Improvising

Last weekend was the opening night of a show I’ve been rehearsing for since September, Emily Faulkner’s Wind Up Dances. Our little cast of six has become quite close over the months, and the rehearsal process has been one of the most enjoyable I’ve experienced. Emily is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, and I think we all gained a fair amount of body organization and awareness from the teachings. One especially fun and tangible way we got to see our own progress was through daily improvisation sessions, where we’d do some Alexander exercises and then take turns exploring whatever movement interested us without any real guidelines. This is a fairly common tool used in the modern dance world to generate new material for dances, but I hadn’t experienced a process that devoted so much time to improvising and to watching each dancer in a cast improvise. I learned a TON about my own movement patterns, habits, and I really enjoyed the challenge of breaking out of my defaults to explore and play, making way for movement to come out of me I didn’t realize was even in there! As the rehearsal process draws to a close and I anticipate the post show blues, I'd like to share some clips of my favorite improv sessions.  

Moonrise Kingdom

I was giggling my face off during Moonrise Kingdom over the weekend when I realized that the movie reminded me so much of me and my very first boyfriend at thirteen years old. Really and truly! We thought we were the smartest two youngsters that ever fell in puppy-love, and even tossed around ideas of  eventually running away and eloping. In the end, neither of us had the balls--or was particularly keen to upset our loving parents (I think it was the right call). Still, it was a pretty darling film and it made me laugh to remember myself at that age.


Image via Mustache Robots.

Lazuli

My very talented and beautiful dancer friend Kira Blazek stars in the new Beach House video for Lazuli. How freaking cool is she? And this song. THIS SONG!

Beach House is one of my favorite bands so this is especially exciting for me. Now I am even MORE super geeked to see them at Summer Stage in July!

Weekend Getaway

I'm dreaming about a weekend getaway to a micro-cabin in the woods. It looks like this:

And it's called Robin's micro house! If only I were Finnish. 

Play

So, I feel like re-enacting this video would actually be a lot less fun in real life, but it really makes me want to run outside and play. My 25th birthday has come and gone, and I've been thinking a lot about how hard it's become  to allow myself to make time for spontaneity and exploration. I used to run around outside and catch butterflies and climb things and make up games and pick flowers and identify birds and PRETEND! Now that I'm officially in my mid-twenties(!) am I supposed to grow out of the desire to play and magically become more mature or responsible than I was before? Inevitably, when I left the cocoon of home and then of college, I gained more world experience and started taking responsibility for myself and my things and my work. And that's natural and good, I think. But sometimes I'll have a string of days that are totally structured around responsibility and getting a million things done, and I start to feel dull and withered--my 7 year old self would be shocked! Many days, my work does allow me to be creative and exploratory (improvising in a dance rehearsal or on a film set is about as close as you can get), but I've realized that I hardly ever do activities that aren't goal oriented anymore. In order to get back in touch with lil Jules (she's the tree-scrambling wide-eyed one with the butterfly net and binoculars), I have officially decided to set aside time to play outside. No goal, no plan. Precious time allotted JUST for going to the park, to the woods, to the beach, and letting myself get into whatever interests me in the present moment.

Special thanks to my loaf, Anna, for sharing this :)

Book Igloo

How sweet is this book igloo? I feel like it would be a really perfect "time-out" corner for kids who need to take a breather (or for me).  I'm having a moment wishing I lived in some airy farmhouse in the middle of nowhere so I could build one of these in my living room...right next to the swinging chairs and sliding library ladder, naturally.

Photos Via Colossal

Gotye

I'm not sure if this will make or break your weekend, depending on how you view it, but this is definitely one of the best songs/videos I've heard in a long long time. It's UGH awesome though, so listen and watch with care.


Special thanks to Nick.