Certain threads seem to bind them together.
The concert music, the large music-theater pieces, the smaller pieces, the films, and the dances from the early days–to me they have a very consistent kind of vision. Jones–is an in-depth discussion of the processes, inspirations, themes, and evolutions that have defined Monk’s career.ĭeborah Jowitt: I want to start with a really big question. The following conversation–conducted by dancer, choreographer, and journalist Deborah Jowitt and published in the 1998 Walker exhibition catalogue Art Performs Life: Merce Cunningham/ Meredith Monk/Bill T. Marking Monk’s 50th season as a creator and performer, her 1966 video installation work 16 Millimeter Earrings is featured in the Walker exhibition Less than One. Her pieces have been performed all over the world, including at the Walker, where she’s performed 11 times since 1974. Dance matters because it solidifies our power and autonomy over our bodies and our choices.For five decades, Meredith Monk has been performing, choreographing, and composing works that “ thrive at the intersection of music and movement, image and object, light and sound, discovering and weaving together new modes of perception.” Her interdisciplinary approach encompasses the exploration of the voice as a musical instrument, the layering and rhyming of visual and aural elements, and the questioning of the boundaries (both physical and theoretical) of a stage. It has led me to have deep self-reflection on how much power we have to make our own bodies feel good and how by making ourselves feel good we can lead by example. Training through institutions and dancing to have the perfect look for singers and agents, I forgot that dance is supposed to increase joy, not increase pain. It shocks me that the mantra ‘if it doesn’t feel good, don’t do it’ has only just come to light for me. I switched from the choreography feeling good before looking good. As a dancer aiming to execute shapes and never felt satisfied, this simple notion was groundbreaking. I have solely followed my intuitive body for the past six months and I am constantly doing things that feel good to my body on and off the dance floor. This question of the intuitive body is leading me to a new journey on why dance matters and how dance can provide such strong reminders of the power we possess. It is that impulse from out of nowhere when dancing with a friend to one pathway instead of another or even to go down a particular aisle in the grocery store. Those moments when we are walking down the street and have this feeling to go left instead of going right. Open Source Forms founder Stephanie Skura gave the provocation to follow your intuitive body, something I had never thought of before. I was confronted by the question in Seattle where I learnt from different generations of Skinner Release Technique and now Open Source Forms practitioners. It has only been almost twenty years into my dance practice and I have now just begun to examine why I dance and why it makes me feel good. Ironically, a modern dance teacher came to my high school and she asked us to dance like a tree and all I remember is how much I disliked it and that I felt I wasn’t dancing enough. For years, I was only concerned with how fast I could dance, how many pirouettes I could do and how fast I could drop into the splits. I never thought I would write prose for movers to experience being a tree. Trace the branch with your nose as if it was felt-tipped. When's the last time you sat under a tree and enjoyed it? I want you to trace one of the branches with the tip of your nose. Look at the sun peering through this tree Really rest your skull into your hands and in your mind's eye, look at the branches in front of you. What do you think of when you hug a tree? You have just found the perfect space to be getting close to this tree… Let the hug of this tree come to you as you equally give the hug to this tree.
With a soft gaze, I want you to hug this tree. Now with this guided breath, I want you to visualise a tree in front of you in your mind's eye.
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