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.