Hope Stone, Inc.

Hope Stone Dance has been collaborating with artist Anne Wilson in a looming project, Walking the Warp, presented by the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
The next performance will be 12:00-5:00 pm on June 27, 2010. See the Hope Stone Dance Events Calendar for more information.
This process has been a unique experience for Hope Stone Dance.
Here are some reflections from dancer Elizabeth Lucrezio…

photography by Simon Gentry

A.) Talk about the rehearsal process.
Actually I found the rehearsal process to reflect a fast forward version of the rehearsal process for a full length dance performance. In the initial stages of a project the ideas and concepts of the choreographer seem foreign and non-cohesive to me. As the process develops, the intentions, motivations and inspirations for the piece become evident. In the final stages of production, the concepts are tangible and I am able to immerse myself in the piece, hopefully doing it justice and delivering the choreographers intention. This is exactly what I experienced for Anne’s piece, in a more intense and concentrated time frame. At first, the concept and overall visual was completely foreign to me. As we pressed further into the piece, it was amazing to learn, understand and grasp where Anne was going with her visuals and the small techniques needed to portray her idea. Finally, the day of the piece I was able to fully understand the concept and enjoy the actual performance itself. It was also interesting to observe that a seemingly “simple” piece there had countless things to rehearse.

B.) Have you ever done work like this before? What made this experience stand out?
Though I have been involved with sites specific work, I have never been part of a performance quite like this. I think the idea of something being created, and the visible building of the creation, was what set it apart the most. There was very minimalistic movement, and yet it still kept the audience mesmerized. It actually kept people more mesmerized than some of the work I’ve been in with a lot more dance movement involved in the piece. That really fascinated me. The silence also stood out- obviously dancers usually don’t talk when dancing in a performance. But the overall silence and formality of “not-talking” was emphasized in this case by the venue being in a more “silent and formal” museum and not in a theater with music and a different (louder) energy.

C.) The piece is called an endurance piece? Did you feel that this is a true definition?
Absolutely! I tell my students three of the hardest things to do on stage are run, walk, and stand still. We kind of did two out of the three…for 5 hours straight! Endurance was in a whole new context though; endurance of focus and endurance of body posture. Endurance of focus was essential because it was SO easy to lose a train of thought…”Hmmm what should I cook for dinner”, “did I leave the closet light on?”, “oh I totally forgot to mail my electric bill!” It’s not like we could let our minds wander because we were standing still but we actually had a task to accomplish and couldn’t let the focus drop and therefore sacrifice the integrity of the piece. Also, as dancers we get used to moving, moving, moving and it becomes even more difficult to slow down to do the most basic and natural forms of movement. Keeping my back straight as I sat in a chair without a back sometimes felt like it gave my back more of a workout than an actual ballet class. I also have to say, keeping quiet for that many hours was also a test of endurance!

D.) Did you find the piece meditative? annoying? hard? frustrating? calming?
Meditative, annoying, hard, frustrating, calming,….all of the above actually. The performance being so lengthy I was given time to experience it all. Meditative because it was so silent and in that moment I had the excuse to not have to do anything but be silent and enjoy. Frustrating and annoying when my mind kept wandering and I couldn’t maintain that meditative spirit I was enjoying. I also got annoyed when my fingers would shake when doing something as simple as tying a knot! But it makes me laugh now Calming when I did enter those moments of complete mental rest and hard near the end to … I was getting hungry and a bit stiff.

E.) How did you focus for so long?
As I mentioned, there were definitely moments when my mind wandered, but knowing someone else’s art was in my hands really helped me snap back to the task at hand. Being a creator myself, it really does become a privilege to be entrusted with another person’s art. But I have to admit, I never really had a problem focusing in school so maybe it’s part of my personality? I do have a tendency towards being a “perfectionist” (much to a fault many times) so maybe personality has something to do with it? Just a guess

F.) What was one of the hardest elements?
Actually, the rehearsal process was the hardest part. Being caught up to speed because of missing the first rehearsal was a little difficult; everyone else had already done the process enough to create their own way of explaining or doing it. So when I just needed a basic explanation I sometimes got a few versions of “how” versus just a simple “what”. But it was all in genuine good intentions of helping me so it wasn’t by any means a “bad” rehearsal- just a little frustrating. But then again, I did step in late in the process.

G.) Any other thoughts or comments?
Just that I was FASCINATED that people were so INTO what we were doing. I mean, I loved what we were doing but found the whole process interesting…learning from Anne about textiles, warping ,etc…. But to see people on the “outside” who didn’t know Anne or the process history and only had the visual context were equally into it- that was really neat and really unexpected for me. I just love being part of creativity that is unique and so genuine in nature; maybe they saw that genuine, realness come through and were drawn to that. It was also really satisfying to see the work visually get more and more beautiful. When I got to step fully away from the piece after we were done and saw how beautiful it looked, it was so satisfying to think…”wow…I was a part of making that look the way it does- cool!”