. We started with Suzuki and Bondo (Will), who really is, I think, everyone’s favorite Suzuki teacher, but he started to crack down a bit on how we execute the movements. He does it with humor and self-depreciation, but the message was clear – we have been doing the same movements for almost four weeks now. We should be improving, or at least actively working to correct certain issues. I completely get his point, but also know we have very little time to work on this outside of class. My hope in bringing this vocabulary home with me is to refine it, execute movements over and over and over to work towards a better awareness of where my balance is and what my center is doing. We did get to do Basic 1 twice today – which was great. But following it with Basic 2 (slow walk) I fucked up the placement of my feet on the turn and nearly lost my balance. Some of this is muscle memory, and some is just not having my concentration together.

Viewpoints was in the big theatre – which added a totally different vibe to it. Anne had us all write out three stage directions or things we would like to see and toss them in a hat. Groups of seven or eight pulled that number of prompts out and had to quickly weave them into something. As always, some lovely compositions appeared from this.

The afternoon was movement – which is actually a bit more fun than I would have thought. Warm up on the floor and move to rise to standing and walking and then just move – however the mood strikes us. Very liberating. Very freeing. Probably not considered dance by those who actually dance, but probably as close as I will get.

Late afternoon we had “supplemental training” – which amounted to somewhat structured Viewpoints in the theatre again, but without the prompts. The difference was Bondo and GM put a chair on stage – that seemed to change everything. As Bondo put it – most of the pieces seemed like situations rather than an exploration of space or time. Interesting that such a simple object could have such a profound affect.

Post dinner we rehearsed for the representation of our piece on Thursday. Kind of a tough process since the structure is sound, but we need to discover more tension and more specific moments within the structure. I think we were able to shape a few tonight and perhaps a few more tomorrow during tech. Emma continues to offer good observations and suggestions to shape those moments.

Ellen and J. Ed I had a wonderful conversation over dinner. I really do want to find a way to bring Ellen or any combination of the teachers to UNCSA for a short visit within a year or so. What they have to offer may or may not be well received there, but it is such strong and important work I believe our students should be exposed to it. The mixing of Suzuki and Viewpoints is such a strength for the SITI company. It has been great to reconnect with Ellen and Will after so many years. I remain in awe of their dedication and their collaboration. I reflected tonight on how lucky I was to get hired to run lights at Stagewest all those years ago. It’s hard to imagine never having had contact with this process. I recognize how privileged I have been to spend this time with this company.