This week, "koo koo" was spoken many times in a row, I was crunchy, white and sweet, Simi Flores scattered origami stars across the street and sidewalk of Adams Ave, Sugar Bush and I sweat our booties off with an epic, slo mo fight, and Chip Bro was born.
Monday May 1st
Title: "Koo Koo"
Instructions: Use metal chain prop. Improvise with object and the word/bird embodiment, "Koo koo."
Why? This day was originally posted to be titled "Family Affair." I didn't want to do a performance with this title anymore. I had planned to plan, but then I did not plan with that performance. The morning of this show, I thought on the drive over, "what else?" "Koo koo" sounded fun and low stakes.
Rehearsal Discoveries: Got to the studio, saw the metal chain and figured, "yes." 'Bird in cage' as a concept aligned with keeping the black, security gate closed, and this was exciting because it had never been done as part of a Tenam show.
Performance Write Up: In the process of exploring combinations of human body, voice, metal chain, and gate, happenings did happen. Certain limitations existed with my own flexibility, strength, and creative mind. For instance, if I had the trust in the gate or body, I may have incorporated inversions, since I was supposed to be a bird. I never considered the idea of escape or gave myself the option to, so this resulted in a passive use of the variables. If I had fueled the intention of the body's character to be in a state of desire to escape, the ways in which I interacted with the gate would have been very different.
View on youtube here-->> https://youtu.be/5GlTPmxBiWI
Tuesday May 2nd
Title: "I am a coconut almond treat"
Instructions: Fashion two Ferrero Raffaello's to dangle inside the center of each, poked-out lens hole on a pair of glasses. Embody the white, coconut almond treat by using "I am" statements as well as the phrase, "I am a coconut almond treat."
Why? Goofy fun. I don't remember if it was me or Sergey who said it first. It was probably him or his idea to embody the white Raffaello's which brought us to the title statement.
Rehearsal Discoveries: I checked to see if the candies could maintain their structure after being punctured with the needle and thread. 'Twas success. Debated whether to create the glasses ahead of time or do so during the 15 minutes.
Performance Write Up: The main fail was not tying the candies high enough in the frame for them to rest centered at my eyes. For this reason, I finger-lifted them to that position at some point during the end. I often feel inclined to start by pointing out the performance failure. Some objectives are easily accomplished, and some have unplanned/unrehearsed logistical elements which are difficult to maneuver under the pressure of time. I suppose the issue this time was underestimating the trickiness of nailing the detail.
The character of this Raffaello is similar to quite a few voices I've done in the past which fall under the category of "weirdo" or "creepy yet cute creature-esque" vibes. If I were to have rehearsed to create more details for this voice, that would have been a great exploration and probably resulted in an even deeper understanding of the textural, flavorful, olfactory elevations. There's always more I could have put in to get more out. If I were to ask what this performance is missing, I would point to the aforementioned. If I were to ask what was great about this performance, I might actually say the vocal characterization element. If I were to ask what am I getting at right now, I might say nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.
View on youtube here-->> https://youtu.be/IqzVOjq_ilg
Wednesday May 3rd
Title: "paper tower to paper stars" Feat. Simi Flores - Shimiorigami
Text from Simi
Here is a picture of the box of modules already folded I have ready to do go- 12 modules = one kusudama ball… I probably have enough for at least ten to give away
Simi Flores stacked his origami stars to create towers of stars up to 6.5feet high. Their trajectory was up. Flores stacked them higher than stable, so they would fall. He then took apart the star towers, turned them into star balls (kusudama, medicine ball) which could be given away. Once given, their trajectory followed the receiver's trajectory. This was the intention of Flores, an act of deconstructivism dispersing through the earth universe. About half the stars were given away, and the rest were placed randomly around the studio to blow with the wind, be found by more passerby's, get rained on and deteriorate, potentially.
After Simi left, I ended up giving some to my students that week and allowing some to remain on the street. Some passerby's actually picked them up and returned them to the studio. I spent some time catastrophizing about causing a car accident and getting blamed. I decided at one point to throw a few away for this reason. It felt wrong to intervene but also part of the plan. Two remain at the studio.
I do have this text from him
"i.e. I am ready to build a tower on camera for your studio… and then take it apart and make kusudama (japanese translation - medicine ball) to give away at your discretion"
"At your discretion." Okay, cool.
View on youtube here-->> https://youtu.be/hEAn9cwIpUM
Thursday May 4th
Title: "Slow motion fight to a beat" Feat. Heather Nation and Lexi Pulido
https://heathernationmusic.com/
Instructions: Put a beat on. Slo mo fight.
Why? Baby Bushka went on tour back in April. During soundcheck for Leah (drummer, which consists of steady hits to the separate drum kit parts) Heather Nation and I got goofy and started slo-mo fighting. Of course, after, we decided it should become a tenam.
Rehearsal Discoveries: I had recorded an actual snare hit in order to get to the studio, put on Logic, and loop. However, I was running too late, I think. We ended up just plugging in my phone's metronome. That was always good enough. I don't know why I thought I needed to make a whole new track. Less is more.
The stars were leftover from yesterday's performance. We figured, let's make "retrieving the star" the premise of the performance. We discussed plot element potentials, like that of revenge for killing a father.
Performance Write Up: Watching this back, we did not move slow enough. That's pretty much a make or break sort of issue to have with a performance like this. It would have been so much more controlled if we had taken our time even more. Still, it was a great workout and pretty fun, overall. More people should engage in this activity, definitely.
View on youtube here-->> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuHMCg54TsA
Friday May 5th
Title: "If these chips could talk"
Instructions: Fashion some pringles in mouth-shape form onto a snare stand. Use the snare stand to have the chip homie speak/sing/something.
Why? Another brilliant idea by Sergey.
Rehearsal Discoveries: In the same vein as "I am a coconut almond treat," I made some pencil-poking passes at the Pringles ahead of time to conceive of a method with which to create, Chip Bro.
Performance Write Up: I have seen a clip from Instagram stories which shows Chip Bro's first words, "Look...at...my..... dead brothers and sisters all over the ground." Haha, classic. Tragically, I did not hit the record button on this performance day. I recall the disappointment of hitting the record button to "end" the show, then discovering I had begun a recording. How unfortunate.
What I recall (and mind you, I am writing this July 21 2023) was the act of creation requiring multiple attempts. Any accidental squish of the chip in the wrong way by the hi-hat assembly method would, of course, result in the chip's demise. Upon creation of Chip Bro, there was a moment I realized the chip had been placed upside down, and I went to flip the top over in order to create the duck-like shape, then I got confused for some reason due to the pressure and ended up putting it back on the wrong way it was before. This final, erroneous construction can be seen in the video below.
Essentially, all I recall was that Chip Bro spoke/sung an origin story of his ancestry. I was very proud of whatever the hell it was I improvised, but only traces of its occurrence remain (the IG story and the video below).
View on youtube here-->> https://youtube.com/shorts/aaf9QHcEW5s
Comentarios