On Collaboration

What an interesting experience.  Looking back, this couldn't have gone more differently than I imagined.  The process that Sydney, Spencer and I developed was very fruitful for our personal practice and the project we were developing.  I gained a lot for what I do individually in many of my projects, and I also grew into a better understanding of how to be a better collaborator in a personal sense, and in a practical sense.

The outcome of our final performance was very fulfilling mostly because of this unique practice.  I do not believe our intention was to end up with a product that we would have found such confirmation and fulfillment from like one might feel after composing a very detailed work, our intention was to create something that was informed from our practice that felt natural, honest, and authentic.  I am pleased to say that I do love our piece, and I find great satisfaction in what it became.  To me, that is an incredible bonus because we didn't want spend much energy on "making a piece", as opposed to making a collaboration.

I learned a lot about structure.  We spent a lot of time trying different forms of improvisation.  Using simple prompts and constraints informed me in new ways about how and what form and structure can exist in a improvised work.  We didn't dance as much as I would have assumed in the beginning, but many of these ideas about form and structure came from Sydney and my time in a performance improvisation class we were taking this semester.  In that class, we spent our time moving and dancing, but the concepts were universal to whatever we chose to apply them to.

In any future collaboration I think I have realized the value in talking about perspective.  For example, talking about how an idea looks and feels to different audiences really matters.   Something I am familiar with may look and feel different to someone that isn't familiar with it like I am.  This concept might seem obvious, but this was a hurdle we had to overcome together and I learned a lot from it.

I am so glad to have taken this course.  I loved the opportunity to take a collaborative class with my brother and Sydney.  I know we will continue to make more projects together in the future and this class was what brought us together.