The spine

Two weeks from today we'll be getting ready for our opening night of Threnodies. Yikes! The dancers and I have been on a break from studio work since April, but Geordie has been steadily trucking along - writing, rehearsing, editing, arguing - all the fun stuff of  a great creative process.  I didn't catch today's living room rehearsal in person, but I caught some of the chit chat afterwards. I love hearing the musician's perspective on the process, how it is so similar to a dancer's experience. In fact, I met with a lovely woman today from The Coast, a writer named Adria, and we talked about how creating dance has similarities to writing - especially the (often painful) part of editing. That's where i'm at today.  I went back into the studio today by myself to  review the material we made in our creation period in March-April. It's fascinating going back and looking at what we made - during those four weeks we worked intensely, creating from mostly a subconscious level, trying not to judge or edit the movement, ideas and images that were coming out. And now, having some time and some distance, it's awesome to go back and look at it with some clarity. I love this part of the process -  combing through the material, looking for what fits and what doesn't fit, and beginning to see a logic. I spoke with Don Rieder awhile ago (Don is the dramaturge that we're going to work with next week) he urged me look for the 'spine of the piece' - the spine being the organizing principle that supports everything else. This is a concept from Twyla's Tharp's book on choreography called 'The Creative Habit.' So I'm taking his (and her) advice, working on clarifying the spine, strengthening it and using it to support the body of the work. Next week I meet up with the dancers and Don for our last stretch rehearsals - Yeeha!

Luckily Doug videotaped today's music rehearsal in my absence, so here is a sneak peek at the last of the six music pieces, aptly referred to as Threnody 6.