Now playing: Evanescence – The Open Door
Mood: chocolate shake with hot fudge
So you remember this big long post last April when I got my navel pierced and I was talking about how I find piercings and tattoos distracting on BD'ers? Well, I am a little addicted to piercings now. Looking at all of the cool jewelry is addictive, like shoe shopping. I got my lip and ear (industrial) pierced with my Christmas money over New Year's weekend. Surprisingly, my ear hurt way more than my lip and is currently scabby and unattractive. My lip, however, is making eating a big ordeal. Not because it hurts but because of the placement and long length of post I have for any swelling issues. I have to wait a few weeks before down sizing it. In the meantime, it clicks the ledge of my gums where they meet my front teeth. I have to hold my lip in precarious potions away from my teeth so I can chew without catching it. Picture me holding my lip out, mouth hanging open, chomping, spitting, and slurping while trying to chew. Makes the husband person laugh. Then I laugh. Which hurts. And then we laugh more. Endless cycle ensues.
So anyway, I don't know why I was quite so opinionated and distracted by piercing/tattoos and body mod before (especially on Bdancers). The more of it I see the more I appreciate it. Like art. The more museums, paintings, architecture you see the more you understand and appreciate the art. (The same with how I view BD. I feel silly just realizing this now.) I thought of this National Geographic pic of a skeleton unearthed in Herculaneum wearing gold rings and that got me thinking about past cultures, wondering what kind of body mod they did. Unless they drew a picture of it on a wall or something you wouldn't really know. Once in a while they find a mummy with tattoos on the skin but otherwise all of the skin decomposes so you never know what ancient people really did. Kind of like we don't really know what color dinosaurs where. These are my random thoughts of the day.
~N
Wow."I have been reflecting on Em's dance (I'm calling it the Gingerbread Doll dance, or GDD) for two days, and I think I've finally pulled my thoughts together enough on it to articulate.The costuming, the mask, the black light were all fantastic -- no doubt -- but what made that dance such an amazing example of "dark fusion" or, well, just of dance in general is that even if there were NO props -- no wind-up key, no scary mask -- it would have been clear from her MOVEMENTS what she was conveying. If she had come out in a black leotard and tights and done the exact same dance under hot stage lights, I would have known what she was trying to say with it.It was her BODY that did most of the talking -- the emoting, the storytelling. And that's what we strive for as dancers. Sure, I saw other dances that told a story, but they relied too much on costuming and make-up and didn't let enough of the dancing come through to articulate everything.Even though I know Em will say she didn't have a particular emotional message w/ this dance, I saw one, because she told her story and let the details do the work. This is what we learn to do in writing: set the scene, give copious detail, and the reader will discern the emotional intent.I felt the way I did when I first saw B's Chair Fusion: that everything was just so intentional, so meant to be there. Even if y'all, as dancers, didn't feel that, it was there because you HAD such intent toward the piece.OK, so you probably want to know what emotions I saw in GDD: confusion, a sense of being in flux or trapped between two worlds, a sense of being "pulled" reluctantly in a certain direction, but resisting, a sense of being a kind of automatron, or wind-up doll, of course, forced to move through life without benefit of doing so with one's OWN purpose and intense physical reaction to all of that, but again, without have your own control of that reaction. Someone else is pushing the buttons; you're following someone else's agenda.That's what the dance showed me, and I think everyone has felt that way and needs to reflect on those kinds of things through art. We've all been automatrons; we've all been pulled somewhere without being cognizant of it."
We found an old doll that was out in the grass,
She had special powers, we said a Black Mass.
We sat in a circle all holding hands. The
Doll-bed held together with old rubberbands.
She'll rise,
she'll rise,
she'll rise...
Oh, Lay her down in her gingerbread coffin.
She's so pretty all layed out in white.
Lay her down in her gingerbread coffin.
When we need her, she'll rise to the light...
We looked down at the ground and into her eyes.
Passed around an old teacup filled up with dead flies.
Surprise, surprise!
Were brought but not used, a collection of knives.
We'd remember this moment for all of our lives.
She'll rise,
she'll rise,
she'll rise....
Oh...
Oh...
Oh, Lay her down in her gingerbread coffin.
She's so pretty all layed out in white.
Lay her down in her gingerbread coffin.
When we need her, she'll rise to the light.
Lay her down in her gingerbread coffin.
It's a flickering, beautiful sight.
Lay her down in her gingerbread coffin.
When we need her, she'll rise to the light.
I decided to work on the drawing tonight. I have been drawing a line or two the past couple weeks when I would walk by it, but I really buckled down and did some heavy shading. I use some charcoal which I'm a little clumsy with as well as some colored pencil. I am still a little undecided on how much detail to add from the original pic. Hmmm... 
