claiming space in the woods

Finding space to dance often challenges me. On this very last day of the year I vow to find SPACE, to embody space,

to share space, to claim that space to dance, to move, and to create no matter where I find myself. Even when I find myself in a suburban back yard with neighbors and housemates looking on.
Today while I dance I find the WOODs watching me, protecting me, moving with me, challenging me, and creating this SPACE and holding space for me to dance.


When Momo sent out the call to dance the elements, I immediately thought of how the elements dance within me. I don't think of "dancing the elements" as a metaphor. I'm not dancing like the wind, flowing like the water, moving like air. I am-- in a literal, measurable, concrete sense-- made up of water (mostly) and air (essentially) and minerals (more than just trace) and even fire ( food burns as I metabolize).

The presence of wood is a little harder to recognize in a concrete sense. But as I was dance here in the space created by the trees I can feel their presence. They create the air for me without which I couldn't live. The trees hold me. I am sustained by wood, they are in me.

I CLAIM SPACE, public space, the space in my home, the space in the city, and in the parks, and space in my time as space for movement, space for creation, space for dance.

a crack in the door...

Music: Clair de lune - Claude Debussy

Dance of water wind & ice

sWooshhhh

dance with water, ice, and wind.

swirling, twirling rapids.

smooth, cold slick ice

strong forceful wind pushing shoving calling as the whistle from the train

water flowing

bird wings

im trying to take flight

goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye goodbye

dry your eye

move as the water

with your the changing tides

twisted branches mimic my insides

water moving

moving

MOVING

ice gliding

melting

through my body

through my hard frozen shell

melting

to the warm sunshine

smiling

as i give way to swirling and twirling and not knowing where i'm going

but going all the same

elemental

At my last butoh session with Momo we worked with the various elements, earth, air, fire, water, space and wood. I find since I began butoh practice that I am continuously being challenged to see the environment around me in new ways. Concentrating on each of the elements gives me a bit of peripheral vision, so to speak.

Water is a common theme that I dance to and with. It seems very intuitive to me along with air because it is usually in motion and dynamic. Fire is almost always present in the form of the Sun, and Earth underfoot, acknowledging and paying them more attention can only help increase my awareness. Space has always touched a primal nerve with me, when I see a lot of it at once. Concentrating on the space around me, large or small, has better enabled me to see myself in relation to that space. And wood, it is a living element, absorbs a great deal of energy, and even when not alive carries on in strength.

I am still exploring these elements and what their connectivity is in relation to my dance and soul. Some of the concepts are new to me, yet I find myself instinctively accepting them. I am grateful for the opportunity to receive and learn and grow and share. Thank you all and may the new year bring us continued growth, connection, and realization.

In this dance I made an effort to acknowledge each of the elements and beings around me. A lone eagle circled above me bearing silent witness as I approached the river's edge. As is often the case water seemed to me the most obvious element, the one that most wants to express itself through me, yet all of the elements were there around me and today I shared dance with each one.

The Elements Project: Flocking in Wind

SCORES with WIND & SPACE

Like a lifetime friend or family member, like our homes and our body itself; we often take The Elements and the vital role they play in our lives for granted. This past week with the full moon, lunar eclipse, winter solstice and a 4 day retreat with the Grandmothers to practice deepening our connection with AIR; I was reminded of the profound debt I owe to all of The Elements; but especially to AIR. I do not know any being who has given me, and all humans, as much as AIR. Just think that our life itself would not be possible, no atmosphere, no breath, no motion, no sound, no voice. If we lost AIR, even for 15 minutes, nothing as we know it would BE! Grandmother encouraged me to think back upon how air brought me to where and whom I am now. I envisioned the windy storm that brought my Irish ancestors headed for New York off course to New Orleans instead and led them up the Mississippi to begin farming in the mid-west. I remembered that it was "Spirit Wind" that led me to find Butoh when I was painfully forcing myself to complete a Broadway track theater MFA at an acting conservatory in Florida. I honored the relentless and unnerving gales in Port Townsend that blew me back to live on Whidbey Island where so much richness, healing, knowledge, love and balance that is my current life would never have been possible otherwise. I could not have flown through the air on the great metal birds that brought me to Japan, New York, Costa Rica, Hawaii and so on. If it were not for the motion of the AIR all of my travels and transformations would have stagnated.

I owe a great debt to my relation the AIR for sure. Grandmother asked my proposal of how I would take responsibility for that primary relationship. My answer involved daily dance, prayer and meditation practices recognizing and offering to The Elements AND....this project, the YearOfCo11aboration with MomoButoh Dance Company because it is one way I can publicly uphold and celebrate my lifetime commitment to love, honor and cherish The Elements with my words/thoughts/actions, till death do us continue to intermingle.

Last week at Centrum in Port Townsend, I attended the annual 3 day Contact Improvisation Jam. The spaces, events and company to dance with all day and night were so refreshing. After a good long lab session about the techniques of falling with grace in partnership, we scooted out to catch the wind and last rays of dusk on the bluff overlooking the Straight of Juan de Fuca. This Flocking Score was very spontaneous, totally not rehearsed or even spoken of before hand--as you can see by our actions; that our director Michal Lahav called "Beautiful foolishness." We were certainly influenced by the strong presence of the AIR in our shifting and waving flock going to and fro together as well as this vast venue of unbounded SPACE. The music was added afterwards as the wind sounds on the film were deafening and the dance matched so well with this live jazz.

Music: Ethiopiques Mulatu Astatque'

After the group flocking, I celebrated and gave thanks to our unseen partner, the WIND, with a short solo/duet just between us. It is strange how much enjoyment and love I feel for the wind on one hand and on the other hand my unsettled feelings with this very same wind that drove me away from living here in Port Townsend. I guess that kind of ambiguity and paradox is the nature of any long term committed relationship, and certainly with this one I have with the WIND.

The Elements Project: WOOD & SPACE

"For a dancer, God is Space." -Yoshito Ohno

I consider SPACE to be the consciousness and awareness that we have of ALL The Elements in life and dance. If it were not for SPACE we would not have the context for our creations. Although MomoButoh Dance practice often occurs outdoors and in all sorts of elemental and day to day locations, the traditional dance studio SPACE with a wonderful WOOD floor remains a most heavenly canvas for creation in our profession. During this moon of The Elements; I see the countless ways that WOOD and SPACE have contributed to my being but, with our dark wet Pacific Northwest winter weather, the simple indoor studio SPACE with a WOOD floor to dance upon with others who wish to share that experience has been the most necessary and precious gem. A dream I intend to realize in 2011 is the creation of a MomoButoh Dance Studio. It is an actual place, build by hand, with a floor made of wood, it is circular or oval, light filled, cozy and spacious; it is set in a beautiful & private natural area with plenty of room for a group to train, retreat, perform, dwell and rest. Please help me hold this image and work to realize it this coming year so that we can begin retreats and training here in 2012!

A couple of weeks ago I attended a workshop with Karen Nelson about Improvisation for Performance. We learned and eventually performed the Tuning Score and Single Image Score originally conceived by Lisa Nelson. The videos below are excerpts from our public showing of the practice that included dancers and witnesses crafting the performance experience they desired by calling directions aloud during the dance. All of the scenes begin with the dancer entering with eyes closed. Mostly we had to sense the SPACE using our perceptions of sound, touch and motion from the response of the WOOD floor and furniture. If you listen carefully, you can hear the distinctive creaks and calls from witnesses. The call "Pause" means just that and "End" means to clear the space altogether. The call "Play" means to continue with the action, "Reverse" means to go backwards from that point; "Report" means to offer a verbal report of one's current experience; and "Replace" means to take the place of another person. Then at some point the vocal call "Open" means that the visual sense is brought into play or "Closed" means it is denied again. I loved how this score heightens dancers skills of perception and imagination by limiting some options such as movement and sight. When re-crafting the live experience into video it was fascinating how the practice seemed even stronger somehow on film given the relationship to the media (video & audio players) that was the origin of the metaphors of "pause," "play," "reverse" that we were exploring.

Sweet Water...

At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled

after a night of rain.

I dip my cupped hands. I drink

a long time. It tastes

like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold

into my body, waking the bones. I hear them

deep inside me, whispering

oh what is that beautiful thing

that just happened?

Mary Oliver

I have been longing to share my most recent dance from a couple of weeks ago, and yet, my life has been pulled in many directions lately...

I thought I would share a few dances from last year until I can do the editing on the recent film. Water was a very regular dance partner for me while I was practicing and I loved feeling so connected to it's various manifestations:

from cleansing waves,

to still ponds and quiet oceans,

to rain and flowing rivers...

... all were such incredible opportunities to be present and be moved by that which was present, moment to moment... as Momo spoke of - the call and response - feeling the call of the water and responding in-body, and embodied by that call... soul connection to other, moved to move...

I feel grateful to be a part of this blogging collaboration - to share our dances, to have the dance muse open to the flow of spontaneity and improvisation... from dancing soul to dancing soul... flowing like water...

Thank you all...

Light returning...

I

MANY BLESSINGS TO EACH OF YOU AND MUCH HARMONY ON THIS WINTER SOLSTICE!!!

What Elements want to be danced thru me?

Aesthetic Response to Momo and Elements conversation: I wrote/drew up a score; a Recycling of sorts:

Five Elements: Water, Earth, Fire, Air, Wood, Space

Five Directions: North, South, East, West, Up, Down

Levels: Micro, Macro, (Clouds vs Cells)

Materials: Costumes/Fabric

The time is to take 1 hour moving this activity

or 6 ... 10 minute segments.

Space for me is to Start inside (Dance space)

End outside (Natural area)

The second drawing (ended up top for strange reasons) refers to the Activity:

"Choose" is key word

"Draw" is important part of activity.

Poem about my first exploration:

WATER / DOWN

Curled up on Blue blanket for warmth as water images flowed thru me;

Lying Down, FEELING down, disappearing inward, I move horizontally.

Feeling cold, I need water, I need warm water, surrounding nakedness with hot water-

I bathe, stroke the wetness, release into sadness ... missing the "waterbirth" of my daugter?

My son calls me FOMO : Fear Of Missing Out; I know my lesson is one of "Letting Go";

I did dance my children out of my shoulders, my hips, my breasts, my belly!

I chose Water! I chose "Mystic" cards of the goddesses! I danced Being- in the Unknown!

Fabric: long silky blue, rolled up in: Rolling, Winging, Unwinding, Being Pulled, Being Swayed.

Now I move on to NatureMoves .... Love to all, MeHa, Me West Here ... wish I could add my photo here.

Emerging from Womb of EARTH: Happy Birthday Sensei

This past 6 months since master Kazuo Ohno passed have been deep ones for soul searching and development. I had to take a rest from the computer for a while to regroup, recharge and revision the direction to take with MomoButoh. I spent three days and nights just prior to his birthday in October in dark retreat for deep visioning and prayer. I was laying in a hut upon the EARTH without light, movement, food or water. Upon emerging just before dawn, I danced awkwardly with this new body, a new life. (See film below) Thank you dear ancestor sensei for providing the ground, the foundation upon which I dwell (and especially your precious gift of your fabulous long underwear!). May these daily dances build upon and reach beyond the foundation you created for us all. .

Ca11 and Response

What does it take to survive? What is our most precious resource? Basic questions like this applied to The Elements Project are what stimulates me to action today....and every day (thanks to attending a "Dance Making for Performance" workshop with Karen Nelson using the Tuning Score this past weekend).

I would say that it takes paying ATTENTION to survive.

I would say that our most precious human resource is ATTENTION. Think of how often a child calls its care giver to attention. Think of how short life would be if we did not PAY attention. Ask yourself: To what and whom to I PAY ATTENTION? What and whom contains that sort of value for me. Where are my preferences and why?

Then in the context of the CALL that I made to you to join this current MomoButoh project about The Elements; notice what draws, hooks and holds your precious attention. How can you CALL, hook and hold the precious attention of others? What RESPONSE can you offer that would be worthy of that precious gift?

Our entire YearOfCo11aboration will be based upon this simple act of CALL & RESPONSE. One of us will send a message, others of us will pay attention and reply as we are moved.

One of our company members mentioned how collaboration is inevitable as her attention to something actually can manifest it in real-life experience. I wholeheartedly agree. This week, as I was preparing to initiate The Elements Project, I began to spontaneously receive (or maybe just notice more) offerings directly related to this theme. Here are two dance responses to Elements that arrived in the past few days. In this case the dancers placed themselves in proximity to the element and responded authentically and physiologically to it. Interesting they were both on RED EARTH.

Sent to Boulder Contact Improvisation community by Lindsay Sworski.

Sent to me by Juri Schmidt.

I believe we can actually MAKE REALITY by how we choose to PAY our ATTENTION. If we give our attention to the news of gloom and doom that is so overwhelmingly present in the main stream media; that IS the REALITY of the world we are living in. If we create our own NEWs Channel--ca11 it channel 11 if you like--that broadcasts daily reports (like the two above) of a good, true, beautiful & positive nature; an artful & abundant universe; the power of love and so on; then THAT will be our REALITY and daily (dance) experience. I am so grateful to be living an authentic, rich, soulful, creative and joyous life connected with many other body/soul friends who are beaming very similar channe11s to this one. What are your favorite news channe11s? Will you please become a trusted source; a news correspondent if you will, with us by sharing what you pay attention to during the YearOfCo11aboration?

There are infinite scores that can be developed to explore each theme for each moon of this YearOfCo11aboration. I have posted a possible score on the "Current Projects" page of this site. Some possible scores exploring The Elements are more imaginary, others more sensual. For example, take an imaginary journey through the channels that air travels in your physical body and be moved in response to the sensual experience of that. I hope that YOU will report on the scores that you devise so that WE can also try them and post our experiences with following those scores.

Here is a co11aboration that arose from the 5Rhythms class I attended this morning. There was a live trio playing percussion and fiddle, there was a room full of fellah dancers and there was a rare and fiery sun beaming outside the window. After 3 days of non-stop pouring rain and dancing inside a studio; I could not ignore the call to dance with the beams of our greatest FIRE in the sky. This is the resulting film from today's experience of exchange and channe11ing fire light and energy between earth & sky; between passing vehicles and breath; within & without the building and my body; between musicians & dancers....

If you enjoy the NEWS you see on this YearOfCo11aboration channe11 please "pay (ATTENTION) it forward" by offering comments; posting this site on FB, Twitter, your blog or wherever you usually get your updates on reality. Thank you & keep dancing freely!

"Fire in the Sky"

Live music by Joseph, Rachman & Elaine

"In Search of Sacred Bliss"

"Salmon Coming Home in Search of Sacred Bliss." (excerpts)

Weaving the waves together, the salmon

Dance in small, joyful jumps

Scales shine a bright silver.

Riding the rhythm of the breaking waves...

As salmon go home to their mother, the river,

The river goes home to its mother, the mountain

And in the home mountains

Reside the wisdom and teachings of the ancestors.

The rivers that flow there,

The mother's milk of mother earth,

Take from the mountain dwelling ancients

Full measure of nurture

To nourish the salmon.

The single act of love

Risks all.

The salmon die

Ahh, so tenderly.

So fiercely flames their passion,

they love each other to death...

Mieko Chikappu

I first met Momo 2 years ago on November 11th after feeling the call of her invite to dance with the salmon at Oyster Creek. I was new to both dance and butoh, and was so deeply moved to be able to join her and Evan in an expression of so much wild and soulful expression, while honoring the salmon and the life-cycles of all living beings. I was hooked by the dance as I was so moved by Momo's ability to inspire such meaningful, soulful, dance expression.

While dancing and filming daily for 'Year of Butoh' in 2009 (created by Momo), honoring Kazuo Ohno and 50 years of butoh, I appreciated so much the daily connections with other. The majority of my dances were human-solo, which gave me the opportunity to dance with other-beings - the wind, trees, the earth, the waves, eagles, sea otters, rivers, mountains...

Never have I felt more connected to 'other' in such a soulful way than when I was dancing and exploring the idea of separation and connection between self and other... and in these exchanges, I would also long to be as nature, to tune more deeply into the inner instinctual self and be more in sync with the natural rhythms of nature...

Momo's sensei, Kazuo Ohno wrote, in regards to butoh, "not thinking, only soul," and that is what I too, longed for in my dances in and with nature... Inspired by not only the animals that live moment to moment, but also, plants, trees, flowers - growing, blossoming, fading...

I love how the poet Mary Oliver speaks of how the other kingdoms of life, unlike the human species, have "an infallible sense of what their lives are meant to be. Thus, the world grows rich, grows wild, and you too, grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too were born to be."

Several years ago, my 99 year old yoga therapist said that one should live their life like a fish swimming in water, in peace and harmony with all that that surrounds, flowing with nature's rhythm and allowing life to unfold with the most ease as possible... In my yoga practice, and within many spiritual traditions, there are beautiful ways of describing our interconnectedness with other beings that we share Mama Earth with. However, what I appreciate so much about butoh, as Momo teaches it, is the opportunity to feel that connection with other by embodying the spirit of other.

photo: Susan Elizabeth Cowperthwaite

In this practice, it also feels like there is a direct experience of the instinctual self as well as the potential of an expression of not only my own soul, but that of others as well. Appreciating so much the idea of not having the dance look like anything in particular, letting go of the idea of 'good' or 'bad' is very freeing...

"You do not have to be good... You only have to let the soft animal of your body loves what it loves..." Mary Oliver

Dancing with Momo and company on 11 11 this year was so powerful as I loved the opportunity to connect with the human-other (dancers and musicians) that arrived from all around the country and Canada, with a common aim - of honoring and celebrating the life of the salmon and all other beings. Feeling grateful that we, like the salmon, have come together from near and far to this sacred spot, to be reminded of the cycles of life that we and all living beings share - the fragility and preciousness of life..... Honored to be a part of this dance ritual - a prayer dance for the continued well-being of the salmon in this creek and also beyond - throughout the Pacific North West.

Particularly moving to me was witnessing the varying stages of end of life of the salmon - so amazing to me that after the salmon release their eggs, they begin to decay. It is so stirring to the soul to witness these cycles amongst so many salmon side by side - the healthy looking salmon on their way up the river passing partially and fully decomposed and dead bodies of others all around them... the beginning of new life and the end of life so near to one another... When we witness the end of life in other beings, how can it not fill us with such an appreciation for the exquisite and preciousness of life?

Grateful to to all that shared this dance and for Momo's creative vision and generous heart to create a dance to ensure the well-being of the salmon...

Photos by Brooke

11/11 Mating and Dying

The core of the 11/11 Salmon Restoration Project is our process of mating & dying. At this point we arrive at a spiral HOME where our collective sex & death leads to stillness and then rebirth. It is the essential re-turning point from/to which the salmon will always return. This film is taken at that point along our journey; perhaps the most potent experience of group unity and transformation as well as the densest sensual and emotional impact for all participant/witnesses. In our full body/soul surrender to this cycle of life; we intend to re-member all beings who have been injured by our human ignorance & greed. Please view this short film and share your comments about our emerging YearOfCo11aboration. If you feel resonance with this work and would like to participate more, receive our daily posts and/or be an on-going witness to share this global project; please add your email address in the form on upper right. Thank you.

11/11 Mating & Dying (Part 5)

shadows...in between...

journey of 11/11

11/11

eleveneleven

1111

THANKYOU SALMON and salmon souls

struggling

bumping

pushing

pulsing

flesh falling

tearing off in huge chunks and tiny bits

eyes wide

swimmingGGGGggGGGGGGGggGGG

a fellow salmon glides by

smooth in flow with stream

whoooooshhhhhhhhhh!

her energy a strong calm whispering embrace across the choppy waters...

and i am released

as we're called onward towards destiny, towards home.

pink

and orange

and

flowers and children's kimonos!

HEheheHEHEHEhEHHEHEHEHEHheheheheheheheheheh ~```~~

give up your childhood

wake up

pay attention

im sorry

i love you

im sorry

a vow over charred earth. . .

flashy fish of redorange

reborn

transformed

MomoButoh Sessions; YearOfCo11aboration + MORE Films of 11/11

Today we welcome a new member to our MomoButoh Dance Company inner circle. Her name is Misty Hannah and she currently hails from Cork, Ireland. I am very happy about her joining us, please take a momomoment to greet her as soon as you can.

Today also came a new clarity about the MomoButoh YearOfCo11aboration that will span 13 moons and was initiated on 11/11 this year. Each month on a double digit day (12/12, 1/1 and so on); I will initiate a new "project" for that moon. The first one was our Salmon Restoration Project at Mile 11. The next two will be The Elements Project (12/12) and then The Styles Project (1/1). The specific scores, practices, performances and aesthetic responses for these projects will mainly arise out of the monthly individual practice sessions that each member shares with Momo (and one another if desired). In the past 3 days, during sessions with Art/Rev, Me Ha and Misty; 3 new scores for DailyDance practice with The Elements have emerged. They each will be exploring these scores daily and posting results, we then can in turn respond through our own investigations and postings. What fun!

Today in the session with Me Ha I simply asked her to take a few minutes to investigate her unique relationship with The Elements. Her reply came in the form of a Talking Dance. I wrote some of the wise poetry she spoke while dancing and post that here for your further investigation & inspiration.

"Water is VITAL!...Water is VITAL, so much a part of LIFE!!

I AM Earth--it grounds me.

The Earth is my roots.

I root into the Earth.

(she shows me a stone sculpture and will post a photo of it here soon)

Like this.

I have worked with The Elements SO MUCH!

Catastrophe and Restoration was all about the elements.

Wind at the top of mountains is so important for diversity.

Forest Fires are important for forest to be healthy.

Buffalo trampling and stirring up the Earth....is important.

The importance of Flooding!!

Fire is scarier than Earth or Water.

It is in my astrological chart; my Aries Moon.

I have danced with fire and love it.

Air is furthest away for me ---wind/tornado/100 mph winds here.

I can use Air/Breath in lungs and bring it into my dance.

It is essential.

When I focus on my breath--I enter into my body.

It is essential!

Space-- I long for it.

The Space.

As Yoshito says, 'For a dancer, God is Space.'

Wood --

Did I show you the sculpture we made from the wood you gave us?

It is perfectly balanced in the 'relationship' area of our house as a primary focal point.

(she shows me a wood sculpture and will post a photo of it here soon)

Wood is the strongest BEING in nature for me-- it calls me again and again to dance with it.

Trees, roots....."

Wood is the strongest BEING in nature for me-- it calls me again and again to dance with it.

Trees, roots....."

wood "core" sculpture found by momo and offered at david's birthday at Me Ha's place

11/11 Mountain Stream Prostration (Part 3)

11/11 Gambaru (Part 4)

Becoming Salmon I am

"Becoming Salmon I am"

is my Self Portrait I drew before the dance. I had been eating salmon everyday the week before as I was traveling thru France. Every bite was so delicious, and then I remembered I was dancing them and felt bad, wrong. I shared this with my daughter and she said, "Well Mom, you are what you eat!" It was perfect to hear that. It became a way of honoring salmon.

Now some words in response to the drawing after I drew it:

I have a tail, a tale to tell, I have teeth like a Kokanee Salmon in Colorado. I see light running thru my body being channeled. I have arms and legs, I walk on the earth, I swim down, I swim up the current of life. Spreading out and reaching toward I walk into the shadows!

MeHa/ Melinda/ Dances with Salmon Spawning 11/11

Returning home; after Salmon Spawning having immediately many days of travel to Truckee to see grandson Sage, to Costa Rica to be with grandson Antuan; my life is filled with family and taking time for my dance, my integration is a balancing act, ritual needed.

I will post my favorite drawings from 11/11 "Becoming Salmon" was my Self Portrait before the enactment/score.

I am home now, taking Time and Space and using Elements to integrate (a very close word to integrity which means whole & complete) this amazing, nurturing, grounding, watery, ritual for the health of the Salmon on Hwy 11.

Element: Water

As I was shivering wet from the cold swim in the wind, at the end of our long-dance not sure if I could swim or move another inch ... they surrounded me, the silvery skin of the salmon dancers, huddling, supporting and warming me and I surrendered to them. I became one with these beautiful transformed bodies of warm colors of reds; this collective group of collaborating artists who performed this elaborate "dance of peace", a site specific score in an environment so perfect for the movement of the swimming upstream, crashing against the rocks, each other ... water was the strongest element.

Element: Earth

In the fallen-log forest, covered with ferns, bodies falling on foliage, I felt the mating happening right there in the river next to us, falling in love with these bodies falling with and on me. I became the dyeing/death happening right there next to us, piling up in an eddy of release on top of one another. The earth grounded me down deeply.

Element: Air

The breath of life inspiring the play, the jumps, leaps, lightness of youth as we grew up ...

Element: Fire & Wood

The fire! the cabin was burned down! I walked out into the coal crumbling floor to lay healing hands and kimonos as my foot broke thru to the ground I sat and wept for the fires around my own house in Boulder. Then later, the sauna became the fire which warmed my soul, my soles, my salmon-skin as we sang and chanted and shared the heat ... The next day took us to the driftwood beach where we completed our self portrait drawings; as we danced them for each other.

Retreat:

I am seeing a possibility of a retreat, a work session, a gathering where we all live in one house a few days before and a few days after 11/11: Nov 7-12? Creating the score, designing the costumes & just being on the beach together as we celebrate the life of the salmon and our own.

11/11 Photo Journey Two

Photos of 11/11 Ritual Butoh Dance Pilgrimage to Mile 11 at Oyster Creek by brooke.

Dancers: Lee Atwell, Carolyn Boucher, Evan Foster, Maureen "momo" Freehill, Melinda Harrison, Patricia Kambitsch, Kaoru Okumura & Art-Rev.

Musician/Singers: Deborah Koff-Chapin, Lorarine Bayes

Photos of 11/11 Ritual Butoh Dance Pilgrimage to Mile 11 at Oyster Creek by Mile 11 host Susan Elizabeth.

11/11 Fish Magic; Brian Eno & WAVE of "Scenius" (rhymes with genius)

After many years of pressing onward as a "unique" individual performing artist and instructor; I have come to realize that what the world needs now is GROUP mind...."Let's do it TOGETHER." Although each of our personal contributions --(sending powerful ripples in the great ocean of consciousness) are absolutely critical; truly great & powerful REVOLUTIONS in art, spirituality and culture are NOT going to happen from a single human being. This is why we have formed the MomoButoh Dance Company Collaborative Projects & Performances. We hope you will explore, engage and perhaps join our collaborative circle. AND, most importantly, we are not just collaborating with HUMAN BEINGS....but ALL BEINGS in our projects--like the leaping salmon, swooping eagles on 11/11 and this cloud image that appeared above a daily dance.

In this vein I have an exciting 11/11 related FISH story from awesome stone artist Krista Guss (of the Illumination Project) to tell and a powerful & inspiring quote from the awesome sound artist Brian Eno to share.

From the latest outpouring of EnlightenNext Magazine comes this to ponder:

Throughout his forty-year career, British musician and record producer Brian Eno has collaborated with some of the most innovative rock musicians of our time, from David Bowie and U2 to Paul Simon and the Talking Heads. And he's learned a lot about "genius" in the process. To Eno, genius is as much a product of the vibrant culture surrounding individuals as it is of the individuals themselves. In a speech he gave at the 2009 Luminous Festival in Sydney, Australia, he discussed his new term, "scenius," which he defines as "the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene":

[When] I was an art student . . . I was encouraged to believe that there were a few great figures like Picasso and Kandinsky . . . who sort-of appeared out of nowhere and produced artistic revolution. As I looked at art more and more, I discovered that that wasn't really a true picture. What really happened was that there [were] sometimes very fertile scenes involving . . . all sorts of people who created a kind of ecology of talent. . .So I came up with this word "scenius." . . . And I think that's a more useful way to think about culture. . . . Let's forget the idea of "genius" for a little while. Let's think about the whole ecology of ideas that give rise to good new thoughts and good new work. And the 11:11 FISH story from Krista Guss: So, I'm doing two sculptures, an electromagentic duet, if you will. One is called "PLOP!" and is a large sandstone bas relief (somewhere in between 2d etching on stone and 3d sculpture) depicting a young autistic girl feeding fish and the word she is articulating (the first one she ever spoke) is plop. It will be placed above/next to a koi and goldfish pond near my 11:11 cave/studio where she loves to feed fish. The second piece is a white marble coil (I guess you could call it) that is entitled "catch!" It represents the moment when a spark catches. It is a fountain and will be placed many miles (at least 11 :) ) from the other piece at a confluence of springs. The property will be used to start a facility that explores/fosters heaing of autism, magic, and spirituality. Weeeeeell, here's the exciting part. Obviously, the location of PLOP! already has fish. The most electric magic part is that the spring confluence, which has never had fish in it before...has goldfish that have appeared out of nowhere (and this is some really remote landscape). The pieces aren't even in place yet, in fact I just finished catch yesterday (started 5.5 years ago) and still have another 100+ hours of work on PLOP! Yet, nature is ready to reveal and relish the connection. Feeling miraculously blessed indeed. So, how bout dem beans? GO FISHIE MAGIC GO!!!

11 11 photo reflections

Photo reflections of MomoButoh Dance Company 11 11, 2010 by Brooke...

View more photos here on PhotoBucket: 11 11 Dance Honoring the Salmon