Week 3 (in hindsight)

The energy and excitement of beginning (and it's accompanying sleepless nights) that I experienced in the first 2 weeks has evolved into a quieter, introspection  (and early morning risings) as we entered the world of Threnody 2 this past week. This piece does feel like a world, an aftermath, in contrast to the high energy, density and speed of Threnody 1. Threnody 2 is one of my favourite songs of Geordie's, it's the one that inspired me to want to create dance to Geordie's music, so I hold it with a different kind of attention and attachment than the other 2 pieces. Funny enough I spent the first two weeks creating material for Threnody 2 but at the last minute, in the rehearsal with the musicians, I switched it all to Threnody 1. Thank goodness most of the material also worked with Threnody 1. (I think at this point I better start abbreviating to T1 & T2). So this past week we pushed forward to T2 which, as I said,  has a very different feel than T1. T1 has an intensity, a falling through space, fight or flight feeling. With T2 the sense of unravelling that I was exploring in the earlier weeks has surfaced, along with the animals....deer, elephants, lions, squirrels and birds. (While teaching my young students this week I asked if anyone has a 'sprit animal'  - and they all looked at me as if I had two  heads. Little do they know, I have more than 2 heads!). Where T1 seems to be about holding on, T2 is more about letting go... or at least loosening. Choreography has become improvisation. Direction has become collaboration. Ideas have become instinct. Trust is our new best friend. Another fun (and scary) place to be.