I had a friend/elder/collaborator say to me “your practice is so generous” and I said well damn you’re right! And suddenly I remembered why I share in the first place. :)
Hey everyone it's been a while since I updated the newsletter! Happy Spring 2024!
Starting this off with, real tea… I have one sturdy and exciting thing in the works! This September I am presenting work as a part of Miami Light Projects Here and Now Cohort. The work will premiere September 19th - 21st at Miami Theatre Center. I’ll be sharing lots along the way and so stay tapped in with me for lots of new and exciting ways to engage with my work.
I remember my first years living in Miami and some of the best theatre I saw was at MLP’s Here and Now. Here we are 5 years later and I am more than excited to share my work on this platform with my South Florida friends.
This new creative process is everything I have ever dreamed of. It feels as if I am going back, to investigate some things I had left behind a while ago. Almost a year of development and I am finally feeling that gusto you get from dance making that makes you trust your self because thats the only way to stay in the flow. It’s so crispy and refreshing.
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Dance is so extremely gratifying. The mixture of creating something that didn’t exist before, the risk, the love and passion. The time it takes to seriously sit with yourself and make something meaningful.
This new creative process has me seated as a student of life. Which is so miraculous because it is reminding me how magical creation is. Watching things take their own life form, remind me that my illusions of control are really just illusions. And that is terrifying and guttural. But if I trust myself, and remember that it might be bigger than me then maybe… just maybeee I can feel my alive and shifting role in this very real and communal something.
Today in the studio, I had to simply trust that I didn’t have the slightest idea about what I was doing. And it instantly became the most fun. My body started to communicate with my head space and I felt it all in the thum thum in my heart. Then something amazing happened… my legs grew roots that sprouted from the bottom of my feet and they traveled with me through the space. Anytime I felt distant from this remembered intelligence I was one stomp away from it’s spiny direction. I was in a process and felt like a hot girl working.
And I am so glad, because to get to this point is taking a whole ass village. Since the birth of this creation from my little internal fires, I have met so many amazing human beings who have sat with me for coffee, at the library, in a co-working space, on zoom and in the studio and massaged their hands in the soil where my seeds where. Even when I plowed through my very own garden with my machete, they returned with loving arms and smells of warm coffee.
I had a dance elder say the dance world is a “multigenerational international kingdom with no land” 😂 it really made me chuckle because its so true.
It is a place to return to, only the strong and brave face the kingdom of dance heart and head first. It is a privilege to be able to tell stories through this medium. I am really learning the power of this blessing I have been given.
This eclipse got me deep in excavation, and as I start polishing I am learning and unlearning how to care for myself, the things I create and my community. And obviously it doesn’t come with instructions and it is always morphing and shifting and is pretty inconsistent. How thrilling is that?
My bestie gifted me a copy of A Catalog of Unbashed Gratitude by Ross Gay and the magic of his words are reminding me of life’s fundamental simplicity. Like can you imagine, that creation is an active participant in life? And because of that there is a layered nuance of relationship to everything we see and all that there is around us?
The big question of my current creative process ask; What strategies can we use support one another as we tight walk across a fragile infrastructure? Is it a bounce, a shuffle a glide or a song. Is it a photo that encapsulates the moment you decided to dream bigger and brighter futures for the world or is it a sensation, like the one you get when you see your lovers cheesy corny grin to grin mouth full of teeth ass smile? Let me know and leave a comment, get creative I’m tryna see whats tea.
On that note, I express tremendous gratitude to every one who has supported me by subscribing, showing up and checking in, without expectations and with hope for the future. <3 So excited to continue to give back to the communities that have nurtured me.
Much love and respect
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