some plans upon returning to nyc

After a few days of studying with Doug Elkins and hearing him talk about dance and his approach to teaching, I am thinking about my return to New York. One of the things I hope to do when I return is teach. I would love to start teaching and presenting work on Staten Island. I think the island is so deprived of merited movement art programs, concerts, and studies. Now that I am not in school and will be returning with no set employment plans (I will be house managing at Hunter but that is a side job), I will have time to set up camp within the academic world of dance.

So, making dances, teaching, and spreading the word of movement art on Staten Island. That's where it's at come October. This is all in preparation for the grand plan which is to open a school for the arts: visual, performative, and written on Staten Island.

-m

remaking People in the Sun

As I stated earlier this evening, I have decided to recreate People in the Sun, a work I created two springs ago for my senior thesis at Hunter College. It was part of a larger work, Pictures, inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. 

This piece is especially dear for me for a number of reasons. I had just started choreographing and was constantly exploring and discovering new things about my movement vocabulary and poetic impulses. And I had just come across advertisements for an opera, Later the Same Evening, by Leon Major and Mark Campbell. It was late winter and I was itching for the spring. And, perhaps the most important aspect of my inspiration, my grandmother, who was very ill, passed away in late winter. Loretta West was a beautiful woman, very intelligent and healthy. She was also very young. When she passed from cancer, I was sad and confused. People in the Sun became an Ode for her. I wanted it to be a pure movement dance that evoked youth and revery. On that same impulse, it was an ode to all I had learned in my college career. It was then that I discovered dance and immersed myself in the classics (Limon, Taylor and the post-mod classic, Ms. Trisha Brown). Originally created as a trio ladies dance set to Philip Glass' Freezing. Created with dancers, Mary Ellen Carafice and Laura Schubert, it became a very important step in my choreographic development.

I am currently reworking it into a solo (and I intend to eventually recreate the trio with newer, revised phrase-work) to Bach Cello Suite Nº 3 as performed by Heinrich Schiff, the Allemande. It is a beautiful piece of music. So, here are two video clips that are largely improvisational. There are a few root phrases. 


Disclaimer: I apologize for the wobbiness of certain moments (especially the arabesques). Today was a hard day for me, dance-wise. I was feeling dehydrated and very tired. I also feel very stiff and need a chance to work on my core and extensions. I think it's because I am not dancing nearly as much as I anticipated. I reckon by the time I return to NYC, that will be a different story. I will be working as much as I can in my free time. 

Well, after several attempts to post the videos here, I will have to refer you to my vimeo page... my internet is a bit languid tonight. Enjoy! http://vimeo.com/14225481

Hope you enjoy the day's practice. This piece is something I keep returning to, so it feels nice to begin to get it out.

-m

melissa west makes dances/fall season schedule

This fall I will return to a lot of creations, re-stagings, and work at hand. This makes me very excited. While at the Yard, I intend to restage People in the Sun as a solo for an October performance (tba). I have already begun to do so, check out this clip of my practice from yesterday in which I work on my petite allegro. I am also watching Pictures quite repetitiously to relearn phrases-work I have long since forgotten about.

Also for when I return to NYC, I will be creating a new piece to be debuted sometime in the spring season. It will be a performance piece featuring approximately 10-14 performers of various backgrounds. The piece will be 15-25 minutes long and will involve lipstick, a light fish sculpture, the constellations, and a lover's waltz. That is all I will say about it for now, don't want to spoil the surprise. I am very excited!

This week I took class with Sandy Stone, a former Taylor dancer which was wonderful! I intend to take class at the Taylor school when I return home. Doug Elkins is here and taught class this morning. It was fun, very syncopated. Tomorrow he will be doing more phrase-work with us.

As for the Yard, despite the constant messiness of living with 10 people in one very old house, things are going well. We've staged to Opera's, one of which I loved: Archy and Mehitabel, starring Alison Fraser. It was so cute and witty. I want to read the book of poems when I return to NY.

I made some soup for lunch and will eat a veggie burger for dinner. I don't know why that's important but somehow it just is.

very well, xo

melissa

solo meditations with tree and nature
(variations on trees and nature. play each one at the same time and watch them simultaneously, it's pretty cool. this is not set material and, quite frankly, my body has felt tense lately so it's not as fluid as i would like. but please enjoy the landscape as i dance a little in the sunset for you)

 

a series of streams

the following is a series of stream-of-consciousness writings i have written over the course of the past few days (both before and after my departure for the yard)

Paul Taylor in the park. Extraordinary. Farewell, New York City.  I depart in forty-eight hours . Excitement abound. I am on the train to Bronxville. Going to see Josh for the last time. The sun set on the dancers. Esplanade was special tonight.

I made friends with old ladies. They wished me luck on my journey.

you will find me

in the sycamore trees

that's where i'll be

all alone, dreaming of you

combing the fair breeze.

watching the bees suckle honey from little flower to flower, the beauty of their calculations. i want to live out in the country, though part of me despises it. they morning fog creeps away revealing the sun-and-cloud speckled sky. i think about my future, the weary world's future, then the homesickness sets in a bit.

thoreau once came to the beaches of Staten Island. This is what he said of those sandy plains by the water's edge:

The sea-beach is the best thing I have seen. It sits very solitary and remote, and you only remember New York occasionally. The distances, too, along the shore and inland sight of it, are unaccountable great and startling. The sea seems very near from the hills, but it proves a long way over the plain, and yet you may be wet with the spray before you can believe that you are there. The far seems near and the near far.

-Thoreau to Emerson, Staten Island, June 8 1843 (as written on the boardwalk)

the tree on the lawn.

dusk is a fair  time on the vineyard.

crickets play their pretty little things

seeing at the sound of it

that time is never

i hear the guitar music, folks in the distance

and not a car around.

the pale haze surrounds the trees

that nestle us inside a cocoon

of water starlight

i want my home

to be

forever

in

the startle open.

deers on the highway sound

far away

from here

i have this image of me slow and moving with the love of my life. he's looking at me and i at him and we are like two children-- smiling and laughing but continuing this slow waltz, our weight sinking into each other equally, we hold on with our eyes-- he's my dancing partner.

meet me by the river for a swim.

 -m

the story of stuff and why it matters


Check out this website, http://www.storyofstuff.org/, to learn more about sustainability, how to change our habits of consumption, and where our trash really does go. It is a bit upsetting to hear these things but they're fairly recognizable. The world's societies and natural resources are truly in need of committed change and awareness in order to save and preserve our planet, our collective history, and our future.

I recommend watching as many (or all) of the videos as you possibly can.

As Gandhi said, be the change you wish to see in the world.

-m

chilmark day three

it is a quiet evening here in Chilmark, Mass. I can hear the crickets outside as the darkness settles in around the commune. the last day or so has eased in, i arrived here very upset and in desperate need for a change. i am finally settling in, and suspect that a few more days and i will feel really relaxed here. i had a lot to say before but i don't feel it's necessary to write much tonight. there are spiders on the wall. daddy long legs are like dancers with their thin legs, but i do not like them. yet, i have not been able to kill them-- i just do not feel the need. 

today i awoke at six a.m., showered and crept down the stairs, careful not to wake my roommates. i went down the gravel rode to take a seven a.m. yoga class, followed by an eight a.m. meeting. later in the afternoon i went to the grocery store in edgartown, which is thirty minute ride which i drove down back roads and windy paths, careful of bikers and pedestrians. on the way back, i got a little lost and wound up at a beach but the beauty of the bay and the yachts and boathouses, the white pale sand was totally worth it.

cleaned a lot again today. the attic bedroom is now in good shape. i took a picture after the cleaning but not before ... if you only knew. made some zucchini and red onions from the farm share. some pasta and steak from the market. read some of simone forte's handbook in motion. she speaks motions. i am completely immersed and will quote her quite soon. 

i took a video of me dancing: 

it's just a little solo improvisation. nothing special but thought i would post it here. 

also took some pictures tonight, here are the one's i most love:

the compound next door.

view from the water. 

 

the house i am currently living in.

simone on the porch.

 our countryside sign.

and here is a picture of me in the midst of adjusting to a new and wondrous place:

yayy. :) peas and love, m

welcome to the vineyard
Well, I arrived safely to the Yard. It took me almost 12 hours to get here due the enormous amount of traffic we encounter. I arrived in the dead of night, fairly appropriate since everything I do is mildly complicated for no good reason. I did not see much on the car ride to my destination, just a lot of woods and back roads, Chilmark is very secluded from the rest of the island. The town of Oaks Bluff, right off the ferry was magical-- I want to revisit on a day off. Apparently, the oldest carousel lives there. 

I arrived to the Yard, a dance colony in Chilmark, at around 9.30pm. That is when I noticed my cellphone had no service (at&t does not provide service to the island-- go figure) and would not be able to talk to people regularly on my downtime. That is also when I notice how old this property is and that there are bugs everywhere. I do not know what I was expecting with that-- it's an old house in a woody area. However, I broke down in tears late last night because I was not expecting that. I envisioned beautifully pastoral cottages with modern utilities and wonderfulness. I suppose it may be like that, but definitely a lot of bugs. In a few minutes I am going to roam the estate, see what it looks like in the daytime and get acclimated. It might take a few days or a week. Last night, when I got out of the car I looked around in the darkness. Looking up, I noticed the stars. Oh my lord, there were hundreds. The sky was so clear. I have never seen so many stars in the sky. It was absolutely extraordinary.

-m
   

paul in the park
paul taylor performance free this evening!

I am super excited about tonight's free performances. In anticipation, I have watched an early filmed version of Esplanade on Youtube, probably 10 times already. Here is my favorite section from the dance, the very last section which is the most kinetic and also the most urgent. Much of my dance work owes a lot to this dance. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHkciz_yYYI&feature=related

Things I will be thinking about during tonight's performance: How the performance of Esplanade has evolved over the generations of dancers who have danced it... how has the virtuosity of the technique expanded and what has been lost/gained. Also, I will be thinking of its splendid beauty.

And just to refresh, tonight's performances begin at 7.30pm with Paul Taylor 2, the apprentice company. They will perform 3 Epitaphs followed by Esplanade. The senior company will then perform Airs, Syzygy, and Company B. Performances take place at Damrosch Park as part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival. For those of you who don't know where that is (I didn't until I looked it up,) it is located at 70 Lincoln Center Plaza & W 62nd St, New York, 10023. Telephone: (212) 875-5456

Take the 1 train to W 66th and walk down, the Bandshell is nestled between Amsterdam Ave and W 62nd. 

Paul Taylor 2 will continue to celebrate his 80th birthday dance season with another free performance, August 13th with Naganuma Dance Company at the East River Amphitheater. Performance starts at 7. The bill will include Airs and Company B.

***

I will see this performance tonight as a parting gift from nyc to me before I leave for Martha's Vineyard. My trip will include a long bus ride followed by a steamship ferry. I leave August 7th and will not be back again until September 30th. During my stay, I will update my blog frequently-- covering the dance classes, performances, lectures, and beauty of the island. I hope to take pictures and films, draw, and send postcards to my dearest friends and family.

Here's to safe travels, beautiful summer vacations, and free dance in the park :)

peace and love dear readers,

melissa

when grocery shopping becomes rocket science
and why the middle class should protest whole foods

I am just perusing the internet when I come across an article on SILive, the Staten Island Advance's online mag. Trader Joes, an organic, reasonably priced, bulk grocery store may or may not be setting some roots on Staten Island in the near future. That's awesome. No really, I love buying organic, holistic foods at unusually low costs. I shopped there quite frequently when I was living in Brooklyn.

What really grabbed my attention though was a statement regarding other gourmet grocery stores that were courting the island. Apparently, if you want a Whole Foods in your neighborhood, you need a college degree. Yep, that's right folks. If you want access to privileged tomatoes and soy milk, you need to have worn the ole' cap and gown.

"Whole Foods, he said, requires 42 percent of the population around its stores to hold a bachelor’s degree — a criterion the Island doesn’t meet." Slepian, Do Say it's So: Trader Joes, SILive.com)

It's like that song: I'm all lost in the supermarket, I can no longer shop happily...

Someone on the message board argued that's because people with degrees tend to have higher paying jobs and are therefore less likely to be on public assistance.

This gives a new definition to the term, "smart foods". My immediate reaction when I read this was that the people behind Whole Foods, the CEO's and big shots in an office somewhere, are primarily white and that doesn't automatically mean they are smart. Staten Island, for instance, does not meet their requirements for high education minimums. However, there are tons of families-- middle class and affluent, that would patronize their stores, hence bringing up their revenue and spreading their products even further. It is true that people from towns and neighborhoods in a place like Staten Island tend to be loyal customers, so their sales would be fairly consistent.

Now, I think that people with higher education degrees would be less inclined to shop at a place like Whole Foods where you can get anything you can get at Trader Joes or the organic section at Pathmark or Shoprite, at double (sometimes triple) the price. Do the math. While the company may argue that their products are of higher quality, I think it is a no brainer that they appeal to neighborhoods where mindless folk will splurge to buy Thai Jasmine rice from the rarest rice farms in the world, when you can just as easily buy Goyas Jasmine Thai rice from Key Foods at a fraction of the cost. I know this because we once went looking for rice in Whole Foods and were astounded (well, not really) that they did not have rice in bulk and did not have reasonable prices.

I think this is an elitist requirement to open any store and I am all for higher education. Yet, I am not very surprised. I thought supermarkets were there to provide people with the foundations of healthy, well stocked kitchens and homes without much discrimination. I have a degree (two, in fact) and do not have a high paying job. And it is a fact that I prefer organic, natural foods and household products. So, I welcome Trader Joes, a place where you can get those things at very decent prices. Poo poo to Whole Foods, we'll leave you for the unknowing tourists at Union Square. 

-m