As I work on my movement piece project (I posted a bit about it here) I appreciate artists like Miranda July, who I've always admired, for making her own art on her own terms. One look at her website introduces you into her outlook on her creative process. Her films, performances, and art are woven together by the desire to simultaneously connect with others on a genuine level while celebrating one's own personal voice.
Sometimes it is difficult to explain to people (especially in LA) that I consider myself an actor but am not currently going on any auditions. To some, it seems less legitimate to create your own art, film, or theatre piece than to participate in the expected way of becoming an actor. And when I try to describe exactly the kind of art I'm creating, things only get more complicated and my legitimacy seems to plummet.
Thankfully, I have some solid friends and fellow artists who support me 100%, understand what I'm doing, and are excited for me. Yesterday, I was texting with a far away best friend, who wrote: "I am so proud of you for doing your own thing." I am always thankful to hear simple words like that.
This little compilation "Don't Give Up": 20 lessons for creatives from Miranda July has a few pearls of wisdom in it (even if you'd rather pursue science or technology or accounting). Mostly, she just inspires me to do my own work and not to worry if it doesn't fit neatly into a category.
I am feeling extremely inspired these days. I have been working a lot on a collection of movement pieces that I am planning to film, and I feel like I could write for days. What are "movement pieces" you may ask (cause everybody does ask me this)? To put it simply, they are stories I write that use movement instead of dialogue. Kind of a cross between untrained dance and a scene from a play. Most often, they are written to a song that inspires me through its lyrics or musical arrangement.
I started writing and performing movement pieces in college. The song in the above video, "Exactly" by Amy Steinberg, was the first one I performed. My wonderful, creative friend Kathleen created the idea for a directing project and let me run with it. The first one I wrote myself was to the song "Sweet Religion" by Imogen Heap. I loved that the pieces let me fully express a story in a more heightened, stylized manner, and I was hooked.
I am currently writing to "All That You Have Is Your Soul" by Tracey Chapman. I usually prefer to perform my pieces live, but I am thinking of doing little film shorts since producing theatre can be expensive by yourself. My ultimate goal, though, is to do a Night of Movement, performing an entire collection of my pieces.
Movement pieces aren't exactly a real thing--they fall somewhere between theatre, dance, and improvisation. But I kind of like that I have my own little art form. I liked that, in college, I was known for doing movement pieces. I don't know where they quite fit in with some of my other career goals yet. Since I am still inspired to create and perform them, I'll take it as a sign that I should still be writing these pieces without questioning their legitimacy too much.
**please note: these videos are not my own creations. You can find their original pages here and here.
