What does it meant to be human?
This is the foundational question for my most recent piece of work. I like that term, "piece of work," because it really gets to the fact of it. It's an ongoing process of consideration that I'm choosing to explore through movement. But I don't think it's something that can ever be "done."
What does it mean to be human?
There is no particular answer. No fixed point that one could get to and be right. It's a conversation that keeps going around and around, tunneling itself deeper and deeper into understanding... perhaps. Or maybe it's like Jhene says, "The more that I see, the more that I know I don't know anything at all."
I started working on this project even before I had finished with the last (Power and Powerlessness). In order to get some direction about what I would make, I first had to figure out what I thought about the topic. What DID it mean to be human?
Journaling.
Google search.
Podcasts.
Books.
Interviews.
I started in all my usual ways. I felt I had come up with some pretty solid ideas, but when I was able to blow a hole into almost every theory that I came up with, it was clear I should get out of my own head and broaden my scope a bit. Holidays with family and friends offered time and space for some essential conversations that really became the bedrock of the work. At the same time, I started practicing some creative writing with a dear friend of mine as she facilitated a writing group with 8 other artists all considering this same topic. She gave us tools to help us dig into the rich soil of our experiences. To find an understanding and pluck it out of the ground, brushing it off just enough to share in community with the other writers in the room. As we refined our ideas, she introduced more tools to uncover nuance, intricacy, breath. After 10 weeks, the text was prepared and I began the process of considering those ideas using movement. I worked with 9 dancers to embody the experiences that had been brought to life in the writings.
Now, with an understanding that there's a thin line between power and powerlessness and that humanness revolves around 1) the biological human body, 2) perspectives/stories, and 3) connection, the question is:
How, then, shall I live? - (coming spring 2025)
Vignettes on Humanity
… and in that split second, his life is changed
slipping through the cracks of his fingers as he snatches his fist shut.
It only takes a minute…
A second…
A blink…
A breath…
In one beat, he is transformed from one thing, to the next
Flavored, still, by all the selves he has ever been.
And she, cowering there,
an ancient reminder of how Time always and inevitably changes
Us all.
It’s something about being on the inside,
From the inside,
Seeing from the inside
Or the other side?
Or another side.
Perspective, perhaps, is the lesson
Or the reason.
Funny thing, perspective
Once introduced (or acknowledged) sparked the flame that blew up the world that day.
Perspective: seeing from another side
The inside?
It’s warm, and pink, and soft,
the flesh of our insides
Always there, never seen, never felt
Until, of course, there is an injury
(and there will be injury)
Then, it tends to gush out
Uncontrollably even
Brandishing its richest tones
Glistening, slippery
The liquid keeps the skin barrier from becoming stuck on the Other.
So we slide down holding each other close
Screaming and laughing
Laughing and screaming
Trying our best not to choke on the liquid
that baptizes our faces
as we shoot out the tight, dark tube
back into the brightness of day
I have been here before.
We have entered this way before
Looking backward and forward
to different moments in time
To future versions of ourselves
And all the selves I have ever been
Reaching for the Cosmos
We hold in both hands
Ego burning
Sad…
but peppy.
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