-401-19-Zam

Since I first began working with Ingrid as my mentor in the Spring, she has been mentioning how I should work with Zam Johnson as a musician. He is highly skilled in composing and improvising, and he plays multiple instruments and multiple styles and has made lots of music for dance productions.

I finally was able to meet him at his giant basement studio. He's a painter as well.

Ingrid could sense a great connection from the beginning. He is from East Los Angeles, the same neighborhoods where my parents grew up and where I was born...though I was raised mostly in the suburbs. He's a child of the 60s, very politically active, and very ghetto and funny.

He was perfect medicine for me at this point in the process. He was like a shot of energy or endorphines with his bold energy and crude sense of humor. After meeting with him, I felt a sense of power coming from remembering my roots, where I come from and from whom. I'm Mexican-American, and I was raised as a hardworker in a rich culture. Rather than feeling sorry for myself, I suddenly felt tough and bold and full of optimism. I had a great workout at the gym and ate a big burrito at a mexican food place in the West.

Notes from journal:

I’ve been writing emails to Rhys, Sandra, Margie and Ingrid and Ahmed to update about the drastic changes of situation.

With Rhys I was with the silence idea.

Then I connected with Zam via Ingrid which gave me a whole new impulse to dance and follow that desire first and only. Now there will be music that I dance to.

This week my approach is to continue making little plays/sketches that I run…to see what materials from what has already been in development emerges. This is similar to Arno’s trusting the archive.

There’s decision-making in the moment of improvising. Then there’s decision making about composing a piece, or building a structure. The work of trust and intuition applies to both, but perhaps they’re on different timings?

Idea for Journey…have recurring theme of labyrinth come in and out? So do journey once but then do later again but a different world now (after growing, changed circumstances, etc)

Tracks from Zam…

Thinking About You
1 Dar es salam …………….…………….journey
2 Amampondo (very busy and demanding)
3 Thinking About You (nice, easy jazz)
4 Favela (good also is original Jobim)
5 Cherokee (real fast and lively)
6 I Thought About You …………….…………….journey
7 Venus (bird, hopeful piano, w strong trio solos) …….…………….journey?
8 Triste (latin vibe
9 Korean Maze (insistent travel, brazil, hard breaks)..…………….journey, continuing dance…bird flight?
10 How Insenstive (known song, latin,cool, fun drama) …………journey
11 Moonshiner’s Delight (good travel with bass)
12 Over the Rainbow …………….…………….journey
13 Mr Sandman (happy and catchy) …..maybe in contrast to a loney, harsh movement

Taboo
1 Cool Down
2 Clap & Stop (sexy, strip w trumpet and bongos)
3 Side by Side (sexier than 2, but more generic?)
4 Hello Baby (lady voice)
5 Deep Space 1
6 Mood 1 (frog deep bass, intenser, sexclub)
7 Perception
8 Pot Racer (cowboy?)
9 Sharif (good jazz to travel cool too)
10 Doggy Style
11 Home Fries

End of the Kamikaze Pilot
1 Orchestra X
2 A Love Like ours ………..contemplative owls with piano cutting through
3 Bass for Jay ……thoughts arising/emerging. Noticing things that are curious and different than before. Table a bit. Soldier drums come in too. (Fauno?)
4 3 Woman at the Sea …ocean, bird, memory …opening existence
5 Walking on Rocks
6 Hanna & Karl ….sad 80s movie part…
7 Goon
8 Jello Song …new situation in old 80s movie…or waiting for or inbetween processing
9 Carousell …challenging elf music
10 Sad Diana …large cave …floor sequence?
11 Strings in the Cradle

IDEAS FOR TOMORROW FOR RUN…
Do Gypsy Woman Somehow…moment of male the moment of female?
--maybe it’s about the sensuality and sexuality? To purely enjoy and engage in lusciousness

Longing and Desire want to come out…
The dream to be flying or to not be alone or to be fulfilled.
--obsession, disappointment, failure, hope

Santo & Johnny was still good…mix with 3 woman at the sea?

Ecstatic Dancing!!! But to what music?

IDEAS FOR BUDGET:
500 Alessandro
900 Zam (rehearsal and two shows)
300 Ahmed
100 materials

I incorporated music of Zam, and I prepared run throughs to process materials and try out orders. I find this method of working is both not helpful (in that I'm trying to do too much at once in any given attempt) but also helpful (I learn a lot about what works and what doesn't or what supports what or not).

The first run was much better than the second, which felt embarrassing...unfortunately because Margie, the light advisor was there, and I didn't want her to see such rough run through. But she is very calm and professional and nice.

Zam gave me such different types of music tracks. I wasn't sure where to start, so I just was very open to trying out different possibilities. I imagined different tracks to different movement materials or themes.

Like having decided to go into a direction of making a piece in silence, being open to Zam and moving fast with that was an equally radical decision. It feels like a fast spaceship or car going very fast but gets hit and tries to stay on course and not crash from the initial first jolts side-to-side.

I also trusted somehow that Zam appeared at the right moment and time. I was reminded of where I come from, and this was necessary grounding for me to not get overwhelmed or feeling not capable.

Later, Ingrid would say that he is a nice reflection of me because him and I are both similar in terms of being very open and sensitive, but also perhaps a bit too open and slow or difficult to make concrete decisions.