Feet, hands, right brain, left brain

This weekend’s performances contain 3 works, each with its emphasis being a part of our bodies. Steven McMahon tackles the mind and heart, basing his work on Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s book, MY STROKE OF INSIGHT, A NEUROSCIENTIST’s PERSONAL JOURNEY. Dr. Taylor’s stroke, and her ability to assess how she went through it and what she learned from it, inspired Steven to create a work about the duality of the human brain. He says that his piece is “a conversation between the heart and mind, or the body and soul.” He found, in his readings, things that were scientific , but also spiritual at the same time. I imagine that scientists must feel this way as they make discoveries as well. The largeness of creation, the wonder of the world, the complexity of all that is within us and around us, has to be so exciting!

Julia Adam’s piece is based on the hand. She has pulled from the writings of T.S. Eliot, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Shakespeare, and Dr. Seuss, and is looking at what our hands do expressing stages of life. She added props to support her ideas, props that are extensions of our hands, and very symbolic. She even studied multiple hand games, and has created a very exciting, poignant, and fascinating works for us. I always find too , that Julia’s work has a particularly feminine sensibility in its awareness of relationships, rich and thoughtful. I wish that there were more women choreographing in the ballet world, and I wish that everyone had her openness and sensitivity.

Nicole Corea closes the program with a rousing work, having received the assignment of “feet” from me. She has some dear friends, South African gum boot dancers, whom she based her new work on. The reason the miners in South Africa were given boots was because the wonders of the mines did not want to drain the mines, so they just gave the workers boots. This in itself is enough to break your heart, but it reminded Nicole of the spirits of her South African friends, and how much they have risen through in their culture. She speaks about how joyous their dispositions can be. “The South Africans I know will dance anywhere, even in their kitchens!”

Feet, hands, right brain/left brain….all moving within us while we spend our days in this life together. Something else joyful to investigate and celebrate. Hope to see you this weekend!

Isn't the human body miraculous?

Even more astounding is what we’ve learned about our bodies in the last 100 years, particularly through scientific discovery. While scientists continue to reveal amazing details about our bodies, artists have been using the body, or images of the body, to convey the many events, questions and mysteries within us. Scientists and artists alike tackle ideas with exploration and discoveries, and in Connections: Body and Soul you are watching some of that exploration.

Steven McMahon’s piece took its base from a book by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight, A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey. Dr. Taylor’s stroke, which occurred when she was only 37, and her subsequent journey through recovery, inspired Steven to create a work about the dualityof the human brain, in which each hemisphere has a different priority, or motivation. Steven explores what those hemispheres would look like in an unfolding dance work. The evolution of Julia Adam’s piece stems mainly from a documentary on PBS about 9/11. The commentator wondered about the people jumping out of the towers, holding hands. Were these acts of great love or great desperation, or both? At some point soon after, Julia and I talked about all the things we do with our hands and agreed it would be important to make a work about that someday. Finally, we are able to do it and the hands of our joyous labors can be seen today.

When I asked Nicole Corea to concentrate her work on feet, she kept thinking about a South African dance company she knows well. This company does a lot of gumboot dancing, which derives from the fact that many South African miners had to wear boots because the mines they worked in filled with water. It reminded Nicole of the spirits of her South African friends, and how much they have risen through in their culture. Nicole also uses steps from a South African dance, the pantsula, which is more of a fun, loose dance that was made up in the streets. Dance is not something South Africans separate from their daily lives. When I did my research into many of these dances, I found that all kinds of groups had this connection to the earth, this way of speaking to the earth through our vibration, and then it climbs up through the rest of your body.

Feet, hands, right brain/left brain—all moving within us while we spend our days in this life together. It is truly something joyful to investigate and celebrate.