Covid-19 closed our schools and I was teaching online. I wasn't getting a lot of interaction with my students and I was missing them. I had extra time on my hands and I just wanted to keep busy. I got it in my head that I wanted to make a PassionDan app but then I remembered that I do not like doing sales calls and trying to sell to anyone. I like to just do my thing and keep making. However, I still had this plan in my brain to create what I would have made for the app. Instead of spending the money on an app and charging people, I used Google Classroom. I had ten friends from life and Facebook join me in six weeks of movement explorations. I made six themed weeks of movement exploration tasks to share with them. The first couple of weeks were really great. However, I lost them all along the way.
I was torn between tying to motivate them to re-join me in the movement explorations and sharing and knowing that this is a strange time for everyone and not wanting to bother anyone. Everyone is dealing with the pandemic in their own way. Maybe this isn't what they need right at this moment. I tried not to take it personal. I know that I have students whose work ethic I totally adore, who I can't keep their attention online at this time. It is just a difficult time and everyone is allowed to deal with this time the way that is best for them. No judgement.
I was doing this to keep myself motivated. I was doing this to cope. I was doing this to keep moving and keep creating and to keep connecting in a time when we were all stuck in our homes... adjusting to this new world. I also knew that this is something I could use in my teaching in the future. It can be adapted for different levels and I would have it all written out with video examples to use in class.
I did start to lose interest when it was just me and we had a few rainy weeks in Vancouver. I did not get every task done myself because even I had days where I was feeling like, what is the point? Then, the sun would come back out, my solar motivation would be recharged and I would continue on with determination.
I imagine running this again with students. I even started designing what I imagine to be the next level: Task Team 2: Concept Creators. You never know, maybe one day I will have my own app.
If anyone reads this and is interested in going through this program - you can do it on your own - or reach out to me. I would love to run it again with a fresh crew of dancers. I think this is one of those things that will evolve each time I run it changing and morphing with the new Task Team crew that takes it on.
I was inspired by a dancer I saw on Facebook: Ikue Ueno. She shared a video of herself sitting in the park, doing some hand dancing to the thankful sounds at 7pm. After asking her if I could use her as inspiration, I decided to film myself for seven days moving to the thankful sounds on my patio.
I only ended up filming six days because I had so much video to edit and delete. I started with small moves, a lot of sitting, hands and arms. My moves got bigger over the six days. The sixth day I was on my feet the whole time.
I imported my videos to iMovie and played around with making two of me and doing that in different ways. I sped some parts up and also tried reversing some parts of the video. I found the coolest moves happened on the bigger sounds. I deleted a lot. I exported it and brought it back into iMovie so I could make more of me. Then, I deleted some more. At first it is hard to delete moves… you want to keep everything… then I just chopped and chopped… my goal was to keep it at the five minute mark.
I made 365 dances. I didn't do it in 365 days. I took that pressure off of myself at the very start. I took time off to take a break from social media and spend time with family during spring and summer breaks. I also had a break when I had surgery - those would have been some wonky, painful dances - not good memories. I really enjoyed this challenge. I first saw it going on with one of my students (alumni now) Brian. I loved watching his daily dances. It never crossed my mind to do the challenge myself until Rajan invited me into the challenge. That is when I thought it was so strange that I never even thought to just do it. Of course it is an awesome idea, lead by example, get others involved, grow, learn new ways to create and share... I was all in.
As I reflect back on this "year" of dances, I have so many great memories. There are snippets from my times working on my thesis project for my MFA. There are the dances by the Inukshuk with Stephanie and Carrie for Seven to the Seventh. I can see all the different hair cuts I have had but all the same clothes. I have to admit, one of the first concerns with this challenge was, now it is going to be really evident that I wear the same thing everyday. (Every year... forever...) My lack of wardrobe was probably the only downfall to this challenge. I remember the day the Weed store closed in our building - yay! Days we went to Squamish, visiting different skate parks with Biggy, and the day we driving through Stanley Park and the wind was blowing, the waves were crashing up and over second beach pool. We ran out of the car and into the wind to take in the sights and sounds and of course, make a dance. There are also memories from the fun of living through different strata renovation projects. (The patio garden still hasn't been put back.... I miss my rhodo.) There is also the memory of the start of the lock-down for covid-19.
Some of my favourite dances are those where other people joined in with me. I have dances with alumni, my admin team, Gloria Sarmento (I love her!! My last principal), a snowman, Crystal, my family: mom, Belle, Rob, and lots of Christian. I have my best friend Carrie walking home from Ballet BC. I have students - where I jumped into their dances or they jumped into mine - love that. I also caught some alumni when they came to visit. All amazing memories caught because of this challenge.
I also learned a lot during this challenge. I slowly learned to not care about people staring at me while I danced in public. I learned to dance in a video and share it. I used to shut down at the end of a Harbour class when the teacher pulled out a camera - it would always be my worst round of the choreo. Now, I don't notice the camera as much. I learned more about video editing. I loved making videos where I was dancing with myself- two ghost versions of me. The green wall is another element that I learned to play with. Oh, I am going to miss that green wall. Can you believe the school just randomly painted my dance wall green? How awesome is that?
I made time for myself each day. I loved walking out my door with a song
in my headphones and finding a sweet spot to move. I loved these little
choreo walks. Time that I had just for me to think about the song, try
and find the beats or something to play, and then finding a location
that didn't have too many people around.
At first, it was hard to find time to record a dance everyday - just to make time for it. Once I got in the habit, it became part of my day. Halfway through the challenge, I started to think about not having a reason to make myself have this time each day. I knew I would miss it. This is when I started creating little projects for myself that would continue on once the 365 challenge ended. Through my @dancerOwned (aka dOWN) IG account, I created:
Task Tuesday (#downTaskTuesday): a weekly movement exploration prompt/idea. I really enjoy these each week. I have a list and sometimes I choose from that list and other times, there is something in my mind and I just go with something I have been thinking about. I hope one day, there will be more people trying them and sharing their own explorations. This aligns with my obsession with global artistic collaboration. I love the idea of connecting artists from around the world through shared artistic research tasks.
Meet, Greet and Move to the Beat (#dOWNMGM2B): I set a date, time, and location and see if I can people to walk into and join the mini site specific performance. Just dance to whatever is playing in your headphones, say hi, make that connection. I am going to update this one for covid-19 and do an in home version. Meet on the patio or in the living room. I was thinking of setting a spot outside too, maybe I will - an alley dance. If you know this alley - on your way to get your groceries, stop and film yourself dancing at this spot. Instead of dancing at the same time. Maybe I can do one time - in your home and one place, in an alley - dancing at the same spot.
Dance Chain: I have made three of these so far. The first one died at the third person. With some updates, the second and third are still going. I use a contained group of people: Killer Beez/JU MFA, I changed "move" to 8 counts, and if it dies, I redirect it myself to someone else in the group. I have people send me the video and I post and tag so that I can keep track of it and make sure the next person knows what to do. I also keep all the parts and make one long video out of them - adding music, move#, dates, and locations.
Cyber Cipher: Freestyle! I started this one during spring break for my students. I am going to start a new Cyber Cipher soon and this one will go out to TEACHERS. YES! ALL TEACHERS! I am going to do that today!! or next Friday? No, today!!
Thank-you to Rajan and Teg for inviting me into the challenge and for Brian for the first person I saw do it... and regurlarly = everyday... I saw him improve through exploring and posting everyday - damn... that kid is so inspirational. Rajan and Teg just wondered why don't you do it too? it hadn't even crossed my mind that anyone would want to see my dances everyday - thanks to everyone who watched and liked/commented, danced with me... supported me in anyway on this journey... it isn't over... just evolving - Never stop making! And, I recommend and encourage anyone out there, especially dancers, if you want to learn more about yourself and your style and evolve as a dancer, accept this challenge. Make it your own. Play and explore everyday and share with us. I will support you and watching your journey will not only make me and others happy - it will inspire others to start their own.
#killabeezdance365
I saved some of my favourite dances to my Vimeo account.
