Holidays 2020!

 Alright well this year has been hard enough without prolonging it, so I'm taking the next two weeks off to rest and recover. The end of the year is an arbitrary time point to mark endings and beginnings, but it'll be some well-deserved time off for me that I don't want to cut into too much. Hope your end of year plans are similarly restorative and I'll write more in 2021!

This Is Beautiful: The Poets are Gathering

 The latest album from saxophonist Benjamin Boone is "The Poets are Gathering," a powerful album that uses both poetry and jazz to explore and respond to current issues, particularly racism. This album pairs poets reading their work with jazz musicians creating accompaniment. The two art forms grew and developed together, so this is a really cool way to bring them back together.

I really enjoy how each piece is so perfectly suited to the poem thematically. Many of them speak about painful subjects and are atonal and dissonant as a result, but there are also very loving poems that are beautiful and gently read over piano. For a bunch of them, the music fits so well that it ends up sounding like a pop or a rap song instead of spoken word.

My favorite tracks include the title track, "The Poets are Gathering," as well as a few others. The titular song starts off as a march as the author reads a call to the poets. It then builds an grows until the poet is basically singing a wordless song as the instruments improvise in the background. The tension here is almost palpable as it grows in intensity. Another excellent song is "Deconstruction of Idols" which almost sounds purely improvised at the beginning, until about halfway through, when what sounds like a big band takes over. After that it sounds like a swing song! Finally there is also "Truths" which is a gorgeous, melodic piece that is a joy to listen to. I'd recommend the whole album honestly, all of them are wonderful. What a great way to merge art forms and comment on the current climate.

Asexual and Dancing

 I have some thoughts that I need to just get off of my chest. I'm just so frustrated about the dance world in general, and my experience as an asexual dancer in particular. I've been dancing since I was 5 years old, it's been a part of my life since I was young, and I have been a part of dance groups all through college and even after that. I was on the exec board for my group in college. I'm currently in grad school and am still dancing and choreographing. I've been doing this, I've been doing this seriously, for most of my life. And I still feel like an alien in dance spaces, primarily due to my sexuality.

It's not that other dancers make comments about it or are aphobic, it is more that so much of dance is directed towards being sexual and being seen as a sexual object. That impulse drives so much of how dancers move and express themselves, that when someone comes along who moves and expresses themselves differently it doesn't register as "good dancing."

All of the dance groups that I have been a part of have been non-audition based. I've tried to get into audition based dance groups, I spent a lot of time in undergrad doing that. And I gave it another whirl when I started grad school. I have always felt uncomfortable in auditions for very many reasons that I will not get into here, but a lot of my discomfort has to do with what is asked of the auditionees. Many dance auditions (in my experience) consist of a segment where those auditioning are asked to basically strut across the floor to demonstrate their self-expression. Which isn't a bad idea in and of itself, it is a cool way to try and see the individuality of the dancers. But it always turns into "who has the best sexy walk." I don't have a sexy walk, I have no interest in developing a sexy walk, I end up skipping across the floor or doing a really bad imitation of said sexy walk. This has yet to earn me a callback.

And this is not seen solely in auditions, if you look at any professional dance company the vast majority of their pieces have to do with sex. I am specifically thinking of Paul Taylor's work, I watched some of the movie, "Dancemaker," that showcases his work and was astonished how much was about sex and relationships. There was one segment where he explicitly said "this isn't about love, it is a dance about sex."

There is nothing wrong with dancing about sex and sexuality, there definitely is a place for those works. The problem is that the dance world is now so saturated with sex that there is no room for anyone who wants to create art that is not about those things.

Dance needs to expand its vocabulary beyond just what is considered "sexually desirable." This will lead to more variety in dance pieces, and as a result create more interesting art. Not only that, but it will also lead to more diverse dancers feeling included within this space. Dancers who do not want to constantly be exhibiting themselves as sexual objects have a place within the dance world as well, it is time that we were more welcoming of them.

This Is Beautiful: Snow

 We just had the first real snow with it sticking and everything on the ground for a bit. It was beautiful walking around in it the very few times that I had to go outside. It brought back some very powerful memories of undergrad and walking to class in the middle of the snow. I thought that this was interesting because I don't usually get a sense of a very powerful flashback from visual cues. Usually for me it's auditory or certain smells. Maybe because with snow it's visual and the temperature and sense of direction from the walking that does it. Either way, I love the snow. I'm so glad that it's kind of winter already, I think it's gorgeous and it makes me pretty happy.

Coming Out

 So this past week Elliot Page, the acclaimed actor, came out as transgender. Which was huge for visibility for the LGBTQ+ community, they're very well known and star in "Umbrella Academy", a Netflix series that has really taken off.

What has been the best part of watching this has been how accepting everyone has been. Major news articles do not always get the terminology right, but you can tell that there has been a real effort. And many websites were very quick to change their pronouns on their sites to match what Elliot uses. I really haven't seen much transphobia or backlash against them. Which is honestly incredible. You would think that with a high-profile trans individual all of the transphobes would come out to gawk or whatever.

It gives me a lot of hope for the future seeing these reactions. Especially since Elliot came out as non-binary masculine which is not a very common gender identity.

Good job this week humanity. I actually have some hope for once.

This Is Beautiful: TWEWY Sequel!

 Alright the thing that is making my life right now is the fact that right before Thanksgiving, a sequel was finally announced for The World Ends With You (TWEWY). I've written about TWEWY before (here, here, and here), I think it was one of my first "This Is Beautiful" posts back in the day (also here). I'm honestly just shook. I cannot believe that we are getting a sequel finally. I've been waiting for this for literally a decade and it is here.

This was such a formative game for me. I played it for the first time back in eighth grade and its message about opening up to people had a big impact on me. I'm not totally sure why, it definitely wasn't like I was living in a lil hole and not talking to people, but I think watching these likable characters go from being sad and lonely to opening up and persevering forced me to reflect it back onto my life and what changes I could make. Not to mention that the world building, graphics, music, and mechanics were all incredible and addictive.

I hope this game is good and has the same impact on me that the original did. I hope that this isn't a huge letdown because honestly I need a win right now and therefore I am all in on this hype. I sure hope that this doesn't let me down because I am soooo excited!