Monday March 20th
Title: "Rose"
Instructions: Do something inspired by the rose Abi gave you
Why? There is potency in the rose.
Rehearsal Discoveries: Decided to make a soundscape for the rose. On the drive over, I was listening to the soundscape I had made the night before and had a vision of juxtaposing the serenity of the track with intense, fiery desire. Setting up at the studio, I wanted to create the lead up to that fire by utilizing slow motion and beginning with myself turned away from the rose.
Performance Write Up: The headspace was explorative. The essence of sensing something is behind you began the experience. Slow movement allowed for my body to discover balance even though I had not done a solid yoga/movement warm up for this. That tends to be the case with slow motion, and is something I often have my singing students explore in order to 'tap in' to their bodies. I remembered what it means to tap in without giving up or letting go of the character. There have been quite a few performances that I have broken character simply due to issues with the philosophy of and relationship to practice. There was another personal factor of a good friend saying they would be in attendance but not showing up until the last 4 minutes which slightly tugged at my heart, but overall I kept character.
The development was one of discovery. I knew I wanted to create a pulling relationship of desire with the rose. Upon finally making eye contact with it, I realized the rose, as a symbol of love and passion, could be something I was in desire of or something with which to become one with. I also thought the track was finishing sooner than it actually was. My memory of what the ending should sound like was wrong because I had forgotten about the "toy piano" sound portion. I remembered a jagged final sound as the ending, and I envisioned biting the rose petals off in that moment. Once I made physical contact with the rose and didn't know how long the ending was, I was forced to explore the rose as a beating heart. It became a pulsing tug, slowly ripping off petal by petal, until I was sure the ending would come. Luckily, my memory of my musical expression from the night before was correct, and I was able to offer a strong, collapsing end that I never imagined happening at the start of the performance.
View on youtube here-->> https://youtu.be/kow_Ym-aEzA
Tuesday March 21st
Title: "A cat piece" Feat. Leslie Fisher and Lexi Pulido
Instructions: Leslie is the feline antagonist, Miss Lady Henrietta Whiskers. Lexi is ambiguous, southern accent elderly woman cat owner. Miss Lady Henrietta Whiskers is a devious kitty who loves to knock over objects from counter tops. She is so cute and devious.
Why? Another LOL idea shared between Leslie and me. Cat embodiment plus trickster is a delightful opportunity for expression.
Rehearsal Discoveries: We texted back and forth about objects to knock over and outfits to wear. Collecting the ashes from my family fireplace was a funny activity required to represent the dead ashes of a relative. Leslie's orange and tan outfit inspired orange pipe-cleaner cat ears. Aside from the physical elements, I vaguely remember, in a moment of micromanaging, offering a few physical paw-licking, and postural ideas to Leslie before the show.
Performance Write Up: The day before, I had decided on a more melancholic ambiguous accent for the elderly character. However, upon set up on this day, I completely forgot the accent I had planned and went for this southern-esque, more familiar idea. I was displeased with this accent in comparison to the planned one because I felt this southern one to be overdone or too saturated of flinging, harsh energy.
It was raining, and no one was at this performance. I never shut up, which I find to be half annoying, half hilarious and entertaining. Something about an incessant elderly woman switching from barking commands to endearing expressions of cuteness appreciation nails the portrayal of cats as devious cutie-pies in the way we imagined. In regard to logistical error, Leslie at first did not close the door on me like we had planned, and since no one was there, I told her in a sly way to close it, figuring this could be edited out of the video.
View on youtube here-->> https://youtu.be/3gAFg3vY5jY
Wednesday March 22nd
Title: "Waste" Feat. Sophie Bell
Sophie, the rainbow-bearded, recycling gnome, lives inside a blue recycling bin and wants nothing more than to reuse any and all recyclable items with which she comes into contact. She lives with her recyclable puppet friends, speaks the language of the recycles gnomes, and can use any container at all to plant new life sprouts and wish them sweet, loving journeys. Her appreciation of each recyclable item grants deep value to some of the typically tossed and meaningless items many others would oversee. Sophie wants you to help her, and how can you say no to that sincere, rose-cheeked face?
View on youtube here-->> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgVy8wP7e-c
Thursday March 23rd
Title: "Trickle'" Feat. Jenessa Noland
Jenessa Noland is mistletoe, the parasitic predator taking advantage of a young, earnest elm tree. Using deceit and manipulation, she disguises herself as a friendly, well-intentioned friend before seeding herself all across the unbeknownst, innocent tree. What benefits her sucks the life out of another. Her predation is her nature, and she is without eyes to see her own leeching, a parasitism uncanny with the type of predation going on within Jenessa's family life.
This performance serves as an intervention and witnessing platform for personal family dynamics Jenessa is experiencing in her actual life. By creating this performance, she synthesizes the visceral, emotional experience with the metaphorical space, drawing connections between nature and family dynamics. Her use of the "southern bell" archetype, bedazzled sunglasses, and charming presentation highlight the likable outer layer of the manipulator she embodies. Her true poison leaves her victim tree with wounds of "depression," "bad self talk," "insecurities," and "anxiety." This story is one of many power dynamics and relationships in this world, and Jenessa's embodiment and use of metaphor take this truth to another level through her performance.
Read Jenessa's write up about the performance here below!
View on youtube here-->> https://youtu.be/PV1NoYkPZSE
Friday March 24th
Title: "Caterpillar" Feat. Lauren Reed and Christian Drugan
Lauren, the monkey plays the role of militaristic, motivational speaker for Christian, the sloth-like caterpillar. With a banana in hand, Lauren presses Christian to make a butterfly out of himself and escape an unmotivated state. After much debate, the Christian is free from his locked state of unworthiness and becomes the butterfly he was destined to be. Lauren mentioned this piece as a representation of self. She wants to embody the motivational speaker for herself in her own life. I am a big fan of performance art as ritual and ceremony, and I have personally witnessed Lauren's journey to self motivation bring her to new artistic and work places over the past few months.
View on youtube here-->> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLv96HG6LUw
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