The practice of landing

BIG is a magazine in the making.

We work in the between hours: between children, between sleep, between work, between cities.
BIG exists is in all the available spaces, which, because of the Perth/Sydney time difference, means it's close to 24/7. We are also dreaming BIG.  There have been times of acceleration, and times of letting the work speak quietly for itself in its own time.  Right now, BIG is in overdrive. Lilly and I run and work at such speed that we collide in the night. This time though, we talk easily through difference and land on the same BIG page.

Twyla at work

The shared landing between us has extended to many BIG things in the last week. We are currently drafting the BIG contents page and are incredibly excited by what is emerging atop of what we thought we already knew. We have also had the penny finally drop with our logo. We have been through so many drafts and much questioning although I am not surprised at the time it has taken to arrive at our latest 'beginning'. People want concrete so quickly. Lilly tells me tonight of the fluidity with which very young kids paint, where nothing is concrete and how the process is everything.  As adults, of course we promote the journey not the destination, but there is much expectation on arriving quickly at certainty without doubt. What IS this BIG magazine, people ask? What EXACTLY will it be? It will be something that is needed, something that speaks to the current generation of parents, artists and carers. And foremost, to KIDS and the child in all of us.  It will promote creative thinking, and even under pressure, I am adamant that we practice what we preach and continue to listen, respond, and follow our attention and interest, all while galvanising these creative drivers into action.

As a lecturer in dance to final year BA and diploma students, my unofficial role as I teach, is to ready and enable each of them to understand their own creative 'drivers', and passion, and be able to translate this to whatever project they land in, dancing or otherwise.  I ask them to invite the possibility that all of their history and experience is accessible at all times (no wonder sometimes its difficult to get out of bed - just think of the weight of all the experience we store in our bones!!). There are 100 touch receptors in each finger tip. Just notice that for a moment.  Sensation leads to such great places. Not all are positive. Richness is found in the range of experience. None greater, I believe, than experienced as a child, in love, and as a parent: Oh the HIGH's. Oh the lows! (Please feel free to add to this in the comments- as a traveller, artist, gardener, crafter, runner, dreamer, baker, student, builder, thinker, supporter, teacher etc. What drives you?)

Twlya in process

 I completely believe in 'not-knowing' as a philosophy in creative practice. It is OK to sit with not knowing, to be quiet in the uncertainty, to trust that it will find its way. To not pressure the end result of everything before its time while being unequivocal in the understanding that such a cumulative process will arrive brilliantly! As a choreographer I am used to visioning projects that may not come to fruition for a number of years due to funding or artist availability or the birth of babies! I honestly trust that each point of 'arrival' makes itself known, in performance-making and life. Sometimes instantly and sometimes over years. Sometimes oh so easily, and sometimes painstakingly. I am deliberately active in not knowing all of the answers and in trusting that the work I do will eventually land in a place where I can see what is  needed. 
Like Twyla, we dive into the grandest of detail and suspend our own disbelief in the BIG process as it grows in scale, speed, and clarity. Listening in every landing.