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Symbiotic, rehearsal photo taken at the Park Avenue Armory, May 2009

Through many an ebb and flow, I ended up taking the stage here in New York. Thanks to the help of Moving Theater Company who sheltered us into their beautiful Park Avenue Armory rehearsal studio. Such a lovely space they created there high above Park Ave in the Cannon Room. We worked away in the late evening quiet of this grand structure, all while sculptor Ernesto Neto and crew took on the tennis courts below. Choreographers Yen-Fang Yu and Anthony Whitehurst decided to put me on the fast track toward learning contact improvisational movement. We spent seven months of discussions, plotting and rehearsals, and in the process I was given the opportunity to learn how to move. Now, appearing as an Anemone sounds like a rather simple dance move until you contemplate the fact that Anemones do not have spinal cords, and I do. So how to work around that? Bend, torque and bend some more, until you appear spineless and fluid. I swam every week along with their program. The end result this week was Yen-Fang smiling at me and calling me spineless. I was never so happy to hear that phrase.