i'm in the dog house

I literally was in the dog house the other night. I poked my head in to see how the pups were doing and all of a sudden I found myself almost all the way in, snuggled up with Shiloh and Hershey. Then I thought, hmmmm….I think this is my next solo. Place a dog house on the stage, and slowly crawl out, or have half of my body in and half of my body out while talking to imaginary dogs.

Then I thought, hmmmm…..what about that suitcase idea? Walk on the stage with a suitcase filled with dirt (dirt is a reoccurring theme, as is food, as is astro turf, as is sod), set the suitcase down and stand in the dirt that is inside of the suitcase?

Then I thought, hmmm….what about filling the racquet ball court at the North Boulder Rec Center with dirt (see, I told you). I ran it by Jayson, who very sweetly stood outside of the racquet ball court with me for a good 10 minutes hemming and hawing about how amazing that would be, and then said “No fucking way is that happening”.

Then I thought, hmmm…no dirt in the racquet ball court at the North Boulder Rec Center, but I could fill it with astro turf (thank you Simone), plant fake flowers, and Chrissy and I could have a raucous, wild, and dissonant duet while the other dancers are standing in their suitcases filled with dirt.

Then I thought, wait a minute. This is a family show. For families with kids. Is that okay? Can kids handle dirt, and astro turf, and fake flowers, and suitcases. I think so. Yes. I think they can.

Then I thought, the parts I love aren’t so much about the dancing. The parts I love are about stillness rather then motion. The parts I love are about discordant and opposing images. The parts I love are about the people on stage just being the people.

The part I love most is when it becomes something I never could have imagined.

So I’m in the dog house.

Napping with the dogs.

Figuring out how this family friendly, accessible and free for all show is going to evolve and grow into something I can’t even imagine yet.

I have rehearsal tonight and I am bringing astro turf, fake flowers, suitcases filled with dirt, and a chocolate cake.

I think this will help move me toward a deeper understanding of what the hell this dance is about.

What do you think?

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Dance Mission for the next two weeks:

(So, honestly, how are these dance missions going for you? I am not so good with the whole social media thing yet, so if you can give me feedback about how dance missions could be more helpful, fruitful, inspiring to you, I would love to know. ESPECIALLY those of you that are tech savvy/social media savvy/ totally know what you are doing on the computer kinda savvy, I would love to know how it is going and what I can do to make it better).

1.

Dance with your family.

Whoever your family is.

Take a few minutes and dance together.

Record it.

Document it.

Post about it here: http://on.fb.me/1tndQsd

2.

Let’s take a few steps back and start dancing every day again for just 10 minutes.

For two weeks.

Tell me how it goes.

Did you do it?

Did you want to do it but just couldn’t do it?

Did you do it once and then never thought about it again??

Record it.

Document it.

Post about it here: http://on.fb.me/1tndQsd

With Warmth, Joanna of Joanna and the Agitators