Megan Reflections

I just received this from Megan:

sat.15.nov: So many thoughts came up during this first rehearsal. One thought was that the setting and the cyclic nature of the piece remind me of Javanese theater and music. The second: Wailana asked us to be feminine, masculine, and to use movement to show male/female identities. It’s not that easy, though, because all the movement I thought of was stereotypical gendered movement. I feel this is closely linked with Wailana’s piece.The challenge for me is, how do we use the stereotype of gender roles to be the example of breaking stereotype? I feel like communicating the message to the audience could be tricky; what if we actually perpetuate stereotypes by using them? I’m excited to see the piece grow, I know that Wailana will take it in the right direction. He wants our movements to be clearly masculine or feminine, not ambiguous. How can I use stereotyped gendered movement, but convey a critique on it, challenge it? There’s the obvious dychotomy: be masculine in feminine clothes, and vice versa. Would it be possible to be clear in the opposite way? Can I be feminine, look feminine, and say within the movement something more? And the outrageous part–what would that be? Obviously there are lots of thoughts.

sat.22.nov: Wailana is planning on being naked at the end of the piece and is leaving it open for us to choose how we will be. Am I brave enough for that? Why don’t I want to be naked? Probably for the most simple reason: I’m not used to just being naked in front of strangers. I did dance around naked in a house with three girls once. One was a friend and the others I had met that night. We were just dancing and people started taking off clothes. Nothing sexual, just naked. I guess that was a situation where I felt free enough to go there, and even that was still a little intimidating. Gradual steps for me, I guess. I’m one of those people who get into cold water very gradually. Maybe Wailana likes to jump in 🙂

tue.2.dec: It’s the morning of the performance. Last night when I was going to bed I was thinking about what different things I wanted to wear during the performance! Hahahaaaaaa, pretty ironic. I wish I had a face mask of an old man or something. Oh well, next time.