softened my heart
and expanded my presence.
it was a glimpse of being known and knowing.
[[ for only a week! ]]
but somehow these dancers streched their way into my being.
I still feel their strong and attentive gaze on me
and know I am seen...
I am held.
and the performances were a result of a shared week together
practicing intimacy
practicing presence, that we in turn brought to the audience (guests).
The evening performance started with all the guests waiting on the blue bridge
and the dancers popped out from below
dancing on the train track platform
fusing improvisation and surprise
with an everyday place.
Besides the 30 guests, Freiburg people stopped their travel to watch 12 beautiful dancers
bouncing, flopping, and falling all over the train station.
Up on the bridge I played music and made sounds to accompany the joyful and playful dancing.
and then they all ran back up to the bridge and did unison choreography ON the bridge
stopping traffic
stopping everyday routine...
encouraging people to breifley laugh, wonder and gaze.
After the opening dance, the guests all got cards and maps for their one on one installations.
For my one on one perofrmance, I sat in the middle of a vibrantly acousitc room and asked my fellow guest to sing and make sounds with me.
The experience with each person was so rich and meaningful.
I have been singing since I was born.
It is the most authentic part of me to share with others.
My mom always reminds me of the time that I was 2 and she was waiting in line at the grocery store.
The line was long, the weather was gray, and everyone around was grumpy and impatient.
But I was too small to know these things.
Instead, I sang---
LOUD and joyfully
and, as my mom tells me, everyone around me started laughing, breathing...looking at me...looking at eachother.
I didn't get everyone in line to start singing.
nor did I turn the supermarket into a dance party
but somewhow I lightened the air around me by being me.
I'd like to think that the Mariel in the grocery store is my core.
I have grown and hardened in many ways, but I can still lose all self-consciousness and seriousness and just SING.
FREELY.
and for my one on one we sang together.
one "stranger" at a time and I shared 5 minutes making sounds and expressing,
sitting still,
looking eachother in the eye.
Each person brought different sounds, different reservations and adventurousness.
Some people ended up screaming, making crazy sounds, one person shyly hummed beneath my improvised melodies,
one person watched me and sang exactly what I sang. we looked at eachother and breathed and sang.
breathed and sang.
our unison filled the room to create something much larger than us.
after one experience, a person said to me: "I haven't sung in 13 years. I would like to try that again...thank you"
and now I thank them for validating my core,
my expression---
reminding me that I can share the most basic part about me with people and help us both feel more connected to life and expression.
maybe they will sing again tomorrow.
and I will sing
again and again
today.
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