Gathering Momentum: Issue 1
Hello, and Happy Fall! Speaking of fall, I am happy to announce that I am premeiring a new piece of choreography in a couple weeks inspired by gravity. The title is Felix Casus, which roughly translates from Latin as “fortunate fall” or “happy accident,” and it will be performed by six amazing dancers at the Kent State University Fall Dance Concert October 2-4. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work as a guest choregrapher at the university level, and I am grateful to the Latvian composer Rihards Dubra for allowing me to use his beautiful composition for saxophone quartet as the setting for this piece. Several core phrases and aspects of the movement vocabulary were discovered through hours of improvisation, finding different ways to “throw myself at the ground and miss,” as Douglas Adams might say. Please enjoy a clip from this wild process, and if you are able to see the show, try and spot how this accidental sequence finds its way into the finished piece!
Meandering Musings
Each newsletter, I will reserve a little space for personal updates and musings like this one! The transition from full-time grad student to full-time professional freefalling has been a little precarious. Like in the video above, it feels as though I am allowing momentum to carry me in this season, and although I don’t know pecicely where it will lead, I am managing to land on my feet (or hands). One reason I have avoided freelancing thus far in my career is a lack of predictability. Grad school provided a structure for my day no less prescribed than my schedule as a company dancer, which was comforting but also constricting. There came a point when I had to ask myself, “You keep looking for the perfect space to work and serve and create, but what if you have to create that space for yourself? Will you give yourself permission to do that?” Truth be told, I think that each of us can carve out a “room of one’s own,” in terms of personal agency, in whatever workplace or homespace we may inhabit. Sometimes, that room may feel very small in the context of rising economic pressures, relational responsibilities, and personal limitations, but it exists. Sometimes, that room can grow a little larger if we recognize the opportunity and give ourselves permission to invest in our own agency. This newsletter is that investment. It is a prayer of gratitude for what I’ve been entrusted and a prayer of petition for what lies ahead. Thank you for joining me as witness on the journey.
Question for the Comments: How do you carve out a space of your own in your daily life?
Recent Exerpt
Each issue, enjoy a brief exerpt from my recent work. This week, it comes from my most recent sermon at City Church CLE, exploring the last chapter of the book of Jonah.
Lake Erie after sunrise
Jonah has got to be one of my favorite prophets, not because he is likeable but because he’s hilarious. God says, “do your job.” Jonah says, “make me.” God says, “bet.” But the baffling thing is that even though Jonah flagrantly disobeys God by attempting to go to Tarshish instead of Nineveh, he displays perfect faith. He has no doubt that the storm which nearly capsizes his chosen vessel is directly sent from God. He does not doubt that the whale, or fish, which swallowed him is a vehicle of salvation rather than destruction. And we read in verse 2 of our passage today that he tried to run away not because he doubted God’s love but because he knew, deep down in his bones, that “The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love,” and he couldn’t stand it.” … Meanwhile, the people in Nineveh are turning their whole lives around and their animals are blessedly living to see another day.
Two very different responses to the same act of grace and compassion. Two very different images of what it means to have faith. Jonah uses his faith to contend and contest. Nineveh uses their faith to repent. And God meets both and, in a way, accepts both. There is an equality—a justice and righteousness—in the grace God extends to both parties.
upcoming events and things
- October 2-4: Fall Faculty Concert Kent State University
- October 2-3: The Remember Balloons residency and performance at Drexel University
- October 16-17: The Remember Balloons performace at Near West Theatre
- October 20: Urban Leadership Workshop in Akron: Art as a Transformational Tool (if interested, ask me for details!)
- November: Forthcoming article in Reflections magazine (details soon)
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