Day 26: One.ThirtyOne.13

So I’m working on job applications. It’s about the most un-creative thing I can think of. It shouldn’t be that way, I know. In fact, if I was able to take on this task with even an ounce of creativity, I’d probably be in a much better place. I just. Can’t. Get excited about these resumes. And potential rejections. And (hopefully) interviews.

I know there are MOST DEFINITELY creative resumes out there. THIS COLLECTION. And THIS ONE.

And I sure as hell have A LOT to share… I’ve done some pretty cool stuff (if I do say so myself). But there is still this lack of confidence that creeps in – am I qualified? Would they hire me?

I’m learning to find my voice more and more each day with this thing, so maybe, just by putting the words out into the webiverse, I will SPEAK my creative cover letter-writing into existence.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

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Day 25: One.Thirty.13

In a city of abandoned homes, storefronts, and warehouses, this one struck me. I feel like the ? SPEAKs so much. What are we prepared to say back?

? – This is Philly

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 24: One.TwentyNine.13

Today I worked on an email newsletter campaign for my business, ReSourceArts. After a whirlwind start this summer with a week-long community arts event, I have stepped back a bit to reassess and decide how to most successfully move forward. The event was a success in many ways, and so personally rewarding to see my work, and the work of all of the incredible artists we collaborated with, come to life. It was not, however, financially viable. And I want to make sure that as I move forward and really begin to make this thing a reality, that I do it in the most sustainable way possible. (Confession: I’m scared! But exhilarated all at the same time. And I also know that I will need to stop trying to do everything myself, and instead find a small but mighty team that can assist me and my business partner, Aysha Upchurch, in making this thing as successful as possible. I’m working on my control issues as we speak…)

I don’t want to fully lose momentum though – we have been building such a strong sense of community these past twelve months. So I’m about ready to send out an update – we have a dance workshop coming up, there are some moves on the horizon, and as always, we got a whole lotta heART…

Screenshot: Feb. Email Newsletter

If you want to view the complete newsletter on Friday when it is sent out? You can sign up HERE.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 23: One.TwentyEight.13

So I have a confession to make: I didn’t get very far with the choreography I was “supposed” to start today. The song selection – Ready For Love – it feels a bit too close to home somehow. Which is why it’s so good for me. But also makes it hard to start. It feels like it has to be just right, this choreography, as if my life depends on it. Because in some sense, maybe it does. Because I don’t know if I’m ready to love, in real life. But I want to be. So it feels like possibly one depends on the other – me learning to be ready to love, and me learning to create a dance piece again.

Loving myself, that’s where the work is first. That’s what this project has been teaching me thus far, in amazingly unforeseen ways. So I’ll keep at it, I just have to continue to remind myself that this structure I keep imposing on myself, these rules, I need to let them go. And the creativity, and dancing, will come, when it’s supposed to. Even if it’s on a different timeline than the one I have set for myself.

So instead of my own work, tonight I’m sharing a bit of outside inspiration. My friend showed this video – a blend of ballet and yoga – before our yoga class this evening. It’s beautiful and skillful and well worth the five and a half minutes it will take for you to watch the whole thing. I present to you:

Phillip Askew & Lydia Walker – Variations On Surya Namaskara‬ – YOUTUBE LINK

It’s worth clicking, I promise you.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 22: One.TwentySeven.13

I tried out Vine for the first time tonight. I figured I would jump on the bandwagon early and see if the hype was really all worth it. Turns out, it’s a pretty nifty little app. But, I’m warning you now, I don’t have the hang of it yet. I mean, it’s easy enough to point and shoot. But the saving it part, that’s where it gets a little tricky. Just like when I first started using Instagram and posted super goofy pics of my brother without realizing they were being published to my feed, so too did I post this first video without realizing I couldn’t go back and edit where I was posting it to. So it’s been saved to my Vine ‘feed’ (I have no followers but got a ‘like,’ ha!) Anyways, all that is to say, that I haven’t figured out how to post the nifty looped version of the video in here yet.

Instead, I just have the link I uploaded to Youtube. You can watch my first Vine attempt HERE.

A big shout-out to Matt Eyer for standing out in the freezing cold to video this for me.

This exercise had two purposes:

1. Learn how to use Vine. (Semi-successful)

2. Give you a 6-second teaser of my first choreo project. And another plug: This is your last shot at weighing in on which tune I set movement to for my first dance piece on this project. Don’t like what you see in the above video? Stop it before it multiplies. Like what you see? Make sure it quadruples. You can see the original song options I suggested in Day 17 and post your comment there. (Or here.) Tomorrow the choreo starts in earnest…

Oh! And in the spirit of being Ready For Love… Here’s a bonus photo for you, saw this heART on my way home from taping the Vine:

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 21: One.TwentySix.13

I didn’t grow up with much snow. And definitely not with for-real winters. When I first moved to the East, I was like a kid seeing the snow for the first time each winter. I always wanted to go out and play. (I tried, unsuccessfully, to go out in flips flops my first winter – how was a Cali girl to know?! until my bff set me straight.) Now, many moons later, the snow has mostly lost its appeal. I still enjoy seeing the light, fluffy flakes – from the warmth of somewhere inside that I don’t have to leave until it stops – I just don’t much care for the bitter cold. Like, at all. I continue to be awed, though, by natural ice sculptures.

Ice Sculpture photo by me. Filter effects thanks to Camera+.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 20: One.TwentyFive.13

I love food. Well. Not all food. I’m a vegetarian for starters, and a picky one at that. The fact that I don’t love all veggies mystifies many of my non-veggie friends. Isn’t that a requirement of BEING a vegetarian after all? Apparently not. So let me rephrase: I love YUMMY vegetarian food.

I’m not much of a cook though. I mean sure I CAN cook. I just don’t do it very often. When it comes to design, I can take a look around a room and just somehow make things go together to form a pretty vignette. That skill didn’t carry over into the food realm, however. I can’t look in a fridge and come up with fanciful concoctions based on what’s available. I can’t improvise in the kitchen. I also have a dark past when it comes to kitchen utensils. (Case in point: I once cut off the tip of my thumb with a cheese slicer. To this day I don’t own a cheese slicer, nor do I ever plan to use one again.) Finally, as we learned in Day 17, I’m not big on patience. So when I’m hungry, I want to eat right then and there. But when I have a recipe in front of me, a sprinkle of in-short-supply patience, and a dash of ambition, I have been known to cook up some delicious dishes.

So while the below picture may not look like other people’s versions of creativity, let me assure you, it was my daily dose for sure. Also, cheese makes everything better. Everything. (Wine doesn’t hurt either.)

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 19: One.TwentyFour.13

Today I learned of an inhumane bill and a completely misguided plan. Today I am disgusted by the ability of humans to lack humanity. We hear bad news and see inexplicably heart wrenching media accounts of violence everyday, to be sure. These two stories, though, somehow speak to the ugliness that can live in people even when they are trying to be problem solvers. I just can’t fathom how people justify hurting other living beings simply because they gain something from it.

Today, more than ever, I needed art. I found the inspiration I was looking for in an incredibly ambitious and thoughtful project, a collaboration between illustrator Lisa Congdon and writer Maria Popova. Each Monday of 2013 they will release a new illustration+quote+essay on a woman who has changed the course of history. Today I offer you a sample of The Reconstructionists.

The Reconstructionists by Lisa Congdon and Maria Popova

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 18: One.TwentyThree.13

what do you do when you wake up one morning, same as any other, only to discover you regret nearly four years of your life? you know this is a heavy word to use, regret. and yet, nothing else fits – even comes close. you don’t regret all of it, to be sure. and you recognize ‘the good,’ ‘the lessons,’ ‘the necessary’ that have come from them. still. what do you do?

1. become immobile and wildly unhinged all at the same time.
2. panic. how can you trust yourself, after all?
3. say the words out loud. i. regret. or put them in a blog post at the very least.
4. recall a friend’s words about how radiant you look in recent photos and vow to let yourself glow.
5. and finally, you realize that the only reason you could feel this sense of regret is because you are no longer in the space that created the life crisis in the first place. so you breathe, give yourself a hug somewhere deep inside, and get ready to LIVE again tomorrow.

Here’s to another day of creativity…

Day 17: One.TwentyTwo.13

The time has come for me to do some LIVING. Or as I like to call it, DANCING. I talk about it all the time – dance is my life force. So why are there no clips of me ACTUALLY doing any dancing you ask? I’m beyond nervous about it. I’ve been psyching myself out since I started this thing. And that is exactly why I am now challenging myself to actually get to it. It’s about freaking time I get over myself. Or at the very least, get out of my own way.

I have like the original ipod mini, which hasn’t been updated since we turned the corner into the new millennium. It’s my road trip shuffle – I never know what I’m gonna get. The below three songs brought me some amount of inspiration. I plan to use one of them for my first choreographic project.

1. India Arie – Ready For Love

2. J. Holliday – Fallin‘

3. Estelle – No Substitute Love

But wait up. Instead of simply selecting one of these songs, I’m getting a little crazy. That’s right, I’m going to put it to a vote. (Will anyone respond, or am I just setting myself up for disaster?!)

If you would like to weigh in on which song I choose, or at the very least take pity on me and don’t want to see my experiment become an epic fail, go ahead and post a comment with your vote by Monday, January 28! I will also gladly take song suggestions if you are not MOVED by these options.

Here’s to another day of creativity…