land-sickness - Sometimes I wonder if our evolutionary origins in the ocean make some of us more susceptible to a general sense of unease on the land, a kind of perpetual mild land-sickness. One that drives us to move, to wander, to prefer the islands to the inlands, to dream of being in and on the water, … Continue reading land-sickness 
dances of displacement - “Painting is the act of figurative displacement, dancing away from whatever is ‘there’. Painting a landscape is not to ‘pin down’ its essence, to make it still, but to trace a path which the eye can follow into the space which is tomorrow’s painting.” For the last few days, this has had me pondering what … Continue reading dances of displacement 
dance destroys floors - Wisdom to remember: ‘dance is gentle and beautiful AND it destroys floors’ — @cannupahanksa ‘dance has brought down entire regimes’ — @criticalnish Like water, dance can nurture life and transform obstacles in its path. It connects us to the earth and the sky. It helps us dream and understand. It reminds us of our humanity. It teaches … Continue reading dance destroys floors 
the whisperies - Those are the fields of inquiry that I think of immediately when I read that quote from DeLillo. They are of a family for me in that they also, when you get deep enough into their practices of searching out inner consistencies, begin to understand that there is a wonder in the exceptions and imperfections. … Continue reading the whisperies 
choreography as method of resisting certainty - I have these two very different choreographies floating through my head right now. Somehow they are trying to have a conversation there. Both of them bringing beauty into the world and both of them working powerfully on me. One makes the molecules in my body feel a kind of tantalizing, joyful, excited optimism for the … Continue reading choreography as method of resisting certainty 
to dance without technique - Is it possible to be extremely honest To dance without technique To experiment without plan To be the seed, fallen up the stoney place or into the marsh lands And despite the struggle thrive honestly Or must we all pretend, because only in technique only in the fluency of white lies in the splendid vanity … Continue reading to dance without technique 
seats of belonging - Upper Left: When I hear the phrase “seats of belonging” I imagine swings floating free in space swinging back and forth on their chains and some how this comforts me. Lower Left: Vector: (math/physics) a quantity possessing both magnitude and direction (biology) an organism that transmits a pathogen Upper Right: (computers) a one dimensional array … Continue reading seats of belonging 
dance everyday - Recently I heard someone accuse Nietzsche of saying this. And now I keep wondering what would the U.S. look like if each of us —no matter where we were from or what we did to put food in our bellies — had a little more dance in our daily lives. And then I want to … Continue reading dance everyday 
puzzle factory - This is a space where I can be confused by the world, think hard about its mysteries, and work out how a myriad of reclaimed and seemingly random pieces could all fit together in some fashion that can make some kind of a sense. Because I know others are as flummoxed by existence as I … Continue reading puzzle factory 
democracy as dance - In Massachusetts most towns operate in a direct democracy system rather than a representative system of legislative councils and community boards. What this means is that anyone registered to vote in the town can participate in Town Meeting and make legislative decisions impacting the town. This week I attended my first Town Meeting. 1200+ people … Continue reading democracy as dance 
kindness to strangers - “All this they did with simple kindness, talking to their guests and making them welcome, without the slightest idea that they were anything but human travelers as poor as themselves,” (Green, p44). In the Greek mythology that underpins so much of modern western ethics, the wandering man, castaways, strangers and beggars, are sacred to the … Continue reading kindness to strangers 
interdisciplinary walk - Deer Jump Reservation, August 2019 The third walk in the Artist Walks (3) series invited participating artists to share aspects of their own practices and ways in which their creative practice influence how they perceive, experience, and understand the world around them. At regular intervals along this woodland walk, participants were asked to share prompts … Continue reading interdisciplinary walk 
a small dance of reclamation - In November of 2016, like many women who have been victims of various gradations of sexual violence, assault and oppression, I found myself in shock, fear, rage and dismay. Since then I have been struggling to find a way out of a space of disempowering trauma and back to a space of action and, to … Continue reading a small dance of reclamation 
remembrance - a series of 11 cards, an accumulation of elements, a collection of thoughts, remembering a mentorworking, making, dancing in alternative sites - I recently came across a 2016 article in Dance Magazine, “The 4 Cardinal Rules of Site-Specific Performance” and I will confess, at first glance, I had a strong negative reaction to it. The rules the author laid out were as follows: 1. Don’t Get Too Attached 2. Keep Your Distance (In Mind) 3. Go Outside … Continue reading working, making, dancing in alternative sites
repetition tracking - TRIGGER: “Merging past and present, it charts a repetitive circular journey, one wherein I move around and around from place to place, then end at the location I started from….I find repetition scary. It seems to suggest a static stuck quality. It reminds [me] of the slow languid hot summer days of childhood where the … Continue reading repetition tracking 
listening with our whole selves - I don’t know if I heard someone else say this recently or if it came into my head of its own accord, but its been rattling there for the last couple weeks. Its rattling around alongside these two things as well.. 1. Accomplices “listen with respect”, are explicit about their own agendas, are realized through … Continue reading listening with our whole selves 
the mushroom and the tree - What if I made a little dance just for you Said the mushroom to the tree What if I did this dance in the early morning Just as the sun was peaking above the earth What if as I did this dance a little drop of morning dew Fell from my curved top and landed … Continue reading the mushroom and the tree 
mother ginger - I know it has its problems, but I confess, I have loved the Nutcracker since I was a toddler. And I have loved Mark Morris’ The Hard Nut since it first aired on PBS in 1991. Sometimes, I wonder if my own experience as a Polichinelle at such a young age taught me something important … Continue reading mother ginger 
the unfathomable - I sit somewhere at a confluence of many, but perhaps most acutely my understanding of our struggle in the world and in art is colored by my (mis)readings and interpretations of on the one hand, the “Godfather of the American avant-garde” Richard Foreman, and, on the other, one of butoh’s founders Tatsumi Hijikata. I see … Continue reading the unfathomable 
margins have two sides - In case my writing is hard to decipher… earthskyhorizon is where they meet sandwatershore is where they meet meuniverseskin is where we meetwhat shape might a dance in that landscape take?
remember, the world is big - Remember — the world is big. You are very small, and yet you are of this world. The world calls you. You are not insignificant to it. As SU EN says, “everything is integrated in a dynamic balance.” Which contradictions, which tensions, which desires do you respond to? These choices — intentional or incidental — … Continue reading remember, the world is big 
man and his pain - Perhaps it is because I grew up in a family where “contemplating the infinite” was code for taking a shit, but somehow it seems to me that the most stunning aesthetic beauty is often found in things our social norms deem most abject, most painful, most grotesque. I don’t mean some kind of noble beauty … Continue reading man and his pain 
lobster bishop - The lobster, his inner parts are his embarrassment, his weak spots, the vitals he protects, his abject soul. Ball is supposed to be dressed up in a bishop’s costume, but he has always looked to me like a lobster – hard protective shell, sharp dangerous claws, soft slightly nervous green innards of incomprehensible poetry stepping … Continue reading lobster bishop coastal elevators - Imagine an elevator A creaky one Perhaps a broken-down one, whose door still works, but not the up and down of it So the creak comes from the door as it opens out into the vestibule It is an old-timey elevator not a new fangled one with a sliding door that opens sideways an old … Continue reading coastal elevators
kaizen, a series of small epiphanies and process of renewal - Unfortunately, I don’t recall where I came across a recent reference to “kaizen”, it was something about Toyota’s internal business practices. The article and Wikipedia both define kaizen as the ‘continual improvement of a system via many small changes’. Incremental evolution. Persistent becoming. And then Elon Musk, who counsels us in a recent article in … Continue reading kaizen, a series of small epiphanies and process of renewal