PRACTICING MOVING
Projects about practice and movement at Center for the Arts Eagle Rock / 2225 Colorado Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90041 / Monday through Friday, 10am – 6pm, Saturdays, 10am- 2pm / November 14th - December 19th
Sundown Schoolhouse: Practicing Moving pays special attention to the activity and idea of practice. In particular it focuses on physical movements, routines, and exercises like yoga, stretching and dance warm-ups. These movements do not lead to a conclusive goal or identifiable end point, rather they move towards something, striving for an ideal condition that is never achieved. They are ephemeral actions that are meant to be enacted daily, or on a regular basis. These activities are only intended to have an effect on the person doing them, not on those watching. However, Practicing Moving places these movements on a hidden stage, in a public space, presenting them both as a public ritual and a private performance. I will engage in these movements in the space every day during the run of the show, and extend an open invitation for others to join me, so that we might teach or lead each other in practice.
In the main hall:
WARM-UP OUTFIT WORKSHOP
A corner of the large space will become a functioning workshop with table and tools for altering clothes. All of my clothing that I do not regularly wear will be piled up in the space. They will have been dyed in advance with natural plant materials such as cumin, onion skins, tea, turmeric, and walnuts. For the first few hours of each day of my residency I will alter selected garments to serve as my official outfit for that day of practice. At the end of each day that outfit will be permanently retired, and hung on the wall for display for the rest of the show.
OPEN PRACTICE HALL
The main hall of the original library will become a place for moving, stretching, warming up, and dancing. I will have regular hours practicing and warming-up there every day during the five week duration of the show. There will be an open call, online and by email, inviting anyone to come and join me, to lead each other in various warm-ups, stretches, and practice routines. The space will be completely empty except for blue yoga mats covering the floor, various props and yoga equipment stored on the library shelves, and warm-up outfits from past days hanging on the walls. A translucent 12’ tall curtain of thick translucent plastic sheeting will obscure the view into the space from the main reception area while I am in residence practicing. Otherwise it will be drawn back, and open for public for viewing.
Hours for open practice: TBA
In the side chamber:
MOVEMENT ARCHIVE AND EXHIBITION
A display of dance-related materials from the local dance collective Bodycity and past Sundown Schoolhouse dance activities will be on view in the smaller side chamber. This will include ephemera and documentation from performances and workshops such as videos, photographs, printed materials and programs, along with the presentation of looping videos of site specific Los Angeles dances by Bodycity made with videographer Jacinto Astiazarán. Bodycity will also occasionally use this space and the main hall for meetings and dance practice.
DANCING READING LIBRARY
Some of the original bookshelves in this space will be revived to display books about dancing and moving. A lounge area will be set up inside of an adjacent geodesic dome tent where visitors will be welcome to get comfortable and read about dancing. The titles will range from biographies of dancers and choreographers to more technical books on the activity of dance and movement.
Documentation:
A photograph will be produced and printed each day of myself, together with any visitors from that day, in the most challenging or meaningful position or movement we achieved.
A video will be edited from a series of still images taken of the practice sessions for continuous screening in the adjacent room, providing evidence of the hidden activity in the adjacent room for those who do not participate in the practices.
The outfits will be permanently retired from use at the end of each day of practice, an artifact from that one day, and then then put on display, gradually filling up the walls during the five weeks.