" I fell asleep holding an Appleseed, woke up holding a tree."
So,
This evening TheMASSIVE went back to work. Starting with the diligent recovery work of Courtney Hischke, a piece originally set on teenagers is now being translated to the bodies of talented, intense, electric adults.
The Cast:
"I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all."
~Aesop Rock
So,
The Cast:
Jennifer Becker
Laura Chiuve
Jessica Deahr
Rashiff Hughes
Rebecca Hutt
Sunny Kallas
Katie Kempen
Jacqueline Sinclair
Morgan Williams
Tucker Worley
Jennifer Zurkowski
For those of you not in the know, our little company was selected to "light it up" at the Spring to Dance Festival this year. For those of you IN the know, you know that I can be an EXTREMELY competitive mofo. I ain't afraid of anyone. Let's cut the crap, this festival is big. Presenters and the best companies in the Midwest will be at this festival. I want to do one thing at this festival: WIN.
I want to beat every single company that presents that weekend. I want this ensemble (that looks like a goddamn coed elite volleyball team) to sweat and push and move and express to the point that anyone before us is forgotten and anyone after us is resented. I am being honest. That is who I am internally (and externally). I want to destroy the competition and, given the talent that will be at that festival, they ARE competition. I want the fact that they are better than us on paper to be stomped underfoot of the reality of our live performance on stage. I will say this simply, Any of the names I listed above are not only capable of delivering me just that, they WILL deliver me just that. They will deliver that to their community. We saw a brief glimpse of it tonight. The work undertaken over nearly 2 years is beginning to look like something substantial. Something big... You see where that is going. Won't beat you over the head with it.
"I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all."
~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977
Today I explained the nature of this piece to them, atypically avoiding eye contact. This piece is about motivation. At a point when I just couldn't come up with a reason to make dance, the only possible thought was that I know what I want to see and sometimes the thing that keeps me creating is the anticipation of watching what i was created.
My hubris and humilty are at 11 right now.
