Shelter-in-Place Dance Dictionary
by Colleen Thomas
Day #49
Self-space / self spās / noun
1. the area drawn (mentally - like a force field) in a 6 foot radius around one’s body. Penetrable by young children. Teenage children sometimes need to soften before entering self-space. Husband mostly allowed if in a good mood or if is answering the many questions about coronavirus news and computer glitches.
Locomotor movement / lōkə mōdər mōōvment / noun
1. the movement in the organs, blood, cells….even the thoughts…the thoughts and memories are now the biggest locomotor movement.
Level changes / levəl chānjez / noun
1. a fluctuation.
ex. movement in the mind and body from freedom to fear, or claustrophobia to safety. And most importantly, constraint to creation.
Site-specific / sīt spisifik / noun
1. everything.
Ex. Life is site specific. Life is dance. Dance is life.
Improv / imp prāv/ noun
1. to be in the moment and aware of the senses.
Training / trānING / noun
1. everything we have learned before now.
Warm up / wōr mep / noun
1. a progression one actually enjoys and makes sense to the mechanics of their own mind and body.
Ex. During self isolation I listened to my body and created my own personal warm up just like Janet Lilly and Jan Erkert taught me.
Daily practice / dālē praktas / noun
1. a personal system
ex. Wake. Enjoy the quiet. Eat. Worry about the future of my city and community. Meditate. Be grateful for this pause. Move. Fight with husband about something like, eggs. Talk to academic colleagues that are worried about the future but holding it together for family and students. Email students and try not to seem crazy. Help with 3rd grade math. Look up 3rd grade math on Google to make it look like I understand it and can do it. Have some fun with kids (body break, game, plant). Walk into teenager’s room and immediately get yelled at for walking in. Say, “I love you.” Get an "I love you" back and leave. Repeat three more times throughout the day with minimal changes. Sleep and have crazy ass dreams. Repeat.
Teaching / tēching / verb
1. trying to unlock points of freedom in others.
Learning / lərniNG / verb
1. listening in order to understand, connect, and feel freedom and curiosity.
Time / tīm / noun
1. the continuation of existence which is the same but different every day.
Ex. It is the end of times. JK it's not the end of times it just feels like it. First (well not first but…) with Trump and all the shit and now this. What happened? 2020 was supposed to be our year!
Dancemaking / dancemāking / noun
1. creating movement. You are your actions. If you are moving you are dance-making.
Reflection / re flekSHen / noun
1. the ability to look back and realize you lived for work and you worked to live in a city that runs on this mentality.
2. the ability to notice that you can't relax unless you’ve hit burnout first.
3. to notice and have the time to heal old wounds.
4. to feel the love around you and want to give love to those who you notice now are always there for you.
Hindsight is 2020 in 2020.
Non-dance activities / non dans ak tivədēs / noun
1. NA
Self-care / self ker / noun
1. everything from now on. I swear this time!!!
Colleen Thomas is a New York-based choreographer and performing artist. She is the director of Colleen Thomas Dance, co-director of Bill Young/Colleen Thomas Co., and co- curator for LIT (loft into theater). Her work has been seen throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Asia, and South America. Her recent research includes: a new evening length work with artists from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and USA that premiered at La MaMa Theater in May 2019 and a recent published scientific study looking at brain activity in contact improvisers with Dr. Andrew Goldman (Goldman, A., Thomas, C., & Sajda, P. (2019). Contact improvisation dance practice predicts greater mu rhythm desynchronization during action observation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aca0000255.) In her newest work, light and desire, Thomas joins five women artists from Venezuela (Carla Forte), Hungary/Germany (Ildiko Toth), Poland (Joanna Lesnierowska), Albania/ Greece (Ermira Goro), and North America (Rosalynde LeBlanc), taking a personal and universal look at how women artists cope under oppressive and manipulative power structures. This feminist collective looks at the many moments of transition and asks how women hold, embody and express power. The world premiere performances will take place at New York Live Arts in New York City from April14-17, 2021 once we have come through this.
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Related posts:
Catching Up with Colleen Thomas
Artist Profile: Colleen Thomas
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Words are where we live and I will read these and a
So see them as visual moments and hear them as movement in time and space. Thank you
Posted by: K.J. Holmes | 05/09/2020 at 07:04 AM