July 2009 seems like years ago now, as each of us reside in different cities, continuing our own independent work as….people. But don’t let the word hiatus fool you, LYMI has been gig-ing since then. In November, we traveled to Chicago to perform in an improvisational salon-type series hosted by Ayako Kato at Epiphany Church (a beautiful church with colorful stained glass, soft wooden floors, and sky-high arched ceilings). The performance was followed by a Q&A (with only artists from the program mind you), which some participants found frustrating and insular (not me of course…). Fellow improvisers arguing about what they like and don’t like about improvisation=not successful Q&A. In any case, my frustration–I mean other people’s frustration, nonetheless helped to re-stimulate a thought-process about why we continue to do what we do. Well, don’t look at me. I haven’t exactly figured it out, the conversation is eternally ongoing.

For our other gig in November, we traveled to Ypsilanti, MI. Yes, Ypsilanti. I don’t know, Chippewa maybe? Funny though, we traveled to the Wolverine State the weekend of the rivaled OSU/Michigan football game. If there’s one thing I learned from living in OH, people take their football seriously. Crazy collegiate sports fanatics aside, the performance revived our enthusiasm for working together, as we were well received and seemed to make new friends in the process. The following morning, we drove down the Ann Arbor to teach a master class at University of Michigan, reuniting with some friends and mentors.

So that’s the recap since July of what we’ve been up to. Currently, Annie remains in NYC, awaiting and preparing to take her new post as a professor at Colby College in Maine. Ad remains in Athens, continuing to teach at Ohio U and setting work on students at OSU. And I continue to blog to an audience of 5 people. But thankfully I blog for more than readers, otherwise I should find a better way to spend my Sunday afternoons.

Stay tuned for more blogging about our upcoming Ohio U and DC gigs. It’s going to be a busy 2010. Can’t wait for spring.

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.

Our venue, the Southern Theater, is breathtakingly beautiful, with historical architecture already built into the space. There is a large proscenium arch which frames the space nicely and will hopefully add a design element, especially to our second installation-ish piece. Here are more photos of the space if you’re interested: http://www.southerntheater.org/theater_photos.htm
The seating is not too large, but intimate enough for us to interact and as Ad says, “break the fourth wall.”

The weekend plans are to see and usher some shows, prep for opening night on Mon, leisure shopping at Savers, maybe…MALL OF AMERICA. We’re told the SpongeBobSquarePants rollercoaster is a must down in Bloomington, MN. We’ll see–we have a full agenda as is, but will try to fit as much as we can in the time have in MN.

In the meantime, I wander around to find more coffee shops with Wi-Fi to write more posts and……….check my bank account. More to come on the actual performances once we start our run!

Noelle signing off.

Signing out for now, but back for more.
LYMI trio
aka
Noelle sitting in a coffee shop

Like You Mean It has jumped on the blog-wagon (thanks to the tech saavy and amazing Coco Loupe) to share information, thoughts, ideas and comments about their improvisational performances, workshops, classes and other endeavors.

As improvisers, we hope to create performances that feel improvised, but appear to be cohesive and deliberate like choreography.  Thus the subtitle of our blog, “Improvisational performance is choreography.”  We consider ourselves choreographers of the moment–improvising our way through situations that unfold non-linear narratives, non-sequiturs, and snapshots of what an audience member once described as, “an acid trip.”  Best press quote yet.

Recently, the trio has been doing a lot of work in Ohio, since that is where the three of us have been based for the past year.  However, life has taken our lives in different directions.  We are unsure of where we’ll soon call home, but know we hope to continue our work together.

To top off our busy year of performing and teaching, we will be presenters at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, hopefully expanding our network and using it as a reason to take a fun Mid-west road-trip.  We’ll use the blog to give updates about Minneapolis.  But if anyone has any burning thoughts, comments, interests, points of discussion you’d like to share about practices in improvisation (not limited to dance), please feel free to send us a post or email at likeyoumeanit.info@gmail.com.

You can also visit our new website at lymitrio.com (thanks again to Coco Loupe!)  For more info.

Minneapolis here we come!