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Clock-time is a colonial construct, followed to support capitalism. We know that is only a construct, and that time is much more spiraling than linear. And yet, we have agreed to live in society following this guideline.
As a teacher or leader, I can’t create more time, but I can shift how we feel about time.
Read MoreFor those unaware, my grandfather passed on Monday. While his death is not unexpected, grief is has a way of being so.
Read MoreLast week on my TikTok, I stitched a video in which 2 women were discussing the fact that grown women really only get parties for things that make them define their identity in relationship to someone else- getting married and giving birth.
So, I decided I wanted an MFA shower. Not a graduation party. I want to all grown folks to have showers. I’m reclaiming that word for all of us to be showered in celebration and congratulations for the big life achievements that matter to each of us.
So, later this spring (after all theses shows wrap) I will have a shower (And that thesis was labor.). And I’ve created a little registry if folks want to help me celebrate.
Read MoreI had the honor of being on South Florida radio staple Sundial today to talk about the intimacy profession and give a teaser of my conversation as part of the Miami Film Festival.
Hear the episode here. Get tickets to the conversation here.
Finally, after a long road of graduate exploration beginning in 2016, I am excited to share I officially hold a Master (hate it) of Fine Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Arts with concentrations in both Decolonial Arts Praxis and Performance Creation Concentrations from Goddard College.
This wasn’t a journey I took alone. The following is my acknowledgements page from my thesis, Working Consent: Ethical Engagement with Collaborators, Audiences, and the Land in Dance and Theatre Pedagogy and Practice.
Read MoreManifestation can be another way to absolve us of communal responsibility. Away to keep us ignorant of structural racism, patriarchy, and all the other -isms that shape our systems. It gives us an excuse to not be informed on our state and local policies, or vote in ways that support the people we say we love.
Read MoreRight now, my Twitter timeline is full of conversation about sex scenes in film and tv. You might think this is because I am an Intimacy Coordinator. You would be wrong. This is because I follow a lot of other exvangelicals, many who are more engaged than I in debates with current evangelicals.
There are apparently many folks who feel like current entertainment options have TOO MUCH SEX! Never mind that it’s really not the case. They don’t like it!
I think it is really interesting that this conversation is so hot (haha, get it?) around sex, and not around violence.
Read MoreMoney is a challenge for every artist. Despite the buzz around Intimacy work for theatre, film, dance, tv, and opera, payment remains a sticky subject for any Intimacy Director or Intimacy Coordinator.
Read More2022 was a big year of work for me. Here’s my year in review!
Read MoreStyres (2019) quotes Marie Battiste (2013), an Indigenous scholar focused on protecting and promoting Indigenous knowledge systems and education, “in order to effect change, educators must help students understand the Eurocentric assumptions of superiority within the context of history and to recognize the continued dominance of these assumptions in all forms of contemporary knowledge” [186] (33). So, in the ballet class, we examine the particularity of the ballet situation. Students’ first reading is a choice of An Anthropologist Looks at Ballet by Jean Kealinohomoku (2001) and a post from Marlo Fisken’s (2020) blog, A Letter to the Pole Community: It’s time we talk about toe-point supremacy. These two pieces clearly connect the dots of assumptions of supremacy culture—that Euro-centric is more valuable—to the prevalence and significance of ballet in Western dance training and on concert stages. Tuck and Yang (2012) write “The settler positions himself as both superior and normal;...” (6), and this is often what happens to ballet in dance studio settings—it is considered a baseline for other genres, rather than its own particular form, drawn from its own cultural context. In every class, students are encouraged to find the appropriate cultural context from which to consider their situation.
Read MoreYesterday, I reposted an article from Dance Magazine on my Facebook feed, speaking to the use of “my” in dance class, aka, “my dancers”, “my dance”, etc. It caused some good discussion there, so I thought I’d share what I’ve already explored on this topic. The following is an excerpt from my thesis on the ways I am examining language in dance class.
Read MoreLast week, Luis Roberto Herrera, Gaby Tortoledo, and I sat down for a conversation about what intimacy direction is, and how it can support actors for South Florida Theater Magazine. You can check out the whole piece here. Hopefully, this is the start of a larger conversation with the community!
Consent cannot exist if someone is under manipulation, influence, or coercion. Therefore, consent cannot exist when power dynamics are at play. Because power dynamics, whether social-structural or embodied, influence how we chose, behave, and speak.
Which is why consent does not exist for performers or students.
Read MoreIf you’ve read the last 2 posts, Bad Behavior in Theatre Communities and What’s the Point of Art?, read on! If not, scroll down and read those.
Ok. So these posts were in response to some specific events in my theatre community. But in conversations with folks around these events, and my responses, I’ve realized it’s not all they have in common. They may be in response to something, but both posts are actually about accountability.
Read MoreIt is absolutely OK for art to be fluffy, entertaining, and fun. It does not have to have “a point”, “a message” or be “thought-provoking”.
I am writing this at the beginning of December, aka The Nutcracker season. No one (at least not that I’ve seen) is running around demanding that we stop doing The Nutcracker because it isn’t addressing any social issues. It does not. It is a fluffy ballet. What we are asking for is that companies examine how they present The Nutcracker. The Nutcracker does not address cultural appropriation, but that is not a reason to engage in it. The Nutcracker does not address racism and othering in ballet, but that is not a reason to cast only white dancers.
The problem with doing The Nutcracker is not the choice of doing The Nutcracker (I mean, yes, you could make other choices, and I’d encourage you to examine them). We, as audiences, recognize the pull of both tradition and money-making. The problem with doing The Nutcracker is doing The Nutcracker in an unexamined, inequitable way,
Read MoreShows with nudity, intimacy, and/or hyper-exposure require extreme vulnerability from actors. We have consistently seen actors in our community provide incredible performances in relevant, nuanced shows, in these states of vulnerability.
Sadly, they often get reduced to their bodies' appearance, rather than their skills in transporting us into a story. Also, how ridiculous that that those of us who are professionals in the crafts of theatre-making are doing this. We have the best opportunity to discuss technique, skill, character, and story, but we go for looks?!
Safety in theatre or in film doesn't just include creating a safer space for work to be done. It also means respecting the work AS WORK and our colleagues (and even when we are audiences, we are still colleagues) AS COWORKERS. Exploitation and harassment have no place in a workplace.
As a community we should be disappointed and horrified when exploitation and harassment happen, and are not met with resistance or the desire for change. We absolutely should less safe when one of us not safe.
This is not about 1 person or 1 incident. This about bad behavior.
No matter who is committing the exploitation or harassment, no matter who is receiving it: it is exploitation or harassment.
We know, somewhere in our brains, when we see social media posts that we aren’t always getting the whole story. So, this post is my attempt to be transparent. To share the whole story, or at least another side of it. CW: depression, anxiety, negative self-talk, ED
Read MoreI got to see a preview version of “God Forbid: The Sex Scandal that Brought Down a Dynasty “ in Miami last week, about 5 days before it dropped on Hulu (it’s there right now! Go watch!). Afterwards, I shared some thoughts on Twitter. This post is an adaptation of and expansion on those thoughts.
Content Warning: Religion, Religious figures, January 6, 2020, Abortion, Sex
Read MoreLast night was the Silver Palm Awards, and just over two weeks away are the Carbonells. There were no speeches at the Silver Palms, and I do not expect to win the Carbonell in the category I was nominated for. (Not false humility. The video projection mappings nominated in Artistic Speciality were cool AF!)
So, I’ve decided to write and post a thank you speech here.And, best of all, there’s no time limit!
Read MoreNicole LaBonde- Transformation Coaching of Mind and Body, Pilates, Nutritional Cleansing
CABARRET- Barre and Dance Fitness
Public Persona- Professional Image Coaching for Public Speaking and/or Online Branding for Fitness Instructors, Life Coaches, Healers and other Heart-Centered Entrepreneurs.
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