“I would broadly define the work I do as a choreographer, writer, and insatiably curious human, as investigation or observation or perhaps even morbid fascination with culture in its broadest and most intimate terms; from extended historical intersections between countries to the nuances of brief encounters between individuals.”
images from MANCC notebook 2009, FSU, Tallahassee, FLthe notebook
the notebook is a sketch of the environment that allows for my close attachment to the words, context and conversations that drive my choreography. It is a research process that follows ideas from inception to realization. for me, it links the internal tendrils of thought, while inviting the wider conversation that keeps the ideas grounded in the culture they inhabit and affect. it is immersive. My work begins with a combination of writing, movement and a series of ideas. The notebook begins with the idea for a new piece and expands, contracts, changes and develops until the piece becomes cohesive on stage. I am recording, speaking, reading, asking, moving, listening, demanding, editing; unleashing an almost deliberately naïve curiosity. The arrangement of the space, the tasks and the invitations vary depending on the parameters of the physical location and are driven by idea being developed. Every notebook is particular to the space in which it resides.
it is a working space. it shifts and keeps changing over the course of time
I invite people to walk through the raw ideas and ask them to participate in some way if they are willing; by writing a comment, or in response to a posted question, by interacting; by recording their voices or movement; by being present; asking questions. The idea is to create moments and impulses that allow us to acknowledge each others’ experiences and points of view; to share the very basic impulses to create, to respond and to be curious.
“I try to make it come as close as I can to what’s happening in my head. It’s my way of touring through thoughts as they happen and physically tracing the sparks and flares as they either continue or burn out. It’s my way of fostering a conversation about what trajectory others’ thoughts might be taking. I am curious, so curious, and this is my way of working while talking, dancing while thinking and making it more and more about a physical and visual; a tactile and visceral conversation.”
PCAH EXTENDED GALLERY PROJECT
(tid) open-notebook 