Last dance... I mean post.

I am really grateful for my collaboration with Jeff and Daphna throughout this semester. I think we worked well together in a casual yet productive way. It left space for trying things but also a focus on where we wanted to be heading. I got to see how Daphna and Jeff built off of one another musically while they improvised, it reminded me of what I go through when I'm working with another dancer. They could hear and sense things that I couldn't and it reminded me that I may see and sense things physically that others are less attuned to.

All of my teaching and sensibilities toward individual movement (as opposed to trying to make everyone look alike) I think were useful. The surprising thing was that we ended up making a dance! I didn't know what we were going to make. I didn't even know if they were enjoying the improvisation I led them through the day they put down their instruments until it ended and they reacted so positivity. I was nervous! And also I noticed by the end I started to feel a little more agency to offer thoughts about the musical end of what we were creating. Not a lot, as Daphna and Jeff figured stuff out really quickly. But when questions came up about overall trajectory, or is this working or not, I felt I could input my thoughts more - or that I actually had some thoughts to share. I think this process made me a better listener.

One thing I'm happy we did early on what choose a path. I can spend a lot of time in the "discovery" phase, and working with Daphna and Jeff pushed me to move forward with a plan more quickly than I think I normally would. I think this was good. Sometimes the words "make something!" resonate in my head, as meaning and understanding about what you are creating can be expanded on in further iterations. I also liked that we went back to improvising as a useful tool later in the process for creating material when we got to our final section. I am looking forward to working more with Jeff and Daphna on my thesis performance and am happy that our collaboration was grounded in honest communication and a solid work ethic.