Since October 2011, idiosynCrazy productions has been involved in a partnership with Swarthmore College’s dance program, sponsored in part by a grant from the NEA Arts in Education program.  Four idiosynCrazy performers are involved as mentors of nine Swarthmore dance students.  The Swarthmore dance students, in turn, are mentors to several middle school students from the Chester Children’s Chorus.  This week, Shavon Norris shares some feelings about being involved with the project as a supervisor – negotiating communications among the several sets of bodies involved.

Swarthmore Project
– Shavon Norris

idiosynCrazy productions
a company of three heads and many bodies
a company of art, relationships and somatics

the me in the 3
to mind and mine the relationships
to remember that we are parts of small and large communities
the me in the 3
to remind that we want to see others while we are being seen

the Swarthmore Project
4 idiosynCrazy members, 9 Swarthmore students, middle school girls, John Cage and me
a collaboration
me the organizer
idiosynCrazies the mentors
Swarthmore students the mentees
John Cage the score

a collision of minds, aesthetics, bodies, wills
a building of movement, language, knowledge, relationships
juggling responsibilities, work, time and priorities

a collaboration
of playing with ideas and concepts
a collaboration
of challenging comfort and exploring new
a collaboration
of how to make a dance

in rehearsals there is laughter
there is frustration, adjustments, sweat and care
there is pushing and pulling
there is try it again
there is smashing of movement, adding, subtracting and connecting
there is individual and collective anxiety
there is mentorship and ownership
there is peeking into the life of professionals and remembering the needs of the student
there is teacher as student and student as teacher
in rehearsals there is reciprocity and seeing

in April there will be a dance
a sharing of what the rehearsals made
a sharing of the smashing, laughter and learning

in April we will know how to do this again in September