Next Performance coming up!

this physical body is the meeting place of worlds
a presentation of writing and choreography

Fellow graduate student, Lisa Ferrugia Atkinson, will present her Master of Fine Arts thesis project. I am honored to be a part of her project. Enjoy some art on a Monday evening!

Monday, November 8, 2010, 5:00pm
The Ohio State University, Sullivant Hall, Studio 1
1813 N. High Street at 15th Avenue and High Street
Free Admission!

Pile Up - The Last Show of the School Year!

Pile Up is the last show this quarter, this school year. Don't miss it! Dante's Chalk Boundaries will be shown again, but augmented to fit the space of Studio One. (I'm performing in this one too. Fun stuff!) Maree ReMalia's and Abby Zbikowski's work will also be shown. I can't wait to see what they've been working on. This showing holds great promise! Make it out tonight for one last hurrah!

See you at 7pm, Sullivant Hall - Studio One - on the OSU campus (High and 15th Street).

Poster credit - Erik Abbott-Main

The Gift of Morning

It's after 9am and I am so happy to have enjoyed a little bit of peace before starting another day of endless tasks. Yoga was sweet this morning. Happy and peaceful. Hopefully I will carry it with me throughout the day.

Oh, hey, I just realized that today I get to attend a master class by Noh Theatre artist, Toshinori Hamada. Nice!

Off to class, work at The Wex, a couple of hours of celebrating Alexis's birthday, then a ton of reading and writing before bed.

That's a complete day right there!

Gender in Choreography - Fourth and Fifth Rehearsals

January 20th
I have to really laugh at myself when I'm being a complete idiot.  I scurried from class to the locker room to change for rehearsal only to ram my head rather forcefully into a metal locker door. There's something about a bleeding skull that makes me angry.  So here I was, alone in the women's locker room at 7:45 at night, holding my head, muttering obscenities and trying really hard not to cry.  I wasn't very successful.  I splashed water on my face hoping to keep it from turning that pitiful splotchy red color because I didn't want the guys to know I cried.  I kept thinking, "There's no crying in baseball!"

I walked into rehearsal as non-chalant as possible.  Michael kind of looked at me funny but didn't say anything. Somehow I thought I was in the clear. Later, Eric came over and calmly asked me how I was doing. I said, "Ah, yeah.  I'm doing good. How are you?" To which he replied in his naturally sensitive and caring voice, "Fine. I just noticed that your face was really red and I wondered if you were okay."  So I just let it spill what happened. Eric was concerned about me and at one point commented that he was feeling really protective of me and wasn't sure why.

So here's my point to all this - sometimes there's no avoiding the gender roles we end up playing.

January 23rd
Saturday's rehearsal has been my most favorite by far. I videotaped a couple of the phrases so that I can work on my timing a little more.  These guys drop their weight differently than I do and my timing is off.  The interesting thing about this rehearsal though was my filling in for Eric's role and having to yell, "Girl!" This was fun, however very confusing when the guys started sniffing the air as if they were dogs. It was easy for me to yell GIRL!, but when all the guys behind me started sniffing, I automatically felt really self-conscious.  I know I was supposed to be sniffing too, but it wasn't my first inclination.  My first inclination was to cover my butt. After the first time, I think we all laughed at the strangeness of the situation - after all, I was supposed to be Eric and he wouldn't have had the same reaction. I remember laughing and turning around to look at them and noticing that they had all backed away from me. Dante posted a video on his blog - check it out http://dnbdance.wordpress.com.

Gender in Choreography - Independent Study

The purpose of Gender in Choreography is for me to learn three works choreographed BY men specifically FOR men and to document the process. I want to see how my body interprets the movement. I'm particularly curious about what it is like as a woman to slip into masculine-specific movement - what is achievable, what is transformable and what is unattainable.

I'll use this blog to document weekly rehearsals for myself and also for my advisor, Melanie Bales. I'll start this off with the first piece I'm working with, Chalk Boundaries, choreographed by Dante Brown. This piece is an all male ensemble currently in rehearsal for the February 7th Super Sunday event for the Hard Targets exhibition at the Wexner Center. You can read more about Brown's process on his blog: http://dnbdance.wordpress.com.  While I am not performing at the Super Sunday event, I am fully involved in the rehearsals. Thankfully Dante has been really cool with this idea!

January 6th - First rehearsal
I liked being a little invisible as I danced around the all male cast, which happens to be Mike Abbatiello, Dante Brown, Quentin Burley, Eric Nordstrom and Chafin Seymour. Aside from Nordstrom, most of the dancers are in their early twenties - if that. I think I'm older than two of them put together.  So, not only is this a gender study, but it's also an age study.

I spent most of rehearsal observing myself observing.  I really didn't think being a "minority" in a rehearsal would bring up so many memories of growing up with an older brother and wanting desperately to play with the big boys.  But that's exactly how I felt.  I maintained my distance in this first rehearsal though - which wasn't hard.  I think the undergraduate dancers were a little wary of me - they didn't know me and probably didn't understand why I wanted to be a part of their all-male experience.

I continued to run through more internal questioning, like - what does it mean to be a man? I wondered if men had the same question.  All these guys were clearly individuals and I bet they'd answer that question differently as well.  Why is this question so fascinating to me?  I feel like I've been asking myself this question a lot the older I get.  I know what I like in men - but why do I like those qualities?  Would I still like those qualities if I were also a man?  Also, is it just their physical strength that makes men dance differently or is it their gender that asserts other qualities.  I noticed an obvious difference in the dynamics of the cast as opposed to a mixed or all female cast.  The men took up a lot more room and they didn't gossip.  I liked this!

Eventually memories of dancing in Heywood "Woody" McGriff's Dig came flashing back at me.  I remembered how much I enjoyed the athleticism in his choreography.  I remembered how I wanted to jump as high as he did and command the space the same way he did.  Maybe I just like this kind of strong, athletic movement.  And why not?

More to come!

Pictures from New Year's Eve Party

The Super New Year party was fun!

Here's a look at the Super Heroes and Villians who showed up:

Great Day for Laughter

Today was my last day of work for the year 2009. That's a fun thought all on its own. I also had lunch with Betsy. We amused ourselves at the thought of costumes for tomorrow's Super New Year costume party at Erik's. (Here's Betsy, me and Amanda at the last costume party.)

After work I hung out with Eric and Michael for some hula hooping and dancin' around the studio. (Here's a cool shot of Michael doing what he likes to do right now....)

(And here's a picture of Erik and I performing at The Wexner Center for the Super Sunday event of the Tuymans' exhibit.)

Erik, Michael and I followed up our little get together with Chai - which always makes me particularly chatty and giddy. I was so glad to see people coming back to town and it reminds me that school starts back up Monday and I think it's going to be another intense 18 credit quarter. Here's my schedule so far:

Monday/Wednesday

8:15-10:15 - Gym

10:30-12:00 - Modern Technique with Susan Hadley

12:15-5:15 - Work at the Wexner Center

5:30-7:30 - Interactive Media

Tuesday/Thursday

8:45-10:15 - Modern Technique with Bebe Miller

10:30-2:30 - Work at the Wexner Center

2:45-4:15 - Choreography

7:00-9:00 - Rehearsal (with fellow grad students)

Friday

7:30-8:30 - Gym

9:00-12:00 - Postmodernism

12:30-2:30 - Work at the Wexner Center

2:45-4:15 - Choreography

I will also be cramming other rehearsals in there as I will be doing an Independent Study where I learn 3 solos originally choreographed for male dancers by 3 different male choreographers. We're all really excited about this project. I have no idea what I will do with it or if it will merely be for the process. Either way, I will learn something and gain some new insight on picking up material.

I am also working with Abby, another fellow grad, on a boxing piece. Again, I'm not sure where that will go, but I'm happy about the possibilities. (Yes, she's sitting in a sink - she cracks me up.)

Somewhere in all this activity, I hope to read something out the of the seven books I just ordered! Lots to look forward to!

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving Break was great. I really felt like I got a lot done. I even slept!

David and I enjoyed a fabulous meal with Mair, Nicole, Abby and Sara. Mair and Nicole outdid themselves! It was truly amazing.

The next morning snow started to fall. It wasn't a lot, but it was still really pretty! Pai and I got our morning walk in before it disappeared.

I was able to get a lot of homework done - finished a small paper, started a mock proposal, and worked on my Dance and Tech final which involves Jennifer Micallef's website. I'm excited that her website will be a reality soon.

Besides school work, David and I were able to finish filming our animation experiment. Hopefully I'll have this puppy finished by Christmas!

One week of classes and then it's finals week and then a REAL break. I'm looking forward to it!

So much

Every day there is so much going on and so many tiny discoveries happening. Intense to say the least. It's like "Deconstructing Rashana." It's all good work, but it's definitely a lot to behold. I wish I had the time to really journal about this. All the wonderment seems worthy of recording. And yet, I don't have the time because I'm too busy being with all this "personal growth."

That said, I have a couple of things to mention. If you're reading this blog, please visit Michael Morris's: http://morrismichaelj.wordpress.com/. His reflection on the Wexner performance is insightful and beautiful and definitely worth reading.

Another bit of news before I head back into the coursework I should really be doing right now - I am in the process of updating the look and feel of my blogs and website. I can't believe I'm going to utter these words, but I have yet another blog. It's not really a blog - it's really a landing page to my current blogs. If you want to trace my steps and try to find a common theme in the layout of my blogs, start here: http://minuet.dance.ohio-state.edu/~smith6960/

Then click on my Blog link. This will take you to my OSU blog (http://rashanaworks.wordpress.com) This was part of an assignment in my Dance and Technology class. I won't be updating my OSU webpage or blog as they just point to my current blogs and rashanaworks website, so really this is just more information than you need - which is how I feel right now - overloaded with personal information.