Hi there.  So I’ve never blogged before, but here is my first attempt:

I wasn’t sure what I was in for when I signed up to be in this video production.  I’ve never performed anything in my life, let alone a dance piece.  Dancing has never been a skill of mine, and in fact I’ve always been very shy when it comes to dancing.  If the occasion to dance comes up at a party, I am very shy and try to avoid getting involved.  I know that participating in this project won’t completely change my timidity related to dancing, but I can say that our most recent rehearsal was quite a different experience for me than the first.  After the first rehearsal, I felt like crying.  I felt so out of place and unsure of my body as I was moving around the floor.  Even more terrifying than actually doing the steps was the fear of being judged by the others in the room.  I was sure that everyone noticed how awful I was.  But recently, I’ve been feeling much less scared of the whole process; I’m feeling more at ease with how I move.  I still don’t think I’ll be a professional anytime soon (or ever), and the butterflies don’t go away entirely.  But it’s getting easier and more enjoyable each time.  One of the hardest parts of the process is creating my own movement.   Inventing my own dance steps is a struggle simply because I’ve never done it before and don’t know how my body can move.  I’ve not experimented with my creativity in this way before.  I’m unsure what the final product will look like, but I hope that it will be something I can be proud of.

Get your tickets at framedance.org/boxoffice.

Lydia Hance is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant Award. This grant is funded by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.  Frame Dance Productions’ Framing Bodies is  funded in part by the Puffin Foundation.  Frame Dance Productions is a recipient of a Rice University Dance Program Space Grant.

This week I felt was grey and bleak compared to the previous weeks tone. I think that it had to do with the writing prompts.

” I knew I stopped loving you when..”

When I started to write about this it made me think of times that I would rather not revisit. I felt no anger about what I was writing I just know that I am in a healthier place.

” I would tell you if it wasn’t so scary….”

This free writing did not come to me easily since I usually speak my mind even though I might be scared of the reaction.

From these free writing prompts we picked six words and created gestures to represent them.

CRITICIZED
WORLD
IMAGINE
MESS
FORWARD
TOGETHER

Mixed Matched… Together… we presented and made Lydia very proud.

Teaser promo here.

Framing Bodies: LOVE ME premieres Oct. 14, 15 at Spacetaker.

Lydia Hance is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant Award. This grant is funded by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.  Frame Dance Productions’ Framing Bodies is  funded in part by the Puffin Foundation.  Frame Dance Productions is a recipient of a Rice University Dance Program Space Grant.

Brought to You by Frame Dance Productions

Those who know me well, know I love the idea of writing, but when comes to the “sit-down-and-do-it,” well, I kind of fall short there. But so far I believe one of my expectations of this project is coming true: I’m actually sitting down and writing!

The First Rehearsal

So I must admit I was really nervous on my way to the first night of rehearsals. There were so many things to worry about: will traffic let me get there on time, will I get lost, will I look stupid? As it turned out I wasn’t the only one walking in a little late and Lydia hadn’t started without us. I did stumble through the short interview. Even though she only asked us what we did for a living, what our reactions to the project were, and expectations, it seemed like I couldn’t find coherent words to express myself. Yay for editing! Right? When we started warming up, Lydia surprised me by having the curtains closed, covering all the mirrors. My initial reaction was, “Wait! I won’t be able to see if I’m doing this right!” but my second reaction was sort of a humorous feeling of relief. “I won’t be able to see myself, and therefore how stupid I think I look.” So anxieties were destroyed. Though, I still felt awkward moving around being as I haven’t been to a dance class in about ten years. But I started to get used to it as the rehearsal went on, and it was really fun, and inspiring.

I think about half of the room was professional dancers who knew each other, but everyone was very open, especially for a first session. I really enjoyed the exercise we did with movement and words. Lydia had us move as if a part of your body was pulling you (like your hand, or knee or head). Someone said a word, like “Love” and we would all move, then someone else could say another word such as “Comfort” and we would stop moving until someone else said another word.

Besides movement, we each had a notebook. Inside the notebook was a writing prompt. We were given a few minutes to write on the prompt before warming up. My prompt was “I felt love when…” I thought of the first time my husband kissed me. It felt great to write in those few minutes. Later, we were split into small groups. Each person shared what they wrote with their group and the rest of the group wrote what they felt were key words to their stories. Then we all shared our notes with our group. It was so interesting and really amazing to see what people get out of other people’s stories, even simple words. In our group Denise used colors as vivid personifications. Instead of writing words from the stories, Cassie chose to use words and phrases that came to mind from hearing the stories. From the stories Lydia had us pick certain words or a phrase and start to create movement to go with that phrase. I tried to find a rhythm in my phrase before moving. That helped me a lot. Although I still think my movement imagination is a bit limited. The exciting thing is how that will change in the next month. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to next Wednesday.

Here it is. Here is the teaser for Framing Bodies: LOVE ME. Up next? Look for blog posts on here written by the cast members about the process of making this film. Switch is to 1080p for best quality.

Framing Bodies: LOVE ME premieres Oct. 14, 15 at Spacetaker.

Lydia Hance is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant Award. This grant is funded by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

Frame Dance Productions’ Framing Bodies is  funded in part by the Puffin Foundation.

Frame Dance Productions is a recipient of a Rice University Dance Program Space Grant.

Framing Bodies: LOVE ME premieres Oct. 14, 15 at Spacetaker.

Lydia Hance is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant Award. This grant is funded by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

Frame Dance Productions’ Framing Bodies is  funded in part by the Puffin Foundation.

Frame Dance Productions is a recipient of a Rice University Dance Program Space Grant.

Framing Bodies: LOVE ME premieres Oct. 14, 15 at Spacetaker.

Lydia Hance is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant Award. This grant is funded by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.

Frame Dance Productions’ Framing Bodies is  funded in part by the Puffin Foundation.

Frame Dance Productions is a recipient of a Rice University Dance Program Space Grant.