Today we hear from San Francisco Bay Area artist Randee Paufve.

Studio time is solo time, when I work on everything, something, or nothing for the number of projects I have going at any time. Studio time takes place in dance studios, at a church in El Cerrito, in my apartment, at a park, at the gym I keep joining and quitting. Studio time is anywhere I dance that is not about a deadline, actively choreographing/directing, teaching, writing grants, strategizing about how to get the dances made/supported/seen, or any of the other things we do as dance people. My practice of the last many months starts with walking and making sacrifices to the four or five or 8 or 12 directions. Then I walk all the diagonals in the space. I walk in spirals, forward and backward, with my eyes open and closed. I breathe and crawl and pray. I do pushups and other strengthening and dancey things. I write and read things aloud, talk to myself, and also with others who aren’t there. Eat snacks, think and improvise.

I slow down to myself, inside and out, feeling my skin feeling air and space. Sacred. Opening. Forgiving. I see, smell, listen. Acknowledge the floor, the walls, the ceiling, all the stuff. Sometimes I rant and cry, mewling howls, so grateful and lucky and scared and pissed off. Sometimes I play music loud or soft or I sing a little.       

I move a lot. In recent years I find more physical limitations, so I work with what I have and kind of forget about what I can’t do which is kind of cool. Right now it’s all about upper body movement and expanding stillness as my hip is healing.

Find out more about Randee at paufvedance.org.

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