KEEP

I’m still really fascinated by this idea of disorientation/distortion. I’d love to see us play more with what the audience can/can’t see, when they can see it, and the lens through which they see things. I’m thinking back to speaking with people who saw our WIP showing, and I heard so much positive feedback about the top of the piece when they were led into the space with blindfolds on. I think that that element of uncertainty and surprise is so intriguing and I think there are more places we can go with it! I love the way that we didn’t see Sophia in piece yesterday right away. In fact, we had to FIND her. Maddie in her singing/dancing piece also played with that concept. I’d like to see us expand on that!

LEAVE

I am now ready to leave the Food theme behind. We did so much of it in class and then carried it into the WIP showing too, and I think that perhaps we’ve gotten everything we’re going to get out of it. I think that if we continue to use food in our pieces and encourage the audience to eat during out showings that it should take on some new shape. I don’t know what that shape would be, but those are my thoughts!

WANT

We haven’t done any one audience member – one performer pieces yet, and I would really like to see that appear as we continue to develop! I’ve only seen one or two shows in my life where I was the only person in a room with a performer, and those times felt so much more like EXPERIENCES than PERFORMANCES for me. One of the things we’re interested in is testing the limits of the audience and the concept of surrender, and I think incorporating pieces where only one person can see it at a time would be a great way to develop those ideas. Also, if it’s a repeated performance (which it most likely would be, because we’d want more than one person to see it), that’s a method of testing the limits for the performers as well!

What if we each had a one-on-one performance with an audience member? What if an entire show was the audience moving from performer to performer gathering different chunks of info that, together, formed a story? What if they didn’t form a story? What if every audience member saw the performances in a different order??? JUST SOME EXCITED THOUGHTS.

 

My thoughts:

– For the time we had to put it together (all of 3 hours, basically), I think that it went well. However, I do think that some things were clunky/awkward…but I think that with more time and planning we’ll be able to get things back to where they need to be.

– I loved the beginning. I think it was so strong the way that the audience was brought in in silence with blindfolds on, and the way we were able to make them stay put without having to use explicit instructions. Going from the relative silence of the back hall to the too-loud space was great. The energy was high, and the audience was ready to be involved.

– People were definitely afraid to DO things. They weren’t sure if they were supposed to walk around and touch and play. This caused me to want to encourage them by saying things like, “Have you tried blahblahblah?”. But then I felt like a car room show person and was confused about my relationship to the audience. Overall, I was unsure of what I should be doing.

– From my perspective, the more hands-on things worked better than the more passive things. For example, I think that people (once they got over their fear of moving around) liked interacting with Bailey’s box, watching the Genesis movie in the closet, going outside to watch Carina’s performance, and being involved in the Federalist Papers bit. That being said, I was surprised — but it seemed like the videos DID NOT WORK very well. With all of the commotion and noise, I felt like people didn’t want to sit down, put headphones in, and watch videos. It took them out of the experience too much, in my opinion.

My guests’ thoughts:

-The things that mainly stood out were: Getting applauded (inversion of normal performer/audience roles), David’s piece, Kimmy’s Black Panthers piece, Genesis video, getting into the elevator, getting fed bread.

– They were often left unsure of what to do, but the unclear boundary between actor/audience member was interesting

-The experience of being one of the first people with the blindfold on standing in the room got to be kind of old (because you end up standing in the same spot for 5 minutes without anything to do)

-Loved the really participatory pieces — but again, wanted to be involved in the more passive pieces which wasn’t as exciting. So essentially, the rules were different for some pieces and that was hard.

-What was powerful was the potential both the performers and audience members to do anything at any moment

Themes

[Love]

*John – Recipe for Love

*Paige – Genesis of Love

*Paige – Lolita

*Gabrielle – Love is

*Gabrielle – 3 Dates

*Kimmy – Love ring image

*Molly – the Origin of Love

*Gabrielle- Flirt video

*Gabrielle – Glovehands McGee

[Creation, or “Firsts”]

*Molly – The Origin of Love

*Paige – Genesis of Love

*Molly – History of Cartography

*Sophia – Cosmogeny objects 1-15

*Kimmy – Ripped from the Womb

[Dirt/Nature]

• Gabrielle – Dirt as touch, sight, smell
• Sophia – Branches for sight
• Sophia – River objects 1-4
• Sophia – Descent/Ascent objects 1-3
• Sophia – Why are you crying? Object 6
• Bailey – Wind movie
• Sophia – Wind sound
• Maddie – Taste: cacao powder and sea salt; “should taste like dirt, blood and tears”
• John – a picture of the stars

[Mortality/Immortality]

• Carina – Still Alive/Holy Shit image
• Bailey – Live Forever objects
• Phoebe – “And then one morning I woke up and felt alive.”
• Molly – Cremation story
• Sarah – Gram story

Things made by others that interest me:

1. Gabrielle’s “1-2% of 18th century people could read serious books” fact.  We closed our eyes and when we opened them, all but one person’s hands were empty.

2. Kimmy’s triptych — walking across the stage in slow motion.
3. Bailey’s triptych in the box!

Response: All three pieces made me think about the concept of being alone TOGETHER or alone whilst in a group — each piece made me feel my own individuality even though I was surrounded by others.

Things made by me that interest me:

1. Genesis of Love video
2. Feng Shui triptych

Response: My two most recent pieces interest me most because they make me think about individual voices telling parts of a story (Adam and Eve, fragments) or completing a list (numbers 1-15); they also make me think of encouraging the audience to participate through implicit rather than explicit methods!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJOjKPkPcvw

 FENG SHUI

The words “feng” and “shui” mean “wind” and “water”, respectively. These two natural elements together evoke balance, purity, and tranquility — all things that the feng shui practice is based on.

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese concept unrelated to religion that is also known as the ‘art of placement’. It is a practice that explores the relationship between a person and the objects around them. Not only does feng shui often mean the readjusting of furniture to create balance, it can also mean changing up the relationship between a person and their possessions. The goal of feng shui is that, through shifting the dynamic between the self and the environment, we can achieve a better state of “chi”, or life force. Essentially, feng shui is a practice that relies on the idea that harmony and balance in personal spaces can create inner peace.

One of the more interesting things about feng shui is that it suggests that all objects — both animate and inanimate — are alive, and are therefore able to change the energy in a space. The decluttering of a desk, for instance, could bring good fortune to the homeowner. Different variations of feng shui might include changing paint colors to mend broken relationships, or changing the direction of your bed so that your feet don’t face the door, which promotes relaxation and wellness.

Other principles of feng shui include implementing curved lines in the home and putting mirrors at the ends of hallways to allow “chi” to more easily pass through the house.

The concept of Yin and Yang is also crucial to feng shui. Yin and Yang are two opposite forces that cannot exist without each other. Whereas in the Western culture we have binaries in which one element is better than the other (for example, light is better than dark, good is better than evil), the Chinese culture stresses a harmony and coexistence between Yin and Yang. Drawing on the balance of Yin and Yang, feng shui encourages a balance between us and our surroundings.

Unfortunately, in more modern day applications, home decorators will often claim to be using feng shui when they have not been properly trained in the practice. Though many consider it to be a superstitious idea, Feng Shui is taken very seriously by many architects and designers. There is a school in Los Angeles called the American Feng Shui Institute that focuses on the more scientific aspects of feng shui using astronomy and philosophy.

Overall, feng shui is an ancient practice that has many modern day applications; I think it’s safe to say that it can’t hurt to try!

————————————————————————————-

Sources:

Trust, Deanna. “Tree of Knowledge: WHAT IS FENG SHUI?” Tree of Knowledge: WHAT IS FENG SHUI? Off the Beaten Path, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. http://www.saintsandcircles.com/pages/tree_pages/feng_shui/_index_whatis.html.

American Feng Shui Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. <http://www.amfengshui.com/faq/>.

“Feng Shui.” Feng Shui-Table of Contents. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2016. <http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/spring04/McDonald/html/tableofcontent.htm>.

Links to diagrams!

Desk Feng Shui – You can see that plants on the desk in the right corner can help with relationships, a notebook in the bottom left corners aids with wisdom, etc.

Bedroom Feng Shui  – Note that the foot of the bed doesn’t align with the doorway, and there are bedside tables on either side to create balance.

 

See

Spanish is pronounced exactly as it’s written

Hear

Taste

 

Touch

 

Smell

See, Hear, Smell

En contraste con el inglés, se pronuncia el español exactamente como está deletreado. En el inglés, existen palabras con letras mudas, como en la palabra “know”. En tal ejemplo, no se pronuncia la letra “k”. También en inglés hay pronunciaciones distintas para la misma palabra. La palabra “envelope” también puede ser pronunciada “envelope” en un contexto diferente. En español hay bastante menos engaño. Casi cada letra que aparece en una palabra española está pronunciada. Entonces, cuál idioma es más fácil de aprender? El español o el ingles? Elige tú.

PLUS

PLUS

 

 

Object 1: It?

What is ‘IT’ and how do I get it?

Object 2: What is talent, anyway?

Object 3: A lesson in calming the fuck down

Eagerness

Object 4: More questions

Where does unused talent go?

Object 5: Jules Jacobson, looking back.

Thirty years ago, I went to summer camp and I didn’t think I was good at anything. I was a run-of-the-mill kid: liked to be outside, didn’t like to go to school, didn’t have passions or talents of any kind. But then one day at camp they made me get up on stage and do some funny dance — some chicken dance or something…I was mortified. And — I can’t believe I still remember this, it’s been so long…decades…but I remember I heard people start laughing. And I could tell by the uproar that they were laughing with me and not at me… And then I got off the stage and sat back down… and thought, “Maybe, just maybe, I have a little bit of talent”. Back then, I made people laugh. But now? Now I’m a lawyer. Nothing funny about that. At all.

Object 1: The past

Who did we used to be to one another? I can’t remember now.

Object 2: A diagram of our love.

Object 3: Just maybe

Maybe we aren’t so different, you and I.

Object 4: Corinthians

Object 5: Fill in the blanks

I asked her not to leave me but she _____ anyway.

Object 6: Finality

Maybe ‘you’ plus ‘me’ doesn’t have to equal ‘us’ anymore.

 

Object 1: Three little birds…

Object 2: A belief.

Art chooses us.

Object 3: Googly eyes

Object 4: Big bird

Object 5: Death and the Golden Square

Object 6: Water in glass

Object 7: A love for things, not people.

Sorrow comes to those who love to deeply.

 

Object 1: What you find when you go looking..

What you find…

Object 2: Calling All Nymphets

Object 3: Bow and Hat Drive Away

 

Object 4: So the story goes.

A pre-pubescent particularly precocious pretty piques the interest of an imaginative and intellectual introvert.

Object 5 : Hotels Across the Country

Object 6: One version of the story

“Touch me”, he said.

So she did.

Object 7: The other version.

“Touch me”, she said.

So he did.

Object 8: Little pink bow

Object 9: You know…

Object 10: A man and his daughter walk into a bar..

Object 11: In Her Room

Object 12 : Socks Dance

Socks Dance

Object 13 : A Visitor

A Visitor

Object 14 : And the rest was rust and stardust.

Object 15: But…

But love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is–

Object 16: Girl in Glass

Fish Bowl

Object 17: List

Shoelaces

Ribbon

Bubble gum

Licorice

Fingernails

Grass stains

Jump rope

Eyelashes

Lollipops

Hotel rooms

Object 18: Annabel Lee

Object 19: The playground.

Object 20: LL MM

Object 21: Motives by HH

I’ve taken her away. But not to worry, for I love her. And she, me.

Object 22 : Speaks for itself.

There’s some purity in perversion, too.