Art Museum Style Spontaneous Aesthetic Response

Today MomoButoh Dance Company met on a conference call to discuss our process, challenges and breakthroughs since beginning this YearOfCo11aboration on 11/11/10. We also brainstormed ideas for our current project: The Styles. We agreed that it would be a beneficial practice to enter collaborative dialogue with one another by responding with our dances & blog articles to other member's prior stories, dances, poems, images, etc. Although the dance I share here was done before our discussion today, it coincidentally happened in the same location on the same day just an hour or so before Lee Atwell filmed & was inspired to dance about Style. I did not know that she had be there till afterwards. So, it leaves me wondering whether my "aesthetic responses" to these exact same costumes, style and spaces here were influenced by Lee's prior presence and dance here. In any case, this all makes me smile and feel somehow connected and naturally in the company of MomoButoh.

Speaking of collaboration, the music for this film is "Oni Gorshi" by Degenerate Art Ensemble; a group that I admire for their awesome STYLE and I know to be committed to artistic multi-discplinary collaboration. Thanks Haruko for your inspiration and all the best for your upcoming show at the Frye Art Museum! See more about that (and a bit about collaborations between Haruko and I) at her blog here: http://redshoebutoh.blogspot.com/ and the

Maureen Freehill Dance blog here: http://maureenfreehill.blogspot.com/2010/04/moving-discovery-with-haruko-nishimura.html

Art Museum Style

"It is the pervading law

Of all things organic and inorganic,

Of all things physical and metaphysical,

Of all things human and all things super-human,

Of all true manifestations of the head,

Of the heart, of the soul,

That the life is recognizable in its expression,

That form ever follows function..."

Lois Sullivan

It was a coincidence that Momo and I were going to be going to the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Museum on the same day last week.

Unfortunately, the line-up was long and the tickets were being sold for entrance into the exhibit 4 hours later - too long to wait. Fortunately, I was able to spend time viewing the other exhibits currently showing instead.

This month's theme for our dance practice is 'STYLE' and the first thing I think of when I hear 'style', is 'fashion' and what we choose to wear and how we present ourselves into the world - our 'look.'

I loved discovering the many 'styles' that were on display at the gallery - from the traditional, authentic clothing as worn by local and distant native peoples to the the modern artistic representations of fashion, as well as the 'styles' of all the people who were also visiting the museum.

On the way home, inspired to dance with a recessed light beaming up from a downtown sidewalk, dancing a dance of the 'puffy coat style' (which feels more like 'function' than 'form,' however :~)

Grateful for being part of this collaboration and connecting with you all...

Lee

Music: Philip Glass