poetry of the moment

Pen as refuge, paper as friend
Thought, my lover.
Silence so loud,
Solitude seems peaceful.
Yet, I lay awake.
Restless, Praying for movement.
Inspiration quenches the thirst
Of loneliness.
Unfinished phrases
Gathered around me
Like so many Memories.
Undone Incomplete Finished
Yet, hardly begun.

29 April 2008

Photo Copyright Enoch Chan 2007

Open House!!!

ECHO PARK CONTEMPORARY BALLET CENTRE

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Takoma Park, MD 20912

OPEN HOUSE

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EMAIL: kkmayfield@mac.com

quotes and thoughts

I read Paulo Coelho's book, "The Witch of Portobello" in two days... it's the first book I've read in a while that prompted me to grab a high-lighter. It's good brain-candy for people who believe they are on a path, the path, your path, my path. Warning: I do think it's a girly read - I don't know if men would dig it as much, men... do you? Hmmm I don't know.

"Do you know what the word ecstasy means? It comes from the Greek and means 'to stand outside yourself.' Spending the whole day outside yourself is asking too much of body and soul."

That's what performing feels like. You're outside yourself. Like all orgasmic moments - it takes as much as it gives, sometimes more.

"That although ecstasy is the ability to stand outside yourself, dance is a way of rising up into space, of discovering new dimensions while remaining in touch with your body. When you dance, the spiritual world and the real world manage to coexist quite happily."

I agree - when I'm dancing socially, or in a club, or training in the a.m.'s like I do, dance is this way. However, performing is pure ecstasy and far more taxing. Though, I think the former is why all people should dance more in general. I feel the same about long walks in the woods, on the beach or anywhere that requires people to touch nature one one one - whether it be mother nature outside us or mother nature within.

For me, I'm off to take a daycation at my new fave B & B. I plan on staring at the water and enjoying the company of a.k. I'm so happy to have the time and capacity to take even a day...

Two more quotes:

"After all, what is happiness?

Love, they tell me. But love doesn't bring and never has brought happiness. On the contrary, it's a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; it's sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we're doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony."

I'm pondering that one....

"Let go of the idea that the path will lead you to your goal. The truth is that with each step we take, we arrive."

Exactly. People like me kind of cling to this one! It brings peace.

Walking in a field of buttercups to watch my students' site-specific performance yesterday.

Anti-cnn.com

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/

check it out.

Bummed

I was hoping to post the video I took of my Modern I student's final projects... I need to get an adapter - too much info to transfer without, damn!

Soon....

Playing in the Rain

If you haven't lately, you should... especially if there's a kid involved. Kai and I had entirely way too much fun stomping in puddles today.

My temple is the park, the sky, the water in the lake, and the stream that feeds it. My people are those who share my ideas and not those I'm bound to by bonds of blood. My ritual is being with those people and celebrating everything around me.
- Liliana, The Witch of Portobello, by Paulo Coelho

flash mob - chasing people

Perhaps it takes the flash-mob concept a bit far, but it's damn funny...

sign w/ ivy

Kailei and I pass this sign on our walk home from school. The ivy is grabbing the sign and wrapping around as if to say, " I won't leave you, sign."

(There's even more in the week since I took this photo.)

It's funny.... typically, when people feel held too tight, they run - but this sign is clearly asking to stay, all wrapped up.

poetry of the moment - generating dances

Today was our final regular modern class at St. Mary's college - my students are a mixed bag of stress ball & giddy spring-time glee. I decided to do a movement generating exercise adapted from exercises I learned first from Mim Rosen at UMD & then Liz Lerman.

First, they chose one shape that represented their current mood and one shape that represented the mood they would like to be in... easy enough, right?

Next they had five minutes to write a story, fact or fiction, poetry or prose, that took the audience from the first mood to the second.

Here's Mine:

No rest. Sleepless night.
Depression
Darkness
Anger at my own exhaustion.
The sound of her laughter
distracts me from the gloom.
She is hungry, yet happy...
Simply because the sun
Bright and Warm,
Visible, Present - just like me.

Last, they circled the action words and underlined the descriptors and choreographed to those words - using the beginning and ending shapes as book-ends.

The result: Lovely phrases all around that altered moods and relieved stress while pounding home the idea of authentic abstraction. YIPPEEE!

Students noticed common themes, their shared experiences, "It's nice to know I'm not the only one feeling _______." BUT, they get that there are infinite ways to express the same sentiment. And, they have a new outlet for figuring out what's going on in their worlds and how to move with it.

For the most part they are not interested in dance being a large part of their adult lives - but I hope dance will always be there as a support, tool, release, play, enjoyment, elevator, experience, and joy. They are a pretty fabulous group of students... willing to go on the journey. As their teacher, for that much I am grateful.

Performances TODAY: Move-Ments

Performing today as part of Move-Ments.
Reggie and I will be dancing our latest duet: Sensitive
Check it out if you can make it!!

Tickets & More Info

Top: Copyright Enoch Chan 2007, Bottom: Copyright Paulo Francesco

Coling Gilbert:Step one to being with me

A friend from way back has become an incredible spoken word artist: Colin Gilbert. He frequently posts offerings such as this... please check him out and offer him support. And, I agree... this is love to me.

www.freecolin.net

Step one to being with me

Here is one of the new pieces from the book "I Lung You, Notes from a Clockbreaker." To learn more about this poem, this book or to order this book please pay close attention to this blog over the next few weeks. FYI: If you ever consider dating me, you gotta be willing to think of it like this.

Omnia Vincit Amor
"Love Conquers All"

The used bookstore where I live is so small, the fantasy
and romance sections are combined. This scares me.
I believe In love the way children believe in fairytale
endings. And that isn’t to say I’m Prince Charming. But I have
dated enough Wicked Witches to know I am ready for Cinderella.

I miss the day love was check yes or no. I miss how love
was "she looked at me from across the classroom, now
she’s my girlfriend." I miss how love was, "Do you want to
hold hands?", kissing her on the cheek in the skating rink

and adding a special note to that same Valentine card
you gave everyone in the class. I want to go back to the day
love was Jack and Jill - two kids falling together. Love
was pushing her on the swing set and dancing to Bon Jovi

mix tapes. Love was when she smiled you felt like Mr. Kool-Aid,
one big red jar of awesome. And yes, red was a flavor. Love
was crayola crayons. She was bright as yellow. When she was
gone, you were blue. Love was scaring her with your show

and tell spider until she punched you in the stomach and said,
"You are a very big fat stupid head." Love was "I’m rubber
you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks
to you." Love was being a pint-size gentleman, giving her
a dandelion you picked from the garden in front of the school.

Love never worried about being cool. It was your grandparents
giving each other a kiss every night when they went to sleep.
It was carving your initials into a tree, it was cliché, it was easy
and it was "You show me yours and I’ll show you mine."
It was Romeo and Juliet. And yes, love was blind. Love

was the hardest thing to define, yet you knew it the moment
you felt it. It didn’t have degrees. It wore no coats of cool
and practiced no cheesy smile poses holding beer. Love didn’t
need to get you drunk and it never said, "uh hey, let’s do it."

Love was never scheduled by convenience - "After high school
but before I graduate. After my freshman year but before
I’m a Senior. After I get my degree, but before children. I’m not

ready yet." Now love carries a date book and answers alarm
clocks. It earns a good salary and has an attractive benefits
package. We plan chance and spontaneity and keep sparks
and chemistry stored in a water tanks. And if we feel something

similar to love, we do whatever it takes to screw it up. The day I
met you I decided to change all of this. Being with you
is like having front row tickets to the awesome show.
Like an 8 year old winning at a carnival. You get me. "

And maybe that means I’m giving you permission to play
me but with you I’m like 13th place in a 10 person race
at the Special Olympics - I’m a winner just for being in the game.

I never loved like it wouldn’t work out. I never got my seven
minutes in heaven moment. And I know ’easy’ never figured
into this adult thing, but if there is still such a thing as love…

Let’s do it. We’re two steps away from dancing like we mean it.
Kiss me in the dark and I’ll pay a lifetime to see you smile.
This heart is nothing more than a giving tree that has grown
roots some like to call arteries. The smartest thing I ever did

was say hi to you. I would die for you but not to keep you alive
and leave you behind, just because I’m still a gentleman.
If you were in a car wreck I’d drive off a cliff just to beat you
to heaven so I could open the gates for you. Like Jack and Jill,

two kids falling together, I will be there to catch you. I want to
kiss Juliet on the mouth to cheat on you with death,
only God’s breath could compare to yours on my neck.
You’ve got me waking up in cemeteries. Finding dandelions

in the saddest places. Like you, finding a home in my chest,
they don’t know they’re not supposed to grow there. You
don’t know you’re not supposed to grow here. They’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful. I want to rocking chair love you.
Like two sections of a bookstore grown together lets live

a romance some will call fantasy. Like Jack and Jill,
but cut out the falling and catching and just let me hold you.
Like two Crayola crayons, you yellow and me blue…
melt into me. Let’s be green forever.

Video: Lord of the Flies

Trapped

Afraid of the box,

Of being shut in...

Instead, you put me in yours.

What's up with the boxes?

What if there isn't a box at all?

What if we build something...

Just for us.

Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage

so... it was a wonderful experience. I am grateful for the many opportunities this year has brought - I am truly blessed.

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=CNTRDCTNDN