To be specific…

First, I am dancing in Halestone’s show called “Older than the Mountains” on Saturday and Sunday at the Lenfest Center for the Arts at Washington & Lee University.  I have two half-pieces prepared for the show.  They will either be combined into one or performed individually at different times during the show, up to the discretion of Director Nancy Saylor.  They function as a type of segue, and the mood is reflective, grateful, modestly sacred.  They aren’t earth shatteringly dramatic and aren’t supposed to be.  More like a cleansing of the palate.

Second, I am preparing work for the upcoming season of Frame Dance Productions.  The two main events on the schedule for now are…drum roll please…

1. An exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston on September 17.  This will be part of a Dance and Camera exhibition.  So think video, live dance, museum space…

2. Frame will be in residence at the Hope Center for the HopeWerks Residency from January through March closing with a evening-length work on a tbd date in March.  This will be a live show and will, of course, integrate technology in some fantastic and snappy manner.  Dreaming up some new collaborations as well… any collaborators out there, contact me (Lydia.Hance@framedance.org), I’d love to discuss working together.  By collaborator I mean, are you, or do you know a:  writer, painter, filmmaker, musician, poet, chef, sculptor, animator, carpenter, architect, costume designer, glass blower, gardener, basket weaver, jewelry maker, martial artist…I want you all at one point or another…

Third, I will be teaching, presenting, and workshopping material on the dancers in Lexington as a sort of feedback system for the creation of this work which, at this stage, is Lydia in the studio, or Lydia reading, or Lydia walking…you get the idea, it’s a solo process, and I promise I won’t get into the habit of referring to myself in the third person.  We’re not sure exactly how this will play out, but it will surely begin to take shape as I feel out the situation and dynamics and find myself in the process (no, I’m not using the “royal we” either, I’m referring to the magical Nancy Saylor, Director of the Community Dance Connection Theater and Halestone Dance Studio.

So there you have it!  Advice gladly accepted, encouragement kindly requested. Bon voyage to you as you take this journey with me.

I didn’t anticipate much anxiety before this residency.  But lately I’ve become more and more aware of how much sound is around me.  And not necessarily the good kind.  The cluttering kind.  But I think a whole lotta good sound can become bad in that cluttering-can’t find any awareness of my thoughts-kind of way.  I’d have to admit that I am anxious to be alone with my thoughts and sink into my process.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to live in that state of temporary isolation.  But like any artist does, I do crave that time to make a priority out of creating.  And it’s a luxury, right?  *the guilt sets in for taking this time…and I fight back*  Yesterday I spent most of the day as a warm-up.  I made coffee, journaled, read some Mary Oliver, found music that made my sensibilities dance…it feels like it’s been so long (or maybe I’ve just come really far) from being in that place.  I could feel my own resistance from myself.  But I need this…and I want this…right?

To come…upon arrival in Virginia (and dependent on internet)  I will announce and explain the next two major projects coming up for Frame.  I am so excited.  Can’t quite sit still.

copyright (c) 2010 lorie garcia studio 4d4, all rights reserved

Often, she is where I start when creating.  These are the words I am thinking upon getting ready for my time in Virginia.  My mind must be quiet to be again busy.

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean–
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down–
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

T minus ten days until I leave for Lexington, VA to begin my three weeks creating work, performing and teaching through the Rockbridge Artist Exchange.

I will use this blog track and discuss my process of developing material for the next year for Frame Dance.  We have some exciting things on the horizon–but I am not at liberty to discuss them just yet…so hang tight.  I am anxious to divulge and will do so as soon as I can.

In 2008 I was was Visiting Artist at Halestone Dance Studio, teaching, performing and choreographing for the students and the Community Dance Connection Theatre.  I returned later that year to perform in the 30th anniversary of Halestone at Lime Kiln Theater.

For those of you who say, “Lexington…Kentucky?”  No.  Lexington, Virginia.  Ever heard of Natural Bridge?

Or Washington&Lee University?  or Union General David Hunter who led a raid on Virginia Military Institute during the Civil War?  Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are buried in Lexington.  It is also the site of Stonewall Jackson’s only house.   It’s rooted in history and one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.  I invite you on my journey…

Many, many thanks to collaborator photographer Lorie Garcia.  Visit www.framedance.org for more fantastic images.  Wonderful to collaborate with her on Crease, Frame’s latest dance-for-camera work also on www.framedance.org.  For Lorie Garcia, visit her website at http://studio4d4.com.

Thank you to all who came out to the launch party/preview of Crease and to the official premiere at Barnevelder.