Here in Vermont, the maples are budding, the lilacs seem ready to leaf out, and the robins have returned in force. Even the Juncos are mating. Out in the larger world, the men’s collegiate basketball tourney is underway, with small schools somehow beating larger, more highly rated schools with some consistency. Creativity, generativity, and the unexpected are everywhere! Continue reading
This week, Axis Dance Company was in residence at the Flynn Center. Last night they performed on the main stage. I attended the performance and stayed around for the post-performance conversation.
Axis is a mixed abilities, gender, and ethnicity dance company, composed of a multinational group of dancers and choreographers. Some dancers are able bodied, others have physical disabilities that challenge their mobility. All are exceptional dancers. The choreography embodied by the company draws on the unique skills of each dancer, and seamlessly incorporates wheelchairs and props into the dance. The result is artistic magic.
I noticed early on in the performance that the company’s style of dance was quite different than it had been when I last saw them six years ago. (It doesn’t seem THAT long ago!) During the post-performance conversation the dancers repeatedly referred to the choreography as having been “written on the bodies” of the dancers. It turns out that choreographers design each dance to fit the capacities of specific dancers in the troupe. The pieces are literally choreographed on the bodies of the dancers! One implication of this is that the pieces performed change as the composition of the troupe changes. Another implication is the choreography begins to map the bodies of the dancers in ways similar to the mapping created by disability and by the “the gaze” of others.Yet, the choreography also CHALLENGES the viewers concepts regarding disability, and in so doing, the gaze. Continue reading
Last Sunday we went to the Flynn Center for the opening of “Engage“, a visual arts exhibition featuring the work of Vermont Artists who have disabilities. The show was juried without reference to artists names or locations. The result is an exceptionally diverse and exciting exhibition.Coo-dos to Judy Chalmer, Executive Director of VSA VT, and John Killacky, Executive Director at the Flynn, for a masterful and determined job of pulling together the show and the evening performance showcase. Continue reading
We were just out for a walk amongst the snow showers. The showers come and go, replaced at times by sun. The snow falls in small, almost square, balls. Occasionally, the pattern is broken by a burst of large, intricate, slow falling flakes.
We walked, then had afternoon tea. Last week we spent a couple of days in Montreal. The weather was brutal: temps in the single numbers and wind whipping through the corridors created by tall buildings. I was planning to take a walker, but decided to leave it, and take crutches at the last moment. This turned out to be a good choice, as snow flurries kept the sidewalks slushy. Continue reading