10101010ritual10101010

walkin’….(ode to the upright) January 23, 2006

things are good when i am walkin’.

things are fine when i am walkin’.

but i cant carry my upright around with me all the time.

a simple pleasure for a simple time.

nor can i just play it with anybody.

but today i got a chance to play that upright bass again and it is a feeling like no other. that balance of rhythm and melody. that pulse, heartbeat, rumble, bottom aesthetic.

walkin’ the quarter notes, pedaling for emphasis, breaking the modes, doubling time to play with the drummer, breaking time to push the horn player.

i give thanks and praises to semilla amarilla who gave me my first shot at living with that instrument that still sends me to the astrals.  i breathed much of the superblackworldof@’s. approach, spirit and pulse on that instrument. ha ha i still need to go back to Costa Rica and get that instrument!

the soft mountains of san bernadino look nothing like the hard edges of the peaks in the sinai, but they were the perfect backdrop as i was walkin’ with that quartet yesterday. i could have walked all day and night around the valley. tore my fingers up quickly with a second thought.

just one of the happiest moments in my life is when i am just straight walkin’

definability January 21, 2006

i was talking to my cousin today, one who i have not spoken to in a while.
she said she had been inside these 10101010ritual10101010s (or 170ritual170 as her brother enlightened me when this liminal space was first birthed:). anyway she shared with me that more often then not she did not understand who the audience was or what was going on here. ha ha.

so i will allow my new mestre Pena’s ideas and words to mix with my own to give some context with what i think is going on (Pena: 2005 p.21-22).

now…….doing so will disappoint others who have spoken with me as well and would never want these codes and faces, musings and manipulations to EVER be “defined,” lest their strength be usurped by borders, normalcy or familiarity.

paciencia conmigo, por fa….

1. this 10101010ritual10101010 is experimentalism in cybermovement.
it is neither fiction nor poetry, but flirts with both. it abides by different rules and stands on a different history.

2. it is penned for the means of expression but would never be written for “publication” or mass distribution.

3. it will theorize about aesthetics, social order, the planet and her culture, “but its methodology is different from those of the academic theorists. Academics have binoculars”, this ritual space is about “radars.”
this non-space utilizes techniques in “‘scanning’ rather than ‘focusing’ as theorists do, settling on one spot and then pulling out the binoculars.”

4. it will chronicle the time/space of a “citoyen do monde” not like a journalist or social commentator, rather non-narrative, symbolic and polyvocal.
“If utilizing humor, then not in the interest of seeking laughter like a comedian.”

5. it is not for political activism, but might activate.

6. it is what others are not, and won’t say, occupying spaces that are often overlooked or dismissed…..

“a non-place where contradiction, ambiguity and paradox are not only tolerated by encouraged”…………….

From One Common Unity to Artsbridge January 21, 2006

to all members of the house and family, ONE COMMON UNITY, eu tenho moito saudade pra voces. i miss working, living and growing with you. i reference the creations you make and made. You are always with me.

i started mentoring this week with two young artists who will be going into the public schools in Los Angeles using movement (hip-hop, capoeira) as their vehicle for empowerment, uplift and exchange. The program is named Artsbridge.

to my family of ONE COMMON UNITY, i remember how we used to go into the schools to do gang-o-facilitation. A poet, a martial artist, a free-styler, a philosopher, a musician, a breaker, a theologian, a singer-songwriter, a public intellectual, an advocate. Entering a class, glass empty, waiting for the youth to fill it, supporting the margins, honest lies, challenges, “to the brink” and back.

in Artsbridge, my role is not to be on the front line, the title given to me by the organization is “mentor.” it is an unusual place for me to be (not because i am inexperienced in working with other artists in schools). my role is to observe at least two of the 14 sessions that Artsbridge “scholars” will lead with their students. i then will produce a report, predesigned by the administration, to evaluate the scholars’ use of time, clarity of presentation, effective pedagogy, classroom management, manner and tone, general environment, and stimulation of creativity. my two mentees did mock presentations yesterday and my role was to observe and give feedback.

to my family of ONE COMMON UNITY, some of you remain in the chocolate city, continuing your work with d.c. youth, others of you are scattered around the planet. but what we learned together lives still in us. i miss the freedom we shared with the youth. the lead up to the gig, diving, and processing afterwards. the concept is still dear to my heart.

i feel a second destino coming……

Storydancing January 20, 2006

“When I start moving, words come and I start to speak. I speak and I move”

For the next 8 weeks I will be working with another Mestre in movement. Her name is Simone Forti. She began working on dance improvisation in 1955 with her teacher Anna Halprin in the San Francisco Bay area. Simone is a very caring, sensitive and listening person. I am overjoyed to be able to nurture my abilities to bring what is in the inside, out onto my body. I will present my work to the public on the 9th, 10th, 11th of March. Soon! But she is so reassuring and calm that I dont feel pressure for these public performances. I have been patiently waiting for some guidance in movement as it relates to personal and group narrative since I have been in Westwood, but had found no real takers. Sometimes it takes patience.

As we were talking, preparing for our investigations she mentioned that dance improvisation would not have come into existence if it were not for the advent of Jazz music, the structure, texture, timing, group dynamic, etc. I was elated to hear this. So much of the artisitic creations in WAC borrow and appropriate from the Black aesthetic and seldom honor those roots. 

So I will begin to dig into telling stories with the dance. Moving a narrative. Orating the body. Axe.