Malcolm's blog

We have been dabbling with speech in Penelope and Odysseus. Amanda and Alex are old moving partners now and have a lot of chemistry onstage. I find it fascinating to watch them talk like Penelope and Odysseus.

We have taken on the project of making a dance of Medusa. I spend a lot of time these days thinking about the myth and what it really means. Freud sees Medusa as a symbol of castration (head cut off), yet of potence as well: phallic snakes, stony hard ons. I don't quite subscribe to his views, yet I agree that there is a paradoxical nature to the Medusa myth, and clear gender clashing.

First of all: beautiful!

Nova Scotia continually reminded me of Penobscot Bay in Maine, where I spent many childhood vacations. So many features were identical: the rounded-stone beaches, the globular seaweed clinging to boulders, the salty air, the crabs and gulls, the mussels and shells, the temperate summer weather (a stark contrast to the blistering DC miasma)…best of all, the constant roll of water to soothe my ears and eyes. It tasted of heaven.

Below is the basic structure of the group improv score I plan to teach at the Blind Date Workshop with Susan Heather Cook on Saturday July 30 from 10am-1pm.

Made some progress on my duet for Susan Cook. It's called, aptly enough, "Blind Date." I think it will work because it contrasts Susan's capoeira skills and contact improvisation.

The Washington DC/Philadelphia Exchange, Saturday July 9, 2011, at 8pm and Sunday July 10 at 7pm at Dance Place, went well! Both nights were well attended.
 

Monday: I find I have more confidence than I expected in the studio this morning. I expected the pain in my back to command a greater degree of regret or grief. Instead, I find that I feel sure, although I may not dance as fully as on other days.

Greek myth is from a different time. When I create dances based on these myths, they reflect my culture more than ancient Greece: I interpret them according to my worldview. As such, they reflect my experience of gender roles in the US, particularly as a father of a daughter. In my dances, both women and men support one another, but, in "Icarus and Daedalus," the girl is in danger.

Have been experiencing lower back pain since late yesterday morning. It is my old friend. He grips my quadratus lumborum with as much tension as if he would hold me back from toppling over a cliff. It is one of the ways I know that I have been working too hard.

Show coming up--so much to prepare! Working on costumes, soundscores, press, production details...yikes! It's all so much fuss, followed by a huge drop after the show. Suddenly the work will die down and I won't know what to do with the excess adrenaline. Breathe!