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Today we migrate to St. Paul, the other half of the “Twin Cities”. We’re sadly leaving SOOZIN and Smokey Joe to stay with Aaron, a mysterious, but obviously gracious UMN student we have not yet met. Also, Ed and Annie both come back to town in preparations for opening night tomorrow.
Though we are happy to be at the MN Fringe, I’m a little nervous, which is unusual.
I think the first thing is we’re getting used to the infrastructure and schedule of the Fringe:
Because the Fringe is packed with back to back shows in every venue, we are only allowed 10 minutes before show to be in the space before house opens. How/where/when will we warm-up together? Any suggestions? There is a nearby Holiday Inn, with a public lawn that might serve us well–minus any incidents with dog poop.
The second thing is…..we’ve all been separated for a while because of professional and personal pursuits. A problem I’m sure that is common for many pick-up theatre and dance companies and artists separated by geography, but connected by ideology. It’s not that by any means we’re not prepared for the run. But will it be like jumping back on the bicycle; the experience will be familiar once we get going again? Or will it feel completely foreign (not necessarily a negative thing), and feel like our first time all over again?
“It’ll be good…we can’t overanalyze it…..what happens happens….let’s just consider it another opportunity to make work….”
But I suppose our psychological defense mechanisms of denying it’ll be “bad” (whatever that means) or avoiding the fact that we have been apart is appropriate. After all, this work has taught us that sometimes we have to let go/stop being attached to the results. Self-help mantras aside, we are looking forward to making work again and performing. I mean that’s what the practice is about well at least for me–being able to improvise in the moment, in life and in art.
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I can’t wait to see the video! I’m excited for all of you but don’t worry about the performance. You have had about 2 years (maybe more if you consider working on other projects/performances together) of working together so regardless of the preparation time you’ve had over the last few months, you all have a good sense of each other. Everything will be fine, just do what you do =)
Oh, and I love the website. Props to Coco on the web design. Give em what for… YAR!
Comment by Seneca Agopian August 2, 2009 @ 5:37 pmall of these questions and fears and insights make me love the act of dancing even more. even when it makes me ask questions that have the same unknowable answers. i think that even when we are FULLY PREPARED and READY and all of everything seems in place, we never really know what’s going to happen or what it will feel like until we are there….doing it. dancing it. engaging it. it…the thing. the moment. whatever.
that’s what’s so freakin’ lovely about what we do. the fact that we question every moment around the “moment” just means that we are still intrigued and mystified by this strange phenomenon we call “dancing” or “performing”….and i think that the fact that we are still intrigued and interested and hungry for answers about this form spells triumph. you are triumphant. and i’m sure that your performances showed it. can’t wait to hear all about it over dinner! yes!
Comment by CoCo August 31, 2009 @ 2:47 am