You know how when you just wake up and know you have been dreaming but can not quite recall what? This happens to me A LOT. I often miss being able to have & hold the richness of this dream material as enjoyment, insight, material for creative inspiration and contemplation. There are lots of folks that will teach you how to recall night dreams more easily, and what do DO with them when you do. But that is not what happened this past week. Instead, the waking life I experienced became a vivid dreamlike journey of learning and discovery.
I had the pleasure of a series of teachings that relate to this "dream" we are living and dancing daily. The first was from a beloved wild woman Tibetan Buddhist teacher named Lama Lena. Each time I am in her presence she rocks my world in a most appreciated way. This time, she shared teachings about the way humans experience reality; often mentioning that this transitory & spontaneously arising dancing dream of life that we think we are experiencing is utterly empty in the most alive and brilliant way. She pointed to the mistake of dualism in a way that I could glimpse, and it felt both satisfying and disturbing. What are we do DO with this realization? Among the suggestions she offered, what struck me most keenly concerned why we make ART and why we PRACTICE to grow. Of course, this is what I THINK I HEARD HER SAY. Who knows really? She puts forth that there is NO THING to change or make better, to fix or understand. Art is a function and celebration of the spontaneously emerging RICHNESS of a creation that is ever arising from and dissolving into VAST LUMINOUS SPACE. It is delightful to engage in this richness, just as long as you do not try to KEEP it. That is where our suffering will begin. Enlightenment is and always has been and is already always present....and, if you do not see that or are not satisfied with your current experience then some spiritual (or freely fleeting spontaneous dance) practice could be a way to possibly increase that satisfaction. Not much to grasp onto to in all that, eh?
What I gathered is that our SPONTANEOUS DANCING FREELY & Embodied Art PRACTICES with nature (both human and non-human); can be an excellent way to promote being fully awake, engaged and perhaps even satisfied in this fleeting dream dance we call "life." Another way is to just simply NOTICE (and perhaps embody, engage with &/or experience gratitude in) the infinitely rich spontaneously arising dream dance that you are already, always engaged in....right HERE and NOW!! As I type this on computer I look out window and breath and relax my body noticing and appreciating the richness of many sensations. No matter whether you are "PRACTICING" or not. It appears, that our PRACTICES of letting go & dancing spontaneously tend to lead to more ease with dancing freely in every moment.
Next, I went to see a well-done local play about Gertrude Stein (who appears as a ghost throughout most of the play) and Alice B. Toklas (who appears sad and elderly throughout most of play). If not for the days first event with Lama Lena, I would have been very emotionally drawn into the drama of the play and these women's considerable attachments to one another, their reputations, and their formidable collection of art & artists. Instead, I sat watching my patterned reactions of how heart strings are plucked by certain situations like death of a loved one, acts of betrayal, cruelty, injustice, kindness, caring and so on.
Finally, we attended another inspiring/disturbing/hopeful talk by visionary economist Charles Eisenstein referring to his theories on how we got into this cultural & ecological nightmare of an economic crisis. He articulated the need for a GIFT based economy as a way to initiate and live in the world of our best dreams. I was grateful to have attended. It even shifted the way I request donations for Butopia's offerings at this point. It is preparing me to host our first Butopia Film Night at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Clinton, WA... We will show the documentary movie "Living Without Money" about one woman who chose to live without money for over 15 years in Europe. I hope this will help instigate a local conversation about the possibilities and difficulties of a gift economy here. I also hope it will stimulate more participation in a wider range of volunteer gifting of goods & services locally. Life without money could be a dream come true, or it could be a nightmare...what do you think? Come join us on Feb 12 at 2-4pm. Bring something to GIVE AWAY!
Next, on the suggestion of a fellow MomoButoh Dance Co. member Melinda Harrison of Nautre Moves in Boulder, I went to San Diego to attend the Life Force International's first ever DREAM ACADEMY. That is California Dreamin' for sure! There are loads of folks living and wishing they were living their dreams everywhere! There were many people who have made small or large fortunes by referring others to the Life Force products, by enrolling others to become business parters and so on in this Network Marketing company that is now poised to explode with growth under the helm of MLM guru David Colister. having pictures taken with the sports cars and Rolls Royce in the parking lot, others of us gasping in awe at the grand opening of the MASSIVE new facility to hold future Dream Academies. Melinda's dream is that dancers will be healthy and financially independent and well provided for. Hope her dream comes true!
http://youtu.be/q3CbcS8z4SMIn a parallel universe in San Diego, I came down with a nasty flu. In the delirium, I lost my glasses so I could no longer see clearly or drive. Along the way, I met an exceptional cast of characters who live and work with butoh, local churches and the erotic dance business. I danced freely on the coastal beach and made the film below inspired by dream-like images in nature that struck me particularly strongly. The shadow of my body on the firm, flat sand, the roar of surf and ripples of waves spreading over the shoreline, a spontaneously knotted strip of kelp, the tiny bird footprints, flecks of gold dust in the sand, sculpture-like seaweeds dried & twisted, the sparkling shells, rhythms of footfalls and fingers dragging in sand.....all felt as reflections of an emerging dream dance life that I could only witness and be moved with gratitude and awe at the GIFT of it all.
Then today, I went out to dance on our local dreamy beach, Double Bluff. I was playing with as stone and seaweed when a private helicopter flew at me and started circling low just over my head, heading back and forth down the beach a ways and then returning to me. I spun and danced while it spun and danced overhead. Very surreal. Very much like a dream and certainly nothing I have ever experienced before. Life is but a dream dancing itself awake!
Thank you for reading, watching, dancing and dreaming. Hope you can come attend an event at Butopia soon. Love, Momo.
Kazuo Ohno used the term "FreeStyle" very often when instructing us in butoh dance at his studio (photos here of Momo dancing "freestyle" in the Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio by Nobuko Shiga).
Now that we are investigating The Styles with MomoButoh Dance Company from 1/1/11 till 2/2/11; echos of his directions are repeating inside me. What is it to dance "freestyle?" On 1/1/11 at 11:11 am I initiated a dance improvisation ceremony to celebrate this New Year of E11evens. It included appearances by invited friends moving in all speeds, levels, styles, emotions and directions. It included passers by like a bird pecking at the vomit likely left by someones New Year's Eve revelation and a coffee cup carrying crow who knocked it percussively on the pavement; providing a soundtrack for our dance along with a jumbo jet flying low & slow over 11th street (we were on 10th & Pike) in Seattle. At about 6 min in, I encountered an unused cigarette and crumbled its contents in a circle on a dumpster, offering tobacco with prayers for a good year for all my relations. It was a magical and totally unplanned 11 minutes that culminated with dancing in an underground (literally) painting studio of someone I met right there on the street during the dance. It was all filmed.
Sadly, I did not immediately dowload the footage of this event and now must learn from my delinquency & mistake. My flip video camera broke on 1/6/11 just before I attended the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. I sent in the broken camera for a replacement (Technical Side NOTE: They are doing this for me even though it is NOT under warrantee anymore because we found the original receipt and they say I am a "valued customer", cool!! --this is ONE reason I suggest all DailyDance practitioners get a FLIP camera). I asked them to retrieve the films "stuck" on the camera, and will post it here if they do. But this will likely never happen. So, please use your infinite imagination to re-create in "freestyle" what this dance ceremony might have appeared like there in the bright sunshine, in front of a horse trough turned bamboo garden planter and a drive shaft handled metal doorway with a wooden barrel for a light fixture and sheet metal for a sign closed club entryway. A very urban STYLE place to begin 2011 for sure. One of the few human passers by happened to be my good friend from the dance community -Louis Gervais...what a blessing to have the likes of him be one of my first spontaneous dance partners for 2011!! It is going to be a very fine and WILD year of FreeSTYLE indeed. Can't wait for 11/11/11 of course....
And, regarding the "Freestyle" that Kazuo Ohno would regularly call out for, I believe this may be the MOST difficult thing to do in butoh, dance and life. How can we truly be free? What does that even mean? How can we dance and act free of conditioning, ideas of right/wrong, good/bad, self imposed constraints on our spontaneously emerging actions and creativity? It would be as if we were unrestrained and totally available puppets of unfolding Creation. On 1/3/11 I may have experienced a tiny and ecstatic glimpse into this while sharing a trio improvisation score with improvisational dance luminaries John Dixon and Karen Nelson. After an afternoon of Contemplative Dance Practice we discussed an experimental score whereby the only "rules" were to follow your "embodied impulses" and when finding you were NOT doing that (such as following a mental thought or idea of what to do/not do) then to PAUSE and begin again only from an embodied impulse. This may sound quite vague but what emerged was a rare revelatory and amazingly fulfilling experience for all of us. We shared a freestyle dance for about 30 minutes of what we agreed was almost total presence and direct communion with BEING (self, each other, god?) self-emerging in action through the body. I felt perhaps that this was what Kazuo had been trying to convey when he would repeat "FREESTYLE!!" (in English) over and over while we improvised during his lessons.
I would love to hear/see what you think/see is "FreeSTYLE"...I would love to hear what happened for you if you try the meditation/movement improvisation score I explained above. please offer a comment or blog response if you are moved. Thank you.
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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.
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.
For the past 3 years, journeys to make butoh offerings honoring spawning salmon at Mile 11 had very little prior preparation. I sent out a "call" to anyone who felt drawn to join, we grabbed some costumes & a camera and headed out. Often the going was tough to just make it there through the landslides, wind storms, power outages, ferry cancellations and so on but we had the salmon's endurance to inspire us and the results were amazing each time. This 4th year, because I have been working with an indigenous spiritual leader who teaches of the incredible power and value of intention and preparation when embarking on ritual and prayer, I began studies, prayers and preparation for this 11/11 journey months in advance.
Most all the members that I coach at a distance through skype (in Virginia, Toronto, Boulder, New York) agreed to gathering in person at Mile 11 so that we could all participate in an event together at least once this year. I began research about indigenous tales of salmon/human relationships locally and all around the Pacific Rim. Amazingly, I happened upon a book packed with stories, images and inspiration that would become like a "script" for our process called First Fish First People: Salmon Tales of the North Pacific Rim. We met at the studio and created the performance score, self-portraits, costumes and ritual offerings during the days prior. It was a huge logistical feat, not to mention the depths we were touching creatively, emotionally and spiritually by gathering in this way.
We were blessed that two talented and soulful musician/singers; Loraine Bays and Deborah Koff-Chapin felt called to play and sing during the journey. It was a complex and lengthly score that spanned from gathering for ceremonial clearing/costuming; continued with offering the prayer boats to the jumping salmon at 11:11 am; dancing non stop through the entire life/death cycle of salmon; till our conclusion with a swim in the sound at 1:11 pm; and followed by a great potluck feast at the graces of our host Susan who lives on this sacred site.
Thanks to photographer/videographer/witnesses; we can now share some glimpses into our trans-body experience. As you bear witness, I suggest you open your mind/heart to remember this is not about the dance form or style. Rather, it is about authentic & unabashed prayer offering from our hearts and souls through our flesh and our exchanges with one another, the land and all beings present there. We are so grateful for this opportunity to pay attention to the grace here and humbly restore this precious salmon habitat to a thriving HOME for mating, dying, birthing and perpetual return.
11/11 Initial Offering
More films to come soon....there are 11 in all, of course.
Thank you for witnessing and offering your comments.
You know how when you just wake up and know you have been dreaming but can not quite recall what? This happens to me A LOT. I often miss being able to have & hold the richness of this dream material as enjoyment, insight, material for creative inspiration and contemplation. There are lots of folks that will teach you how to recall night dreams more easily, and what do DO with them when you do. But that is not what happened this past week. Instead, the waking life I experienced became a vivid dreamlike journey of learning and discovery.
I had the pleasure of a series of teachings that relate to this "dream" we are living and dancing daily. The first was from a beloved wild woman Tibetan Buddhist teacher named Lama Lena. Each time I am in her presence she rocks my world in a most appreciated way. This time, she shared teachings about the way humans experience reality; often mentioning that this transitory & spontaneously arising dancing dream of life that we think we are experiencing is utterly empty in the most alive and brilliant way. She pointed to the mistake of dualism in a way that I could glimpse, and it felt both satisfying and disturbing. What are we do DO with this realization? Among the suggestions she offered, what struck me most keenly concerned why we make ART and why we PRACTICE to grow. Of course, this is what I THINK I HEARD HER SAY. Who knows really? She puts forth that there is NO THING to change or make better, to fix or understand. Art is a function and celebration of the spontaneously emerging RICHNESS of a creation that is ever arising from and dissolving into VAST LUMINOUS SPACE. It is delightful to engage in this richness, just as long as you do not try to KEEP it. That is where our suffering will begin. Enlightenment is and always has been and is already always present....and, if you do not see that or are not satisfied with your current experience then some spiritual (or freely fleeting spontaneous dance) practice could be a way to possibly increase that satisfaction. Not much to grasp onto to in all that, eh?
What I gathered is that our SPONTANEOUS DANCING FREELY & Embodied Art PRACTICES with nature (both human and non-human); can be an excellent way to promote being fully awake, engaged and perhaps even satisfied in this fleeting dream dance we call "life." Another way is to just simply NOTICE (and perhaps embody, engage with &/or experience gratitude in) the infinitely rich spontaneously arising dream dance that you are already, always engaged in....right HERE and NOW!! As I type this on computer I look out window and breath and relax my body noticing and appreciating the richness of many sensations. No matter whether you are "PRACTICING" or not. It appears, that our PRACTICES of letting go & dancing spontaneously tend to lead to more ease with dancing freely in every moment.
Next, I went to see a well-done local play about Gertrude Stein (who appears as a ghost throughout most of the play) and Alice B. Toklas (who appears sad and elderly throughout most of play). If not for the days first event with Lama Lena, I would have been very emotionally drawn into the drama of the play and these women's considerable attachments to one another, their reputations, and their formidable collection of art & artists. Instead, I sat watching my patterned reactions of how heart strings are plucked by certain situations like death of a loved one, acts of betrayal, cruelty, injustice, kindness, caring and so on.
Finally, we attended another inspiring/disturbing/hopeful talk by visionary economist Charles Eisenstein referring to his theories on how we got into this cultural & ecological nightmare of an economic crisis. He articulated the need for a GIFT based economy as a way to initiate and live in the world of our best dreams. I was grateful to have attended. It even shifted the way I request donations for Butopia's offerings at this point. It is preparing me to host our first Butopia Film Night at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Clinton, WA... We will show the documentary movie "Living Without Money" about one woman who chose to live without money for over 15 years in Europe. I hope this will help instigate a local conversation about the possibilities and difficulties of a gift economy here. I also hope it will stimulate more participation in a wider range of volunteer gifting of goods & services locally. Life without money could be a dream come true, or it could be a nightmare...what do you think? Come join us on Feb 12 at 2-4pm. Bring something to GIVE AWAY!
Next, on the suggestion of a fellow MomoButoh Dance Co. member Melinda Harrison of Nautre Moves in Boulder, I went to San Diego to attend the Life Force International's first ever DREAM ACADEMY. That is California Dreamin' for sure! There are loads of folks living and wishing they were living their dreams everywhere! There were many people who have made small or large fortunes by referring others to the Life Force products, by enrolling others to become business parters and so on in this Network Marketing company that is now poised to explode with growth under the helm of MLM guru David Colister. having pictures taken with the sports cars and Rolls Royce in the parking lot, others of us gasping in awe at the grand opening of the MASSIVE new facility to hold future Dream Academies. Melinda's dream is that dancers will be healthy and financially independent and well provided for. Hope her dream comes true!
http://youtu.be/q3CbcS8z4SM
In a parallel universe in San Diego, I came down with a nasty flu. In the delirium, I lost my glasses so I could no longer see clearly or drive. Along the way, I met an exceptional cast of characters who live and work with butoh, local churches and the erotic dance business. I danced freely on the coastal beach and made the film below inspired by dream-like images in nature that struck me particularly strongly. The shadow of my body on the firm, flat sand, the roar of surf and ripples of waves spreading over the shoreline, a spontaneously knotted strip of kelp, the tiny bird footprints, flecks of gold dust in the sand, sculpture-like seaweeds dried & twisted, the sparkling shells, rhythms of footfalls and fingers dragging in sand.....all felt as reflections of an emerging dream dance life that I could only witness and be moved with gratitude and awe at the GIFT of it all.
Then today, I went out to dance on our local dreamy beach, Double Bluff. I was playing with as stone and seaweed when a private helicopter flew at me
and started circling low just over my head, heading back and forth down the beach a ways and then returning to me. I spun and danced while it spun and danced overhead. Very surreal. Very much like a dream and certainly nothing I have ever experienced before. Life is but a dream dancing itself awake!
Thank you for reading, watching, dancing and dreaming. Hope you can come attend an event at Butopia soon. Love, Momo.
