Dear _______,
LABOR DAY
Left to right: Larry Keigwin, Matt Baker, Kristina Hanna, Nicole Wolcott, Gary Schaufeld, Jackie Walsh
As I write from this comfortable porch chair sipping a cold beer my colleagues are running around the great lawn, engaged in our rather acrobatic version of Frisbee with writers who are also in residency here at Vineyard Arts Project. The sky is slowly changing in hue as dusk sleepily arrives, enveloping everyone in purple blue periwinkle light. It’s the kind of scene that feels suspended somehow, like it can’t be bothered with the obligations of time or our ambitious every day to-do lists. We are all full of hotdogs and hamburgers, barbeque potato chips and homemade coleslaw, beverages of every kind and even a chocolate molten cake over pears that Sevan, one of the writers here, has made for us. After a day of individual pursuits around the island, shopping in town and sampling the homemade ice cream, biking to the beach and sunning on the shore, reading in private quiet nooks of our houses, the act of coming together to eat and play and share has provided us with another kind of nourishment, simple and elegant and clear on every face I see…plain contentment.
So often we write to tell you about all the things we are busy getting done. A sense of urgency is a characteristic necessity in our field. Just recently, Matthew and I sat on a panel that included many distinguished administrators and creators in dance, where one of the main creative concerns articulated was the dire need for available and affordable rehearsal space. It can sometimes feel like we are racing against time and the practical constraints of our material world. Whether it’s trying to finish a polished new work in time for a world premiere or setting an established evening length repertory piece on an entirely new cast, we usually have a small window of time to accomplish impressive goals. It’s the rare occasion where the artist has the chance to imagine, work, explore, and create unhindered. We do not, after all, live in a vacuum, but this week on Martha’s Vineyard afforded us with perhaps the closest thing to that feeling: sweeping landscapes, endless ocean shorelines, lofty sunlit rehearsal spaces, and two enormous houses that somehow managed to pull off that clean cozy feeling in a way that only the Cape Cod style can do. It wasn’t picturesque. It was perfect. We did, however, get a lot done. By the end of the week, we had finished learning all of Elements (an hour and a half long program) for our fall tours and had started creating a new piece titled Balloon Dance, set to music written by Adam Crystal who accompanied to the Vineyard. It’s deeply satisfying knowing that we have managed to do both, to draw from the well and replenish it simultaneously.
The daylight has fully faded now and the party has moved indoors. Around tables cards and dice are being taken from their boxes. The warm glow of the lamps illuminating the faces of these friends is something to see and remember. I wouldn’t change a thing about this day and how we’ve been able to say goodbye to summer in all the best ways together. I’m going to blow out this candle and join them. Tomorrow it’s back to the mainland and with it its realities. But look at all we get to take back with us. It means more if you return with it and get back to work.
Truly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Kristina
K+C Bridge jumping - “They give it a 10!!”