Part of being an artist is showing up at the table.  In D.C., there are many tables, endless networking to be done, and new groups of folks to introduce your work to.  It is a blend of self marketing and advocating for the arts.  This part of the job is persistent and necessary.  Tonight, The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities hosted a community dialogue on Healing Through Art and I was curious, so I went.  I consider myself an active player in this field and want to know who else is out there and what amazing work is being done.  The event took place at The Smith Center for Healing and the Arts on U Street.  The new Interim Executive Director of DCCAH Lisa Richards Toney welcomed us.  So excited to meet her and hear her speak!  P.S. she’s a dancer!  This is good D.C.!  She mentioned in her remarks that DCCAH is charged with doing more than grantmaking – again, good for us!  What do we want to see happen?  How can we partner with DCCAH?   The event had a rock star panel – I was inspired by each of them and hope to cross paths with them again.

Jeff Majors introduced himself by saying in his soothing and strong voice, “I want to see healing in my city.  I want to see healing in my neighborhoods.”  He is a harpist and introduced us to the idea of a “musical diet” – what are you listening to for breakfast? Before you go to sleep?  Nourish yourself.  I could tell how invested and influential he is in his work with youth offenders, just from witnessing his presence.

Captain Moira G. McGuire, Chief of Integrative Health & Wellness at Walter Reed, made the world of the military so approachable in her comments.  It was inspiring to hear someone at that level speak so highly of the arts and the impact artists make.  She made the point that artists reintroduce people to their creative side.  I will take that with me into my dance classes.

Shanti Norris was inspiring to listen to.  I deeply understood everything she had to say and had observed in her programs.  She made the point that healing comes from within.  Cures come from the external.  Anyone can heal and at any time.

Lastly, Dr. Gay Hanna, Executive Director of the National Center for Creative Aging made so many great connections that are helpful to hear as I go out into the field.  One, artists are models for aging well.  Two, the arts can help those who feel they have lost their identity and/or hope.  Three, artists inspire her.  Four, ageism.

After the panel, I thought that we had stripped age out of the conversation.  Frankly, it is not connected to whether the arts can help heal or not.  I prefer when age doesn’t enter the conversation – what is the point?  And then, in a conversation with one of the panelists, she responded to me sharing what I do with, “keep going, you’re young” … or, something like that.  Is she speaking out of her own insecurity?  If yes, there is no reason to – she is clearly kicking ass at staying healthy and creative.  If not, in a context where we just tossed age off of the table, why make a comment?  It made me feel grateful for the few colleagues in my life that never mention age and engage me in a mutually supportive relationship.

During the q&a, I asked worldwide, who are their inspirations? People? Organizations? Programs?  All of their answers were local and personal.  No judgment.  Beautiful to hear.  But still, is there an interest in partnering nationally/internationally?  Who, on the global scale, is at this table?  I know there are tons.  Let the research and questioning continue!

Thank you to the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities for hosting these events!

I woke up this morning with ideas for how I would start my next project.  An idea has been percolating for a while but I haven’t taken the plunge to begin.  I am thinking this summer will be a good time to start.  The piece is a duet that will be performed at Georgetown Hospital.  A fellow movement artist, Keira Hart Mendoza, and I received funding through Georgetown Lombardi to create 4 dances that will be performed in site specific locations around the hospital.   So exciting!  We will each create one solo on each other and one group piece.  This morning, I wrote down 4 improv scores that I want to try.  The scores grapple with interruption, peacefulness, solitude, and support.  I cannot see beyond this right now but I trust that the dance will reveal itself as we go.  With dancemaking, there are no scripts, and no directions.  It is a complete leap of faith.  I love the process.  I cannot see the sequencing of movement that I want to choreograph now, but once I have dancers in front of me, I will know what to throw at them.  I want the piece to feel good on their bodies.

Five months ago I consulted with a life coach about asking a boss for a raise.  I was terrified of this necessary conversation with my boss and had no idea how to do it.  It turns out that I did not know how to ask for what I want.  So, I practiced asking for what I want – big things or little things, material things, non-material things, people’s time, communication, and money.  I intended for this to be a daily practice and now can’t remember the last time I asked for what I want.  This week, I am asking my students to ask themselves what they want out of class.  In an Intro to Modern Class on Monday night, I asked the students what they wanted.  I was expecting someone to ask me how to do a move or define a dance word. The response I got was, “What is modern dance?” I was so happy that I had asked a question so that they could ask their’s.  Our five minute chat about modern dance built a trust and connection that felt great to me and hopefully to them too.

Now, I want to apply this concept of asking for what I want to fundraising for Tia Nina.  What would I say?  Something like, I want $25,000 to produce Juiced, a full-production rock show, in Fall, 2015.  Funds would be used to perform a rock show over two nights.  This amount would cover costs for artist fees, technical personnel, designer fees, studio rehearsal space, music recording space, materials, props, equipment rental, marketing, documentation, and project administration.

This project promotes our gender-equality messaging and how important the work is for future generations.  We expose the function of gender in music performance promoting gender equality. Tia Nina illuminates how rock ‘n roll is a highly gendered form that idealizes masculine activity, feminine passivity and compulsory heterosexuality. In our dances, we consider how such gender norms are communicated through performance.  Donors who give to Tia Nina can feel good about their dollars going directly toward educating their children and making the world a better place for their children’s children.

I would say that now is the time to support art in D.C.  Creative forces, including Tia Nina, are about to explode and make our city the place for provocative, avant garde art.  Donors want to be at the forefront of this explosion and backing a rock show by Tia Nina is exactly where they should be.

Dance moves you.  Dance moves me.  Dance has so much potential and so many more people to reach.  Because of it’s abstract and undefinable nature, funding can be challenging.  Our dance project is worthy of funds because we deliver a different kind of dance experience.  As an audience member, you are involved in an interactive, communicative relationship.  Rather than sit passively, you can hoot, holler and move.

Our work is making a difference.  We invented a new model for performing, the feminist punk rock dance band, and we are sparking dialogue with each show.  Yes, our shows expose serious themes, but they are fun, funny, and theatrical.  Baltimore based Glen Ricci drives this point home when he writes, “In the most entertaining way imaginable, they manage to take decades of faux masculinity and heteronormativity that we know as The Rock Show and totally eviscerate it.”

Focus: Ask for what you want.