THE FIDGETY INTELLIGENCE NETWOK

While drafting my AOLs I've had various epiphanies ( as you do...) and this morning I woke up with a few ideas dancing in my head.
I'm an ideas person by nature. I'm the person in the group who will probably have the idea but when asked to explain it and write it down, it falls short of a few words. Initially I thought it may be my lack of confidence not having studied English as a first language or understanding the grammar.
So, of course, being asked to write or contextualize my own processes, or, listen to someone describing ideas with complex vocabulary gets me lost in a space of boredom where the sound of other people's voices seems to blend with colours and shapes until it disappears in the multi verse of my multiple intelligence network of nerve endings...You get the idea. I swear it's a thing. I do it to my husband all the time. He goes mental.
I'm used to express by doing...I never realised how much of that, is, in fact, ingrained in me. When I dance, I tell the story. It may have a conclusion. Or not. It might make sense. Or not. The point is that I go on a journey. It's the journey that matters most. The story telling is just the icing on the cake.

MAPP provides alternatives to show your work as opposed to just write of course, nevertheless I'm sure you're wandering why why on earth would I sign up for a course where I need to write my thoughts and make sense of them?...

Well, I also discovered that although I have a "fidgety" brain, it's that same dynamic that keeps me curious and thirsty for new challenges. The fact that I do not consider myself a great writer, it becomes a motivation to learn more, to learn how to do it and be better at it. It's in fact the act of learning itself that excites me. The more I learn, the more I want to learn.  It's the journey.

SOCIAL DANCES & PROF. THOMAS F.DEFRANTZ

Having worked extensively on Afro - Latin partner dances over the years, I was part of the underground Salsa movement in the UK, I witnessed the birth of Mambo in London and was the first to showcase Kizomba in the UK. Being so connected to the underground scene allowed me to witness first hand how the movement grew, changed and morphed into its own identity in the UK.
I also observed how TV programs started utilising it, the difference between here and the US and UK dancers approach to class, learning and developing new dance skills as well as what brought students to the social dance floor during the last twenty years.
There's no doubt as to how much social dances influence mainstream dance forms so I'm particularly happy to attend the MAPP Symposium: Queering the Somatic with guest lecturer Prof. Thomas F. DeFrantz. My curiosity stems from the fact that I've heard about this Professor from various practitioners and he has various articles on the history and importance of social dances in America which tie in nicely with my field experience.

I've always thought that social dances are not given the importance they truly deserve in the spectrum of Dance as a whole, so, to have distinguished researchers dedicating their work towards this understanding and history is refreshing, specially with the added perspective of an African American point of view. When studying Social dances I often read mostly on the music construction but rarely on its history and socio - economic and somatic context.
Working through my AOLs, I'm reflecting on myself a lot, and, I've come to understand how context is so important in my dance practice. In order to fully embody any dance style I have always immersed myself in the movement, I've taken on the identity of what that movement represented to fully represent it in performance or when delivering a workshop.

Although the dances that I've studied and practice are not necessarily from the same historical branch, they certainly share similar challenges and approaches. Watching some of his videos and reading some of his articles truly opens up to the possibilities of research in the area of the dance forms I focus on and understanding also how to best identify and document my own findings.
I'm really looking forward to this opportunity presented by MAPP but first let's finish these AOLs!!

WHAT MAKES YOU A FOLLOWER

I had a meeting today with a friend of a friend who is a property investor.
What's that got to do with dance you may ask?...
Well, throughout our conversation we discussed many things. I learnt something new about how property works and re-affirmed to myself that although I understand about business it's not what makes my wheels move, per say.
At some point we got talking about how having a vision is simply not enough to making your dreams work. My friend was talking about his frustration on how how difficult it is to explain his vision to people around him and how frustrated he is because people don't understand it.
While listening to him it reminded me of some of my own steep learning curves. It's all great to have an idea, but, if you are not able to explain it to anyone, how on earth you expect people to believe in it?...And if they believe it, how will they continue to support it?...

Training an instructor's team for the last ten years has brought me plenty of "on the job" learning experiences. One of them was to understand how to present ideas to people. Presenting your ideas to someone requires you to have researched your idea well and have some good points of reference to back up your idea. Also, de - constructing your idea is a useful exercise to yourself which allows you to reflect further on every step of your idea in order to see your idea in a clearer light, as well as knowing how to present it to others in simple, easy terms. My friend was impressed. He mentioned he was naturally shy and had difficulty relating to people. He would consider it his next challenge to improve his public speaking and presentation skills based on our conversation (!)

Creating an engaging audience is also a key aspect to any successful project outcome. My friend was wondering as to how to get people to believe and support his ideas.
I've often concluded that, trust has been at the base of creating any sort of audience for my work. An audience that relates to you, that trusts your process and what you are developing and/or sharing is more likely to follow you in the long term. My dance experience has taught me that having integrity in my work will create a space where students and audience will come to view you as a "true representative" of your work and facilitates a space for trusting the artist.
Once this trust is established you will easily create your own "tribe" which will support you and even advise you, providing you with essential resources for "constructing" your dream.
Trust, I learnt, is a base component for creating your own targeted audience.
Our meeting went on longer than I expected and I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation exchange, which felt like a learning exchange in itself.

DIFFERENT WORLDS, ONE MUSICAL SCORE

This weekend I got a dose of inspiration.
I went to watch a performance by South African Artist Dada Masilo at Saddlers Wells Theatre.
The performance was a reinvention of the Classical Ballet Giselle by composer Adolphe Adam.
Masilo's version fuses classical Ballet. Contemporary and Tswana dance.
Rooted in the classical form, Masilo offers a highly technical and precise movement phrasing that combines elements of all the above dance forms fused effortlessly without any visible borders of where one ends and another starts. She manages to create this fluidity of movement while telling the story with plenty of passion. According to Dada Masilo, it's important to tell the story from the perspective of the audience in order to present it with as much clarity as possible in order to create emotion and reflection.
I was enthralled to watch such a classical story of love and betrayal being interpreted through fresh new eyes with such vigour and beauty.

The musical score, by South African composer Philip Miller, was haunting, powerful and varied while at the same time being able to maintain a coherence of feeling. It reminded me strongly of the first time I heard the album Lambarena - "Bach to Africa" developed by Mariella Bertheas. I first heard this album in the late 90's while taking a class in Graham technique. In this album, the classical works of Bach are combined with traditional music from Gabon. The two musical styles manage to exist without giving up their identity though...What seems an impossible combination, turns out to be a beautiful symbiosis in musical harmony, and trust me I'm not a fan of Bach...

Looking at this moment I wonder perhaps why do these two pieces of work in different time frames peaked my interest so much?...The first thought that comes to mind is my mixed heritage. Perhaps, the fact that my background hails from different worlds has had a bigger significance on how I see the world and how I interpret it through my imagination and creative output. I have been forever interested in dance forms that have travelled, transformed and created their own identity. While studying and practising contemporary dance forms I understood how much, they were in themselves fusions. From Ruth St Denis to Graham and Salsa, the creolisation of dance is ever present. Watching Dada Masilo's work though I didn't feel that the different styles co - existed separately...more like, they blended into one another, which I feel it's quite a difficult process to achieve aesthetically.

Another thought occurs to me though...Why did Dada Masila feel that re- creating the classic work of Giselle was the best path in which to showcase her choreographic style?...What/where are the "Black" Classics?...Pulling more thread...

FEEDBACK SANDWICH

Yesterday was the start of the course for one of my weekly dance classes.
As a general/open level dance class, it can at times be quite challenging to keep students motivated. The first class sets the tone for what to expect and how students will perform in class. Too soft and they won't give their 100%, too hard and they might not come back. It's really important to get the balance right. So, how to motivate students?...How can I give them feedback that allows them to feel positive while at the same time understand that there's still so much more to work on?...
I rely on a process that I learnt some years ago and that I still use today. I've refined it and adapted it to any situation: from students to family and friends. It's called a feedback sandwich. This is loosely defined as: Find something positive (top bun), demonstrate areas of improvement ( filling) and look to the future ( bottom bun).

Criticising someone's work is difficult, accepting criticism is equally hard. Finding the right words coupled with the right body language creates an encouraging and safe space where students of any level feel they can make mistakes, get up,  re - focus and try again. Although it's pretty simple to understand, I'm aware that there are many criticisms of this method, nevertheless. All I can say is that it has worked wonders in my practice.

Looking back I realise, perhaps, why this practice was so important to me as an artist. As a young dancer, around 12 years old, I was also learning to play the piano. I loved it. I was good at it. But, my teacher at the time utilised old methodology to which I didn't respond well to. I realise it was difficult for me to respond creatively to hard authoritarian methods. I left. I regret it.
Perhaps subconsciously I've been looking for another way, another tool I could use that was naturally more caring and positive and contributed to people's self esteem. Intuitively I've always felt that talent needs an encouraging space in order to grow organically. My thoughts were always on how could I get the best out of any student?...How could I trigger that inner magic naturally?...

Since being aware of it, I practise it on a regular basis, sometimes without even realising. It has become embedded in my professional practice and I consider it a defining moment of my learning experience as an artist and as a person. I'm a natural facilitator. This is present is almost every area of my work. Boom. Light bulb moment.

FINDING MY AOLs

Last night's group Skype was a first opportunity to truly listen to the other students on the course and have an overall feeling of the process at hand. I'm a keen observer, so, not being able to physically see other students, I ensured I would listen well.

As an artist I've had many hats, kind of goes with the job I've been told many a times.
Part of this ability to jump from role to role quite effectively is the ability to compartmentalize and just focus on what you need to achieve. As a commercial choreographer there's never much time to experiment with movement and ideas. The work is intense and fast moving. You immerse yourself in your imagination, prepare your choreographic sections and deliver. The ability to deliver a good piece of work in a short time is in itself a skill in high demand. A dancer I've worked in the past used to call it "choreography by the metre".
It was only when I won a dancers fellowship a couple years ago that for the first time I had time to reflect, think and look at my own creative process in more depth.
I enjoyed the calmness and ability to observe and try ideas without pressure. I tried different stimuli, explored a different facet of myself and drew various conclusions. As a creative artist, my best ideas ideas are created when I'm "in the moment". Having studied social dances in depth I understand that they are largely improvisational, using knowledge to compose on the spot.

In a way I feel that MAPP is asking me to become the "thinking body" and reflect on why and how I danced/performed/choreographed/directed the way I did, which feels like working at opposites ends of the spectrum. It's not difficult to identify areas of learning but identifying perhaps my most defining learning moments that have shaped and guided my artistic development. Sharing my process is also alien to me. So much of my work has been individualistic or delivered through other "receiving bodies". In this manner I haven't engaged dancers working with me into my creative thoughts too much. Perhaps because my creative process is in constant motion. Being "in the moment" means you're not using your mind but rather your intuition.
My challenge will be to formalize those creative sparks into a framework that is in itself divided into different compartments. That's where I can find my AOLs.