ask kitty answers insta Vol 16

ask kitty 

Vol 16

Sooooo many wonderful questions via Insta…here are answers to a few. MORE SOON. So grateful for community right now! Thank you for engaging with me.

xxxxx

Kitty

______________________

Kourtnie, Los Angeles

“When do you feel most vulnerable?”

Sitting with an audience watching my own work unfold live onstage.

Sara, Los Angeles

“Any rituals before a performance?”

I’m actually quite superstitious so I have a few strange rituals! If something goes well I will wear the same shoes to the following performances. So weird! I walk on exactly the same path in and out of the venue. I always try to do a little huddle with the dancers - hands in the middle - with my hand on top.

“How do you keep inspired during all these fits and starts”

Staying inspired during all of these fits and starts has been interesting. I’ve made a conscious decision to ride the fits and starts instead of trying to buck them. If I have an opportunity to create I savor it and challenge myself to work differently. I’m exploring what happens if I allow myself to create more quickly and with less self-criticism. I’m trying to get out of my own way - or shall I say - out of creativity’s way. MOST importantly - the dancers - their resilience and generosity of spirit has truly kept me inspired and hopeful. 

Andre, Forth Worth TX

“What is it like to be female choreographer in the dance industry”

I think because of my background in modern/contemporary dance I have always seen women as leaders in the field, literally. Women planted the seeds and tended the garden that I play in today. Many of them; Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham and Twyla Tharp were initially based in Southern California. I had no trouble imagining myself as a choreographer and director of a company with these women imprinted in my mind. That is why it’s so critical to me that everyone is represented in media and the arts. Each of us - regardless of gender, race or sexual preference - deserves to see that the life they dream of is possible. The commercial side is a bit trickier. It feels like a balancing act - maintaining your dignity and power while serving a typically male hierarchy. I also feel a tremendous responsibility to protect dancers who are the most vulnerable on set.

Sasha, Los Angeles

“What’s your favorite way to warm up?”

Oooohhhh, I cannot warm up alone. I really need company!

art in plague times

ask kitty

Vol 6

Timea P., Los Angeles

Where do you think our industry goes? What are the biggest changes that we will face? Performing arts in general.

Matthew L., Birmingham, UK

Do you think artists must suffer?

Dear Timea and Matthew,

Thank you! I share your questions and concerns.

I’m scared yet optimistic. I’m reading about other plague times (Shakespeare lived through a few) and learning that as frightening as these times may be they will no doubt seed some incredible creativity. Things will be different - they have already changed so significantly - but no one is better at ‘pivoting’ than artists. It may be a few before I will cram myself into the elevator with 15 opera singers to get out of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion a few minutes early. It may be a few before I can lose myself in a room full of sweaty humans sharing time and space. It may be a few - but we will get there.

I think folks will need us to grapple with the story of this plague and the emotional toll of living through it and grieving those who did not. They will need us to shape it into something that provides empathy, perspective and communal healing. So, to answer your question Matthew, yes. We must suffer along with the rest - we can’t fly high, numb ourselves or avoid the truth. We must take it in, manipulate it and offer it up in a way that we can all heal from it. 

We have each other, for that I am supremely grateful. We have the fortitude to steadily work  through the most challenging situations (anyone who has taken a dance class knows this is true!) What we fear now will fuel us later.

Stay Well,

Kitty

Do you need to worry about leaving behind a legacy?

ask kitty

Vol 2

Dear Adam,

This question has been on my mind as well. The funny thing is that whether we worry about it or not, we do leave behind a legacy. Legacy, as defined by Cambridge Dictionary, is “something that is a result of events in the past.” Those folks in the future will be responding to our actions in the now.

The work we create now, the community we build, the actions we take will without a doubt impact future generations of dancers (and humans!) 

I feel my own legacy most profoundly in the lives of the incredible people who populated my company, Hysterica Dance Co. Glimmers of the lasting result (if there is one) are present in the very personal art we generated together. More deeply, it is present in the space we carefully carved out for the genuine acceptance of our selves exactly as we were.

The tiny trickle of freedom that we gifted each other has grown more powerful over time.  A stream, a torrent and now a flood of self acceptance that nourishes those far beyond a small, DIY dance company in LA.

The word legacy stems from the Medieval Latin - legates - person delegated. 

I now delegate you!

Stay well,

Kitty