a(nother) beginning to guerrilla talk

a while back I wrote about how I tend to look at guerrilla (dancing in this case.) For those who may have interest in anything I say, I definitely would redirect you to take a look at that to see some of where I am coming from when I talk about this (fairly expansive) thing. it's a good base to bounce off of

alright, so guerrilla dance

what exactly happens when one guerrilla dances? "about a zillion things" would be my answer - not exactly a zillion mind you, only approximately seeing as this is definitely not an exact science. at a very basic level, one who is 'guerrilla dancing' tends to enter a space where dancing is not often normal (i.e. a street corner, a cafe, a bookstore, a lecture hall, a library, etc.) and begins to dance. as is probably already obvious (though I will soon elaborate on it anyway) each person who does this act of guerrilla dancing, is doing so for his/her own reasons.

Some people do it to bring dance to people who rarely see it; I've known some who use it as a way to perform grand acts that impress others...in other words, to show off; some people have done it simply because, "Oh! that looks like fun. I think I'll do that;" others do it as a way to say "fuck you" to the man, "this is a free fuckin' country and I do what I want, where I want it!!!!!!!!!;" while even others do it just because it's fun to dance somewhere other than the studio - a place in which contemporary 'dancers' spend the majority of their time training/dancing. I've never met one person who dances for only one reason, but instead a mix of these (and other) ideas.
My own personal reasons for gdancing. it's fun to dance in varied landscapes with various textures; it's exhilarating to pay as little attention as possible to the social codes that tell me, "this is not a normal dance space! it's weird for you to dance here!" and lastly (and quite prominent a reason) to find a sense of meditation in such a loaded act.
There are several more (conscious) reasons I do this act of gdancing, but their complexity and vagueness are better suited for another time. These are the most straightforward, and prominent reasons I gdance.

p.s.
I really like the idea of "meditation in such a loaded act." I think that speaks pretty directly to the idea I brought up that gdancing is dancing in "a space where dancing is not normal." what normal has to do with all this, and why that creates a senses of a "loaded act"...hmmmm, I think I'll talk about those in my next post.

flow... ... . . . ... . . . . .

I was in one of my favorite parts of Columbus, leaving a coffee shop walking to my car when it started to rain. I quickly threw my bags into my car, dropped off some valuables, threw off my shirt and lept out into the storm (and I mean storm...raindrops the size of tennis rackets, people.) I ran around the little cobblestone village for a fair amount of time until the rain died down. I continued my walk, away from the car, until it started to pour even harder. This was getting pretty ridiculous, it was getting late, and I was getting to a not as nice part of town. I speedily turned to head back, badgered by the intense amount of water hitting my face. About half way to my car I fell upon a spot. I was drenched, the cobblestone lay unevenly below my feet, and little surrounded me other than the brick houses that sheltered all others from the rain. I stopped. I looked around. and I danced...I danced for quite some time. I did just that, doing little more than simply letting all my senses activate...

Raindrops fell like gravity was turned up times two, the lampposts burned as glowing spheres ignorant to the downward flow of water, the houses that lined the alleyway sat as unique as anything that is born in its natural environment, and the cobblestone...the cobblestone was the best part! The cobblestone jutted in every direction, refusing to be stagnant and predictable. I constantly had to reevaluate my footing while taking in my surroundings (both internal and external) and whipping through it all while I flew between over thinking my movement and finding moments of flow. The kind of flow that negotiated all that was being experienced without much consciously directed thought. I was surrounded by energy of all kinds, and was having a damn good time.

Guerrilla Dance Writing #4

...continued from #3

and we danced, and enjoyed ourselves, and affected those who watched, and didn't affect some, and (it seemed) most importantly we spread dance. It was good.

But I knew something wasn't quite right. I felt good about the process, and it seemed to be fulfilling the goals I had set out to achieve. Yet it rarely felt really good like I thought it would. I felt unsatisfied with the process somehow, and I couldn't put my finger on it. I didn't really put a lot of thought into it - the actual act of making dance happen everyday of the week was more than enough to keep me occupied - I didn't have much of a choice.

At the end of last quarter, all the dancers involved in the project and I had a talk. The topic of connecting with viewers came up. They felt we had brought the fourth wall of proscenium performance with us to our everyday "stage."

As a result, I attempted to approach this Winter quarter differently, using social dance (that which might be done at a club, wedding, party, etc) mixed with a touch of studio movement, with the hope that this would be more inviting to the audience. It also made the focus automatically (albeit consciously) switch to fun. Which, I didn't notice it at the time, had been the original focus all along.

I wrote up a set schedule, found a set place to dance, made sure set people were assigned to each day, and we began...

Guerrilla Dance Writing #3

I keep coming back to this idea of fun. When the idea for this project/act/group/movement (Guerrilla Dance, or whatever you want to call it) was in its early stages, it centered around the little knowledge I had about social dancing of West Africa, the swing clubs in Harlem, wedding receptions, the club dancing of current day: dance, most of which is focused on social enjoyment. I noticed that the prevalence of dance within societies (along the aforementioned vein) appeared in a variety of ways and amounts, but all seemed to show up in a social setting of some sort. My first instinct, and the original iteration of this idea of Guerrilla Dance, was to go to the places that already had dance, encourage a movement that led away from bumping & grinding, and would include more complex dance.

I moved away from that approach quite early on, for many reasons, but looking back on what I had considered and how this project has evolved, I see a common thread that has survived: fun.

Last quarter, we had a set schedule with set locations, set people who were going on each day, and set scores to guide the dancing

...everything was set...