Slow Falls

As I work on multiple embroidered pieces, I thought I would share something beautiful I watched today: a series of dance performances as public installations along an industrial stretch of 3rd Avenue from 1st - 8th Streets in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

The dance performance, called "Slow Falls," consisted of a series of stop-watch timed "descents" marked by tape along scaffolding, brick and other structures. The dancers, four in each piece, were barefoot. The dancers started each piece 6 minutes apart. After finishing a dance in one location, the dancer would move to another location as viewers either stayed behind to watch the remaining dancers, or followed.

Created by Abigail Levine, "Slow Falls" is one of numerous performances in the Movement Research Festival 2011 in New York City. I am so glad I found out about it and caught a little of it. (My secret dream is to be a dancer. )

Your Ghost

Sometimes, my fantasies of a person are as vivid as a relationship. I wonder sometimes if this prevents me from moving on once a relationship has changed or ended? 

I also know from painful experience that each person experiences a relationship differently. It astounds me that people can stay together for years, like my parents, who are about to hit their 40th anniversary. There must be enough overlap in their perceptions of their daily lives and their deeper spiritual connection for it to work. I have never experienced that, and still feel puzzled by most of my dating experiences. I sometimes feel as if there is no one on the other end. I wonder if this will ever change. I still struggle with feeling like my perceptions of given situations are far from what the man on the other side is experiencing. Does this mean I am too imaginative? Or have I simply met many single yet unavailable men?

Piece at top left: I wear your memories and dance with your ghost.