Skate-o-graphy Part 1

This morning was not starting off well. Christian did not want to go skateboarding. So instead of having a family sesh, Jonny went and then I went. At first I thought, never mind, I will just do  my workout and forget about my morning skate. But then I thought, it is probably a better idea to let Christian see that he isn't ruining my fun, just his own. I charged up my headphones and when Jonny returned, I was out the door. At first, I had anticipated skating straight to E spot and then hitting Coopers on the way back. However, when I rolled up to Coopers, it was empty and shady. I couldn't pass it by. I ended up staying at Coopers for an hour and a half. I was drenched with sweat. I probably looked like a goofball - but I just did what I do and what I have always done.

Not only is this the first time that I have done a solo skate, it is the first time that I have skated with tunes this year. I always used to skate with music. I forgot how much better it is to have a soundtrack in my head. Before I left the house, I downloaded new music, but I ended up on a Harbour list of music that has been used in classes. I haven't kept up the list that well, so there are only four songs on it. I got stuck on one song for most of the time: Nao's, Another Lifetime. I heard this song in Victor Lau's class. I think I took his class three different times that he did this choreography. Do you know what happens when you listen to a song that you have learned choreography too? You dance. You can't help it. You know what happens when I listen to most music, I dance.. but a song you have listened to over and over and put moves too, you dance a little more easily.

Before I go on and before I forget, I would like to give credit where credit is due. I would like to thank my inspirations... things that lead me to what I have been developing in my brain during and since this solo skate session. I thank my family for the solo skate. I thank my husband for playing the Nike GIZMO video. He put it on for me this morning to get me pumped. I thank all the girls skating in GIZMO for being so awesome and making me feel like it is ok that I am a skateboarder. (old girl skater.) I thank Victor for his taste in music and for choreographing a dance to this song. I thank Nao for her song: Another Lifetime. I thank the boxing fitness trainer for not being at Coopers with a client this morning. I thank Emma for sharing her skate video of  herself olling a sweater. And really, this is what I was going to do today. I wrote her that I was going to ollie over a sweater too, but that didn't happen.

I started with backside nose slides. Most of them were bonks but some of them slid. I added a shuv-it sometimes... but that barely counts because it was hardly moving. However, I am happy to be gaining confidence back. I moved to olling over the line,  frontside 180, and a nollie. (if space) As I kept putting the song back, "one more time," I realized that it was really fun to make my ollie go with this one part of the song. So, I backed the song back to the start and counted myself in: push 5,6,7 bend 8, ollie 1. It took me a few tries to time it right, two pushes or three, start on 4 or 5, that sort of thing. Once I got it, I thought, this is it. What is the next part or my skate-o-graphy?

Skate videos are edited to music. Maybe that is a reason that I want to make my ollie go on that one part of the song? Maybe it is just the dancer in me? Is it possible, without making it cheesey, to choreograph skateboarding to a song? How do you add multiple skaters? I don't see them doing the same move, that would be silly, but I see one person doing one line, then another doing another, and so on, building up to a big trick and then bringing it all back down to a close. What if those little ankle adjustments, feet gesticulations, what if you could get those timed to the song?

Two years ago, at Jacksonville University, we had a workshop with dance/video artist, Lily Baldwin. She asked each of us what our thing was. What is that one thing or idea that is only you? I was one of the last people to respond, so I had a lot of time to think. Everyone was giving really awesome answers and I was worried I wouldn't think of anything. What am I? It is hard to say anymore. It used to be so easy. I was a skateboard ballerina. I really questioned what I was at JU. I wasn't a ballerina compared to Stephanie or Blanca... or Chris. I wan't a modern dancer. I guess people thought I was hip hop.. or urban... but I am not that either. I can do everything but nothing is me. I think I found my me. AND, I think my me was always there. I remember skating when I was younger and falling off into a pirouette and a penche. I still do that. No one else does that. That is me. I am a skaterboard ballerina. What is the one thing that I said to Lily? I said I am really interested in the movement of skateboarders. I said that two years ago, but today it clicked.

That happens you know? Things fall into place when they are supposed to. Here is the next piece. As my mind was wondering how I could make this happen or if this is even a feasible idea. (Because now I am thinking about using this idea as my next research project and writing up... and throwing away the one I have almost finished.. the "safe" idea.) How can I make this happen? Who would try to do something so crazy with me? AND it clicked! The sister shredders - who I have only hung out with twice. I bet they would be into this idea and helping me make it a reality. If I hadn't gone to Squamish and ran away to the skate park and met these girls on skateboards... who welcomed me in... I would be missing a piece to this puzzle. It could work.

I have a video here. It is from the very start of my skate session this morning. (I feel weird recording myself. I just want to be free... but I do like editing videos... so I force-film myself.) You can see I still fall off my skateboard and dance. This video is before I started doing my ollies to the music. I was going to get a whole part choreographed and film it, but more kids were in the playground and I felt weird. I also thought, I don't have to do it all in one day. I can add on tomorrow.

One last thought. I thought about hip hop today. Hip hop as a dance form started out more as freestyling, battling, or even social dances. It wasn't the choreographed masterpieces that you see today. And while I see the beauty in freestyle and understand that that is lost in these intricate group choreographies, I know that both are important. I was thinking about this because this would be similar. By setting skate moves to music, the freedom of the style might be lost. However, that made me think, what if there were tasks that we went through - improvisational skate games - that created these different parts or skate lines? Then we just put the pieces together in space. And there is another topic - it could be taken on the road and made site specific. Every live performance would have to be different because of its location. Site specific skate movement choreographed to sound performance = skate-o-graphy.

to be continued...

Seven to the Seventh: Vancouver

LINK to WEBSITE

Stephanie, Carrie, and I participated in Seven to the Seventh Vancouver. My mom surprised me for a visit too. She did walk into the space for a little bit which makes her a participant too.  (Link to Facebook Event)

Performance Schedule:

In Vancouver, we met for six days and at five different times of day, at the Inukshuk in English Bay. One time, I danced by myself in my living room because it was at three in the morning. With just two phones, an Ipod, and a speaker, we were able to connect and dance with artists from around the world and be part of a live-streamed performance. There were live streams from Athens, Miami, Tokyo, San Francisco, San Juan, Chennai, Arnhem, Byblos, Bangkok, and Stockholm.

The audio scores were different for each day. They were created by BROS PIGOUNIS and made up from sounds from each participating city. Each were seven minutes long, with a number or sound to indicate each minute interval.

There were seven different performance scores. You could choose to play with just one or change every minute. The performance scores were accessible to any human and they were available in different languages. Here is the English version that I worked from:

Reflections from my experience of Seven to the Seventh: Vancouver

First, I was extremely happy to get to participate in this global performance event. Thank-you to Ana Sanchez-Colberg for inviting me and the world, into this project. I am enthralled with the idea of technology being able to connect dancers from around the world. How wonderful to get to be part of a project that has live stream that is actually working. How amazing to be part of a ground breaking global performance. This is the first time that something like this has been able to be accomplished. This makes me question, what will be next and how else can we make this work? How amazing that I was able to dance with people around the world. We were really connecting the world through art. (#letsconnecttheworldthroughart)

Tasks that stuck out for me: Move for seven pause for seven is a lovely entry point. Anyone can do this. It focuses your mind on a simple task and you find freedom in the movement. I also enjoyed incorporating movements from the people around me. Often, there would be runners stretching, people staring at their phones, a game of volleyball, or even just a simple gesticulation during a conversation. Adding these movements into my movements created an even deeper connection to the location and moment in time. The other task that resonated with me was leading with my hand. I had a lot of fun trying to make my hand manipulate different parts of my body as it lead the movement. I also traced the number seven on the ground and in space with different body parts.  If I had been dancing with more people or in a different space, I would have liked to have lead a partner or made contact with seven points. I would also have liked to have tried going through each task and switching at the minute mark.

One thing that stood out to me was the connection that I built with the actual space and the Inukshuk. Visiting the same space and dancing in the same space each day, gave that space a greater meaning to me. Like attending the same high school your whole life, each time you drive back to your home town and past that school, you have memories from that time. Every time I walk past the Inukshuk now, I will remember the time that I spent dancing with the Inukshuk. It has become more than just a piece of art by the beach, it has become part of me. That sounds cheesey - but if you think about it - if that is all it takes to make something more important or meaningful to someone - then maybe we all just need to dance for seven days on certain spots and find connection. (Not to go here - but it popped in my brain - I imagined Trump dancing on the Mexican border and then deciding not to build a wall... maybe we need to have a dancing Mexican wall...!!! Did I just solve the world's racism problems right now?? Maybe we should try to have DANCING BORDERS!! #letsglobalizetheworldthroughdance)

It wasn't always pretty. For the three in the morning performance in Vancouver, I danced from my living room. I was going to go to the Inukshuk and wear glow in the dark things - but my partner in crime decided it was best to sit out of this one. So, I thought, I would dance from my patio. We have lights out there... but we didn't and I didn't realize until it was almost time to dance. I also had my phone fully charged before bed and then when I woke up it was almost dead... what was on all night? I had to find a plug and dance with it attached to the wall. The angle was of my ugly couch that was really supposed to be my patio couch, but "they" have been fixing things on our patios for a year and all of our patio furniture had to be moved in. That is a long, frustrating story - what I am trying to say - is Bambuser got a bad angle due to being plugged into the wall. Anyways, I danced and tried to go back to sleep, but who can sleep after dancing for twenty one minutes? I also had to be really quiet, trying not to wake up Christian and Jonny. (I am sure I failed in that!) I do remember making arm dances with Jimmy on Appear.in though - that was fun.

Other technical difficulties included touching the Bambuser off when it was already off and accidentally turning it back on and off again - which means the live stream was only three seconds long.

I look forward to participating in the next one and want to remember some things for next time: Next time thoughts: How can I get more people involved: doing this with students at school - going through the tasks before hand.. and then participating... make it happen at school... if it is during the school year... Maybe not all of them - but one of them at least. Then, have it out in the community and invite students that now know -to come and participate somewhere new... and to bring a friend. Get other schools involved -maybe have a big field trip...  Definitely have one at the Inukshuk again... but would also be cool to showcase different locations. I love the outdoor shows...