My Dance Week: Alexandra Beller

From Alexandra:

This is a fairly typical week — not too crazy, not too light. I am working at Princeton (teaching two courses: Intro to Contemporary Dance and Performance and Repertory), Alvin Ailey (mentoring in the New Directions Lab), La MaMa (teaching the Trinity/La MaMa students Laban and Bartenieff), choreographing for Peter Pan for Bedlam Theatre company, and prepping to start my Laban/BF/Anatomy course and to choreograph the musical The Mad Ones for Prospect Theatre Company. I also have two kids (11 and 5, almost 6) and live in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. I commute to Princeton so I can still see kids the next morning, even if I sometimes don't make it home that night for bedtime.

Monday, September 25:

6:30am: Wake up unnecessarily because my little 5 year old decides it’s snuggle time. Sweetness ensues.

7:15: Motivate the house to get ready. Make breakfast, pack lunch, make sure school bags are packed, teeth brushed, etc.

8:10: City bus to school, read to little one, morning rituals at school

9:15: Bus back home

9:45-10:45: Grade Princeton homework assignments, cross check schedules and send work emails about schedules for extra rehearsals being added to Princeton and rehearsals being canceled for Peter Pan.

10:45: Bike to train

11:10: Train to Penn, grab food and coffee

12:01: Train to Princeton

12:02-1:36: Read through Peter Pan script, plan Intro to Contemporary class, make to do list for Rep class, answer a few personal texts, eat!

1:36-2:15: Check roster for added/dropped students, update attendance book, re-upload revised syllabus to Blackboard

2:15: Meet with two students who want to late-add the course, about make up work

2:30-4:20: Intro to Contemporary Dance

Today is Technique day (Wed is Composition Day), and we are working on the idea of task, so I am trying to be especially clear about anatomy, initiation and sequencing, cause and effect, spatial landmarks, rhythm, and emotional agenda. For the most part, I try to think a lot about what it is the class is ABOUT, but not actually PLAN class. That probably sounds scandalously unprofessional, but the system seems to work well for me. The preparation for me is in really embodying concepts and deeply probing what I want to invite in class, and then letting the energy and responsiveness of the class direct and edit and season the material. There are moments I feel scared because I don’t know what the next exercise will be, and occasionally it fails because I am less clear than I’d like, but usually it feels more successful than when I choreograph exercises ahead of time…

They do really well. This is, for some of them, a first ever dance class. One of my biggest goals in the class (ironically) is to have them diminish their sense of success and failure and goal setting, and be able to find a really present moment embodiment. It’s not easy at Princeton, where they have such a mentality of pushing hard to achieve an outcome. It takes almost constant re-initiating on my part to get them to relax and feel. We end up making a pretty long phrase by accumulating a bunch of material. The accompanist is bad ass and I ADORE him. Gave him the cue to give me sort of a Brian Eno/David Byrne vibe, and he rocked it.

4:30-6:20: Repertory and Performance Lab

This class is so crazy! Trying to make a piece in 9 weeks, 2 classes per week, but HALF of the 1:50 class has to be a technique class. So I end up with about 45 minutes for rehearsal, and it’s SO hard to build momentum. Luckily, they are hard workers and focused, and the piece is very vignette based, so I can work on a single section in 45 minutes. But I find myself already stressed about how little time we have… I would like 4 hours…

It goes well today. I teach a duet with some intricate and delicate balanced partnering, and for the most part they start to grab the leverage system.

6:21-6:36: RUN to get dressed, grab a snack to go and get the 6:36 train home.

(Miss the express connection so arrive at Penn at 8:15, boo. That means I can’t kiss the kids goodnight, which is really sad.)

On the train home, attempt to read a script for a show I’m working on, but can’t focus. Eat snack, people watch, text friends, chill.

8:15-8:45: Subway to bike

8:45-9:05: Bike home

9:05: Kiss kids sleeping. Oh, big one still up (he’ll be tired tomorrow) so we get to chat for a few.

9:15-10: A bite of dinner (make a tuna sandwich) and answer emails (Why do I have 28 REAL need-to-answered emails?)

10-11: Shower, unpack dirty dance clothes, clean up after kids (How do they manage this mess every day? It’s a serious skill.)

11-12:45: You should go to sleep. You should go to sleep. You should not be on Facebook. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT continue that episode of Mad Men. Damn it, what are you DOING??? You will probably get woken up at 6:45.

Tuesday, September 26:

6:15: Kid crawls into bed with me. Cute for a minute.

7:15: Time to motivate this house. Repeat above through 9:45.

10-1: Do research on images for flying for Peter Pan, email director about how we are handling the idea of the “Indians.” Do a traditional First Nation dance, and then pull the plug on the appropriation because it’s an all-white cast? Skip the section? Do Bharatanatyam? If so, I should call my friend Preeti to come to rehearsal. He decides to cut the section of the script. Grade more Princeton homework (Why did I assign two responses per class of 2 paragraphs each from a class of 20? It’s 80 paragraphs twice a week… But I don’t know how else to make sure they do the viewing and reading, of which there is a lot.) Watch the videos from the last piece I made with this creative process to see what yielded what results with that group; make notes.

1-1:30: Get dressed, straighten house

1:30-2: Bus to Fort Greene

2-3: Meeting with my friend Todd Coulter. We are probing the idea of writing a book about embodiment and acting, and about the relationship between instinct and analysis. But it is very hard to find time to work on it for real, and it is so damn daunting. We end up chatting more than working, which is recuperative.

3:15-5:15: Pick up kids and play in playground and do some homework outside

5:15-6: Travel home

6-7: Make dinner, check homework, straighten up, answer some emails

7-7:45: Snuggle time, watch Supergirl with the kids, start bedtime rituals.

8pm: Bike to meet a friend for a drink

8-11: Friend time

11-12: Go through class plans for tomorrow, answer more emails, plan rehearsal for Thursday’s Peter Pan rehearsal

12-1: Go to bed, go to bed, go to bed, go to bed. Why do you DO this every night?

Wednesday, September 27:

5 am: Kid climbs in bed with me. Wake up and phone is completely non-functional. Having a mini meltdown. Need it for music for rehearsal, and doing work on the train. Both my class plans for today are on there, and I don’t totally remember them. Get up once he’s asleep and try reboot, plug in, itunes reboot. Nothing doing. Look up nearby Apple stores and opening times. Stay up til 7:15.

7:15-8: Repeat, but Kids’ dad brings them to school so I can get to Apple store by 9 am opening time.

8-9: Bike/subway/walk to Apple.

9-10:15: Deal with phone. They FIX it!!!! $149 later…

10:30-11:30: Therapy, because life…

12:01: Train to Princeton. Repeat Monday’s tasks.

1:36-2:25: Print materials for both classes and update roster

2:25-2:30: Lay on a ball for my achy back. This is amazing. Self care!!! Why do I only do this for 5 minutes a week?

2:30-4:20: Intro to Contemporary Dance

Composition Day. Makes them nervous, but they do so well!!! I warm them up with a Bartenieff condensed class then have them add tasks to their already created phrases they made last week. I have 20 copies of five tasks (100 slips of paper). They do one; when finished, trade me for the next (so they can work somewhat at their own pace). The tasks are:

Take out ALL repetition from your phrase
Add up to 10 seconds of repetition of one thing to your phrase
Make something that was still locomote
Put something free inside a container
Change the force of two movements. Make something that was forceful now be delicate and vice versa

They are doing great work. I mostly refuse to answer questions so that they have to decide on the interpretation and not default to mine.

When they’re done, I add:

Add a beginning before your beginning, which makes your phrase feel surprising (so set it up with conflict)
Add an ending which exits and relates back to your new beginning

Their beginnings and endings are STUNNING, really interesting. I’m so into them right now.

4:30-6:20: Repertory and Performance Lab

Why is it SO STRESSFUL every class? Too much to do. My to do list from the train for this class would require 3 hours. Sound system is broken, so I lose ten precious minutes there, and almost lose temper but pull it together. Monday is Bartenieff and dance and Wed is floorwork and inversion and dance. So we get going and get sweaty pretty fast. They are eager dancers, really fun to lead.

We review a bunch of material, and then build a big partnering section with some pretty high flying lifts. They are fairly fearless, and conscientious. Good work today. I feel a tiny lightening of the worry that we will get this done, ever.

6:30: Ride home with Stuart Singer and Raja Kelly

Luckily Stuart drove today, and Raja is visiting to choreograph for Gurls, so we get a respite from NJ Transit. Talk about body fear, shame, inclusion, sensitivity, sexuality and how it relates to our students’ burgeoning identities. Nice to get a moment with other professors to break things down. We also talk about what a “dance class” is anymore, and what we do for our bodies, and how our beliefs about how and what to teach have radically shifted and continue to shift. The ride flies by.

8:15-8:45: Lyft back to my bike

8:45-9:10: Bike home. Kids are already down so I miss kisses tonight. 😦

9:15-1: Repeat Monday

Thursday, September 28:

6:30-9:15 am repeat above.

9:15-10: RACE!!!!! Rehearsal at 10 am in midtown…

10-6: Peter Pan rehearsal for Bedlam Theatre Company

We are working on a version of Peter Pan that diverges drastically from the original, a piece of devised theatre based on the play and using the text, but more adult, darker, more about some of the danger and desire that is inherent in the script. Today we are working on both the idea of mermaids and the idea of flying. I am interested in exploring gender in the mermaids section and terror and ecstasy in the flying. The cast is so amazing, ready and willing and very receptive to the material. We work on a syrupy floor section for mermaids, with some bite to it once we stand up. Sensual, and with a seductive quality to it, I am excited to see the men do it with some sense of playacting or irony. Quite beautiful. Then onto flying, where we are working with some extreme partnering, flying someone as a group. They are not as used to contact as many of the performers I work with, so safety and consciousness and learning about connecting through breath and the rhythm of weight is key. Fun. The rest of the rehearsal I just watch them play with text and work on the script and character ideas.

6-7: Travel home

7-9:15: Dinner and bath and bedtime rituals with kids

9:30-11: Answer emails, grade more Princeton papers, set up ideas for La MaMa class tomorrow, order birthday present for little one (bday upcoming!)

11-12: Shower and clean house etc.

12-1: Lament my inability to fall asleep immediately

Friday, September 29:

6:45-8:45: Repeat, but kids’ dad takes them to school, so a moment to relax with coffee. We are out of coffee. Damn.

8:45-10: Travel to La MaMa

10-12:30: Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals for Trinity/La MaMa

We are working on both Basic Six (BF) and beginning Effort Theory today. Working on the dynamosphere in the Cube, the Diagonal scale with Effort Affinities and Disaffinities, and then taking Effort out of Space and allowing for creative applications. They needed a bit of a talking-to today. They were tired, end of a long week. I totally get it. Also, I’m only here once a week, so if we don’t have a pretty productive time together… we are a bit screwed. So I call them out on needing to take responsibility for bringing themselves soulfully and with integrity into the room. Showing up is not enough. They pull it together quite impressively!

12:30-1: Grab food and COFFEE

130-3: New Directions Lab at Alvin Ailey

This is a great program. I am so impressed with it. They give a grant of space and mentorship and money and production to 2 choreographers per semester. I am the mentor for one of them. Having had an initial talk about the scope of our mentorship, and a quick prep talk before his audition for dancers, I attended the audition and hopefully helped him to bounce around to make final selections. Today is my first time getting to a rehearsal, so I’m excited to get in there.

He’s got some very compelling material. A big question for him is around the architecture of relationships and unison. He seems to be choosing to have either a solo against group, full group unison, unison simultaneous duets, or full group solos. I am curious about the narrative that this progression of relationships is telling about the community and how the content is directing the choices around numbers of dancers and unison or contextual tension.

3-4: Errands (I need shoes, as weather is turning crisp and I am still in sandals!)

4-5: Travel home

5-6: Make dinner, check in with kids

6-645: Dinner

7-830: Run out for a quick meeting with a potential director for a show that needs a choreographer.

830: Bedtime rituals

930-12: The usual

Saturday, September 30:

It’s our 5 year old’s sixth birthday! Birthday pancakes, presents, bring his best friend to the Bronx zoo, pick up another kid for a playdate, dinner cupcakes, songs, more presents, bed. Cute Facebook posts of crazy animals we saw.

Sunday, October 1:

Was supposed to have Peter Pan rehearsal but Movement got canceled at the last minute. Using the day to catch up, grade Princeton, send Ailey mentee my notes, plan my Laban course (which starts this Thursday), re-read the script for Mad Ones (meeting the director Tuesday), prep some things for Princeton piece and Intro course, write a letter 0f rec for a friend, set up extra Princeton rehearsal, send email to students about articles upcoming, and a few household things (been meaning to stick 1100 star stickers to the kids/ ceiling…). Make dinner, catch up with a friend in CA on the phone.