DAY....? I've lost track! This recalls Wednesday.
It's like gumbo, this mixture that is simmering, needing to be stirred and the final ingredients dropped into the pot. In assembling our cohorts to "map our assets"--bring all your skills, strengths and personalities to the table---we got to know what a rich array we have together! After listing, quantifying and organizing, we formed 6 groups and worked on the resources we have already assembled through phrases of movement, duet work, facts and figures and stories we had collected. Taking into consideration the spatial limitations we are about to embark upon in the Cultural Center in which we are work tomorrow---without air conditioning in these 90 degree and 90% humid days.
The President was in town for the National  Urban League's convention, apparently, but we are ensconced in the world of possibilities and imagination birthing a happening that has yet to fully emrge in way, shape and form in addressing WHY ARE PEOPLE POOR?

DAY FOUR

DAY FOUR

My body begins to be ever more thankful for the rides each day as my body wearies from the long days and ‘hoofin’ it up Bourbon Street and Audubon” between streetcar rides! Gentle foot massage in conditioning class was in keeping after the day’s journey in the second line yesterday.

After another rigorous professional practice and picking up what I missed the day before, we transitioned into a panel on Wealth Disparity and, after lunch,  another talk about the health effects of being poor from a New Orleans and national perspective. We finally gathered again in our cohort groups to brainstorm and share ideas, research and impressions of the space at which we are to dance site specifically. Liz Lerman led a wonderful opportunity to dig into movement together, via her “toolbox” methodology: composing dance with the every day person, as well as for purposes of this week. Observation methods, asking people what they saw, pairing, counting moves, and taking movement from text were familiar concepts to me from working on the Hallelujah Project and The Dance Exchange’s Institutes. Equivalence and movement metaphor were inspirational reminders of how deeply my work has been affected by Liz. I will get a picture with she and Jawole before I leave, as they are quickly becoming my dance heroines! The day ended early, with a return trip via ST Charles line, and a walk down Bourbon St at dusk….very different from morning! A pickup dinner, a swim in a small pool, and washing clothes was chosen when I might have gone out to hear some music…but an internet connection is dear here---so I use it when I have it.

DAY TWO AND THREE

DAY TWO

So I got a ride today, due to the implosion of a local landmark. My host family wanted to be no where near the dust cloud due to asthma problems, so they left early to go take in a 10am movie in a suburb. I got to campus, did my yoga, and conditioning class, which readied me for the challenge of a professional rigor dance practice. The combination of Urban Bush Women teachers Amora, Chanon, and Jawole herself made for an interesting foray into an African-based movement, which I tamely attempted with my limited exposure and facility. Then came for the meat of the day, The People's Institute, a three person team that leads groups through anti-racism  training. With its rules of engagement covenant, we were to open our minds, hearts and break out of the boxes of institutions, systems and ideologies, explore a power analysis, and a discussion of gatekeepers, that gave me a few aha moments and one which surprised me to tears. How every race is dehumanized by these constructs, and how our language in how we speak about and think about the poor is so important in framing our stereotypes, expectations and vision for the least of these. The dinner break brought a quick trip to a middle eastern restaurant to-go and a surreal conversation with a Bay Area dancer, who ends up being married to a grade school dancing friend from Omaha! The dance world is a small world after all! Then we gathered to have a time called altar/ancestor, where a small item, story, dance or performance piece was shared, I was nervous to figure out what I wanted to share, as I didn't really know what the nature of this would be like. The 2 minute snippets of information gleaned and celebrated, recalled or recited, was at times hilarious, quixotic and tearful---but all artful. I still ponder what I will share on next installment. A late but full day.

DAY THREE

Today's agenda was reconfigured so as to take in what is called a “Second Line” or jazz funeral procession of a local icon, Uncle Lionel, a drummer. I decided to sleep in, call my husband, and hoof it up Royal St to catch the St Charles line and take the bus back to a point from which we would join  the festivities. Hot and humid, I sweated thru my shirt easily in the first 15 minutes of my day, and probably walked, danced, skootched along for a mile or so with the crowd, fanning myself and others,  following the bad's drums, brass, tambourines, costumes, shenanigans and rituals in a loop following the casson (4 horses, a carriage hauling the casket), and various relatives  like a parade. It was awesome! And found a 12 inch shrimp poboy to bring home to feast upon with other dancers was a reward for the journey. It is a strangely wonderful dichotomy that grieves and rejoices so readily, as only New Orleanians know how to do. The rest of the day was spent in the intense climax and conclusions of The People's Institute, raising awareness and challenging definitions about race and ending with singing, (as is often the way utilized by UBW in assembling the group that things are about to start). A rousing Hollywood shuffle ensued, during the birthday song of Stevie Wonder, which was a powerfully joyous way to end so rich a day. Tomorrow the site specific gathering and dancemaking begins.

WHY ARE PEOPLE POOR?

So, here I am with 90 others, in New Orleans for Urban Bush Women’s Summer Leadership Institute(SLI) “SOUL DEEP: Why are people poor?---demystifying the opportunity gap in the United States.” Urban Bushwomen’s Artistic Director, Jawole Zollar, is a woman whom I got to know as we served together on the Board of Dance USA. Liz Lerman, of the Dance Exchange, with whom I worked a decade ago through Hallelujah Project in Houston. I had just finished Liz’ book “Hiking the Horizontal: Field Notes of a Choreographer” (which I hoped to have autographed, was left behind, due to fears of an overweight luggage!) and both women have developed admirable methodology and inspiring art, building communities and tackling tough issues. I was heartened to be remembered and embraced by them both! I am staying in the former slave quarters behind the home (on Bourbon Street!) of Dr. Bernie and Marlene Jaffe, gracious supporters of the arts and medicine in this community. Since most of the work will be done in the Dance studios of McWilliam Hall at Tulane University, most of the participants are staying in dorms, while I have an hour trek each morning, which gives me an opportunity to walk up Bourbon street to Canal, ride a bus and the famous St. Charles Streetcar, and walk another 5 blocks. Rides home at night have been arranged so far!

DAY ONE

Each day will start up with a conditioning and dance class geared to professional and pedestrian movers and workshops given in methods, values and practices as we gather data in 3 different venues for site specific work in Hurricane Katrina affected communities. We danced together today instead of the broken up groups therein. We visited our site- Tekrema Cultural Center- in the lower 9^th ward, a former hardware store, whose two stories seem to hold many secrets in its long history. The upstairs ballet studio, with its lovely wood floors, had no mirrors, but a mural of cypress swamps painted on its walls. Me wonders how different first ballet lessons would have been in such an environment at this. While exploring their back yard hydroponic classroom and spying some chickens in a corner, I made a surprise discovery---a fire ant hill! This Houston gal should have known better than to stick her foot in it! Talk about dance with ants in your pants! I was rescued with a good hosing down from my colleagues, and luckily had a change of clothes, socks and shoes. Was grateful to another native New Orleans participant for a ride home to shower, before our luscious dinner and drum/dance experience at the Golden Feather on Rampart street…an amazing display of Louisiana hospitality and culture!

Sacred Dances

So I always feel like when I get interviewed I wax all poetic about the work for someone else to write it up, and then remember....oh, yeah, I can write a blog about it, too, just in case it's not as lovingly recalled by the free lance writer hired to report on it ( who will probably do a better job from an objectivity standpoint).

However, with dances meant for worship, there always seems to be misunderstanding or mixed expectations. I find it hard to categorize these dances: they are sacred when I am dancing them. Modest costuming, along with craft and artistry, are what might be a little different from the “liturgical dance” some experience in teams across our city's vast array of church services Within the context of a sanctuary, there is a power and beauty that can often change the way you see a dance, or even how it transforms you! But now I am passing these dances onto another generation of dancers, who may or may not hold to the faith I have.... Interesting how making these dances grew my faith, and maybe of use to encourage others to grow and experience their own in deeper ways? That's the hope and the risk I take in utilizing dance in yet another way... Earthen Vessels likes to explore dance as a tool to educate, inspire beauty or celebrate life's experiences---but also as an instrument of worship!

Not unlike an icon, at which one gazes to be observant to stillness, subtle shifts in perspective, becoming one with an image, seared into your soul with unflinching depth. Dance has a way with your soul like that. I have often taken the familiar hymns and texts into churches where dance is foreign or considered with some suspicion as worldly, and tried to illuminate the lyrics, the theology, incarnate it with my body as the vessel. Ahh, the earthen vessel, (again!) that I hope doesn't distract from the essence, but reflects the power of God to do something with my frame, my art, my skill--- to show you a bit of Him.

The liturgical practice is part of my faith journey as I grew up a midwestern Catholic, learned my guitar from St. Louis Jesuits, and sang in and planned masses, and later offered dances for feast days in high school (Duchesne Academy, Omaha NE). This Lenten meditation in dance, is certainly steeped in much of that Catholic tradition, with the Nicene Creed, The Misa Criolla ( a mass sung in Spanish with candles and gloria, credo, sanctus, kyrie), a prayer penned by Cesar Chavez for the Farm Worker, and a St Louis Jesuits song. “Song of Mary” is a narrated dance to a collection of poems by Lucille Clifton, that together weave and foreshadow and offer retrospection by the Mother of Jesus, at different points in her life, that adds context to the picture.

Interspersed there will also be songs danced about the way of the cross, reflecting on its weight and intention(O Sacred Head), the wood (Behold the Wood of the Cross)and the shroud (Were You There?) with music ranging from the medieval to the hymnal to the negro spiritual. There will be the Passion on display in the solos, and bemoanings of ”Agony and Ecstasy” where dancer embodies stories leading to the crucifixion—Christ withholding judgement of the adulterous woman, healing of the lame and blind, the last supper and pain of the via de la rosa, to His rising from the tomb. There will be the glorious anticipation of resurrection with Judy Collins Amazing Grace. My hope is that “Sacred Dances” would assist your reflections on the traditions of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Mauday Thursday to the desolation of Good Friday, from anticipation to heightened joy of Easter ----all wrapped into one evening of dance.

Alongside these, are some reprisals of dances choreographed to the renderings of local Episcopal priest, composer and rock star, Kemper Crabb (St John the Divine Contemporary Service)--one a wedding duet( which was danced at mine!), and another “Be Thou My Vision” which I have choreographed at least three versions in my life! These are danced in tribute to the churches past and present, and its people, singles, couple, small groups---- that have supported and watched the journey of the dance from sunday school classes to concert stages that is my vocation. I happen to be a founding member of Christ Evangelical Church, whose Christ in the Arts Festival has opened its door to the arts in amazing generosity as a venue! Thanks BJ! It is with great joy, we bring this expression of dance to their sanctuary. I will have singers and many in the audience from City of Refuge, a multicultural Presbyterian church at which I serve as a deacon...I am grateful to them for their unswerving support as well.

Insider Info on "Mothers of the Movement"

I met Maya Angelou once at a Sweet Honey in the Rock concert at Zellerbach in Berkeley, and when she stood up to shake my hand---wow, she was tall--a giant in life for me. Having read Maya Angelou's series of autobiographies, starting with "I know why the caged bird sings" I was inspired to see this woman doing so many things with her life---a dancer, a singer, a writer, an ambassadorr,a poet an...d a sage. Maybe I could do all those things too, (doesn't this dance company allow me to do many of those things?) and not just let ballet and dance be all that defines me. "Phenomenal Woman" was one of her defining works, and is one of ours, too, and each woman puts her stamp on it by speaking the poetry aloud, while dancing---no easy feat---with a finale featuring a rap that makes a statement with Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Harriet Tubman and Sojourner represent pivotal roles black woman took...to provide a way out, and be a voice speaking up for all women... each overcame obstacles and weren't afraid to challenge the injustice and do something tangible about it too---both which took tremendous courage. Harriet's journey made all the more amazing, in that she had sleeping sickness that would overtake her at any time, as she traversed the underground railroad with her passengers in tow. Sojourner Truth standing alongside suffragettes and an impressive communicator. Rosa Parks” quiet dignity is dealt with in a very (Liz Lerman-ish) gestural way in its conception with an interview playing that was recorded around the time of her death, that tells the story 3rd person with a conversational perspective. ( I am reading Liz Lerman's Hiking the Horizontal right now). That work is called Seated for Justice and juxtaposes images of that time and moment in history (as assembled by my partner in life)behind the dancer of Rosa.

Am also bringing back Yolanda Gibbs to recreate her roles in so many of these works-- surely a mother of many of these movements in her own right!

Nina Simone, will be two totally different male female interactions, one fluffy and light, the other brutal (that we did at CAM last year). Her voice comprises so much pain and humor, doesn't it? As does Roberta Flack, whose music inspired my first piece of choreography in 8th grade. I'm sure those nuns didn't know what to make of "Jesse"--nor did i know what that song was about too much then---but when that was the first song that made me cry, and I just had to dance to it!
And the Lucille Clifton poems about Mary, Mother of Jesus, are combined to create a lovely series of tableau to a haunting piece of music by Keith Jarrett....one of the more sublime inspirations that I often bring out. Now, the nuns would be really touched by that one...

AMAHL and the NIGHT VISITORS special addition

James Sewell, the choreographer of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" always said I could do something different with the village people...so this year, with some American Sign Language (ASL)classes under my belt, I launch out! One of the villagers will be a little drummer girl who will be accompanied by Amahl's pipe, the hidden drum of the page, who ministers to the kings, and Amahl's widowed mother, who needs a little cheer in her life. The kings even get in on the act and give Amahl a lift when (s)he cannot manage the moves with cane. Hope you enjoy this little augmentation of the storyline and the only true dance segment without lyrics...but it will have its own little tale.... those who are deaf in the audience and understand ASL will know that part if I have "glossed" the sentencing correctly. Do you know what glossing is? It is restructuring the sentence structure for simplicity and the limitations of sign vocabulary...full sentences might be abbreviated to a shorter phrase with main ideas. In a culture of text-ers and internet, ( think how awesome those technologies are for deaf people?!) sign languages have always been their own code, perhaps the first shorthand, literally! (pun intended). I posted on article on AMAHL for the Houston Deaf Network, and have tried to inform that community, and those churches that serve such populations, to bring their congregants for a wonderful show.... a great outing for families, groups, troupes, Mentoring programs and senior citizens....a great intro to ballet and opera for our youngest, for it is under an hour!!!!made for tv, right?

I have also been haunted by the comments of a young lad, who in our post performance Q&A, "when's the sequel?" I thought that prospect delightful and can imagine many little rivulets of narrative that come bubbling up...who knows? I might attempt it, or at the very least a prologue or epilogue in years to come. What do you think happened before or after? If you haven't seen it, you will have to come first, and let me know how you envision the context or bookends of this sweet homespun tale.

HB at Miller

Having missed the era of Stanton Welch as a dancer with Houston Ballet, I have only my own bias as dancer from a different time in that company's stature, while I am still on its adult faculty. I will offer here no comment on his work, but will send kudos to him for his selection of the work of others. Having hobbled over to Miller to see some of the repertoire I couldn't get to this year, I experienced a delightful evening of dance in the usual cool of a May night in Houston! A brief entry of my thoughts of that night....
Having been in a book club, where we seem to be reading the first book of authors whose second and third books were even better, I was struck by the similarity of seeing the first work of Nacho Duarte. Interesting to see the seeds of movement vocabulary, his resonance with music solidly identified with country, and the weightedness that eventually moved over the balletically trained sextet of dancers. Houston Ballet has beautifully trained and nuanced professionals, and while Emily Bowen is exploding all over the map, and Kelly Myernick handles the material maturely,both are sharp tools in the dance-maker's pocket. The partnering and men's work was also seamless. The choreography was grounded in this earthy, bird-like, and tool yielding shapes, fenced in agrarian landscape. Lovely promise in that work of the better yet to come, indeed!
Then there's Twyla....man, that lady can craft! Saw this work "in the upper room" with her company and on ABT, although hearing Phillip Glass back then was a bit tedious, our ears have gotten used to its landscape and the context for pure movement it allows. This ballet not only stands the test of time, its innovations stills seems fresh and exciting. . In particular the work horses of Ms. Myernick and company, whose stamina astounds...this piece has got to be like running a marathon, and the exhilirating climax had me shouting. When exhaustion make guys pull in for 5 pirouettes, because technique kicks in with relaxation--- standouts were Oliver H. and Simon B.---its transcendence exemplified. That Twyla swing of the arms, and shake of the shoulder (due to her boxing phase) ain't so easy to look natural, and the attitude in the face and shrug of the shoulders should be a bit smug....those guys aced it! Hats off to you! Signature Twyla stuff--the jogging forward and backward, the tennis shoed set vs. the quick footed pointe shoe birds, flitting through, the lifts and the reversals and the insouciant nonchalance, all had their moments with this cast. Still an awe inspiring work even if it's as old as some dancing it.

Dance Matters

WHY DANCE MATTERS

..in a world of couch potatoes, we need to move...even if it's only our fingers reaching up to the heavens as we yawn in the morning like the tendrils of a paperwhite, we need to move! Toe tapping, fingers drumming, woodpeckers drilling, lawn workers mowing---we need to move! Dance unlocks spiritual depths, its images sear souls, dancers embody life as we know it. Where would I be without dance? I am pondering that question as I recover from a hip cleanout (40 years is a long time to be turning out!) in hopes of gaining a little more time in the profession. Who would I have been without seeing dance on television and taking that first creative dance class? That is a question I will never know the answer to...but how has it enriched my existence? Kept me in good health and shape, better than my siblings, I'll warrant. Given me a living as a classical ballerina ( a black one in a practically all white world) and given me expression as a dance maker. Revealed gems of history and culture to me, showed me how to love and to be disciplined and to stick to your dreams. It takes tenacious pursuit---to be a dancer. Every decision impacts its practice, from what I eat, to what shoes I wear, to how much sleep I get , to...who I am without it? To see it is the beauty we crave; to feel it is to feel the heights of joy and the depths of sorrow we cannot fathom. Dance is the persevering spirit that transcends the limitations of body and mind. It reaches into old men and makes them cry, it transforms teenagers longing to be understood, it lives in the play of our children. It is such a natural expression. I imagine life without dance as a stagnant pool, that muddies and dries up for lack of restorative replenishment. Dance has mattered to me and even if I don't get to be one of its performers or makers in a public way one day, I will still dance before the LORD as David did, regardless of what anyone thinks. It is not only an acceptable offering before the audience of ONE, but a fitting joyful response to LIFE abundant and free.

dancing a dozen...

Putting on twelve not- so -easy pieces-- 7 of which are not new to me, but are to most of the dancers--keeps everyone on their toes, needing to do their homework(keep working on movement during the odd off-time in the fluorescent light of a mirror-less studio). SUITE LOUIS is some of my most difficult and rhythmic compositions and am grateful when its veterans say they remember the rhythms, if not the steps. Trying to figure out the ins and outs of two casts in certain roles and adding in text, solos, and some of the new segments in a social commentary is an endless jigsaw puzzle. The new J-5 piece in tribute to the young MJ and his brothers is a refreshing delight...Of course, there are the lyrics I'd been singing wrong for years...if you can believe it, I was in the Michael Jackson fan club as a little girl, and these are the first 45s I bought---the songs of my youth. I learned how to groove to this stuff! It's fun trying to translate that into bodies a generation younger... all sorts of moves surprise me and I relish the movement memories my body holds that are unlocked by our sense of hearing! Then there is the assembling of audio and video clips from comedians I grew up on....Flip Wilson was (and still is) my favorite comedian who is family friendly, as was Cosby, though his was a bit bent; and of course the fruitless search for a clip of Richard Pryor minus an f-bomb in every sentence! Thanks to my loving partner ( a tough job --- being my husband and collaborator, God bless him!) and Flip Wilson, we did find one straight up comedy routine with few words and lots of movement---Richard Pryor was quite a mover! "Playing the Dozens" has really profoundly disturbing history and impact on our self promotion as Black people, and it is difficult to educate, question, and offer some comment in dance on its (d)evolving form of sparring. A challenge I might only scratch the surface on this go-round, tying all these strands together...Certainly the "I Have A Dream" speech is a wonderful balm in an age where rhetoric is cheap and lacks vision......well I need more days like today in terms of productivity and inspiration. Thanks for the prayers...keep them coming!