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I traveled several hours North by bus through the countryside after spending a couple of days in Madrid with an old friend. A driver met me at the bus stop just outside of a bar in a small town after sunset. He owned the bar and the only taxi service in the area. We drove up through the mountains into complete darkness, the surrounding landscape barely sparkled with what looked like scattered clusters of stars. La Sierra, which would be my home for the following week, was a pueblo with only 12 inhabitants.
I spent my days exploring the beautiful outside. Fields, roofs, architecture and landscape. It was very cold in the mountains and very magical. I remember dancing through the fog one day. There had been frost on the ground but it was now melting. I lost myself, barefoot dancing in an open field. The barely thawed mud clumped and caked on my feet. I kicked it off as I danced in what appeared to be a one of an endless series of fields being prepared for planting. When I realized my toes were almost frozen and aching, I ran back to the house. I called to another dancer who was staying in the cabin next-door to mine. He brought me a bucket of lukewarm water to wash the mud off my feet. Once my feet were clean enough, I went inside and warmed them in the kitchen while drinking hot coffee brewed in a moka pot.
The dance performance studio was full of windows, so I usually worked outside until the evening hours when I could play with projections in the space. I filmed and took pictures of myself using a GoPro camera during the day, then edited the film together and posted photos to my blog. After sunset I projected the short dance studies onto a giant screen and manipulated them with the motion sensor technology of the Kinnect. I was generally up until 2 in the morning dancing and playing. I would talk to Taylor most days, usually frustrated with my lack of skills using Delicode to translate the motion sensor data. I became incredibly calm but also a bit lonely. I wished there was someone nearby to share my experience with. The other dancers working in a separate studio were a group of three from Belgium and were wonderful company when I would bump into them in the kitchen, but we were usually busy with our own work. I wanted to feel the warmth of another body, perhaps the bodies of my beautiful children who I would Skype every night. I met Javi Maestre at the end of my time at AZALA. He had found my work on-line and came to speak with me about the potential for transmedia performance.
My days looked a bit like this. I did everything alone, and was happy for the rare visitor.
If I could capture a smell, a sensation, the darkness at night, I would. The comfort and yet loneliness of sweet solitude.
I spent my days exploring the beautiful outside. Fields, roofs, architecture and landscape. It was very cold in the mountains and very magical. I remember dancing through the fog one day. There had been frost on the ground but it was now melting. I lost myself, barefoot dancing in an open field. The barely thawed mud clumped and caked on my feet. I kicked it off as I danced in what appeared to be a one of an endless series of fields being prepared for planting. When I realized my toes were almost frozen and aching, I ran back to the house. I called to another dancer who was staying in the cabin next-door to mine. He brought me a bucket of lukewarm water to wash the mud off my feet. Once my feet were clean enough, I went inside and warmed them in the kitchen while drinking hot coffee brewed in a moka pot.
The dance performance studio was full of windows, so I usually worked outside until the evening hours when I could play with projections in the space. I filmed and took pictures of myself using a GoPro camera during the day, then edited the film together and posted photos to my blog. After sunset I projected the short dance studies onto a giant screen and manipulated them with the motion sensor technology of the Kinnect. I was generally up until 2 in the morning dancing and playing. I would talk to Taylor most days, usually frustrated with my lack of skills using Delicode to translate the motion sensor data. I became incredibly calm but also a bit lonely. I wished there was someone nearby to share my experience with. The other dancers working in a separate studio were a group of three from Belgium and were wonderful company when I would bump into them in the kitchen, but we were usually busy with our own work. I wanted to feel the warmth of another body, perhaps the bodies of my beautiful children who I would Skype every night. I met Javi Maestre at the end of my time at AZALA. He had found my work on-line and came to speak with me about the potential for transmedia performance.
My days looked a bit like this. I did everything alone, and was happy for the rare visitor.
- Wake Up
- Practice Yoga
- Breakfast and Coffee
- Video and film dance outside
- Eat lunch
- Edit video footage
- Go for a run
- Work in studio
- Skype kids
- Have dinner
- Skype Taylor
- Work in studio
- Perhaps a glass of wine
- Walk home in complete darkness down the short path
- Go to bed, listening to the wind outside
If I could capture a smell, a sensation, the darkness at night, I would. The comfort and yet loneliness of sweet solitude.