Spring Quarter Begins Tomorrow

Winter Quarter was pretty intense. I feel like I should summarize it, but Spring Quarter is beginning TOMORROW! No time to sit around here and reflect. Hopefully I'll have time this summer to go over my first year in graduate school. Spring Break wasn't incredibly noteworthy except for a few things. 1) I visited Easthaven Elementary to prepare for an upcoming workshop (which I guess is kind of exciting because I'm looking forward to it). 2) David's friend, Chuck, came to visit a few days. 3) I finally finished the guest bedroom windows and I'm happy about it. Here's a pic:

Tomorrow I start the following schedule (more or less):

Monday

10:30 - noon Modern Technique

12:30 - 4:30 Work at the Wex

5:00-8:00 Theories of the Body

Tuesday

8:45 - 10:15 Teaching Seminar

10:30 - 2:30 Work at the Wex

3:00 - 5:00 Media in Performance

6:30 - 9:00 Rehearsals

Wednesday

10:30 - noon Modern Technique

12:30 - 5:30 Work at the Wex

Thursday

8:45 - 10:15 Teaching Seminar

10:30 - 2:30 Work at the Wex

3:00 - 5:00 Media in Performance

Friday

4:30 - 6:00 Production class for Spring Concert

Saturday

1-3 Rehearsal for solos

Wish me luck!

New Design Published

The new web design is now occupying http://www.rashanaworks.com. Check it out! I still have some things to fill in, some videos to post, things about Motor Dance, etc, but it's live.

Tomorrow I show my solo "Bear Traps & Other Impressions" for my Dynamics & Phrasing Final. Maybe I'll post that after I finish my take home exam for Postmodernism - only 17 pages. I feel sick already.

Onward though! I can't wait for Thursday when it's all done!

Website for Interactive Media class

Here's the link to the redesign of rashanaworks:

http://accad.osu.edu/~rashana/rashanaworks/index.html

There are a couple of things I want to change/reconfigure, but this is what I'm turning in for my final.

Chafin's Solo

Here's the solo I'm learning:

Seedling

Seedling is a video short I created for the MFA Spring Perspectives show at the Urban Arts Center, an OSU gallery space in downtown in Columbus. The video will show at the entrance of the gallery and will play continuously in a loop. It is meant to evoke curiosity and encourage visitors to learn more about the work created by the MFA students who are presenting their work. Hope you enjoy. (I just looked at this after it posted. After posting the quality is incredibly degraded. Nevertheless - the DVD is much better so you should just come to the show and see it for yourself!)

A Couple of Quotes to Inspire Change

"Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work." - Bette Davis

"Defeat is a state of mind. No one is ever defeated untildefeat has been accepted as reality. To me, defeat in anything is merely temporary, and its punishment is but an urge for me to greater effort to achieve my goal. Defeat simply tells me that something is wrong in my doing; it is a path leading to success and truth." - Bruce Lee

This week has been a tough one already.  I feel behind on everything and my body wants to sleep.  I don't feel like I have the time to do anything well.  I am hoping to turn some of this around - as in re-evaluate what I think I'm trying to accomplish.  If it's discovery - then yes, I think I'm discovering a lot.  If it's crafting my best choreography or whipping out my best performance in class, then maybe no.  Maybe it doesn't always have to be about excellence.

On a side note, I adjusted my morning ritual ... again.  I can't manage to get up in time to include mat exercises before class.  I've maintained my stretches and a little meditation in the morning though.  Instead of the mat exercises, I've started walking again.  It snowed last night, but it's sunny and by this afternoon the snow had melted.  Maybe the weather will continue to get better.  Walking before class for 30 minutes seems to help a lot.  Oh, and not that it's noticeable, I'm dropping weight consistently each week.  This will help the knees too!

Now - off to attempting the impossible.  Dynamics and Phrasing starts in 45 minutes and I'm still struggling with my phrase!

Art and Fear

Last quarter I engaged in a regular yoga practice twice a week, along with also blogging about it twice a week.  This quarter, it's not as simple to find my physical practice.  The two technique classes really aren't meant as "physical practice" in the traditional mode of practicing the same concepts each day - as in sun salutation or tendues at the barre.  The modern classes I take vary from day to day - which I like - however I see the need for consistency in order to anchor myself.  After registration completed, I have 20 credit hours.  This is insane.  The busiest classes for me aren't actually classes - they're independent studies that only account for 1 credit each.  I have five independent studies and I'm happy about them all.  Nevertheless...

After pondering on this little dilemma, I think I came up with an idea.  I need to get my mat out every morning and work on some core issues for myself.  I'll pick one topic each week and build on them.  And, as I enjoyed Michael Morris's approach of taking literary inspiration and applying to my own life, I will also pick a quote or passage and share that in my blog.  The passages I draw from won't necessarily be yoga-centered, but will most likely draw from books I read for my other classes.  In other words, I will relate certain issues to my own physical practice as another way of embodying what I'm learning here.

So I will start now.  It's a quote from a book I'm reading for the Dynamics and Phrasing class, "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland.

"What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears, continue; those who don't, quit."

I don't want to quit.  Today I was completely discouraged by the status of my knee.  I'm a bit angry that I can't seem to get my body into the shape I want.  Plus, I have a final draft due for my Dynamics and Phrasing class which means I need to perform Tuesday.  Perhaps this is another detour, a challenge to get past my fear that my body can't keep up, and a chance to let go of things that are holding me back.  Perhaps I can see this as a certain kind of restriction that actually frees me to focus on other things and find creative solutions that I might not have seen before.

Tomorrow I plan on continuing my morning ritual of stretches in bed before rising, foot exercises once out of bed, and then going through a pilates mat session that will take the weight off my legs.  I'll take the dog for a short walk to test out the knee and then head to the studio to see how I'm going to do this.

So here it goes...

First of Week of Winter Quarter 2010

I think I'm starting to realize that I'm in graduate school now and am feeling a little more relaxed by the idea. I'm not as stressed, but of course - it's only the first week. Here's how it's going so far:

I'm going to the gym three days a week now. It's going to take some time for my body to come out of shock, but I think I'll start liking it eventually. I'm sore... of course.

Susan Hadley's modern technique class is really challenging. I can tell that she used to dance in Mark Morris's company. She's really focused on musicality. I have to be hyper-aware or I'll miss something. She announced that she's creating the movement for class in class as we go along in order to pay attention to what we need. In this way, it reminds me of Kate Warren. They are both incredibly detail-oriented and focused on getting their students to pay attention to the nuances of the movement. Hadley also reminds me of Lynne Grossman - so entertaining. Don't get me wrong, though - I think Hadley is unique and I'm looking forward to seeing how my dancing may change by the end of this quarter because of her eagle eye.

It's too early to say what I think of the Interactive Media class. It's only been a couple of classes and they were really slow. Yesterday Patterson covered DNS servers and the back-end of websites, i.e. webservers. I spent years managing this technology and it was really hard to sit patiently through this class, although I know it's necessary in an intro class. I just wonder if I should be there. Perhaps it will pick up.

I like the fact that I'm taking two modern technique classes this quarter. Bebe Miller's approach is different from Hadley's but certainly just as exacting. Miller's classes so far have had a different warm-up each time. I really appreciate how these teachers are careful to look at what we need and are able to adjust accordingly. I know that must sound elementary, but it's a big thing really. Plus, I'm totally fascinated by Miller. Where did this wonder come from? How fortunate that I get to take her class for 10 weeks - not just a week long workshop!

Dynamics and Phrasing - Comp Class with Vicki Blaine. This will be challenging. It's not just a composition class (neither was John Giffin's last quarter); it's also a performance class. The restrictions that will be placed on us will probably be uncomfortable, but I think this could be a good thing. How can we learn from our suffering??? I guess I'll find out.

I still haven't had Postmodernism yet - it meets tomorrow if classes aren't cancelled due to weather. It's a three hour class at 9am on a Friday. I've already completed my reading for tomorrow and I really like the topics already, so I think I might like it. We'll see... Three hour class on a Friday. (That keeps echoing in my head.)

Enough about classes. My next post will be about the Independent Study I started that I'm really excited about. For some reason, this quarter seems to be more about physicality for me. I feel like I'm traveling down a curvy road. I don't know where I'm going, but I like what I see along the way!

Stay tuned.
For now - I'm going to bed!

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!