This post is dedicated to this dreamy dancing life and some key performances that have arisen from soul, imagination and sensation during the past 5 moons (except Memorial Dance which was a homage to WW II veteran Kazuo Ohno presented on 5/31/10 with live video released publicly on 6/1/11 in memory of sensei's passing 1 year ago).
Memorial Dance was performed at Langley Middle School as part of the poetry of veterans shared for VRC Annual Memorial Day Tribute event.
People Get Ready was an improv performance offering by facilitators Melinda Harrison and Maureen Freehill, to close the Significant Other butoh & LifeArt Mastery workshop at NatureMoves studio in Boulder. Music is Vanilla Fudge's "People Get Ready."
Cottonwood Sunrise was a dancing gift after the Significant Other workshop in Boulder, CO offered by WilderDancer Christine Palafox. A homage to sunrise and the presence of her neighborhood cottonwood tree. David Harrison accompanied, we danced and she directed the score. Camera by John Lorette & Momo. The full piece is included here to get a sense of actual sunrise time/light shifts.
Lady of the Lake on MayDay was an event directed by accordion player Jason Webley for one of his four "death rememberings" on cross-quarter days in 2011; leading to a culminating performance on 11/11/11. Only participants in these events will discover the location of a final performance on 11/11/11. This dance happened on MayDay eve on Boat Street in Seattle from 11:11pm till late into the night during about 11 trips as about 11 passengers headed out on a 100 year old boat to drink and offer healing medicine tea into the lake. Maureen was the "Lady in White" while Rick was "St. Joan's" captain and Lee Atwell filmed.
Hitobashira is a piece that Maureen has been creating since 2001 with imagery from Japanese history stating that human sacrifices/suicides were common when building bridges or castles or when lovers were wanting to be together for eternity. Most commonly the accompaniment is a score composed by sound artist Pamela Z specifically for this piece. This performance was at 11:11 on 3/11/11, the morning of the Japanese tsunami and improvised with dancer Delisa Myles under a bridge in the snow melt in Prescott, AZ. Camera by John Lorette.
Still Moment(s) Rising is a edit mash-up of 3 different performances of the same short piece about a spring shoot rising from the cold ground into the sunlight. One is at Unitarian Universalist in Freeland, Wa; one at Unity Church in Langley, Wa and one at BeBe Theater in Asheville NC for the Fools Butoh Festival there in April.
Thank you all for watching and offering reflections below. The spaces for the Somatic Building Internships are steadily filling. Contact Momo soon if you are interested in joining us sometime this summer. It is so wonderful here....a dream coming true!
"The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened." Unknown Author
My art of Patricia's dream (above)...
Patricia and I shared our dreams once again via 'skype' - drawing each other's dreams as they were being shared...
One of the images I drew of Patricia's dream was of two columns... with a whirlwind (nourishment - a green blender drink :~) swirling in the middle... books and furniture being moved... In another, there was also a strong concrete column supporting an overhang...
Patricia's art of my dream below... a dream of concern - once I made it to the top of the slippery snow covered mountain, how would I descend?
The undercurrent of the dream (and both of our dreams), however, was one of trust and letting go, and in that process, 'all would be well.'
At my last mentoring session with Momo she spoke of 'Hitobashira' - that which creates a framework, bridge, or pillar. When one dances 'Hitobashira' you gracefully enter or touch the space around you to begin, then establish your axis between poles of opposites - such as above and below, life and death, etc... From this place, you can open gateways of exchange with other beings around you (animate and inanimate) and then explore the poles of opposites... and in the uncertainty, shaking and imbalance might ensue... with the potential of eventually finding balance...
There is a also an element of stepping off into the unknown through this practice... a surrendering into the flow and / or an acceptance of a burden...
Momo's dance performance is incredibly moving, danced post the earthquake in Japan, a dance evoking the unstable earth beneath us and feelings within us....
In a friend's garden, with her outdoor furniture strewn about (aka Patricia's dream of furniture moving), I had an opportunity to dance Patricia's dream combined with elements of mine... the 'columns' becoming unstable, the desire to climb up, while being challenged by the slippery 'slope' and the final surrender into the flow...
Feeling grateful for this practice of connection and this means in which to embody the literal challenges of finding balance in life... heart-full thank you Patricia, and Momo...
(NOTE: This POST began as a personal email letter to our MomoButoh Company Members only but then I thought--why not share it on our BLOG to reveal more of our inner workings to everyone who cares to witness--or maybe join us.)
Dear MomoButoh Dream Clan,
We have a date eh?
There is SO much to share!
A dream date….a date and time to share our dances, dreams, feelings, ideas, actions, intentions…..
Please come if you can to SKYPE together for our once moony conference conversation call at 10 AM PST, 11AM MST, 12 noon EST on Saturday April 23….all together now & then!
The subject will again be our dreams and visions as they relate to our butoh dance paths.
This has been a trippy time to say the least, especially with mercury retrograde….Have you been noticing an unusually high number of quirky mis-communications and techno or directional glitches? Carolyn and I certainly have as we made our way along through the maze of the southeast USA highway/byway and university academia systems. Thank goodness that April 23 is supposedly the last day of that adventure.
I feel a new wave of members about to join us….perhaps. We met and made very strong connections with a great deal of enthusiastic dancers in Florida & N. Carolina.
I think that Patricia is the only one who (sadly :-( ) can not make it for the call this time round. I will be calling folks so if you will NOT be available or will need to join us late, please let me know asap. THANKS!
Otherwise, lets arrange for our various one to one session times by Skype or in person soon. Please let me know what day/time would suit you. Now that I am back from the tour, my time is a bit more open and flexible. I will (with Lee as well) be in "moon time" from April 16-19 so that is not avail.
This moon….
Im holding prayers especially for Meha/David and their Daughter's family as she prepares to birth any day now….for Carolyn as she continues on to her not yet known living/working/life arrangement…..for John and I as we break ground and start building the FLOOR of the new MomoButoh Dance & Retreat Center…..for our non-human relations as they grapple with human created toxic stresses…..for all of us as we do our best to mitigate the effects of radiation and other poisons as well as set our sights on UNITY and BALANCE and LOVE among all beings on this planet and beyond.
TODAY (as i write) 4/12/11 is called a VICTORY DAY in the Vedic Calendar. Today is also Carolyn's Birthday….It was an honor and pleasure to share this time with her culminating in her solar return radiance today. Please remember her in your wishes. AND since it is a VICTORY DAY it is an especially good day to START NEW PROJECTS OR SET GOALS/WISHES FOR THIS YEAR. Carolyn and I stated new intentions over a birthday lunch. All you need to do is write or say the thing you want to begin today and it will be blessed and given extra added juice for fruition! neat!!
I spoke the following (among a couple other things) and thank you for bearing witness:
I Maureen Momo C Pemesal Freehill declare that:
1. The MomoButoh Dance & Retreat Center building project will be beautiful & OPEN for practice by 11/11/11.
2. At which time MomoButoh & all us "11s" will CELEBRATE the great success of co-creating in love, unity and balance a Year of Co11aboration & dancing with ALL our relations….in the space AND at Mile 11 AND at 2K seat Theater in Seattle.
Now that this great wave of touring is subsiding, i have strong wish & intention to POST the past months dances, images, stories, lessons on our BLOG. I apologize that it has taken so long and thank those of you who have continued to post when you can ….YOU make it possible to keep the flow and mutual support of our company alive! Great bow of BIG gratitude! If feels right to be moving out of being main focal point of sharing work and revealing the fu11 CIRCLE of a11 our mutual creativity, support and leadership. I want this to be the way more teams and companies function everywhere. Each of us has a vital part of the WHOLE intelligence to contribute.
Also I will be sending out a general invitation to all who have expressed interest in residential butoh training/internships and/or the building project. We will be accepting 6 "interns" over a total of NNE work party weekends over a 6 month period from late MAY- mid OCTOBER. People who want to join will reply to these questions:
What dates do you want to join us?
Open Work/Dance Party Weekends are as follows:
May 28-29.... June 4-5 & 25-26....July 9-10....August 27-28.....Sept 3-4 & 24-25.....Oct 1-2 & 8-9
Why do you want to join us for this project?
What dance movement and/or building/construction experience do you have? (none needed)
Do you have any special needs or limitations for accommodation, food, physical activity that will help us to support your participation in this project?
I invite all of our members to answer these questions too…..soon please if you want to be included as one of "the 6."
our 11/11/11 time will include an OPENING BLESSING and FIRST DANCE ceremony in the space. (It might be the day before/after depending on the actual 11/11/11 time schedule availability)
OK, I think that is enough said for now. Thank you for reading, keeping in touch and dancing freely. MOre soON….Love to you a11, mOMo….
PHOTOS & Video FROM MOMOBUTOH SOUTHEAST USA TOUR 2011
with HUGE gratitude to A11 who we encountered along the way.....Domo Arigato Gozaimasu...O Tsukare Sama Deshita!
by momo & carolyn:
Our Charriot: "Coro11a Masa" with Siesta Key Parking Fairy.
Delicious Movement..."Touch/One-Der/Water" on Siesta Key beach.
"DailyDance: A Life of Butoh" workshop at Asheville, NC BeBe Theater April Fool's Butoh Festival 2011. Below MomoButoh's "Spring Tryptic" at Festival Closing. Momo performs "Still Mo-ment Rising" at April Fool's Butoh Festival closing night.
Momo performs "Hitobashira" at April Fool's Butoh Festival closing. Video below. Carolyn Boucher, Sheri Brown, Bob Lyness & Momo perform "Flower Child."
"Touch/One-der/Water" MomoButoh Workshop in Greenville, NC at Jnana's Home Movement Studio. "Hitobashira" Choreography Workshop with MomoButoh in the "ARK" with Duke U. dance dept. students and Keval K. Khalsa. Close encounter with dear GBH at Duke's botanical gardens pond.
"Hitobashira" sound score by Pamela Z . Camera: Carolyn Boucher.
