A photo illustration for an article I wrote on site-specific dance, photographed by Joshua Bessex. (And yes, that’s me.)
Read the story here: http://dailyuw.com/archive/2013/06/05/arts-leisure/close-site-specific-dance#.UcKFpGruV29
"What is the verdict of the vastest mind?
Silence: the book of fate is closed to us.
Man is a stranger to his own research;
He knows not whence he comes, nor whither goes.
Tormented atoms in a bed of mud,
Devoured by death, a mockery of fate.
But thinking atoms, whose far-seeing eyes,
Guided by thought, have measured the faint stars,
Our being mingles with the infinite;
Ourselves we never see, or come to know.
This world, this theatre of pride and wrong,
Swarms with sick fools who talk of happiness.
This frail construction of quick nerves and bones
Cannot sustain the shock of elements;
This temporary blend of blood and dust
Was put together only to dissolve;"
Silence: the book of fate is closed to us.
Man is a stranger to his own research;
He knows not whence he comes, nor whither goes.
Tormented atoms in a bed of mud,
Devoured by death, a mockery of fate.
But thinking atoms, whose far-seeing eyes,
Guided by thought, have measured the faint stars,
Our being mingles with the infinite;
Ourselves we never see, or come to know.
This world, this theatre of pride and wrong,
Swarms with sick fools who talk of happiness.
This frail construction of quick nerves and bones
Cannot sustain the shock of elements;
This temporary blend of blood and dust
Was put together only to dissolve;"
–
from Voltaire’s “Poem on the Lisbon Disaster”, used in the dance piece “Dark Matters”, choreographed by Crystal Pite and performed by Kidd Pivot (via cricketrahne)
Love love love this poem and Kidd Pivot’s performance. Read the full poem here: http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=349&chapter=28298&layout=html&Itemid=27
Anonymous asked: Are you a dance minor or a major? I love dance and I'm thinking of minoring in dance, but I haven't danced in a while and I'm scared I'll be too rusty. Do you necessarily have to be an experienced dancer to minor in dance? And if you minor in dance and it works out well and you earn extra credits can you somehow turn it into a dance major eventually? Finally, is it possible to double minor at a university or is that just silly? Thanks in advance for answers! PS: I love your work. Keep writing!
Hello! I have no idea when this was posted, but if it’s a long-ass time ago, I’m sorry for the late reply haha.
I’m currently a dance major, though I have to say I was quite rusty too when I started haha. I think your question is really based on whether or not the major/minor program in your specific school requires an audition process. Where I currently go to school (UW), I just needed to take a gateway course to apply for either the major or the minor, and the differences between the two is simply the different requirements for graduation. The major obviously has more requirements, both in technique classes and academic classes like dance history, anatomy for dance, etc. At the UW, you can change major to minor or vice versa quite easily, as long as you’re already in the program –– you just need to fill out forms, basically. Also at the UW, you don’t have to be an experienced dancer, but you do need to complete a whole series (like 100-level, 200-level, 300-level and so on) of at least two out of three basic dance forms (ballet, jazz, modern), which of course takes some time to get from one level to the next. I know people who have little dance experience when they started but continue excel (one of which actually got hired by a company recently), so it’s not impossible if you work hard!
And lastly, I think you can double minor; you can even triple minor depending on the university you go to, so it would definitely be a good idea to check resources related to the school of your choice. Hope this helps, and feel free to ask if you have more questions!
PS: Thanks for the compliments! I hope I can write more sometime soon :)
xxx -i
Anonymous asked: I'm so happy you're posting again! Keep the writing posts coming :)
thanks love, unfortunately this is the last day of Spring break and tomorrow’s the first day of Spring quarter soooo idk if I’ll still be posting then or not hahah.
a small piece of the story.
we were children:
drenched in a world of basketball games, scrawny limbs, calling names, knee scabs and band-aids, treasure hunts, and make-believe worlds
Enthralled to be alive, curious about why cats hate dogs
and what it’s like to be married (married at 16 or married at 25?), have a job where
all you seem to do is type words and numbers on your laptop.
We were enthralled by music, by moving images of a teenage psychic
on a black-and-grey box
As if they were layers of a chocolate molten lava cake: a metaphor for life?
You were the vanilla ice cream topping of my grade-school soul.
we grew:
carefully placing building blocks of feelings and memories (outgrowing legos), a vignette of thoughts and memories of passing on secrets, reading books, falling in love, a series of self-discoveries washing us from one ego to the next.
Cerebral quests, and still curious
about how people fall in love, or why they hate
jumping from one lover to the next, suspended between destinations, continents, fuming wafts of perfumes, paying rent and
having brunch, reading George Orwell and re-reading scripture
wondering who God is, and why we are alive
Still enthralled, but I forgot (about you?)
Look around
surrounded by nature, surrounded by newspapers and existentialism and art and the daunting prospect
of paying taxes and puffing up lists of accomplishments
We passed each other, we passed the time of day, we proceeded: I only attempted (from you?), convincing myself I succeeded.
I walk I dance I envy beautiful people I drink coffee schmear bagels lit nicotine sticks (invitation for death, they say: he RSVPd “yes”) I inhale fumes, perfumes, morning dew
and release an exhale heavy with
thoughts of
you
Look around.
where do I go from here?
Copyright © Imana Gunawan
My campus and a small glimpse of its beauty. Sometimes when I get frustrated with college life, I have to shake and slap and remind myself how lucky I am to be around such exquisite beauty every day.
Bangs+undercut.
"
“This spring, you’d swear it actually gets dark earlier.
At the elegant new restaurants downtown
your married friends lock glances over the walnut torte:
it’s ten o’clock. They have important jobs
and go to bed before midnight. Only you
walking alone up the dazzling avenue
still feel a girl’s excitement, for the thousandth time
you enter your life as though for the first time,
as an immigrant enters a huge, mysterious capital:
Paris, New York. So many wide plazas, so many marble addresses!
Home, you write feverishly
in all five notebooks at once, then faint into bed
dazed wit ambition and too many cigarettes.
Well what’s wrong with that? Nothing, except
really you don’t believe wrinkles mean character
and know it’s an ominous note
that the Indian skirts flapping on the sidewalk racks
last summer looked so gay you wanted them all
but now are marked clearer than price tags: not for you.
Oh, what were you doing, why weren’t you paying attention
that piercingly blue day, not a cloud in the sky,
when suddenly “choices”
ceased to mean “infinite possibilities”
and became instead “deciding what to do “without”?
No wonder you’re happiest now
riding on trains from one lover to the next.
In those black, night mirrored windows
a wild white face, operatic still enthralls you:
a romantic heroine,
suspended between lives, suspended between destinations.”
– “Turning Thirty” by Katha Pollitt, from Antartic Traveller.
