Happy Birthday to Me

I am having a very happy Birthday in the woods outside of Moscow. I am about to do a birthday performance involving watermelons with a Russian woman whose birthday is also today. And then we are providing watermelon for everyone here. It is hot and a little sticky and I am looking forward more to eating the watermelon than performing with it. The exigencies of art.

I am having a very good time. There was a long period when Internet access was difficult, but here we have Wi-Fi if I huddle with my computer close to the administrator's office so I am blogging again. I will try to remember the highlights but not in chronological order.

I am now at the 5th Moscow Contact Improvisation and Performance Festival. The festival seems to develop mood swings, but a teacher gave the image of being on a surfboard and when you are at a low space between the waves, you need to "turn elegantly." So I am practicing turning elegantly. I am wearing my birthday suit, not naked but red pants Jose made for me in Argentina and a blue shirt I bought in New Delhi. I think I will look elegant against the green of the watermelon.

My birthday started last night at midnight when I continued the tradition I started last year of being in the sauna at midnight. Russians in the sauna are at their best, more relaxed and playful than usual and more willing to experiment with English. Also, everyone is naked, and the ages last night ranged from about 12 to 71 (after midnight) and it was beautiful as well as fun.

After the watermelon performance, I am conducting my second "Unannounced Performance Lab" of the festival, where I encourage people to do performance in unexpected places at unexpected times. Tomorrow we will gather material from these experiences and then do a short performance in front of an audience and then talk about how (and if) the experiences are different.

I also have done two workshops which could be loosely called teaching English through movement games. These were difficult. I hadn't anticipated how hard it is to work with children through a translator. I need to work on my Russian. Nevertheless, we got it together both with the 4-8 year olds and with the 8-14 year olds. I also now have a small group of English-speaking children I talk to from time to time.

As for the rest of the time, I have been taking it easy. I have danced a little at a couple of jams, participated in one performance lab, watched some performances, done some unannounced performances, slept a lot, wrote a little, and spent time with friends old and new. In the next blog, my intention is to write about my need to be along and how I manage it when I travel.

My unannounced performances have been observational. I spend time (from 10 to 25 minutes so far) picking something to observe, so far bushes and trees, and then I set the timer and observe it from a standing position for the same amount of time. As a performance, I am not sure though I have had good feedback from people who have happened to see a part of one. As a practice, it is great. It is audio-visual meditation and I hope to continue the practice when I am back in Los Angeles.

Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday, dear Lukie,
Happy birthday to me.