Knowing that coming Friday’s session will be with Shailesh Bahoran, my coach in dramaturgy during my journey in making this solo, I had to make sure I would have something to show him. To prepare this session I, again, sat down at my living room table. I lit some candles and incense to create a comfortable and homely vibe after a day of work. I made some tea, crawled behind my computer and started looking through the footage (the small story blocks) I made the last session. After not seeing it for a few days I encountered some new pointers that I could add for today’s session. 

I also made an appeal on my own dance library. Let me first explain what I mean with that. Many times during a jamsession with friends I put down a camera to capture the movement that is created at that specific moment. Each exchange is different, the mood is different, the music is different, how you feel is different. And within those moments, there are some true treasures. Looking back at this footage is a perfect way for me, to get a better understanding of who I am and how I move. When I encounter something that I like, I cut the footage and archive it in a place called ‘my dance library’. I might want to use a certain move in the future or see a specific concept that I hadn’t thought of before and which sparks some new inspiration.

While searching through this library I wanted to see if there was some material that I could connect to my solo. And indeed there was. So I took all those small snippets that would fit a certain block and wrote down some new thoughts that emerged while seeing this. I felt ready for the next day in the studio and called it a night. 

Today I worked on the first 2 blocks and connected them. I now have a 8 minute start of my piece and some smaller blocks that still need to find a place in its whole. I also have a song that I really would like to start with, but it gets rather boring after a few minutes because of its repeating patterns. So this is something to think about this week. 

Read more about my fifth day in the studio here. I also wrote a blog about the topic that fuels the inspiration for making this solo piece.