Thank you everyone! We made it! More info to come...

but first I found a little discrepancy ......

a handful of people personally told me that they updated their pledges yet the site does not reflect that on all of them. Please go back and be sure that the amount pledged is the amount you were aiming for.
You have to type in the total amount you want to pledge and not the amount you are adding to your previous pledge.

Let me know if you have any questions.

THANK YOU!
stay tuned for more info on the fun part of being a backer!

be well
S

ps. We got invited today to do the piece in Cambridge, NY at Hubbard Hall alongside choreographer/artist Katy Schonbeck and her new work "Cloud Walking" on March 19. I am hoping this works out for us. We would do it as a work-in-progress venture preparing us further for our debut. This is very exciting for me to be connecting the habitats further already.

there are less than 3 days left. 81% there. $415 left to raise. we can do it!

if everybody can add a little bit (like $5) to their pledge, we might just make it. (thanks to those who have updated their pledge and welcome to the new backers!!)

space:
I cleaned & packed up & out of the Storefront on Feb 1st and left the key tacked to the wall. It was strangely easy to do. I felt ready to be back in our usual atmosphere of "not knowing where we will be and when". Going back into hiding so-to-speak, out of the eyes of passer-bys and off the culturally marked grid. Since then we have resumed meeting in a few of our random places, one being Karen's warm and welcoming studio/space in Lenox where she offers Pilates and her own special magic. www.karenleecentral.com

The other space is the Dalton Ballet school owned and operated by the amazing Michelle Furlong who is Kalei's primary mentor. I have known Michelle through the dance studio "scene" since I was (what they now call) a "tween" in the Berkshires. She as a Cantarella dancer and I, Terpsichorean all the way. It's a beautiful thing to share the connections and see how they have grown over the years.

sound:
Lance and I re-recorded some of the spoken words for Widows Walk and he has been finely tuning the section....prepping to add more. I chose "mystery song" from something we did this summer for the Interlude: Connected Through Lights section. Cosmic, primordial, gooey, open. This is one that is my offering to all of you. Gestures for givers. With special talent added from Lita.

We chose his song "the story of you" as our Entering/Overture music. A beautiful piece with a cinematic quality that I feel brings the listener into space and into heart. We are going to look closer at that piece as the choreography gets clearer. He is composing to us and can shift and morph to my changes...as opposed to Frederique's music which came as a surprise at first into the piece when she sent me her newest arrangements/demo winter 08-09. This is music I listen to and dance to over and over and over again and never tire of. Complex journies over sand and sea. Rich tones that speak of a multitude of sacred and profane influences. I first imagined that her music would be live and the other sections (what are now Lances'; recorded) But getting her here from Barcelona isn't going to work for our debut in April. I am excited to be working in more tracks off the original demo. She is in my heart. www.frederiquemusic.com

"Music alone can be the means by which the souls of races, nations and families, which are today so apart, may one day be united.” Hazrat Inayat Khan

movement:
A lot flowered via the seeds of the public movement offerings for the residency. Some of that has been carefully added into the garden of the piece. Feedback from the Open Rehearsals keeps me running from my notebook, to that source in my imagination, to the performers and back and forth refining and wanting to find the exact fit for this or that. What are we bringing to life? What is being brought to life in spite of us? Questioning from Lita in rehearsals makes me have to speak when I would rather free-fall, direct or move. This has been good though, I have learned that it is part of bringing us all into what is happening. AND Something is happening.

costumes:
it is a fabric thing at this point. catherine and i have to decide. some samples are in the mail on their way to me from Oakland. interesting things are coming of this as we now have the added extra creative challenge of working in Lita on stilts. and the cathartic finale which i cannot reveal to you, that includes a costume "thing" that may take some time to figure out. once we settle the fund raiser here we can purchase the fabrics and materials we need and get ON it.

action:
We have set the debut as April 17th at Jae's Spice upstairs in the ballroom (thank you Joyce!)
We will have a 7p and 9p showing. tickets can be reserved on my website after sunday.
Friday the 16th will be our rehearsal in the space, which you are welcome to sit in on if you like. contact me if you do.
We are hoping to tech. everything on Wed.

There will be an aspect of the piece that includes the "audience" but it will be rehearsed. Stay tuned for details in your email about that if you were a participant in any of the free public offerings. I will be calling on those folks to come be a part of it if they are available and feeling brave.

that's it for now, my apologies for not getting the free offerings movie done yet. I have been distracted by numerous activities seen and unseen.

be well all!

Hello Backers!!

I just wanted to show you this really cool video of our first Open Rehearsal made by filmmaker (and project backer) Ben Pender-Cudlip of Unrendered Films. I will be putting this up front on the projects' main page.

As of right now we are $827 away from our goal. Thank you so much for your support thus far. 13 days to go. Please spread the word.

We are aiming for a Spring Equinox debut in Pittsfield.

More info on that to come.

artist statement

habitat (de)fragmentation

I have been making dances here in the Berkshires since I was quite young, but I have rarely found a venue that can sustain and support them. Dances are made with great care and skill and then remain memories to the very few that experienced them. I want to do it differently this time around. I want to keep this one alive outside the mind for longer than it was in it. I want to see what happens if we have the chance to reveal more.

habitat (de)fragmentation is a bold work for me, full of grace and gut. It is Physical Poetry and this is my medium. The piece lives with me. It’s in my car radio, engine, on the road, in the last breath of a struck animal, in the dark walk to the door, in the beds I sleep in, the parking lots I trace through, and the spaces I breathe in. It follows me and shows itself in different forms. In the studio it sometimes takes shape as a gesture that speaks a thousand metaphors, a phrase that captures a history too long to talk about over tea, a revelation of character, or a piece of fabric that is a shroud, a cloak, a flag or a veil.

Sometimes a light shines on one bit of a foot or face and context is misplaced and then expanded. Sometimes a character is captured by the rapture of an embrace completely uncomfortable and yet daring. Sometimes a provocative movement speaks a raw sexual language that is universal in the animal world. Sometimes spirits become machines that are animals pretending to be humans interrelating. Sometimes other-worldly beings are being born with the backdrop of a sensual musical motif influenced by strands of Arabic scales and American jazz. Sometimes two characters find each other in the shadows carried by the penetrating notes of an ambient audio composition that contrasts sharply to the aforementioned backdrop.

The whole time, a secret is about to be revealed, a secret that the viewers have to discover for themselves. A secret that brings the spaces between together again. Connects roads to rhythms. Creates corridors linking separate worlds. Illuminates mystery. Feeds the eye a bittersweet candy that becomes a food for thought.

The habitat is the heart. The time is now. The theme is edges. The anchor is loss.

habitat (de)fragmentation includes original compositions by Lance Monotone (MA) and Frederique Trunk (Barcelona). Costumes created by Catherine Diebold/Ruckus Muckus Originals (CA).

it's January 20th, 6:47 am. A multitude of reasons are keeping me from sleeping this morning. One of them is that I want to report on the status of the project. (I am tired so I'm not sure how much sense of all the thoughts, feelings and happenings I'll be able to make.)

So, I'll try... by telling you that I am working on a movie compilation of all the really great free public offerings that have been held by my generous fellow movement explorers, Megan Reisel, Dana Bixby, Dawn Meltzer and Caryn Heilman. That will be up in a day or two. It has been a real honor to offer the space and experience to the community at large. The response has been surprising and inspiring.

Also, last weeks' Open Rehearsal was shot by film maker Ben Pender-Cudlip. Ben was one of the makers of the Storefront's documentary project back in 2004 and also made the DVD for my Oschun Exuvia piece back then too. An adventurous, talented, and generous artistic spirit. I look forward to working more with Ben on the video aspects of the piece along the way as it grows.(Be on the look out for a post here too of some of that work!)

I am prepping for tonight's Open Rehearsal. Feeling more anxious than last week. Last week we showed gestural scenes taken mostly out of context on purpose. The feedback on that was incredible and very helpful. (For those of you that were there and were confused, thank you for hanging in there with the process.) My idea worked! Taking the pieces out of order and meaning made it easier to see what may have been missed that is obvious. We also experimented with the final section. I am getting clearer about where to go next, but it is still gray. Lots to try still. More to be revealed.

Tonight I will show 3 full minutes of each section. And then we'll have time to talk artist talk....and maybe try out some new ideas.

Meanwhile, I am applying for some venues for beyond the premiere. I am going to post the artist statement that I am working on for that. Check it out. Please don't be shy, leave some comments here too! (Though thank you for the emails.)

Stay in tune. PLEASE spread the word.. We are HALF WAY there. Let's go over the mountain and come back down the other side!

Thank you for your support.