Reflections w/ the Dance Artists: Part 2
Photo: Mike Hurwitz
The next few weeks are packed with opportunities to see KYL/D perform excerpts of Faith Project and the company’s repertory. Check them out on:
And see the world premiere of Faith Project at Prince Theater March 22-24!
(Tickets go on sale Friday, January 12th!)
The dance artists have been deeply researching Kun-Yang’s CHI Awareness Practice, mining their personal experiences, and reflecting on the Story Circles. In the upcoming performances, you’ll see these investigations manifested physically. Before you go, I’d like to share with you a bit about the people you’ll see onstage. I’ve asked the dance artists to put some of their experiences with Faith Project and CHI Awareness Practice into words:
“When I move, I am able to connect more closely to myself as God’s creation.” -- Grace Stern
Photo: Chowmoto
“Being a Christian, the way I have approached contemplation is grounded in who God has revealed himself to be in Scripture. One reads words found in the Bible and dwells, meditates, and contemplates them. In doing so, as John Piper puts it “…you see in and through the words to the reality with your heart and you apprehend spiritual reality…giving rise to praying that is spiritual and authentic and personal and warm and strong.” So in my movement practice this scriptural lens is present. God tells us that he has searched us and knows us; he knows our paths and our lying down; he was the one who knit us together in the secret of our mother’s womb; we are fearfully and wonderfully made. When I move, I am able to connect more closely to myself as God’s creation. I am also able to learn more about who God is as the creator, which gives rise to a more authentic, personal, and strong me. The CHI Awareness Practice lends itself to this discovery in many ways. One of them happens at the beginning of class. It is a time of grounding, a time of less structured exploration. I am always amazed at the many different textures, dynamics, and motions which emerge, not only fueled by my anatomical body, whether it is healthy, sick, injured, or with child, but also energized by my emotional state, heart, and headspace. Every day it is different! Reformulating Piper’s quote, this time allows me to pause and see in and through the movement to the reality of my heart as I apprehend my full body, mind, and soul. Therefore, I’m connected back to the one who made me.” ~Grace Stern
“Where the wisdom of my body can take over.” ~ Nikolai McKenzie
Photo: Eric Tsurumoto
“I experience dance as a felt, physical extension of my mental state. Dance also can be for me a place where my thinking mind can be silent and where the wisdom of my body can take over. CHI Awareness Practice helps me hone in on the more subtle facets of dance such as the energetic body and the awareness of where my body is in time and space in relation to other practitioners. In everyday life, the principles and practices of CHI Awareness help me navigate both the physical and emotional landscapes of other humans.” ~Nikolai McKenzie
Readers, we’ve been talking a lot about awareness in the past few posts. When you see the company perform, does having the background of the work, through the blog, offer you a deeper awareness into how the dance artists tap into and manifest the human connection? Does this awareness enhance your own journey of self-discovery? How does this inform your own questions about meaning and mystery?
~ Jessica Warchal-King
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Major support for the Faith project has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.