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Performatica: a sharing The emphasis of the equality of all involved set a supportive base for a forum of sharing. Performatica was very welcoming and beautifully humble with a lot of room for experimentation and an all access pass to be creative to make ideas work. I loved the intensity of the days packed with classes labs and performances. ------------------------ Reflection of Performatica: Performatica is more than a dance festival, it is a laboratory, a place for investigation, experimentation, and creativity - where the community, (those who move), can come together for one week to grow and share together. As a first time participant in Performatica, I came into the experience wondering, "What will happen here?" What happened was a week of both personal and community growth about the experience of movement and dance. I felt revived, inspired, welcomed, engaged, encouraged, challenged, and most of all I felt a deep joy for the gift that movement is. One experience that marked this feeling of joy was a group performance that was spontaneously created in the middle of campus. Lead by one of the teaching artists of the festival, a large group of participants from the festival engaged in what we called "a slow walk." We walked for about 30 minutes, some just coming from dinner, others barefoot, sweaty, back pack or purse in hand, or just passing by. As our walk was very slow, the ground we covered was small, but the impact and group dynamic that was created as beautiful and moving. It reminded me about the value of community, quietness, simplicity, the complexity of our body as moving and living being, the miracle of our feet and how they transform to propel us into the world, and most importantly, that something that can so easily start as an idea in one persons mind, can translate so quickly to a community to create something tangible and alive in so short a time. This is the "onda" of Performatica. People come to learn, play and invest in the art form of dance and movement we so dearly love. Participants enter into the festival at different points in their artistic journey, as students, developing artists, or seasoned professionals - and all are welcomed. The festival does not have room for exclusivity or competition, but those who come do bring with them extensive wealth of knowledge which makes for a high level of discourse throughout the week. ------------------------ I am still in awe in the manner in which we were both able to create and nurture an experience of personal and collective growth and increased knowledge of self and body. This time spent at UDLAP/Performatica will forever be a great memory. I am extremely impressed with the other teachers, performers, and students involved with Performatica. I feel like I learned so much from all involved. I grew tremendously with my own personal understanding of body awareness and movement, specifically my somatic understanding. I look forward to return given my new knowledge of the campus and the site -specific opportunity for teaching and performing. I really appreciated all the support I received in performing and teaching. I always felt that I had someone that I could go to if I needed something and yet I felt I had a lot of independence which seemed to work really well. ------------------------ Performática is set as a very particular space, where you can live an open climate of respect and desire to share what we love which is the joy of movement and of dance. I’ve participated in Performatica since its second edition and have lived conflicting feelings of discomfort and pleasure, confidence and distrust. These feelings have been clarified during the experience. It was an interesting internal conversation in my mind, meaning, what I adopted as an ideology and my own vital perception of what I was living day by day in each of the emissions of the festival. I discovered step by step that the proposal of the festival is honest, true and that in the end every country around the world has committed human beings with human affairs, solidarity, and respect for other’s identity; people who are open to a growth-oriented confrontation and the construction of new roads, in this specific case, for dance, which happens to be a quite closed institution, loaded with norms and bounded models. I was able to take classes with teachers who generously offered their knowledge and provided me with new ideas, I am deeply grateful for them. As far as the works presented, I was able to appreciate a very similar level and even superior to those works that have been presented in previous issues of Performatica. While many of them were small staged experiments, you could see that there was a great deal of honesty in what was staged. This allowed me to have an overview of what is said by a body in motion even though this overview was somewhat limited. Finally I can only say: CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TEAM OF PERFORMATICA FOR THE GREAT ACHIEVEMENT and that I hope it repeats. ------------------------ A poem I wrote on the Friday night at the restaurant surrounded by Peformatica folks. Love Mexican “Not as bad as chewing gum” she says Happening My sister Like a bird Remember. ------------------------ Teaching and Collaborating through Performatica, April 2011, was an amazing experience as a teacher and artist. I was thrilled by the complete engagement, passion, and integrity of the students. I felt incredibly lucky to collaborate with so many talented teachers and artists, and was excited to explore different ways of collaborating while teaching. Here are some of the major areas that were particularly intriguing to me that were quite unique to this festival. De-centering the Teacher: Often as a single teacher in a classroom of students, the teacher quickly and easily becomes the major point of knowledge. While a single teacher does have many things to offer their students, this style of teaching fails to acknowledge the wisdom of the students, and the knowledge that can come from personal experience and self exploration. As a non-Spanish speaker, I felt that I was able to de-center myself as a teacher in a power-altering way. Having students translate to you in your own class was somehow thrilling; to let myself as a teacher become vulnerable, to dive into a place of unknown, I was able to model the kind of risk-taking and fearlessness that is vital to movement and art making. Students were also willing to go to a new place, to ask questions, to discuss quandaries, in a dynamic way that allowed us all to learn more about the various topics we were exploring. I am looking forward to finding other ways of creating this dynamic within single languaged classrooms. Language: On the same lines of the language differences, many fascinating things resulted from the double language. First of all, everything took more time to explain and understand, which could have potentially be difficult on the lesson plans, but I think resulted in more thoughtful consideration of each activity. I also loved hearing questions and answers given in two languages, Because I could understand so little of the Spanish words, I was able to focus on the sounds, the facial expressions, and the body language. Because of this I felt I got to know people better. You were not able to hide behind words, you really had to express yourself fully through the body. In addition hearing different translations of the same sentiments helped open up the vastness of the topics, and really made you realize many different ways of looking at the same issue. While I hope to speak more Spanish the next time I am in this situation, I definitely feel that my experience was uniquely wonderful in my lack of linguistic understanding. Collaboration: I loved collaborating on topics that I feel passionate about, and learning more ideas and techniques to incorporate into my future teaching. One area though that might be worth exploring further is the lab set up. Because the lab topics were quite broad, but each individual artist's goals were very specific, it was easy to have the topic become watered down in an attempt to have all of the artists work together. For instance, in a lab entitled "Improvisation" you could explore a lifetime of choices and experiments. Maybe in the future, as a group we could come up with a list of more specific lab topics, and the artists could sign up for the specific areas they were interested in. For example, the topics might include: Memory of Place in Site Specific Work, Choreography through connection with nature, The Palimpsest of Site Specific Work: How past affects future... If this sort of plan does not work, I will also know in the future how to better anticipate what the lab is, and therefore talk more with my fellow teachers BEFORE the actual workshop to take the time to develop deep and integrated plans that touch on all of the artists expertise. Creation of New Work: In the future, I would be interested in creating a piece during the week, In my case a Site Specific piece, that was somehow built into the day to work on a collaborative piece that would be performed at the end of the week. I think being involved in the choreographic process of different choreographers would allow the students to glimpse different methods of creation, as well as let their own creativity be funnelled into the creation of a concrete work. Overall Performatica was an incredible experience, and I feel it fully reflects where the power of dance lies - in creation, innovation, and collaboration. Thank you for an amazing opportunity~ ------------------------ Performática 2011 In my opinión, this is a very significant international event since it brings together different and diverse followers of the exploration of body movement.
------------------------ Openness, dialogue, questions, encounters, re-encounters, restatements: a feast of experiences. Performatica was to me, among other things, an internal reconfirmation that growth happens within the collective, through others, through a mirror. In my experience, the festival was an active pause to the monstrous rhythm of the city. I danced and submerged in an organic collective rhythm. I let myself go in their seas, sometimes sailing, sometimes not, some other times I just witnessed. It was a delight to be and to share. Proposals, experiments, and attempts such as Performatica are joyous; that is why I have been so interested in participating since its first issue, but it wasn’t until this time (2011) that I managed to experience it fully.
------------------------ I am reeling. In a good way. I am in a moment (which is stretching longer than a normal moment, which is including threads that go back months ago and reach forward indefinitely) that I can feel is opening new possible pathways for moving forward in the story of my life. Because of the quality of the place I am in right now, I imagine I will find this writing later in life and read it with a smile of recognition, like “yes… that was the moment when the course of the river shifted… what sweet memories…”
------------------------ Performatica was an immensely rewarding experience for me; not only because of the techniques, tips, and ways to approach dance that were shared during the event, but also because it led to make an introspection regarding my attitude as a performer and the expectations I have for myself, my development and on what I can give to others. ------------------------ Performatica was quite an experience for me. Being immersed in a week long dance festival is a dream come true. I am continuing to grow and learn as a dancer every day, but this gave me full immersion into all aspects of dance, through Performance, Worshops and Labs. I’m choosing to focus on my experience at the conference in regards to my reconnection with the environment around me.
This series of three Labs using improvisation in and with the environment really helped me reconnect with what’s going on around me. And the best part is that I wasn’t alone! There were 35 or more other people wanting to learn and reconnect as well!! This stays true throughout the conference. The people at this conference are ready and willing to go places within discussion and practice! The energy is incredible and constant! I was really given a safe space to ask questions, gain clarity and suggest ideas around all things movement and life! Meeting and experiencing this with so many amazing artists and people has been a great blessing. I can still feel the positive and supportive energy surrounding and moving through me. The best way to describe it is to say that the people around me challenged me with support! To me that is the best thing you can ask for when discussing ideas relating to your work and passion. I not only feel connected on a bodily level, but on a personal level as well. This was one of the most inspiring and empowering weeks I’ve ever had! Thank you Performatica!! YOU ROCK ------------------------ First of all I want to thank you for allowing me to participate in Performatica 2011 and note that it was very well-organized. I think they chose exponents who enjoy being in ongoing research on dance, this allowed every workshop and laboratory to have an open atmosphere towards experimentation and the diversity of postures that each participant had. The openness that everyone had towards experimentation generated joyful learning and a nice sensation of surprise with the discovery of something unknown within oneself. My personal experience was that most of the exponents were looking for the human uniqueness in each dancer; some sought in silence, others sought by releasing the body and allowing the earth and the buildings support it, others did it by simply relaxing. Then, there was the search for “harmony”, for “contact”: the edge-less relationship between the body and the world, its undulated flow with the floor and other bodies, each one with a name and a story. Lastly, allow oneself be affected by your own feelings, emotions, and thoughts, and those of others. Generate a dialogue, a narration, and a dance relationship through body language. Allow structures to be created from specific given conditions such as scores. Maybe what I just wrote will be read as something general. But what was interesting was to be a part of it and dive into the depths of my own ‘being”… “or not being” (nothingness, silence, relaxation), and allow that what I find there directs the movement of my body towards dance expression abilities that I could have never thought of. ------------------------ Personally, it was a meaningful experience that has marked my life. Meeting artists from different styles and ways of perceiving art inspires me to keep working and preparing myself. As far as the organization of Performática 2011, I want to sincerely congratulate the team organizing the event; the activities and practices were supervised by them and thanks to the sensitive and warm hospitality they had I had no problem whatsoever. ------------------------ I come away with a stronger desire and perhaps even the energy to begin teaching in my new community. I have been reminded that there is power in process. I have witnessed and participated in dances that communicate, make us laugh, ask us to pause and consider our conditions on this planet, this world. At Performatica, we are engaging in the entirety of this form. We are celebrating it, dissecting it, critiquing it, enjoying it, studying, discussing, and allowing it. We seek our commonalities and are thankful for our differences - as teachers, students, and artists. There is room for all of it, and yet the event itself contains us, challenges us, asks us to really show up and be present. Everyone is seen. Everyone is heard. We are all dancing on the same ground. ------------------------ My experience in Performatica: I’m a 23 year old guy; sometimes I’m very social, and some other times, I’m not. I know that the moment when I am “me” is in a dance studio or the stage. I believe my judgement and my predispositions slowly go away when I’m in a dance class or investigating movement with my body. I am still learning about myself, I think I’ll never be done. Performatica was a series of candid moments, unique little moments that just as they came, they ran away, leaving behind a feeling of tranquility. It was a moment of empathy with each other, as well as a moment for introspection. I want to share and transmit what I saw and what I learned. I believe that Performatica is the perfect option to discover different ways to create, to leave shape behind and approach the sincerity of who we are. Understand that as human beings we have a capacity to be creative, and this ability is based in being able to get lost in instants, in contrived situations that reveal what we are and what we will never be. Define feelings and sensations is difficult, but I know that at moments I got lost in the flight of people who gave me the opportunity to ride along. ------------------------ Generating dialogue, discussion, reflection, and sensation is one of the things that dance promotes. We use our bodies to create new realities. Each class and laboratory allowed me to reflect not only in movement but also in the rational feelings that make us dance. ------------------------ We all participated in the construction of this vibe and energy that transcended space and bodies; we were all part of the amazing energy mass that overflowed all my senses.
Connecting with the deepest part of someone whose name, occupation, fears, and prejudices you don’t know: awakening sensations together, giving love and receiving love. I know this experience will be present to me for a long time, there is still too much to understand, too much to be settled. I believe we all agree on the intensity of it; it had been a really long time since I connected to dance, that is why it was so meaningful to me. I am very happy that I have the opportunity to sincerely thank the teachers that truly transmitted love and passion in their classes; this caused that all of us who were there taking the workshop were truly committed. ------------------------ I'm very grateful with everyone that was involved in this wonderful project. To all the organizers, the teachers, the performers, and the students that invested time and money to come to Cholula to be part of this experience that, at least for me, was life-changing. I enjoyed all the workshops, labs and performances very much. But what I found most magical about Performática 2011 was the conformation of a space in which, no matter where you're from or what you do, we all treat each other as equals and have the same interests. That is priceless. I have no words to describe how unique this experience was for me, and how happy I am for having had the opporunity to be a part of it. I hope it repeats itself soon. ------------------------ My experience with Performatica was a positive one. I walked away with many new friends and connections both in the New York dance world, in which I'm a part of, as well as artists from Mexico and around the globe. It came at a point in my life where I needed the space and time to think creatively outside my everyday dance world that I'm currently a part of. I have only had a couple of experiences in the past in which I was able to completely build my own agenda and day, and Performatica gave me this freedom. It made me want to participate rather then feel obligated to do so. When I came back home was when I truly felt the effects of the event. I was a lot more free in my body and a lot more open to the energy of people around me. As an artist there are not too many times in which you can be given space to create and explore and time to really evaluate what you want to explore. This gift of time and space is extremely valuable. Beyond my own creative experience, I took away many new exercises that I plan to implement in my own teachings. It was great to have a variety of artists participating, sometimes we are only surrounded by people that work the same way we do and therefore it is easy to get caught up in one specific way of thinking and teaching. If asked to participate again, I would definitely jump on the opportunity. Nothing beats a positive environment and positive people striving to give and receive in a way that helps nurture you as an artist. ------------------------ Dance is a way we can know someone without talking. I knew people and dance with them, it combines affect, feeling, emotion, nonverbal communication, body kinesthetic intelligence, motor system, and open mind. ------------------------ |