Collaboration Update #1

DAWN
Planting the Seeds

Thoughts before meeting with my collaborator, Kayla:  

  • How to not think too much, anticipate, predict, direct the activity
  • How to get to know someone “virtually”?  How to spark creativity from a distance?
  • How to play together, from a distance?
  • What do I have to share?  What kind of partner can I be?
  • What does Kayla hope to get from this adventure?
  • Maybe I can list some images that are intriguing me, and see which ones resonate with Kayla
  • Also some practical things to decide:  How often do we want to communicate, by what means…

During our Zoom chat:

     We talked about the challenge of being so free to explore, and how to maybe choose a starting point.  (We decided to use Whats App, and to send messages/images etc. back & forth to keep a dialogue going.  Not as frequently as Matt & Julie, but maybe with a 48 hr. timeline.  I proposed TIGER as our first prompt, as it is Lunar New Year for Year of the Tiger.

     We talked about paths we have the urge to travel, which might be music (instrumental -open vocal-soundscape), making things with our hands, movement, exploring images and “moving pictures”…

     Kayla talked about ways we can get to know each other better, in a pretty free way. (She tried to stay away from “interview” or “Q & A”).  I proposed “interchange”—something very informal like an online PJ Party.  We’ll see!

After thoughts:

I was thinking about how much Kayla (and I too, I think) laughed during our time together.  It reminded me of a piece I wanted to write called “Laugh Three Times”.  Maybe we can “work” on laughter?  

     “waraiko” –  a centuries old Japanese laughing ritual.  Three hearty laughs are offered up   during this celebration.  The first is in gratitude for the passing year; the second is in prayer for the coming year; and the last is for clarity…a laugh to clear the mind and heart.

 I’ve already sent her my first tiger image.

KAYLA
⛅to dream of joy and tigers:this week I’ve been thinking about joy and light, of the lunar new year and what it means to celebrate when you’re far from home.as I met dawn for the first time on the first day of this new year, an instrumental cover of cranes in the sky softly played in the back of my mind. how apt for her to share her interest in sound and music, her background and flute and piano at the end of our conversation.earlier, we spoke of objects and images for prompts, a feeling of being stuck, uncertainty, past fears and new disciplines to try.“there is something burbling inside need to be more creative” she said, noting her interest in seeking both an experience and a challenge. discussing our first prompt, i hesitated. in honour of lunar new year, she then suggested the tiger and blurs of all things tiger I’ve been staring at throughout the week flashed through my mind. How connected and relieved and excited I felt for this to be said.

Sky photo