It's also okay to take time to grieve.

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

It's also okay to take time to grieve.

by Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody


Hey, friend! How are you doing? How are you faring in this new reality?

Me? It's different from moment to moment, day to day. And that's the way I've learned to take it. Because that's the only way it's going to work. The information and guidelines and rules we're getting evolve as this coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the world, our state and our city, and we inch along towards an unknown future. We're all trying to do our best.

Well, some of us, actually, are doing our usual. Which is not helpful. It's a time for responsibility. And I'm livin' in the USA where gun sales are rising and young people have to be forced to stay away from bars.

Anyway, my fellow Americans, my fellow New Yorkers, my fellow arts folks, here's where we find ourselves.

Lord love us, the virus struck, our daily habits and plans and expectations got shut down but--damnit!--we got busy. Right away!

We've now put a flood of videos and livestreams out with everything from opera performances to yoga and meditation and cooking classes to art museum tours. Oh, thank goodness we've got the Internet and social media and the same electronic devices we'd just spent months and months complaining about and trying to spend more time away from so we could have authentic experiences with our loved ones IRL.

Now, we're finally making good on those old resolutions to study French or learn to knit or...I don't know...maybe master brain surgery on YouTube. And there's just so much out there to dig into while we wait for the world to turn right-side up again (or what we thought was right-side up...that's debatable).

There's more and more and more online content every day for the stuck-at-home. I've got friends and colleagues busy making some of it. And even this blog post! Because we're resilient, we're creative, we want to keep active before we lose our natural minds. It's really fantastic, isn't it?

It's also exhausting.

All the time in the world now to catch up with the tons of unread books I have here, the millions of unread articles I have saved in the Pocket app, the podcasts people keep telling me I have to hear, my Netflix list, my bag of knitting supplies, my personal writing, the two free Coursera courses I've just signed up for and--Godx, help me--my lifelong practice of introversion. And yet....

I can't. Anyone else feel me on this? I just can't.

I wish I could put this enforced isolation time to good use. But....

It even took me a while to realize I could write a post like this to share with you how I'm feeling.

Because we're supposed to spring into action as if nothing, absolutely nothing could ever slow us down.

We're Americans, damn it!

We're New Yorkers, damn it!

We got through 9/11 together, and we'll power through this trauma.

And I actually think, as much as artists and folks who work with artists--particularly dance artists--are marginalized in this society, most of us have a keen sense of responsibility to community and world, a sense of generosity and mission, that moves us to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, start all over again. Right away!

I'm here to admit I'm both feeling it (that natural urge) and not feeling it.

I'm leaning in...and swerving away.

And, yeah, all of the labor I normally do (and dearly love) is dependent upon either:

1) getting wonderful artists into spaces where they will perform live in front of, I hope, densely-packed audiences (curation)

2) attending and reporting on live performances amid often densely-packed audiences (dance writing).

So, right. I've got lots of new time on my hands. But my proudest achievements, lately, involved strategic grocery shopping and the complete reorganization (and subsequent re-stuffing) of my pantry.

My newly-unfolding Spring season at Gibney is in tatters; my calendar for other New York City happenings is suddenly wiped cleaner than a subway pole first thing on a March morning. And I miss every one of you I used to encounter all the time on my sidewalk, in the lobbies and aisles of performance venues, in the corridors and studios of my workplace.

I miss you. I'm grieving. It's okay to take time to grieve a little. It's okay to take a look around and realize you don't know what to do next. You just don't know what to do. You feel overwhelmed and helpless in the face of unimaginable uncertainty. And you're no expert on any of this.

Take even just a minute. You can spare a minute.

2020. Remember when we thought this was a fresh new year with a cute name? Little did we know it was coming for us. Threatening our health, our businesses, our incomes, our socializing, our freedom to greet one another with a warm hug in the time-honored manner.

Last night, when I couldn't even relax with a Met Opera video (free!) because, I guess, the system wasn't strong enough for all the new demand on it, I threw in the towel. I went to bed, read a little, went to sleep. Sleep is also free and, occasionally, you feel refreshed when you wake up from it.

Lately, waking up from it has also been a proud achievement.

Productivity is as American (and as capitalist) as apple pie. And this Virgo, of course, would love to feel useful and productive. This blog post is actually a tilt in that direction. Look, I'm communicating with you again! But what I'm communicating is about making space for my feelings--and yours. I hope you can feel it's okay to do the same.

Take good care of yourself and all who are precious to you and a comfort to you in this difficult moment. I send much love and wishes for your safety and well-being!

Eva

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve as Senior Curatorial Director of Gibney. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

Subscribe in a reader

Join us at BAX's Artist Services Weekend, February 10-11

(Brooklyn Arts Exchange) welcomes you to its annual Artists Services Weekend, Saturday, February 10 and Sunday, February 11. The entire weekend of events is free with reservations made here.

For complete details on the events listed below,  click here.

BAX Artists Services Weekend

Saturday 2/10

2:30

Maria Bauman | AIR Open Studio


2:30 – 4:00

PROCESS AS PRODUCT – hosted by Tanisha Christie: a conversation/presentation looking at work that is explicitly or implicitly "process based" whether that is defined as ritual, practice, or participatory; where the work is shown as generative, "raw,"  "unfinished," improvisational and/or in the moment.

Participants include: Nina Angela Mercer (playwright/performer), Aisha Bell (multidisciplinary artist and sculptor), NIC Kay (artist), and BJ Evans (Associate Producer, Performing Arts @ BRIC)


3:30 – 4:30

ORIENTATION AND INFORMATION SESSION FOR 2018/19 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE AND SPACE GRANT APPLICATIONS


5:30

Mariana Valencia | AIR Open Studio


6:30

luciana achugar | AIR Open Studio

Sunday 2/11

11:00 - 12:00

ORIENTATION AND INFORMATION SESSION FOR 2018/19 ARTIST IN RESIDENCE AND SPACE GRANT APPLICATIONS


11-12:30

REDEFINING POWER

A workshop created and facilitated by BAX's Youth Education Racial Equity Cohort: Angie Pittman, Donna Costello, Maira Duarte, Billy Schultz, Casey Hayes-Deats and Lucia Scheckner

BAX Youth Education invites you to join us for a conversation about ways in which we can dismantle white supremacist power structures while working with young artists (and beyond) in classrooms and studios.


12:00

Kat Galasso | AIR Open Studio


12:00 – 4:00

OPEN FORUM - Studio C will remain open and available throughout the day. Meet a friend for coffee. Lay down on a mat, or continue a conversation from a previous workshop. Light body work will be available at intervals on a first come, first serve basis.

1:30-3:3O

All Black: A Long Table on Stress and Self-Care

presented by
Dancing While Black and Eva Yaa Asantewaa /EYA Projects

Let's talk about the many sources of stress in the lives of Black and Brown artists. What approaches, resources and tools help us counteract the effects of stress on our physical health, psyches, interpersonal relationships and creativity?

Core participants: Rashida Bumbray, Charmaine Warren, Orlando Hunter and Paloma McGregor

Curated and facilitated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa/EYA Projects

Please note that we are holding this private space for Black and Brown artists and community members. We request that all respect this designation.


2:00

Aya Ogawa | AIR Open Studio


3:45-5:45

Space for Everyone: Different Approaches to Finding the Right Space for Your Project and Your Community.

Join Risa Shoup, ED Space works, Inc. as she explores with and brainstorms about developing your own space and the creating & managing of capital campaigns. What does it mean to advocate against cultural displacement and who are our allies in the business community?

With Stephanie Alvarado and Mara Kravitz from 596 Acres. Jimena Martinez from CUMBE, and Katy Rubin from Theater of the Oppressed NY

6:00

Tanisha Christie | AIR Open Studio


BAX
421 Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn
(map/directions)

Subscribe in a reader

Sorry I Will Miss Your Show

Eva Yaa Asantewaa
(photo by D. Feller)

Gibney Dance Center has a running program they call Sorry I Missed Your Show. So I'm riffing off that title here because I want you to know that I'm aware how exceedingly tough it is to get press coverage (and decent press coverage) for dance shows in New York.

Throughout the year, I get numerous requests--not only press releases but also personal emails and Facebook messages--and try to juggle those requests along with my own interests and personal needs. No secret: I love dance a lot--as well as other arts and other activities; I am generally a quiet yet wildly multifaceted person--but have not managed to acquire bilocation or multi-location as my superpower!

Of course, ask, but there will be times when, for any number of reasons, I cannot get to your show (or even your rehearsal or informal showing). And it's better for all of us that I recognize those times and honor them. That way, I'm going to be more nourished, rested, resourceful, at ease and effective at what I do when I do get there.

Here's what led me to write this post:

How to Not Die: Some Survival Tips for Black Women Who Are Asked to Do Too Much

It's a terrific post, written in June 2013 by educator Robin M. Boylorn for the Crunk Feminist Collective blog. While it's directed to Black women, it contains wisdom that anyone should consider, and perhaps someday you too will take some of these ideas and recommendations to heart.

In the meantime, please remember that I'm grateful for what the arts, particularly dance, have meant to me throughout my entire life. I might not get to every show, but I stand with you in support and celebration.

Love,
Eva

Maria Bauman says: Come together to grieve and breathe.

photo by Whitney Browne
graphic design by Ashley Phillips

Dance artist, educator and activist Maria Bauman has created an event to support us in self- and community-care as we struggle in the movement for a just society. Please join us on the afternoon of December 31, 1-4pm, for Grieve & Breathe (followed by Solidarity Write-in) at Downtown Art. This is a free event. 

Bauman writes:

Just as pressuring our systems and institutions is key, our self-care and community-care must be part of this movement for justice and liberation. MBDance is offering an afternoon self- and community-care on December 31: 

1:00-2:00 MBDance starts the afternoon with a community-care circle of venting and discussion. The collective stress of navigating oppression and of holding grief creates high levels of cortisol in our bodies and can have us act out in ways that are unhealthy for ourselves and for our communities. We will take dedicated time to talk through our anger, sadness, action, and inaction around the two non-indictments and their larger context. A social worker who has a race analysis will be present to offer resources to anyone who feels he/she/they needs more than the community circle may be able to offer that day.

2:00-3:00 Then we will relieve tension, safely ease and lengthen our muscles, release stashed energy in the body, and take in the caring energy of the group through Partner Stretch & Tension Release. This is free of charge, all gender-inclusive, gender presentation-inclusive, age-inclusive, and body positive; people of all body types and levels of experience are welcome.

3:00-4:00 Afterward, we focus on community care by writing letters of condolence, support, and solidarity to Eric Garner's family: Mrs. Esaw Garner, five children, and three grandchildren. We have been in touch with Emerald Garner, one of the (adult) children; she has provided a mailing address for this purpose and the family welcomes this communication. Families can bring children to this last hour of the afternoon, as well. Crayons and paper will be provided in case children want to draw pictures to send to the Garner family, and MBDance will also provide letter-writing materials including addressed envelopes and stamps.

For updates and further information on Grieve & Breathe (followed by Solidarity Write-In), visit the event page on Facebook. Click here.

Downtown Art
61 East 4th Street (between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), Manhattan
(map/directions)