Kinetic Craft Residency: Thoughts on Metal

Before beginning this project, I never could have rattled off the five crafting elements (metal, ceramics, fiber, glass, and wood), yet now I find myself thinking about them all the time. Be it wrapping my hands around a hand-thrown mug, hearing the different pitches of a coin bouncing down a metal grate or enjoying the tactility of a journal’s weathered pages, I am now constantly aware.

While I would love to pair each of these with the five senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch), I sadly don’t have the sanitation means to encourage our viewers to lick a series of metal spoons, or create the pleasing aroma of a burning wood fire inside the museum, so instead I’ve chosen to utilize the remaining three while focusing on the properties of each element that intrigue me most.

METAL

For Metal, I am focusing on its sound—from tinny tinkling to rich melodic tones. The page from my sketchbook below shows my preliminary thoughts and images for how I eventually grew to envision using metal bars and movement to create a large-scale, dance-propelled wind chime. As always, this project took several conceptual (and logistical) twists and turns through the creation process. Consistent across all versions was my intention to give the dancer a wide space for full-bodied movement, and to create a playable instrument of sorts. Yet getting there took several steps.

Preliminary sketches for Merli V. Guerra's Metal Breathing Installation; March 2017.

I first pictured the dancer in the center of several stationary xylophone-like structures of different tonal qualities, however I soon realized that in order to achieve a clear sound from each, I would need some kind of wooden striker. Suddenly I became aware of the fact that the dancer would likely need to hold the striker in her hand and intentionally move her hand across the chimes around her, which felt far too disconnected to me. How so? I wanted this to be a wind chime propelled by the complete range of the human body, rather than a single limb—regardless of how creative the performer might be as she danced from structure to structure, she would be limited to the use of one hand to ultimately "play" the installation.

Detail of preliminary sketches for Merli V. Guerra's Metal Breathing Installation; March 2017.

This led to the illustration above, in which I devised a way for all body parts to be able to instigate sound as the dancer moved through the installation, yet as I began setting it up, I soon came across another obstacle: delayed resonance. The cords, while clever in concept, actually caused a disconnect between visual and audio. As I moved, my body would push against the cord, pulling the striker away from the chime. It wasn’t until I had already released and moved on that the striker would then swing back into the chime and make its rich sound! The result was a delay of perhaps 1-2 seconds, yet it was enough to make it difficult, as the performer, to feel as though my actions were directly causing each sound, not to mention the visual lag similarly experienced by the viewer.

After trying cords of different lengths, weights, and stiffness, I ultimately omitted them—rehanging all of the chimes and strikers (a tedious task!) on a multitude of levels that now allows the dancer to move through them directly for the instant gratification of correlated movement and melody. I’m eager to set this up in a space larger than my 10 x 5’ living room and allow the dancer’s notes to reverberate throughout the Great Room and likely down the halls as well.

 ...

This blog post is related to Luminarium Dance Company's upcoming one-week Kinetic Craft residency at the Fuller Craft Museum—Guerra's 2017 Cultural Community Outreach Project. 

Kinetic Craft

Luminarium Dance Company in Residence

April 18-23, 2017  .  10am-5pm, daily

Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA

 This project is supported in part by a grant from the Brockton Cultural Council, a branch of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Hooked

I’m hooked.

On what?, you might ask. On glass.

There are so many elements of glass that excite me: How its texture can vary from silky to rough to sharp; how it can take a beam of light and dissolve it into an array of colors; how it can magnify or minimize; how it can encapsulate air bubbles; and how it’s actually an amorphous solid. All of these properties captivate me, and have for years.

Marblehead, MA.

My brother shows off the perfect gradient rainbow of colors he's found in one afternoon, including the ever-sought-after red sea glass. 

In trying to pinpoint when it began, I realize now that I can’t quite find a start. Was it when playing with my dad’s case of telescope lenses, overlapping the different circles of colored glass while carefully avoiding touching the surface? Or was it while looking for sea glass on the beach with my family in the summer, learning the chemistry (and more importantly the history) behind every color, every piece? Or maybe it was watching it being worked with for the first time, sitting on a bench in the sweltering studio at Simon Pearce in Vermont, studying skilled artisans as they turned glowing orbs into smooth, crystalline stemware.

Now we are here. Co-choreographed by Merli V. Guerra and Kimberleigh A. Holman, 2012. Photo: Jim Coleman.

Throughout my professional career, I’ve used glass as both a medium with which to work and an inspiration from which to conceptualize—from the glowing bulbs of Andromeda to the finger-smudged window panes of Now we are here. Now, as I head into a new project with the Fuller Craft Museum, I have been given an opportunity to create a "breathing installation" of dance and art that revolves solely around glass itself.

In an effort to research this topic up close (and because she knows me and my interests better than nearly anyone), Kim surprised me with possibly my favorite gift to date: A glass blowing class for two, and a scribbled note about how the person I brought didn't have to be her. (Please! As if it wouldn't be.)

Three months later, there we were: standing awkwardly in a class of four as our chill instructor casually meandered through us with a slowly dripping glob of molten glass on the end of a metal tube. As beginners, we were given the options of garden ball, paperweight, or pumpkin. I found myself staring into the intricately detailed swirls of color trapped inside each paperweight, as if tiny planets sitting on a shelf, and knew I had to create one. So did Kim, though her interest seemed to be focused more so on the satisfying feeling of rolling the paperweight around in her hands. (Again, as if this wouldn't be the case.)

Having both chosen to create a paperweight, I was struck by the heat I felt not only from the ovens but from the glass itself. My knuckles felt uncomfortably close to burning as I held a board against Kim's glass to help her shape it into a sphere, much like reaching just a little too far into a campfire to toast that last marshmallow.

As for color, we were surprised to find large buckets of tiny colored chips that we would roll our clear glass through. Our instructor helped us determine the right proportion of chips to give us the different looks we were aiming to achieve. Taking mine out of the kiln, I was a bit over zealous when told I could add air bubbles and twists with a large pair of tongs next to me—I was just so eager to witness for myself how malleable it was! Cooling quickly, the glass went from feeling like a chewed piece of gum to crystalized honey, and it took surprising effort to pry it into shape.

Two days later, it was time to head back to the studio in search of our fully cooled paperweights. The results speak for themselves:

Kim's "Ursula-the-seawitch-the-paperweight."

Merli's "Earth, as seen from the atmosphere."

So here we are, a few weeks later, and I'm still thinking daily about what could be next in my glass explorations. I'm 100% smitten with the medium, and only half-joking with Kim that one of us should build a kiln in the basement (perhaps the one who doesn't currently have a security deposit?). From broken on the floor, to fully formed on my shelf, to washed ashore as glowing pebbles, glass always catches my eye with beauty, light, and intrigue.

Till the next time, Glass...



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2017: Off and Running!

As a reviewer for the Fjord Review, my weekends often involve press releases, packed theaters, and notes scribbled in the dark.

Here we are—just four brisk weeks into the new year and already my plate is full with new projects, culminating events, and guest invitations now through April (and then some, but let’s focus on the next three months for now).

First, a recap of what these projects are:

Voices From the Future: I’ll be participating in Voices From the Future with a voice from the past. Luminarium company member Alison McHorney will perform the one-minute solo from my 2016 work The Grass Never Grows, set to a score of spoken poetry, at this event celebrating the LGBTQ community.

Concert at Longy Hall: Friend and colleague Mel Fitzhugh—a composer whose personal story and professional work are equally intriguing—has invited me to once again perform an improvisationally-inspired choreographic solo alongside cellist Christien Beeuwkes, this time for an afternoon performance of Mel’s musical works at Longy Hall. The concert will take place February 26, 2017.

Mad World: Aurora Borealis has selected Luminarium to be its Guest Artist for its Spring concert Mad World on March 11th, and has specifically asked us to bring my Phoenixial Cycle duet, last presented at the State House in Boston.

Five College Dance Department Careers Panel: I’m thrilled to be representing Mount Holyoke College’s impressive array of Dance Department alumnae at this event. On March 31st, one alum from each of the Five Colleges (Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, UMass, and Hampshire) in the five-college consortium will speak about their careers, advising current students studying in the field. I feel honored to represent my alma mater, and look forward to connecting with future choreographers (hopefully coming to Boston)!

We Create Festival: I’ve been a part of the 2016-17 cohort since September and have been developing new work with the guidance of my project mentor (and longtime friend) Jenny Zuk, developing an art installation exploring the theme of “hidden stories,” as it pertains to those with physical and/or mental disabilities. The culminating performance and exhibition viewing will take place April 8, 2017.

Kinetic Craft: For my annual Cultural Community Outreach Project (which is now in its 6th year), Luminarium will be in residence at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton for the entire week of April school vacation (10-5pm Tuesday, April 18 through Sunday, April 23, 2017). I’m constructing a series of “breathing installations”—a concept I first developed back in 2011 with Luminarium’s fabric installation at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Movement at the Mills—highlighting the five crafting elements: Textiles, Ceramics, Wood, Glass, and Metal. I’ve invited Kim to join me by creating the Ceramics installation, while I continue to develop the other four, each of which will have a dancer performing inside as part of the installation, around the clock.

Boston New Music Initiative’s Spring Concert: Last year, Luminarium was commissioned to create two new choreographic works to accompany two of the musical scores selected from BNMI's international call to artists. I’m excited to be working on a new work, set to John Allemeier’s The Devil’s Turn. This performance of live music and dance will take place at the Armory in Somerville, MA, on April 22nd.

...

That’s the update for now. This quarter is packed with projects and events that lend themselves to interdisciplinary creation and collaboration—AKA, my favorite kind of work! As we speak, my bag contains a notebook full of thoughts and sketches, a 21-page musical score, a crumpled Groupon from Kim and my recent glassblowing adventure (research for Kinetic Craft), and a planner full of upcoming interviews and casual conversations scheduled with mentors and artists (often outside my primary discipline) to further enhance my work.

If this first quarter is any indication, 2017 is going to be an intense and invigorating year. Bring it on!

Top 10 Professional Highlights of 2016

As a “doer” / “go-getter” with an always active creative brain, I often feel I’m running a race—trying to keep up with the many projects and ideas speeding past me, just out of reach. The result? I find it extremely difficult to acknowledge the ground I gain each season. Despite priding myself on being a deeply introspective person, I cannot seem to translate “completion” into “accomplishment.” That translation comes instead from those around me, who are able to look at the big picture. And while I frequently find it difficult to agree with those outside eyes, once each year I force myself to sit down and reflect: To allow myself the opportunity (though I view it more as a reluctant task) to pinpoint my top 10 accomplishments of the season.

1. Speaking, Presenting, and Performing at the State House

On Wednesday, February 10, 2016, Luminarium had the honor of performing in one of the most important buildings in Massachusetts. As a regular recipient of LCC grants, and a 2015 winner of the Massachusetts Cultural Council's (MCC) Gold Star Award, Luminarium was invited by the MCC to join its staff and prominent state legislators at the State House in Boston for the Local Cultural Council (LCC) 2016 Statewide Assembly, a private biennual event celebrating the LCC program. LCC volunteers from across the Commonwealth gathered at the capitol to explore arts and culture beyond their individual perspectives, connecting with community leaders and legislators to discuss the impact of projects that build creative communities through the arts.

Not only did I feel privileged to have my Phoenixial Cycle duet presented to such an artistic and high-powered audience (and to perform, myself, in Kim's Getting There is Half the Battle trio), but I was additionally invited by the MCC to speak on a panel at the event alongside distinguished arts colleagues Ben Taylor (musician), Scarlet Keys (Associate Professor, Berklee College of Music), and keynote speaker Sally Taylor (musician and founder of Consenses). And if those names sound familiar, yes, Sally and Ben are the children of famous musicians Carly Simon and James Taylor—an impressive panel to be sure! View photos of the event here.

2. Co-Chair of Arlington Cultural Council

2016 kicked off with another act of arts advocacy and local politics. A mere three months into my term on the Arlington Cultural Council (ACC), I was humbled to be voted into office as co-chair. During my year-long term on the ACC, I led council meetings alongside my equally impassioned compatriots, and acted as the ACC representative at events both small and large throughout the town, including: speaking in front of hundreds at Town Meeting; attending conferences and forums regarding the Cultural District (and instigating the movement for involvement from the ACC); introducing the Massachusetts Cultural Council's grant program opportunities to local artists through Arlington Town Day and other events; and speaking on behalf of the ACC on Arlington Public News. It was a challenging yet gratifyingly productive year, ended only due to my move into the city and my desire to refocus my efforts on the Boston arts community—my home now both in business and living address. Still, I continue to keep an eye on Arlington's ever-growing arts scene, and hope to one day return in a new capacity.

3. Modeling and Performing in a Retail Promo Video

Things not typically associated with me: hip hop, and modeling merchandise. Yet at the start of 2016, I found myself doing both for Empower Fitness—a company whose merchandise is sold under aliases at major stores such as Target, Walmart, and TJMaxx. Performing hip hop routines choreographed by the talented Gabby Pacheco, the two of us spent an aerobic morning showcasing the company's new product line for a promo video that would soon be pitched to the Target headquarters in Texas. Not a bad way to spend a morning, especially when leaving with both a healthy paycheck and swag!

4. Being Invited to Write for the International Fjord Review

I was absolutely delighted this Spring when founding editor Penelope Ford reached out, inviting me to write for the Fjord Review—an international online magazine for ballet and contemporary dance. Writing for the Fjord Review complements the work I do for The Arts Fuse as a senior contributor and selector of the weekly must-see dance picks (as well as my own independent writing as an artist) while expanding my peer base to across the globe. Canada, London, Italy, New York, Paris, Australia and Glasgow are just some of the regions covered by the publication's skilled writers. I have so enjoyed reviewing major productions as the Fjord Review's Boston-area critic, and look forward to sinking my teeth in further in 2017. Take a peek!

5. TEDxCambridge Commission and Performing at the Boston Opera House

Already high off our performance at the State House in February, Kim and I were further elated when, just days later, we were contacted for another prominent event at an equally famous venue. Luminarium was commissioned to create a new work as the sole opening act for the prestigious TEDxCambridge, performing in one of Boston's most noteworthy theaters (and home of Boston Ballet), the Boston Opera House. The new work, co-choreographed by Kim and myself, featured the full company along with imagery projected across a 50-foot screen created by animation artist Samo. The event on June 9, 2016, was the single largest TED Talks event in the world (even larger than the original TED Talk in Vancouver), with an audience of 2,600 viewers. Luminarium was honored and humbled to have been hand-selected for this position from the wealth of options comprising Boston's vibrant performing arts scene. I've always felt lucky to have stood on many important stages through my career, but this particular stage—this particular experience—left me, for once, speechless. Enjoy this behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling the day.

6. "300 Years": Celebrating the Wayside Inn Through Music, Film, and Dance

This year's annual Cultural Community Outreach Project (CCOP) took me back to my childhood—and for company member Melenie too, for that matter! Longfellow's Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA, is a beautiful historic site known for being the setting of Longfellow's popular story collection Tales of the Wayside Inn. The event was perfectly timed, syncing up with the inn's 300th anniversary, and though rain held us back from our original date, the final event was sunny, warm, and well attended. This marked my fifth CCOP with Luminarium, and thanks to a grant from the Sudbury Cultural Council and book sales from last year's CCOP, I had the funds to include live music, three outdoor dance performances, and a film projected on the grist mill's walls. While Kim's piece explored the land, mine honored the mill and the history of the inn. As a special surprise, my aunt brought my Noni to the performance. I can't remember the last time she saw my work, and it made the afternoon especially memorable for us both. View photos, videos, and testimonials from 300 Years here.

7. Performing "Phoenixial Cycle" at the Outside the Box Festival

Luminarium was thrilled to be selected for this monumental Boston festival, resurrecting my 2015 work Phoenixial Cycle outdoors on the Tremont Street Stage. Out of all the works we submitted, I'm glad it was this one the festival chose. Not only did it give me an opportunity to revisit the work as a choreographer, but it pushed me as a performer to step into Dream's lead role due to scheduling conflicts. I created this piece with the goal of making a work that physically tired its soloist in reality—not just through acting—as the work revolves around the concept of "burnout." Well, it seems I succeeded. For all the times I watched the company patting Dream on the back for a show well performed (drenched in sweat and breathing heavy), I couldn't fully commend her until performing the role myself. How demanding! Now add hot stage lights under a tent on a 100 degree day on the Boston Common... Was I out of breath? Yes. But was the experience worth it? Always.

8. The Sheep Shoot

Dancing in the countryside... Each year, Luminarium performs in the Wiscasset Art Walk, and in 2015, the company was dancing alongside several beautiful sheep photos in Sylvan Gallery when the artist, Nina Fuller, approached us with the possibility of doing a photoshoot with her sheep in the future. I followed up earlier this year, and on the way home from the 2016 art walk, Luminarium stopped at Nina's farm, where the company mingled with its inhabitants on and off camera. I can't say I've ever done a dance photo shoot quite like this one before. While most of the sheep were skittish, Brenda (seen above) and Emma helped ease our way into the herd. With 30 sheep, two horses, a rooster, a donkey, and a mini horse, Kim and I had a blast performing on Lily Brook Farm, while giving our company members a new experience for the books. View the full series here.

9. Collaborating with Composer Mali Sastri on "The Hostess Diaries"

With an abundance of funding for this year's CCOP, I decided to take on a new challenge: Creating a work that would debut at the Wayside, but that would also be relevant beyond that specific venue. Reading through the inn's old journal entries known as "the hostess diaries," I became acutely aware of history repeating itself. From fires, to wars, to harsh New England winters, many of the old entries ring true for modern times, yet even when describing challenges and moments of sadness, the journals also continuously reference beautiful flowers adorning the rooms, joyous new meetings of strangers telling stories by the hearth, and excitement as celebrities stopped at the inn on their travels.

I feel honored to have had the opportunity to work with the wildly talented musician Mali Sastri (of the Boston-based band Jaggery) on this project. My original intent was to choreograph the work, then have Mali create a soundscore to match, but, as luck would have it, my choreography had to be put unexpectedly on hold as Kim and I turned our focus to our new commission for TEDxCambridge instead. Mali and I met for coffee on several occasions throughout these months, during which she did her own research for inspiration, and in the end, her music was created first. We went back and forth a little, tweaking it as needed, before I dove into three intense rehearsals leading up to the Wayside Inn event to finish what I'd started. The end result was a deeply collaborative new work that seemed to resonate with its viewers.

The challenge (and excitement) came when bringing it indoors to the Boston University Dance Theater later in the season for Luminarium's feature production Portal: Stories from the Edge. Suddenly lighting, sound amplification, and staging became a larger focus. Giving cellist Jonah Sacks his own light and space upstage so as to highlight him (not hide him, as is often typical with live music at dance performances) and hooking Mali up to a lapel mic, the dancers and I tweaked the choreography to incorporate both musicians as active performers onstage. Mali wove in and out, calmly inserting herself into the choreography as if the symbolic keeper of time, all while singing her lyrics with gritty strength and honey-like fluidity. In the end, this work is the piece I'm most proud of this season (aside from the work Kim and I co-choreographed for the Opera House, of course!). Thank you to Mali for being such an inspiring collaborator, and to the dancers (Amy, Katie, Dream, Alison, and Melenie) for being open to discussion and input while making this historically-relevant work. (And for joining me with giddy enthusiasm to dance in hoop skirts!)

10. "We Create" 2016-17 Cohort

This final 2016 accomplishment is one that will continue to expand into the new year. My days are typically focused on creating new work for Luminarium, freelance writing assignments, and graphic design for work. Sadly, there are projects that find their way into my journal that don't necessarily fall into those categories. For this reason, I'm beyond grateful to have been chosen for the 2016-17 cohort of We Create—"an annual festival in Boston that features the works of a selected group of the most talented women artists in Massachusetts," founded in 2013 by Puerto Rican artist, Marsha Parrilla of Danza Orgánica. For this festival, I'm working with long-time friend and Harvard PhD candidate Jenny Zuk to build an installation piece celebrating the vibrancy of those with disabilities. With the theme of "hidden stories," it has been a moving experience to connect with my fellow cohort artists, as they each dive into their respective works.

Those are the highlights of 2016. Here’s to another fruitful season for all of us in 2017!

Labyrinth Piece: Constructing the Set & Score

It’s been some time since I last posted an entry, but it’s not for lack of thoughts to post! Over the past month, my two works in Luminarium’s upcoming feature production PORTAL: Stories from the Edge have each given me reasons to write. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) these same moments have given me such a boost in creative energy that instead of writing, I’ve been diving straight back into the work. Still, I always find it helpful to put these struggles and revelations during the creation process into words—partially as a way of sharing the behind-the-scenes of my work with others, but also to remind myself years later about the work’s journey (at a point when often I’ve become so used to the finished product that I forget the path it took to get there).

At long last—as we head into these final 2.5 weeks (wait, what?) leading up to the proverbial curtain rising—I am forcing myself to stop in my tracks and jot down various progress reports on the twists and turns that have led these two works to this point. Enjoy!


Crawling out of the Labyrinth:

The last time I posted about the Labyrinth piece, it was to chronicle my somewhat comical realization that strapping branches to my dancers’ arms to create a human labyrinth, and forcing myself to invent a series of characters from an Alice in Wonderland / The Secret Garden mashup, had pulled me too far from my original mission. I then turned to research, and created a list of sections I felt were key to personifying the allures and fears of “slowing down,” as described by all those I polled. Since then, my work has finally begun to feel relevant again, both to society at large, and (equally important) to myself as an artist. This is the work I intended to create.

Yet to do that, this piece has me working in every facet of performance, from stage to set to lighting to score. And while I sincerely hope it all blurs together smoothly two weeks from now, here’s a glimpse into some of these facets of the work, isolated.

SET DESIGN

After taking my idea of “labyrinth” and breaking it down to figure out why I kept gravitating towards the visual of a maze, I came to realize that really what I envisioned wasn’t a maze so much as the visual of grass growing to the height of a tall hedge. This hedge would then have the potential to act as a barrier between the fast-paced world in which we first find our soloist, and the slowed-pace world we’re now in.

This discovery soon led me to creating stage mockups with a set of five tall panels, and the ingenious idea of purchasing large-scale foam board for a sturdy, lightweight set piece. And what an ingenious idea it was, two days later, as I found myself battling my way through the wind down the street with what felt like a 40x60” screaming and kicking child. And ohhh, how right I was to buy something so sturdy, as I struggled for 20 minutes to fit it into my car (pausing occasionally to do the casual car lean for passersby) and ultimately another 10 minutes desperately trying to score it with my keys to break off the foot that didn’t fit. What a great material!

Two weeks later, my living room is now packed with five dismantlable 30-by-80-inch free-standing panels, along with one very patient fiancé.


SOUNDSCORE

This piece largely revolves around the old idiom “The grass never grows under your feet,” meaning the person is ambitious and always on the move. They don’t have time to pause before the next project begins.

For a while now, I’ve envisioned beginning the work with a newscaster-style podcast playing to the sound of crazed typing, ending with the words “well I’ll tell you one thing… The grass never grows under her feet!” This would then be followed by the words “But what if I let it?” spoken from the mind of the soloist onstage.

This is all well and good, but where does this voice-over come from?

Taking pen to paper, I sculpted my own version of a prologue—a poetic stream of consciousness that at once combines the elements of fear and delight slowing down can bring us, while also drifting through the metaphor I’ve envisioned from the start. Here now is that poem, which will be read by the sultry-voiced Laura Castello:

The grass never grows under her feet... I hear—time, and time again...

But what if I let it?

What if I allowed the grass to consume me whole—wrapping around my arms and legs until I sink into the comforting bed of blades beneath me... Who would I be then? Awash in lush greenery, hiding my body, my mind, temporarily from view...

A moment to breathe—a moment.

A stopped clock gifting me with time to reconnect... Reaching through the tall grass to find a friend's hand, and reveling in the quiet joy of basic human connection.

But in truth? I think my greatest fear is that I'll be forgotten there, overgrown.

If honest—

I fear I'll disappear.

Those are the updates for now. Stay tuned for the final creation!