down the Path we go...

Every time I go to Carrboro I fall more and more in love with the place and the people. Well, at least *my* people who live there, but the overall vibe is so easy and comfortable. The first time I arrived there I felt kinship and a sense of belonging. Whether or not that would have been true if it weren't for the Hoop Path connection...? I really can't say; I'd believe either side of the story. I returned from my third trip there a couple of days ago and the smell of the air and the feel of the heat is still with me. More importantly, however, is the ever-strengthening bond with the community gathered around the hoop and Baxter's teaching.

I have to admit it was an odd year for me. I used the word "liminal" earlier today to describe my experience and the more I think about it, the more I realize how apt the word is. From Wikipedia: "The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy." "Liminal" is a word that well characterizes my experience this year because of the a) ambiguity: teacher or student? b) openness: participate in the exercises or assist others in performing them and c) indeterminacy: any combination of those circumstances (including none of them) could be the case.

This was not a bad thing -- our very existence, after all, is a liminal state.

This year Baxter invited me to assist in the workshops -- this role consisted largely of holding space (an understanding I did not fully have going into it although I thought I did), helping people understand the techniques and preventing blind collisions. Watching everyone in the blind/moving without the hoop exercise for the first time was so beautiful, and assisting people get shoulder and angle hooping was especially rewarding because I really struggled with those things (and still do, in different ways, even though I "get" them).

As Bax noted in his opening talk on the first day, I sought him out one year at Center Camp. I did so because I sensed a kinship in how we approached our respective practices. I had only just begun with the hoop but what I perceived to be our shared practice wasn't really about the hoop -- the hoop was the Vessel through which our meeting was facilitated. It means a lot to me that Baxter asked me to take on this role because the Hoop Path has been instrumental in my process of uncovering my own Flow and what it means to me and beyond that, what community means to me and what having authentic relationships with other people rooted in mutual respect and love means to me. It's kind of easy to forget in our hoopy/spinny world, but mutual respect and love is not how the rest of the world generally conducts itself.

I thought I had been holding myself back from my process -- and as a hooper, perhaps I was. I didn't give myself over to the exercises in the same way as I would have as a straight-up workshop participant. But at the same time, I think I got a different understanding of flow, a different understanding of HP techniques and I still came away with material to work with.

So the hoop was the Vessel, and this post represents the Mind working through it all...and the Mystery...? That's gonna come out during an actual hoop session. I can't wait.

further adventures in flow

Life has sure been a whirlwind lately! The past few months have provided many opportunities to teach, learn and show and, above all else, I am so grateful for the chances to be and create from the heart of who I am, not only my art but my life.

What I've been thinking of as this "season" started back in March with the Spinagogue's show at Flux53. That was such a great and fun event to be part of and I loved sharing the stage with so much of our local circus talent. Also, I finally got to put together a performance based on a Kate Bush song, and I've been wanting to do something to Kate Bush forever! It was just never the right context/vibe for what was going on before so I was psyched the opportunity came up. I wish my actual performance had been cleaner, but it was a rewarding experience nonetheless.

After that was the Northwest Hoop Gathering, which revolved (pardon the pun ;p) around the concept of Flow. So many great teachers at that event, I was kind of astonished to find myself included among them. Although I had taught technique classes before, this was my first workshop in which I got to express what my take on flow is, and how I approach it and think about it. It was the first time I got to teach the more philosophical elements of what I do, and it was also the first time I got to wear one of those headset mic thingies! I was nervous going into it, but it all flowed (pardon the pun again!) really well. The process of putting together my talk was fun and rewarding, and in addition to making my presentation, I got to soak up the wisdom, insight and skill of so many hoop masters!

The Flow Show was a big success, both creatively and in terms of turn out. Of all the things written about in this post, this one was my baby. I knew we'd fill the house, but I really didn't expect the kind of crowd we ended up getting. What I take away from that is that there is a real interest in the community-at-large for what we do, and a real -- not sure what word to use -- hunger? yearning? desire? -- within the flow arts community specifically, to create and witness a different kind of performance than we're used to doing/seeing. As exposing the flow arts to a general/dance audience and encouraging/inspiring spinners of all kinds to think about performance in a different way/context were the main goals of the project, I'd say we pretty much nailed it.

I've received so much positive feedback about the show; it's been really great to know that the idea struck a chord with people. I have to admit to a bit of self-interest though -- I basically set out to make the kind of show that I wanted to see! The final line-up was a great mix of local talent (the Vulcan Crew [including Memory & Ian, who also flew solo for this], Code Red Circus Conspiracy, Silverstar, Supervictorio, Bliss Butterfly and my partners in s.i.k., Josh & Rich), and far-flung hoop family (Bonnie, Ann & Bax) and international performers that I knew of but was both thrilled and surprised when they expressed interest in performing: MCP, Cyrille and Maelle. As well, it was a good mix of seasoned performers and those new to taking the stage. And the fact that there was live music and music specifically composed for this performance was just icing on the cake. (Thank you Jay & Pi for lending your musical talents to the show!) I really couldn't be happier with how it all unfolded, and look forward to putting together the next edition. Some notes for next time: get the audience participation part in, get the battle in, and either more shows or a bigger venue.

The weekend after the show was Firedrums, which I had decided in a moment of stress to not go to and sold my ticket, then changed my mind and ended up getting a ticket and a ride from my friend Chris, also known as Musashii. Soooo glad I changed my mind on that. The weather was not ideal, but whatever, my mind was blown apart by learning new stuff on poi (which I haven't really played with much since I started hooping seriously) and, especially, clubs. I had really only seen club juggling before, but being exposed to club swinging and manipulation by Maelle's performance and then her workshop has opened a new door for me. In fact, all my practice time since Firedrums has been dedicated to clubs. I've clicked with the poi material I left off with, and I think hoop will remain my "primary" but the clubs...I am totally in love.

So all that stuff happened in a period of about 8 weeks. Of course there was much prep and rehearsal time in there as part of the process. And I know for a fact that I am not the only in our community with all this going on, and in fact there are those I could name that have/had even more going on than this! I feel so blessed to be part of a community that is so dynamic and creative and I love how much collaboration there is and I personally see all of our individual projects and goings-on as elements of a really big project, of developing new art and creating new community and culture. It makes my heart sing just to be part of it.

No big projects for me right now (except maybe another CoL video) -- the next months will be all about learning, training, playing and getting ready for the next period of activity. I'm sure I'll see many of you around -- we move in the same circles after all. (hee hee, sorry i couldn't resist the pun).

big love!

it's time to sparkle!

Back in December, I put a little call out to my friends of the Flow to see who wanted to take part in a little project I had in mind. The response was beyond what I'd anticipated -- including interest from spinners I admired on YouTube but had never even met before. It definitely proved to me that there is a hunger in the spinning world to do this kind of performance, this kind of show.

I'll post more about the experience of making the show after it happens, but for now I'm just really really excited to see it. Come join us!

The Flow Show
Friday, April 24, 2009
7:30 doors / 8 p.m. show
FREE
at CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission Street @ 9th
in San Francisco

For info on the performers: flowshow.wordpress.com

jane says...

Okay I totally need to have a fanboy moment...Jane's Addiction, fuck yeah!

I haven't really been paying much attention to what's happening in the music world lately, preferring instead to explore artists I've been curious about for a while (Dresden Dolls -- awesome) and artists that come up in my social networking forays (Zoe Keating -- hello!). So it was with tremendous excitement and surprise that I learned that the original line-up of Jane's Addiction was reuniting, recording new material with Trent Reznor producing and going on tour with Nine Inch Nails on what is to be, most likely, NiN's last tour for a long while.

I first got into Jane's Addiction the first night I ever dropped acid. The blotter paper had musical notes on it, and we were sitting in my friend Brian's room and he was like "you have to check this out" and he pulled out a copy of "Nothing's Shocking" and played "Jane Says". He then proceeded to flip the tape (cassette!!) rewind it to the beginning, and started it over. Those first notes of that lilting bassline from "Up the Beach" grabbed me and haven't really let me go ever since. In that altered state, the thrumming music and Perry Farrel's whiny yet compelling voice worked their way right into my cells. It was like my brain contained the neural receptors to receive this -- just this -- music and the connection was designed to send my imagination flying out into the cosmos. Shortly after that was spring break. I didn't make any plans, and instead opted to go home, where I proceeded to get baked, drive around with my good friend Scott listening to "Nothing's Shocking" really really loud in his Toyota hatchback and wrote a sonnet sequence about unrequited love. That was a pretty awesome spring.

My first Jane's show was at the Springfield Colliseum in Springfield, MA. The band -- all 4 of them -- walked out onto the stage in long hippie skirts, all of them shirtless. The stage was festooned with Christmas lights and flowers and incense. I had previously experienced the rock show as heart-filling community experience (U2) but this show was my first experience of the rock show as hedonistic transcendent shamanic cosmic mindfuck. I had shared a joint with the friends I was with and drank some Jagermeister but my buzz was well within "normal." It was that beautiful, raw, throbbing, seemingly channeled music that sent my mind and spirit flying out of my body into that other place. I've never really been the same since and that show (and the two other Jane's shows I experienced during those years) set the standard by which I gauge live musical performance, by which I gauge rock -n- roll.

In my current life, I am surrounded by people who adore whompy glitchy twitchy stuff, and dancehall, and various versions of techno and house, and hip-hop and strange post-rock abstractions, all deconstructed and floaty. And it's all about the beat, the beat, the beat. And I appreciate that stuff, I really do. But in my mind, nothing compares to these four men, psychicallly in-tune, channeling the ancient gods with those pounding polyrhythmic drums (talk about a fucking beat!!), and those lilting, melodic yet menacing basslines, and that crunchy surging guitar and that caterwaul of a voice with songs about summertime, and sex and drugs and hookers. Pagan, profane and the most transcendent musical experiences I've ever had.

It's been twelve years since I've seen them, and they've grown up as I have. But to see the original line-up together again playing those songs (and I'm curious about the new ones too) just makes me giddy with joy. GIDDY. I can't fucking wait.

gratitude for art and learning!

On occasion, as part of my job, I meet with cultural workers from other countries who are visiting the U.S. under the auspices of a State Department program, who come here to meet with their colleagues and equivalents to see how it’s done in America. I have met with Eastern European choreographers, Vietnamese poets, the editors of a Cambodian literary magazine, Mexican performance artists…a wide range of disciplines and nationalities.

Today I had a visit from the director of the Umm al-Fahm Art Gallery, the only gallery in Umm al-Fahm, the largest Muslim town in Israel (population ~ 40,000 – a bit less than Black Rock City). This gallery represents the entirety of the arts activity in this region. He is seeking to build the Arab Museum of Modern Art there, which, when built, will feature the work of contemporary Arab artists and be a cultural draw for the region and boost the local economy (as arts activities tend to do wherever they are, according to a butt-load of research by various policy wonks). He was accompanied by an advisor assisiting him with the fundraising and planning and a State Department official.

They explained how in their community, any kind of arts activity tends to be viewed as subversive and is met with immediate suspicion by the authorities. A primary cause of this is Islam’s prohibition against drawing and depictions of the human form. So the very fact that a visual arts gallery has been established and has survived (since 1996) is no small feat – it makes the museum project, an ambitious one no matter where it were to happen, all the more ambitious and visionary. (As a side note, they showed me architectural drawings of the building and it’s really cool.)

Given this background, they were fascinated that the City of San Francisco actually makes budget appropriations to support the arts, and when I told them our grants budget for this current fiscal year (approximately $12 million) they were dumbfounded. Such an amount of municipal support for the arts in one city was astounding to them. In an off-hand comment, the Israeli advisor (not the gallery director) noted that we fund gay & lesbian arts organizations and he said “that would never happen” where they were from and “they would be run out of town.” Not a surprise to me but to hear somebody say it plainly, based on personal experience, really caused a different kind of reaction.

The experience of this meeting was both humbling and inspiring for me. It made me realize how extraordinarily lucky I am that not only do I still have a job in this economy (for now anyway, knock on wood) but also that my job is doing this kind of work. I really have no business complaining about it, ever. It’s also reaffirmed my belief in the power of the arts to form community, build bridges between different communities, and help us humans transcend our daily realities and find meaning in what are some truly fucked-up circumstances in many places in the world. It also has shortened my patience with those of our constituents who complain that we at my agency and the City in general don’t do enough to support the arts and how they deserve more money, etc. etc., whine whine. What a little bubble San Franciscans (and some of its artists) live in.

It’s felt really good to be this engaged with my job (I have some other projects going on that are interesting to me but I won’t go on about here) as I haven’t felt this way for a while.

Plus, on top of that, I have a lot going on in my creative life as well:

I begin teaching hoop classes at the Y in a couple of weeks, plus I’m presenting a workshop at the Northwest Hoop Gathering (www.hoopdazzle.com/index.html), performing in the Spinagogue variety show at Flux53 (www.spinagogue.net/) and of course there’s the Flow Show (flowshow.wordpress.com) .

For these opportunities to learn, teach & show, I am so so grateful.

the end of money = the end of ego?

It's not as simple as that, but an article I just read is sending my thoughts swirling into this little tidepool of thinking.

"In tribal cultures, art was not seen as an individual creation, but as the channeling of something from beyond oneself. People did not take personal credit. To do so would have been blasphemous."

"What can you contribute to a more beautiful world? That is your only responsibility and your only security. "

Both quotes are by Charles Eisenstein, the latter from this article: www.realitysandwich.com/money_...zation, the former in a comment he posted on that same article, in response to what someone else posted about Burning Man.

These two quotes are sparking something in me, and are kind of serving as the two ends of a thought-circuit. The thought has to do with the commodification of art and how that's served to a) remove art from our daily lives and devalue it in terms of cultural worth and appreciation outside of what's perceived to be "elite" circles while at the same time inflating the monetary value on the market for art by name brand artists and b) how that very same dynamic -- that of commodification -- actually creates a lot of ego around art as well as feeds the related anxieties around ownership/copyright/etc.

Would ego arise if we lived in a world where the basic necessities of life were not consumer goods? Would ego arise in creative disciplines if we did not have models of fame & celebrity that exist in a consumer/commodified world? Would ego arise (in both self-inflating and self-deflating ways) if art was still considered "the channeling of something from beyond oneself."? Would ego arise if such awareness of "something from beyond oneself" was the root from which our culture and society grew? What if creativity was as deeply held a value in human civilization as money is now?

""What can you contribute to a more beautiful world? That is your only responsibility and your only security. " What if we actually lived this way?

I am struggling to keep in mind that this is ultimately what I am working on. If in my day-job I can guide funding to organizations and artists creating work and programming that can nurture these shifts in our cultural psyche then I'm doing my job (even though it's not necessarily my "job" that I get paid $ for. It is on the mechanics level, but not so much on the content/philosophical level). If in my own creative work as a hooper or flow artist or writer or whatever I can let go of my personal attachment to what I've made and truly create in the spirit of serving as a channel "for something beyond myself" and not bolstering my own reputation, then I am truly doing my job. If I can create in the spirit of answering the call "what can you contribute to a more beautiful world" then that's really really serving the purpose of art in this world.

The other thing this article and this train of thought is bringing up for me is how tied up our political/ecological/economic/social crises and problems all come down to a matter of spirit. That is, our complete separation from spirit as a society. The problems are bound up together and so the solutions must also be integrative.

The more I think on this the more I see that collapse cannot be averted, nor should it be. Our role as members in the emergent society represented by Burning Man and the Festival scene and 2012 followers and you know who I mean, is not so much to change this world but to be ready to build the next one when this one inevitably falls. I get that now in a way I didn't before.

~°~ calling friends of the flow ~°~

Have you ever wondered if your performance was not fire and was not glow, if you had a blank stage, dance/theater lighting available, any kind of music you want and the freedom to fully express your inner reality in a dance with your prop, and if you were creating this for an audience that was there specifically to watch you flow -- not to party/dance, not for a fashion show, not to benefit anything (except themselves and those performing) and most definitely not to watch a Man burn -- what would you do? I suspect it would look different from your usual party/burn performance, but it might not (pushing into a new way seems more fun). I'd love for us to discover which it was (and sometimes why). I want to see that show!

I’m thinking a showcase format, many different artists and/or troupes representing a variety of props and approaches, presented in two acts with an intermission over the course of a weekend. Top choices of venue are CounterPULSE (where I staged my last show) and Dance Mission Theater. No overarching theme or narrative though individual performances can have their own (it's always possible one could organically arise). Hoping for a mix of group choreography and solo work (with perhaps a bit of metaphor?). Some freestyle in the mix as it is an important component of the flow arts, but the aim here is for something a bit more consciously shaped. Maybe a freestyle/chaos/battle finale?

I am only just starting to think this through but it's clear I ain't doing this by myself. I can't dance all the parts of the hoop waltzes in my head all by my lonesome for one thing, and battling myself would just be silly. Co-creators on this endeavor are most welcome, whether you just want to perform something you already have prepared or want to collaborate more deeply, on either a dance or the production itself. Once I have a better idea of who's interested we'll meet and go over the plan and timeline. The show will be at least six-months out (depends on venue availability -- they tend to get booked far in advance), so there's time to practice and find a new flow.

So…anybody wanna play?


*painting by Michael Parkes

the real project is living this way

If you are content with being nobody in particular, content not to stand out, you align yourself with the power of the universe.

~ Eckhart Tolle

image: "plenty of emptiness" by Horacio Cardozo

the art of saving the world

“…in the marketing society, we seek fulfillment but settle for abundance. Prisoners of plenty, we have the freedom to consume instead of the freedom to find our place in the world.” ~ Clive Hamilton

This past Monday, I attended a convening of artists, arts administrators, and government officials on the topic of art & environmentalism. The springboard for the discussion was the book “The Bridge at the Edge of the World,” [ www.amazon.com/Bridge-Edg.../0300136110 ] by James Gustave Speth, an environmentalist and professor at Yale [ environment.yale.edu/people/...faculty/ ].

The gist of the book is that capitalism and its cult/fetishization of “economic growth” is inherently anti-environment and one of its points is that the environmental movement should incorporate, on a fundamental level, social justice issues. Currently the two camps of activists – environmentalists and social justice workers – don’t consider the other issue relevant to their cause but in reality the two are intrinsically linked. I won’t summarize the rationale here as that would take too long, but the long and short of it is that “going green” is really a superficial fix that really isn’t a long-term fix, and that in order for total environmental collapse to be avoided, a fundamental shift in the culture at large must occur that goes beyond recycling, fuel efficiency and “green” products. Part of the shift is a reconnection with nature, a shift in consciousness in which we view ourselves as a part of nature, rather than nature as a field of resources for our use (inherent in this is a reconnection with our fellow humans) and the other part is the abandonment of consumerism and capitalism as we know it.

Art, of course, has the power to effect that kind of change but it too is bound up in the same paradigm – the commodification of art objects and the model of the audience as passive consumers of art experiences is reflective of the way the consumer culture mindset pervades even those realms where people like to think they’re inoculated. As Speth notes in the book, this is evidence of the insidious ability of the market to work its way into areas it doesn’t belong.

Of course the entire notion that the market doesn’t belong anywhere is anathema to the current system. Because of this dynamic, art, as practiced and viewed in the U.S., is effectively neutered as a cultural force. True believers don’t see it as such, and those of us who get the power of art, get it. But its marginalization in mainstream culture is a result of this dynamic. Burning Man culture with its focus on participation and the “no spectators” ethos is an influence against the kind of passivity the culture at large encourages but I must admit the thought of the carbon footprint of that event makes me die a little inside.

The conversation on that day reinvigorated me and reminded me why I was attracted to the arts in the first place. There is that creative spark that seeks expression, yes, but beyond that is the urge, cliché as it sounds, to change the world. That is the challenge before all of us, whether we're artists or not.

[photo is of a work by Andy Goldsworthy]

my drinking buddy

Although I do tend to keep up with popculture without really trying (it's a weird thing, I know about celebrities without actually paying attention, and know details about movies and TV shows I've never seen and have no intention of seeing), celebrity worship is not something I tend towards. I don't have CNN (no cable) and though I know who Anderson Cooper is, I don't think of him much or pay much attention to him generally, although I do concede that he's a rather handsome man.

So it's weird to me that he showed up in my dream last night as my drinking buddy. Nothing extraordinary happened in the dream, it was very everyday slice-of-life. The dream was a series of scenes of us hanging out either in his apartment or mine, sitting around sipping whiskey and talking about life, and at one point I was actually teaching him how to hoop. At another, we'd just had dinner and since he cooked I was doing the dishes while he sat in the kitchen and he was saying how at the end of the world, "you don't fall in love in the Bay Area or with the Bay Area, you fall in love *through* the Bay Area." That's exactly what he said in the dream. I have no idea what that means. Also, I called him "Coop". "Hey Coop pour me another drink would ya?"

The only other time I had a celebrity dream was when me and Madonna were in the same yoga class. After class we went and got smoothies and dished about the hot guys and how downward dog showed off their asses.

What do Madonna and Anderson Cooper say about my psyche? Do I secretly yearn to be in the spotlight by association? I find that thought rather unsettling.

But anyway, cheers Coop. Here's to your health.