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Creating a studio space where we feel confident artistically expressing ourselves at home can be a huge challenge. Some of this has to do with how we relate to our home spaces versus our studio spaces. Studio spaces are usually neutral in design and large enough to accommodate huge psycho-physical expressions of heightened imaginary circumstances. Where as our Homes are filled with spaces already declared for activities other than play in usually much smaller square footage with others (a shared home space). So how do we carve out a place for ourselves to work creatively and dynamically? at HOME. ideas needs room to flourish. or make space for wandering elsewhere.
here are two experiments that played with sound for a project based on hildegard von bingen. Once, in the middle of playing steal the bacon
in the elementary school gym, across the corner of the vast wood floor, I saw these older girls doing these flips. Feet over head, hair flying, and it was one of THE coolest things I had ever seen. How do they DO that? I want to do that. Steal the bacon was abandoned. Quickly. And I set my sights on those cool girls doing those flips: Hand, Hand. Foot, Foot. Hand, Hand. Foot, Foot. For hours after- days after, everywhere there was enough floor space, I would attempt this feat – hand, hand; foot, foot – until I was successful. Cartwheels! Hurrah! But that was just the beginning. I started to experiment with the cartwheel: tempo, spacing, succession, direction, left-handed, right-handed, one-handed (it would take a few years of gymnastics classes to accomplish the elusive no handed cartwheel; the side aerial!). Other kids started coming around to ask, "How do you DO that?" So, I happily dissected the cartwheel, a sideways walk into and out of a handstand, to teach them. By the end of the school year there was a team of us having cartwheel races, creating cartwheel ballets, cartwheeling in unison down the vast wood floor gym at break-neck speed. A friend of mine asked me to give a talk on the subject of risk, from an actor's point of view, and so i was going to tell some anecdotal story from my new york actor life. Maybe a starving artist story, or the almost homeless story (which one?), perhaps something a little more beautiful or positive about an acting moment where in the face of adversity, something super great happens. But, instead, i found myself digging into the history of the word, the meanings it holds, and how does the idea of risk connect to acting or art as a whole. Why is art risky? Is risk inherent to art? For those that know me, the party fact girl (aka tazzie facts), knows that this is how my brain works. I'll make the assumption that when most of us think about risk in relationship to actors, we automatically think of risk in regards to loss. And more specifically, financial loss. As a matter of fact, most definitions of the word risk refer to incurring unfortunate outcomes from an action. So, from a financial standpoint, by even choosing a career in acting, one “runs the risk” of impoverishment; housing insecurity; financial instability; precarious employment; inadequate healthcare; and educational debt. I’m pretty sure there are more, but you get the idea. According to the NEA: "Women artists earn $0.81 cents for every dollar earned by men artists. This gap is similar to that in the overall labor force (where women earn $0.80 cents for every dollar earned by men); professional women earn even less -- $0.74 for every dollar earned by professional men" and the income to poverty threshold for actors is over 60%- which isn't as scary as dancers and choreographers stats which is a whopping 80%. NEA publications: Artists and Art Workers in the United States: Findings from the American Community Survey (2005-2009) and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (2010). The word risk shows up in the english language around 1640 from the italian: risco. It means danger. One can postulate from this meaning that being an artist is literally dangerous. In 2015, artists worldwide experienced a “20% increase in registered killings, attacks, abductions, imprisonments and threats, and a staggering 224% increase in acts of censorship” from the year before. Freemuse: Annual Statistics on Censorship and Attacks on Artistic Freedom in 2015. Take the Belarus Free Theatre which created and produced theatre as a response to government censorship. Subsequently, they were forced to go underground, imprisoned and eventually the founders were smuggled out of the country. Or Augusto Boal, creator of Theatre of the Oppressed, who was kidnapped, tortured then exiled for using theatre to engender social and political change. Or Keith Prosser, who acted in the first play that had an openly gay character in Uganda where homosexuality is illegal. He was arrested, held for eight days in a prison that is on the human rights watch list, then deported. In the Elizabethan era (during a malleable period of the English language), people were accustomed to comprehending multiple meanings of a word at the same time. When an actor is working with classical text say, like, Shakespeare, we usually explore how cultural context imbues meaning. In all the variant meanings of risk , there’s a common component which is uncertainty. And that’s kind of what actors do. We invest in uncertainty. We learn techniques to cultivate, develop and focus our tacit knowledge, use games that challenge the balance of give/receive, study and apply behavioral styles of understanding, assessing and managing risk in relation to self and others, explore the emotional spectrum through experience, create collaboratively, enrich trust and fearlessness. One could say risk is a touchstone of acting. “Artistic expression connects us all, transcending borders and barriers. Artistic expression can challenge us and change the way we view the world.” Ambassador of Latvia, Janis Karklins, 2015 UN HRC. There is an excellent theory that the word risk originates from the arabic: rizq, meaning provision (in the sense of giving). That the principle of rizq, without getting religious, is to make your best effort seeking bounty and are thankful for the dividends received, whatever they may be. To me, this is the principle at work in theatre. It is found in the transformative relationship between the participants and spectators. The bounty/dividends are in experiencing that visceral exchange which occurs. Theatre provides witness to the human experience, allows us to feel connected to the collective stories of life and empathize with the uncertain complexities of human nature. The rizq/risk of actors lies in the art of expressing and embracing life. Embracing life’s a good risk, right? “Art is one of the most valuable assets of human society, yet the truth is that while we may attach art to a time and a place; it’s true provenance and relevance remain intangible. We can look at the raw materials (the paint, the instrument…), the composition (the brush strokes, the music) or even the act of consumption (viewing, listing…) – but the thing that we observe only becomes art within us.” Vikas Shah. Thought Economics-Theatre, Performance and Society 2016. Sometimes something's amiss- it stops the harmony of your art and are anxiously pulled out of the world you created. you don't know how it happens, but it does. you are lost. even if for a brief beat. actors are both our own instrument and player upon said instrument which makes self-assessing acting issues during a rehearsal and performance process tricky. whether your acting methodology is mind to body or body to mind, when working, sometimes our instincts can physically show us when and where we are LOST. now, the why of it has variables (so I encourage you to do some internal sleuthing)- it could be a personal issue, an inability to grasp the circumstances, the meaning of the moment or depth of character, perhaps it's a lack of support or clarity from the director or other actors, structure of the writing... what ever the case, a big part of our job is to find ways to make aware, informed choices. since theatre is a joint effort, may I recommend that once you've identified the problem, invite the director to collaborate on a course of action with you. here is a basic list of physical habits that help me identify where I might be veering off course- additions are welcomed the Check list: |
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what do you add to your mirepoix on a tight buget? legumes: stew, dahl, soup beans: chili, soup chicken: roasted, use w/carcass for stock, curry grits: roasted, stirred rice: roasted, fried vegetables: stir fry, stew, roasted, soup add to your egg, tuna, pasta and rice salads links about mirepoix and recipes: http://readyprepgo.com/the-miracle-of-mirepoix four versions of mirepoix five soups | the mirepoix is supposedly named after the french general, Charles de Levis- Duc de Mirepoix (1699- 1757). no ones knows for certain what the original dish a la mirepoix was, and early recipes show inconsistencies. it wasn't until the end of the 19th century that mirepoix took on the meaning we know today. in French cuisine there are two types of mirepoix: mirepoix au maigre (veggie) and mirepoix au gras (meat) |
According to the NEA
Twelve percent of actors are employed by not-for-profit organizations,
a relatively high proportion when compared with other artists.
Almost 40 percent are self employed, and 47 percent work for
private for-profit employers. Only 15 percent of actors work full time for the entire year.
Almost 60 percent of actors have completed college--
more than double the rate of the labor force as a whole--
but their median income ($23,400) is below the $30,100 median for the total labor force.
For the small group who do work full time all year,
actors’ median income is still below the norm for the labor force.
2005: Median income for men: $26,700
Median income for women: $19,100
Fill yourself up with the forsythias
and when the lilacs flower, stir them in too
with your blood and happiness and wretchedness,
the dark ground that seems to come with you.
Sluggish days. All obstacles overcome.
And if you say: ending or beginning, who knows,
then maybe—just maybe—the hours will carry you
into June, when the roses blow.
last spring by gottfried benn
translation by michael hofmann
according to the NEA: although artists are twice as likely as the overall labour force to have graduated from college, we still earn $6,000 less annually than other professional workers with similar levels of education | down to your last five dollars? tired of eating instant ramen? try the 99 cent bin at your local market! when you are an underemployed artist, there are times when you are actually starving. i'd like to share some "starving artist" recipes with you and i'll start with the one i made last night: the 99 cent bin stuffed pepper |
RECIPES: easy meringue recipe french meringue martha stewart's swiss meringue my favorite historic gastronomist's version of chocolate puffs from a 1750 recipe tavern meringues pavlova | what do you do when you are bored and crave something sweet and there is NOTHING in the house? make meringue! light fragile sugary peaks which dissolve on your tongue with chewy candy like bottoms. it was one of my favorite discoveries as a child and so easy to make. all you need are a bunch of eggs, a little bit of sugar, and a whole lot of pent up energy. i eventually became an expert at whipping egg whites, that i challenged myself to make meringue with a fork. that's right, ladies and gentlemen, i said a fork. |
corey tazmania
is an actor and a native
of new york.
she was given the gift of a green thumb and a mechanical inclination,
but still cannot figure out how to play a reed instrument.