New Years in July Just Doesn't Have the Same Ring to it...

Last night I made a resolution for the next year.
I said, "Why not? It's not the marker that matters, it's the space in between."

and so,

By a year from now, I want to be in the best shape I've ever been, and want to have instilled in me a method to keep it up.

Tonight: Acro on the Beach!

Waffles.

Wanderlust, or something like it

And thus began my summer on the road.

Google Maps tells me that I will have spent 11, 464 miles on the road this summer during my various little road trips before I see your lovely faces this fall.
(9,914 If i don't make it to Toronto.)

SF, Portland, Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, Des Moines, The Outer Banks. perhaps the southwest on my way to school.

I'm no Kerouac, I'm not looking for America*. not this time, at least.

People. Family. That's why I've driven so long, so far.

Like stars, my loved ones are scattered across the Map. Like a land-locked sailor, I navigate by their twinkling smiles.

Joe says often to remember what a gift it is to be relieved of the pressures of "real life". This relief makes this journey possible. In less than a year, this relief will be gone.

Until then, I plan on making the most of it.

Waffles!


*I found America. Most people call it western South Dakota.

Olly Olly Oxen Free!

Another run through scenic, suburban Potomac at 5:15 in the morning. Sometimes I run with headphones, mostly without. This morning I chose a new route, and with the aid of Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt I felt the wide rolling streets belonged to me alone. Every house lay still and shuttered, not even a newspaper boy to be seen. I felt that if I had more time, more than 45 minutes, I could've run on and on, into the next neighborhood, the next Hopper painting, through another of Bert's chalk drawings...no trouble breathing, no tightness of muscle or knee. Some ache in the bad shoulder, having been accidentally decked by a tossed chair last Friday.

Still trying to reconcile the physical illiteracy of these wonderful, open, creative kids I have in my charge. So much lost, it seems, in the thirty years since I was a child. What do they call it now? Nature deficit disorder? Children not offered the freedom, the mandate to spend all day everyday outside--running, skipping, sliding, hiding, riding, falling, racing. Gosh, when I wasn't in school I was outside, especially in the summer. Outside until the sun had dipped far below the horizon and the exasperated calls of parents to children scattered throughout the neighborhood wrenched us from our exhilarating freedom. Climbing over, under, on; racing to, from, with, against; riding up, down, around; falling far, falling hard, landing dangerously--all of these were expected things, part of the language we shared with our peers, part of our universe. We came home dirty and scuffed, bruised, with caked-on blood from barely noticed scratches. Our ankles were dirty, our necks were dirty, our fingernails kept short and torn. Each night there was a bath, a transition from the Law of Nature to the Land of Hushaby...

No strength in these kids legs or arms, no awareness of it's lack. But we are "Great Theatre in the Great Outdoors," and our search for polar bears, spiders, snakes, and frogs continues in our own bodies. The dandelions and the children are blossoming up. They want to know what they don't know, they want to find the athlete-actor where one hadn't existed a minute ago. They have a thing or two to teach me about this, I am certain...

Is there a Handstanistan in Lesbos?

Disclaimer: I apologize if this post seems sexist or genderist or.... My intent isn't to discriminate towards men, but to honestly report what I've been thinking about/researching and initiate a dialogue on that. Meridith and I have been saying how great it has been to explore and research handstand balancing with another woman. It's different than working with men. And here are my thoughts about why....

From observing the female hand balancers in the intensive, the female hand balancers in the "Suicide Note from a Cockroach" piece, and just about any female hand balancers I can think of, I'm coming to something about the form of the female balanced handstand. Joe and I talked about this briefly after the "Cockroach" folks came in, and then Meridith and I engaged in deeper discussions about this while working on handstands together.

Here it is in its crudest form: Women need to arch slightly in order to find their centers of balance.

On Friday, I finally found my balance point. I think I was able to balance for about 20 seconds or so on my own. When I was balancing, the way I felt "aligned", required me to lift my head and arch my spine slightly, so that I felt as though I was "behind" my hands. My shoulders were over my hands, my elbows were behind my hands and my feet were over my fingertips.

I don't know how to explain it more clearly, but my point is that I think women need a slight arch. Meridith and I hypothesized that this may be to compensate for our lower centers of gravity. I think our "middle" is lower than the "middle" in men. Now, I didn't feel as though I was taking any of the arch into my lower back. I actually felt aligned when I did the handstand. I felt grounded and able to control my balance. Meridith said she peeked at me in the mirror and said I looked aligned. (Meridith, maybe you can speak more to that...).

So I'm going to keep researching and post any updates I find. If anyone else has any thoughts, please comment.

Ain't got nothing on the books!!!

Read the books! They are WAY WAY WAY better!!!

Harry Potter!!!

I finally figured out how to write this on my I-phone. So that is what I am doing: writing this while I lay in bed with Emma (I'm babysitting and Emma said she needed someone to lay down next to her when she goes to sleep). I plan on going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter tonight (which I am SUPER excited about).

As far as everything else, I have been riding a bike every other day lately and have been riding from Blue Lake to Michael Field's house to feed his fish and cat and plants and then riding back (it is exactly 6 miles from my house each way). I biked the way there in 23 minutes and 41 seconds (that's approximately 3.946 minute miles) and then back in 23 minutes and 45 seconds (that's 12 miles in 47 minutes and 26 seconds (that's about 3.95 minute miles on average))!!!!!!!!!!! So I was pretty excited about that. Now I am working to beat that time. I don't know what racing speed is but maybe I can get there with more work.

I have been working on handstands and upper body stuff every other day. My balancing is not improving (at least as far as I can tell) and my handstands seem to be better when I don't do them every day ( in fact I find them easiest when I have taken a week off).

I am having alot of fun practicing the accordion lately. I found a big Italian guy in Eureka that gives lessons for $15 a pop (which is pretty darn good). He has been playing accordion for about 60 years now and is AMAZING at it. I went through book 1A in the first week and am almost done with 1B after the second week. He told me I would probably slow down once I got to book 4. My piano background is making the basics pretty easy to get through and I feel like I am channelling something with the accordion from somewhere I didn't know existed (I think it must be a piece of my Grandfather (he played the accordion and the organ and I remember him playing it at night and his dogs howling). Anyhoo, I find that I am spending hours playing and really enjoying it.

As far as my paper goes, I am having a REALLY REALLY hard time concentrating on it. I think my mind is so exhausted from this past year that it is rebelling. Seriously, ANYTHING that I can think of to do instead: suddenly I notice the fridge needs to be cleaned, or I decide it is really important to dye my hair RIGHT NOW, or those bills I haven't paid yet (yes somehow I'd even rather do bills), or those onions that are going bad and need to be chopped up and cooked IMMEDIATELY. So with all of this procrastinating I have gotten quite a bit done around the house (my room is clean and organized and the rest of the house is scrubbed and cleaned) as well as watched a couple of episodes of Transgendered Love Story on Netflix (don't ask me why watching this is more important than writing my paper). So now that all that is cleaned and I've finished the series (it was only 8 episodes) I am hoping to be able to focus and concentrate. To be honest, I think I just needed a few days off since I have been going up until the beginning of this week (with MaryJane and then Cockroach).

So here's to, as Mike said "getting 'er done." Wish me luck with the rest of this week. Oh and don't be jealous that I am now off to watch Harry Potter!!!!!!!

Talk to you soon,
Meridith Anne Baldwin

P.S.
If it is really important to you which house you are in, the sorting hat takes that into consideration when deciding where to place you. That is why I am DEFINITELY in Gryffindor!!!!

Git-er-done under the Sun!

Howdy!

It’s that time again! The time to say hello, friends, how’s been the week?

In Iowa-related news, we were visited by the windstorm version of Paul Bunyan a couple nights ago. A town a few miles south of the farm had every large tree cut in half by a mighty wind-axe, and corn fields flattened by what I assume was the meteorological version of Babe, the blue ox. Three days later, and they’re still trying to restore power down there. Thankfully, no injuries were reported… as long as you don’t count worms.

Yes, worms. We had one of our live bait vending machines down there, and two days of summer heat makes for a bouquet that only Artaud could love. It was Grand Guignol for the nostrils. I don’t believe that I have ever been as thankful for summer allergies as I was yesterday while cleaning out the machine by hand!

“Now Michael,” the responsible ones of you might be saying, “why did you wait two whole hot and humid days before proceeding in this noisome task?” Easy. The town was in such a mess that state troopers wouldn’t let us in until yesterday!

This is what I love about life on the farm, there is always something springing up to be dealt with. Not only did I have to deal with the machine yesterday, but a man spontaneously wanted to rent a couple of canoes in the morning, my grandmother suddenly needed to visit the bank, my cousin needed a ride to a neighboring town, I had to get my car into the shop at two, had to send off my passport, visit the pharmacy, research Bread and Puppet theatre and do the daily chores…. Of these items on yesterday’s list, only the car and research were scheduled events over 24 hours old. Rigid flexibility is essential to getting things done and staying sane.

With that, if I don’t create a list and schedule of what I need to do for the day and “when it needs done”, I will be lost, a free-floating helper to other’s whims. The whole day will be spent helping fix the Jet Ski, babysitting my nephew, and helping the Chinese family move across town. (My Monday). There is nothing wrong with being helpful, especially if it’s for fun and profit (which it usually is), but there’s a danger in overindulgence of kindness.

This is not a problem with my family and friends asking too much. Everyone here is extremely supportive of my need to prepare for next year, and give me all the space I want. However, if I only look out for my own needs, I lock away the world that I find myself in. I become selfish, unhelpful and miss out on the reasons that I choose to return to Iowa every summer.

Dell’Arte International specializes in theatre of place, immersion into the surrounding and community that we find ourselves in. To lock myself away from where I am to prepare to be somewhere else (in a quarter of a year from now) denies the very principles that this school is founded upon.

Clearly, a balance needs to be struck. Living on the farm offers me a chance to explore this balance on a daily, trial-by-fire basis. Of all the benefits of spending my summers here, this is one of the most useful. It requires planning, discipline and flexibility. It requires not only saying yes, but adding “this is what I also need to get done today.”

Today, there is plenty to do!
Waffles!


ps. I was sufficently active only three times this week. I'm going to maintain my goal of four days a week. more updates later!

Getting There From Here

A Tuesday evening in Potomac, Maryland, and I'm settling down to a few hours of concentration and study. Django Reinhardt's Danse Norvegienne comes through the speakers, and the setting of the sun is a ways off...

97º today, and I'm still doing fine. My bum shoulder doesn't ache, and those splits come easy and fast. I always suspected that a warmer climate suits me best when, in 1988, I spent the summer in Albuquerque. I always chose to do my daily run at about 3pm. I welcomed the flexibility and quickness of my muscles, the profusion of sweat, the way my lungs felt seared by the scorched air. Perhaps I am destined to live in a hot locale, one that babies my stiff sinews and creaky joints with the balm of high temperatures. Still, I miss Northern California. I can't shake off the place that reared me, with the ocean in my nostrils and the gentle, perfect, enormous trees within view. Sigh...

Within the last couple of weeks the middle schoolers have come a long way in terms of daily practice. Some of them complained bitterly when we first began the Krienke-DAI regimen. I was dumfounded by just how unfit and uncoordinated most of the children are, in general. They don't know where their limbs are, they've all reverted to a kind of lazy shuffle, and exercise to them smacks of tyranny. Slowly, however, as they began to realize what a physical workout their play is, they became less and less discouraged, they became determined to muddle through and master things, for the sake of their work. Mark Jackson, in his book Theatrework, comments on watching the 1996 Olympics. "I have been watching more of this summer's Olympics than all past summers' combined. If only more theatre artists strove for such excellence as these athletes do! All that work for thirty seconds of perfection!" As my kids performed animatedly their one and only dress rehearsal wearing layers of padding, wigs, and woolen trousers in the unrelenting heat and not complaining one bit I couldn't help but think they were on their way...

Routine and Rehearsal

Things are good in Blue Lake. The DAI Summer Workshop Intensive is in its third week and we are in technical rehearsals for Three Trees this week.

I've been so appreciative of my live here at Dell'Arte this week, I've had a couple moments where I see a moment of my life as if I am on the outside looking in and I think and how peculiar and wonderful it is. There was a moment Monday for me when I realized that I will be spending the better part of the next two weeks with Steph, Lauren, Daniel, Ronlin, Spike, Tim, and Devon (stage manager). All great people, all committed to this show that we are doing.

I had another moment last week, Lauren, Steph, Ronlin, and I were in the main studio rehearsing. I was squatting on the floor, Steph and Lauren were sitting on the trunk, Ronlin was in a chair talking about a part of the show and it struck me that we are four adults who get together, put on costumes and make up plays. It is what we do... for a living.

The show will stream on Friday, 8PST... hope to hear the you all were logged on.

B-Logger

I started this blog at the Logger, thinking that it would be clever to call it B-Logger (actually, Joe gave me the idea) but my phone wouldn't let me type in anything so I had to go home to write this. I would not have remembered to write this had I not run into Joe in the Logger so thank you Joe.

This summer has been packed thus far and as of yet I have not had a moment to stop and smell the flowers. With Mary Jane rehearsals and the show (which was soooooooo much fun to do) I have found little time to workout (besides the workout of doing the show). I have been riding my bike at least 3-5 times a week, doing handstands 2-5, and working on other strength/ bar work 2-5 days a week (recently it has been the former for all of these rather than the latter). After Mary Jane finished I started working on the Cockroach play which I am playing accordion for. That was super intimidating but has actually caused me to pick up the accordion and take learning it a bit more seriously. I mostly played chords with my right hand for the show since I only had my little accordion but there were some complicated chord changes that I worked really hard at mastering (still not perfect but much better than when I first started).

My right elbow has been bothering me more and more lately and so I have been trying to lay off of doing too many handstands in order to let it cool off a bit. I have also been trying to be more mindful about how I am using myself and what I might be doing to aggravate it. While biking yesterday I realized that my elbow was really hurting and started to wonder if perhaps part of the problem is my use of my elbow while biking (not that that is all of the problem because I also noticed that I have been relying more on my right elbow than on my left in handstands and on the bars). So now I am trying to find an easier way of doing things. I have also been working on finding ease in my handstands (which I haven't been practicing as often as I would like to). I am a ball of tension when I do handstands and so I am trying to notice when I tense up and inhibit this response.

Finally, in the Cockroach show the acrobats lift their entire bodies around the bar and then sit on it with their torsos (I don't know exactly how to describe it but with straight arms they fling their legs and torsos up and over the bar and then "float" on top of it). My new goal is that I would like to learn how to do this (and I would like to learn what steps to take to sequentially get there).

Oh, and as far as surgery goes, I do indeed have a tear in my knee, but the doctor hopes it's small enough that perhaps I won't need surgery. He gave me a cortizone shot last week but I think it isn't helping and that I will have to go in again and talk to my doctor again (he said to come back if it doesn't feel like it's getting better, if it's getting worse, or if something just feels wrong and something definitely feels wrong). So I might need surgery afterall :( But I am keeping my spirits up and trying to roll with the punches, whatever they may be.

Love you all and talk to you next week! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful summer weather, wherever you may be!

Meridith Anne Baldwin

P.S.

I sat in on some of the Grande Guinol workshop and was sooooooooo inspired by it (especially the "Hitchcockish" suspense and the building of tension that is possible in this form of theatre. I just had a blast!

P.P.S.

I did the Adult Cabaret (as did Pratik) and also had a ton of fun. David and I did a duet to "Baby It's Cold Outside" (or the date rape song as I like to call it) which ended with me beating him into submission. And Molly, Alana, and I did a Modern Dance/Beatnik piece about vaginas. Oh, and I was a bunny for Albert's song about "Doing It Like Bunny Rabbits." It was a blast!!!!!!!!!

Update on the lifestyle of the mysterious Mortimer Q

Hello you crazy space bunnies,

I must confess it’s been a long time since I dipped my fingers into electric ink and spread them across the sparkling galaxy of the interwebs. It feels good, like stretching after a long nap.

Speaking of stretching….

Zita the Space Girl and I have had many an adventure since I last gazed at you, oh intrepid readers. It’s involved light years of mileage racked up on Doris, the Impala; fourth of July-themed lessons in propulsion (guns*, fireworks and jet skis) and gravity defying lifts of the partner-acro style.

We’ve contact danced on the Bonneville Salt Flats, we’ve paddled upon the mighty Wapsipinicon River, and we’ve done secretary lifts while Speedy, my cat, nuzzles in the grass beside me. It’s been an amazing and active group of days!

And this evening she leaves.

It’s easy to stay active when you’re living on a farm. There’s always something to do, whether it is doing chores or writing papers. Unfortunately, it is difficult to stay active on the farm in any position other than sitting. Yes, I’ll be bailing hay on Friday, but that will involve a skid loader and trucks. Sure I’ll be helping with the livestock, but the livestock is minnows and worms, and all the benefits of standing around a table “countin’ crawlers” for a couple hours are blown by the biweekly three hour delivery route. Anything on the farm is mechanized, and yet the meals remain the same…

Staying active is the key for me. If I can do that, I’ll be able to maintain my musculature and increase my stamina. This last week with Zita has included daily acro workouts, and much walking – even a canoe trip! It shouldn’t be difficult to maintain this momentum, my body is used to it, my parents are used to seeing me do it, and I’m used to doing it when my neighbors drive by.

I don’t have a schedule or plan for working out per se; there are no regular schedules to this life. So I’m going to try to set a goal of spending at least an hour working out, four days out of the next seven. I’ll be happy to report my progress next week.

Until then,
Waffles!



*The guns thing had to do with an Independence Day themed photo shoot (her brother asked if she’d be playing baseball, eating apple pie, shooting guns and watching fireworks. She needed proof.) No animals were harmed in any way. Well, maybe our tummies. It was really good pie.

Virginia/DC/Maryland

As many of you know, I am spending my summer in the east with Kathryn Tabone, Deepal Doshi, and Toby Mulford. We are all part of the Traveling Players Ensemble, a group that works with middle and high schooler to rehearse and perform Moliere and Shakespeare in the great outdoors. Today's high temperature reached 89º, with the humidity at 55%. Well, you can guess how that made me feel--TERRIFIC!

My DAI ensemble knows what I hard time I have in cold weather, and for me even Blue Lake is cold. My bones and joints ache, my feet never warm up, and it's always a guess as to how many layers I need to put on before setting off from home. Here, although it's hot and will only get hotter, I am loving it! I don't hurt, and that means I can exercise without excessive planning, and without that pesky pain.

I have been jogging or riding my friend Devora's stationary bike every other morning for 40 minutes. I have also been getting in my Joe-style push-ups, as well as sit-ups, leg-lifts, and tricep dips. After three weeks I have begun to do a yoga routine, based on two cds I have essentially memorized. My goal is to alternate the yoga with tai chi. I do all of these workouts before getting to the bus stop at 8:05am. Being a morning person, this is not hard. It's best for me if I do all of these workouts in the morning, because by evening my focus is more scattered, I have chores to attend to, and I am fairly beat.

Lucky for me my gig here is active. Kathryn and I are working together--yea!--and we are putting our Sganarelle group through some high-energy Dell'Arte curriculum. There is daily practice every morning, which can range from 20 minutes to an hour. They have been skipping, polar-bearing, Spiderman-ing, leg-lifting, undulating, walking in the space, doing push-ups, spiraling, you name it. We have also brought out other Dell'Arte games, such as the one we did with Ronlin in which there are two balls, a line of folk keeping a rhythm with their hands and legs, and two outside positions that form a triangle with the line. Remember this one? It's such a a terrific game for all sorts of reasons: ensemble development, articulation, accuracy, stamina, rhythm, speed, care for ones fellows. Anyway, we as counselors/directors take part in all of the games and practices, so we receive all of the myriad benefits the kids are receiving.

I have been trying to get a better handle on what I eat, and to that end I was told about a website called www.loseit.com. Ostensibly for those trying to lose weight (and it seems like a good tool for that), I have been using it to clock what it is I am actually putting in my mouth, to note any deficits, any excesses, and to track my exercise. For those who like such organizational, minutiae-based tools, it's a good one. If that kind of stuff drives you nuts, best to skip it.

My main issue seems to be sleep. I hadn't had a good night sleep since the first night I arrived, and that was only because of the catatonia from travel and end-of-the-year fatigue. Finally last night I put my head at a different end of the bed. Somehow that helped, and I slept well for 5 and 1/2 hours. Fingers crossed for tonight...

Independence, or "Oh, right, Nature!"

Happy Independence Day everyone. "Independence." It's an interesting thing. I often think of independence as an "alone" thing. "I'm independent, so I'm alone." But, really, in my life, independence has always happened in relation to something..."independence from" something, which involves not being alone at all.

I'm in a turning point place in my life right now. Finished my MFA, completed my first year at my dream job, am living with my partner...Made a notch in the stick, so to speak.

So I shaved my head yesterday.

Today, Barney and I hiked up Trinidad Head and I brought along a brown bag containing my hair. We took a short trek off the trail and found a cliff side where I threw my hair into the ocean and rocks below. I watched the wind take it. Unattached. Literally.

Then we hiked back home. Took a hot tub. And then Barney sprayed me with the garden hose.

It was a productive and energetic morning to say the least.

My goal for today was to do some yoga, so after the garden hose extravagnaza, I spread my towel out on the porch and began a basic vinyasa series I learned from my teacher Emily Trutt at Om Shala Yoga.

This is the bit where the "independence" theme comes back in. I think I said in an earlier comment on this blog that I have a hard time self-motivating. I find it extremely challenging to train on my own, which is why the bulk of my training this year has been in yoga and dance classes. Well, today, during my first solo yoga practice, I slowed down a bit, focused on my breath, and then began to see what was around me. I could feel the sun on my skin as I moved through my sun salutations. When I struck tree pose, the wind blew through the limbs of a nearby tree, shaking it to life. It was then that I realized, "Duh, Nicholette. You're not alone. Even if you wanted to be, it's just not going to happen." So there you have it. The trees, the wind, the sun, and I did some yoga together. The bees and the brush accompanied Barney and I on a hike along Trinidad Head.

So today, I celebrated my independence from thinking that self-motivation is a bust. Sure, I can self-motivate! And on the days when I struggle with that, I can simply step outside for a little boost.

Isn't nature like the first thing we study at Dell'Arte?