Power verses force. What do you have the power to do? Are there areas where you don’t need to force but rather you can go with the flow?
We need in this world a place where you can experiment, risk and ask questions. As a freelance dance artist, I have been battered by the winds of dance, but it hasn’t detoured me from following what I am most passionate to do, despite the obstacles which are many! I think we don’t have enough curiosity in this world. What I know I can give as an artist ~is to evoke curiosity, connection, wonder and questioning in others. The spirit of inquiry is something that is not honored in our society today. We only follow linear growth on a clear path, supposedly know where we are going and what we are getting before we get it –as it has already been codified and commodified for us. Art is the antidote to this. An expansive idea, that anything is possible. Risk whenever possible, the world is always changing and we are in a constant state of motion!
If a flat lifeline means we are dead~ real life can only exist with highs and lows. In Culturistan, our group experienced these same peaks and summits. anticipation and curiosity. Success is not linear- our world is always changing as are we. The organs in our body that work the hardest have the fastest changeover. We grow a whole new skin every 2-4 weeks. Our red blood cells last less than ½ a year. We are always changing yet we hold on tightly to remain the same. To settle for the security of the familiar or known. The ups and downs are inevitable, but we can make efforts to change. the way we see, speak and hear them. How might we place greater focus on our shared humanity rather than the differences that separate us? In a world of individualist outlooks
is there also room for empathy, community orientation, and interculturalism?
“Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth”
– Shirley Chisholm
Culturistan has come to an end. I sincerely thank Ahmad and Taha for their vision in creating and bringing this unique residency to fruition and to my fellow Culturistanies. The future of the connections forged here are yet to be revealed but I am optimistic to see how our intentions will take root.
I am all the richer for meeting these 9 individuals more personally over these last 10 days, until we meet again!