Frances Mulinix 1/13/18 Frances Mulinix 1/13/18

#CreativeInnovative with Emma Dean: Leading From The Heart

Emma Dean Reflects on Forging A Unique Creative Path And Using The Healing Power of Music to Build Community

This is the fourth in a regular series of blog posts in which I speak with exciting artists, innovators, and entrepreneurs exploring how their creative skills have enabled them to do incredible things in their personal and professional lives.

You can find all of these interviews by searching for the tag #CreativeInnovative.

Source: http://www.emmadean.com/ — Source: http://www.emmadean.com/

Born in Brisbane, Emma Dean is Australia's best-kept musical secret. A genre-bending powerhouse with a heavenly voice, she garners accolades and conquers the hearts of audiences and critics wherever she performs. In 2013, she lit New York's off-Broadway scene on fire and the New York Post named her “one of 10 artists to know."

Returning to Brisbane, Emma fell in love with music all over again. While her work has always been ethereal and electric, this latest phase of her career is a whole different level of musical magic - new creative collaborations, a community choir, and a business collective.

Emma Dean's many contributions to the communities in which she comes into contact are immeasurable. She is someone who lifts up and inspires others simply by embodying what it is to be a creative entrepreneur who leads with her heart.

Note: "Tall Poppy Syndrome" refers to an aspect of Australian culture where people who are seen as aspiring to excellence are targeted, resented, criticised. It is often contrasted with the way America tends to celebrate those who work hard with the dream of attaining success.

F: You have spent a lot of time in Australia, but also have worked in New York.

E: Yes, Brisbane is home. Though, I have lived in both Sydney and New York. Both of these places were vibrant and alive, but I have found I need somewhere smaller and quieter to create.

F: How did the New York scene compare to communities in Australia?

E: Both Aussies and New Yorkers are a friendly bunch. The thing I loved most about New York was the non-existence of ‘tall poppy syndrome’. If you were talented and good at what you do, people would WANT to work with you, not find a way to cut you down. What I missed about Brisbane, in particular, was space and time. Everyone in New York was so busy, juggling multiple jobs, sometimes just to get by. I missed having the space (I lived in a shoebox) and time to invite friends over to eat and jam and drink wine.

Working in New York taught me about what I didn’t want. I saw firsthand what I needed to do in order to climb the ‘ladder of success’ as an original musician and I realized I wasn’t cut out for it. So, I had to redefine what ‘success’ meant for me. I continue to redefine it’s meaning all the time, but I always come down to a few simple things: Success, to me, is to lead a rich life, full of adventure, earning a comfortable living from musical pursuits, working to create a supportive and thriving musical community, helping people find their unique creative voice, and always nurturing my own.

F: What skills served you in these different places?

E: In New York I was often asked, “So, are you any good?” As an Australian with a long history of dealing with ‘tall poppy syndrome’, my ‘humble’ answers often sparked remarks like, “Oh stop all this false modesty!” I found that really challenging. I was also told, at the age of 29 that I should lie and say I was 24. New York certainly taught me how to hustle, took me to my edges, and brought me out of my shell. I still struggle with confidence, but I do believe the experience of living in New York made me prove to myself that I am tougher than I think!

F: You have released EPs with an American label. What has it been like engaging with companies in America and Australia?

E: I had a really positive experience with Candy Rat Records in America. One of the owners – Holly - I now call my ‘US Mum’! They were very nurturing, which I think is a quality lacking in a lot of music companies these days where the emphasis is to keep churning out new material rather than nurturing and growing raw talent. Nowadays I don’t have much experience dealing with companies at all, as I am 100% independent. If I met someone who wanted to work with me, I would need to feel nurtured and safe and that they were as passionate about my work as I am.

F: Tell me a little about your background in the arts.

Photographer: Kate Davies @ KD Photography

E: I started at a classical ballet school when I was 2 and a classical music school when I was 3. By the age of 6, I was learning classical violin and a few years later, a horrible dance teacher told my mum that my bum was too big to be a ballerina, so as much as I loved dance, an emphasis was placed strongly on music. In late primary school I began learning piano, though I was a terrible student and only wanted to write my own music rather than learn the pieces my teacher had given me! I was terribly shy growing up, so I used to lock myself away in my bedroom and compose songs, kind of like a diary entry. When I was 13, I started my first band – Halo. We performed my biggest gig to date, at The Brisbane Entertainment Centre in front of about 7000 people, when I was just 14. Band politics and hormonal teenage girls did not make for a good mix, so the band broke up a couple of years later. Though it sparked my love of singing, so I auditioned for the school musical – Little Shop Of Horrors – and got in as the lead character, Audrey. After school, I had a gap year and completed by AMus A in classical violin and then went on to audition successfully for the Queensland Conservatorium Of Music in Jazz Voice and completed my Bachelor Of Music. I have also trained with Brisbane physical theatre company, Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre, which gave me a brilliant insight and awareness of my body and made me remember how much I love to move, beautiful big bum and all!

F: Your projects often involve collaboration with other creative professionals and incorporate music with dance. What are the benefits and challenges of working this way?

E: I have tried to ‘go solo’ and I just get lonely. One of my favourite spaces is the rehearsal room, bouncing ideas off other creatives. It’s a space that can open your mind to new possibilities; things you might not have thought of before. As previously mentioned, I grew up studying dance, so movement has been an important part of my performance history. As much as I adore music, I have been equally as intrigued with the physical interpretation of it, and adore pieces with both music and movement. I suppose it is a natural progression to merge the two art forms in my work.

Source: https://emmadean.bandcamp.com/album/dr-dream-and-the-imaginary-pop-cabaret — Source: https://emmadean.bandcamp.com/album/dr-dream-and-the-imaginary-pop-cabaret

F: How did you decide to take your art in this direction?

E: I actually wanted to get into acting so I contacted Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre and they so bravely asked if I wanted to audition for one of their productions – The Tempest. I got the role as Arial and this is where I met my dance collaborator, Jamie Kendall. The rest is history.

F: Did this require you to take on additional training?

E: Yes! I began training with Zen Zen Zo and was in a number of their productions. I had to increase my fitness and get reacquainted with my body. It was life-changing.

F: What drives you to be a musician?

E: It is when I feel most in flow, and connected to myself and the world around me.

F: Am I correct in understanding that you have managed to make music an aspect of all of your jobs as a performer and teacher. How did you make that choice?

E: Yes, you are right! This has been the case for a number of years now, and I am blessed to have this reality. I perform, write songs, teach, arrange choir music, hold workshops and conduct my community choir – Cheep Trill. I made that choice because I’m not good at anything else. Ha ha!

F: How do you create? From where do you draw your inspiration?

E: It depends. I used to really completely on the creative force to strike me down. Then things got busy. I am sometimes part of the I Heart Songwriting Group which encourages members to write one song in an hour each week. When it comes to my arrangements, I have to be very disciplined as I’m usually on very strict deadlines.

F: When I look at your biography, I don’t know where to start, you have performed with Amanda Palmer and the Dresden Dolls, been nominated for a myriad of awards, played sold-out shows, and, above all, are known for creating moving and innovative performances. When you consider your career thus far, of what accomplishments are you most proud?

E: Starting my community choir, Cheep Trill, which is now 150 singers strong and in two locations in Brisbane; writing a vocal arrangement of You’re the Voice for John Farnham to sing with 2500 choristers, singing out about domestic violence; moving to New York and giving it a red hot go; and the work I am currently doing with my brother – our upcoming EP and Cabaret, Broken Romantics A Vicious Song Cycle…

F: How do you manage burnout/feed yourself creatively?

E: Wine.

F: Part of the Vibrance philosophy is that some training in voice, movement, and performance gives individuals concrete and adaptable skills that enable them to excel at whatever endeavours they choose.

E: Yes, I agree! I think voice/movement/performance skills train you to listen, to adapt, to compromise, to negotiate, to work alongside other people who have similar beliefs AND different beliefs. I also think training in these ways gets you in touch with who YOU are – with your body, your mind, your soul.

F: Yes, exactly! And in your own experience, what adaptable skills have you gained through your training that you apply in other contexts?

E: My singing training has helped me with public speaking. My jazz and improvising training has helped me to create work on the fly, under pressure. My movement training has helped me to be more at peace with my own unique body. Working in performance teams has taught me how to work alongside other humans in a respectful way.

F: Then how do you set boundaries with regards to managing your personal from your creative spaces?

E: I am an incredibly private person and live alone. However, I also teach and work from home so I am constantly having to invite people into my personal space so I can work. I try to set boundaries around work times, however, this is an ongoing process for me that I am constantly refining.

F: Do you use intuition and aesthetic to help you manage this process?

I am trying to listen to my intuition more when it comes to work. I am trying to embrace Michael Leunig’s JOMO (the joy of missing out) mentality, as my tendency is to take on too much work, even if it doesn’t feel right. I think as freelance artists we get used to saying YES to everything for fear that the work will one day dry up. I’m trying to shift this and feel into my decisions more. Is it a F*** YES or just a YES?

F: Your work involves you being involved in several communities - the music community, theatre community, and wider community. What drives you to do this? What do you get out of this engagement?

E: I feel like I am mostly connected with communities I have built myself, such as Cheep Trill community choir. The reason for this is because I have never really felt like I fit in a box or been part of the music or theatre communities. Instead I have lived on the fringe of all of these worlds.

F: That's one of the incredible things about you, the entrepreneur in you creates something unique and the artist in you fills it it magic! Tell me about your community choir Cheep Trill. How did your idea to form it originate?

E: The idea was born from loneliness and a lack of community when I was living in New York. I decided I would move back home to Brisbane and I wrote a facebook status asking if anyone would be interested in joining a singing group. The next day I opened my email and facebook and had approximately one hundred inquiries. The choir has grown exponentially and we now have two locations and 150 members.

From our humble beginnings rehearsing on a verandah in Everton Park, we have expanded into two locations. This allows us to keep growing but also keep an intimate feel at rehearsals. We have a north and a south side location to also cater for people’s many a varying locations.

F: What are your proudest accomplishments?

One of my proudest moments was arranging ‘You’re The Voice’ for 2500 choristers (including Cheep Trill) to sing at a Queensland Music Festival performance, singing out about domestic violence. John Farnham made a surprise appearance and sang the arrangement with the choir. It was the only different arrangement of that song that John Farnham had ever sung.

Another proud moment was singing at Queensland Performance Arts Centre concert hall stage and ROCKING OUT! Also, seeing the female Cheep Trill members accompany Deb Conway, Clare Bowditch and a bunch of other amazing female artists at The Tivoli, singing my arrangement of Hymn To Her by Pretenders.

F: That's remarkable - and in a comparatively short time. It also strikes me that Cheep Trill integrates your skills as a composer/arranger, teacher/conductor, and singer/musician. You have been teaching private lessons for several years. What first drew you to teaching?

E: At first, it was quite simply the need to fund my art (and being a bad waitress).

F: Who do you teach?

E: I have actually quit my teaching job in 2017 because choir work was getting too busy. I was teaching beginners or people with naturally good voices but limited experience, mostly between the ages of 20-40.

F: Wow, that's really exciting! What approaches have you developed to work with choirs or individuals?

E: I put emphasis in finding my students’ unique voice and working with that, rather than teaching a particular technique or telling them how they should sound.

I try to make each lesson fun as well as informative and challenging

I value wo rds, so putting strong emphasis on story telling as well as technique

F: Describe your dream student

E: Someone hungry to learn, able to take constructive criticism, someone who practices, who listens, who is excited to try new genres and who is interested in song arrangement and writing!

Source: Emma Dean's YouTube channel — Source: Emma Dean's YouTube channel

F: What do you say to people who claim to “not be creative”?

E: I’d probably say ‘B******t’. Then I would try to create something with them and prove them wrong.

F: How can musical training benefit someone who doesn’t wish to be a singer or musician?

E: Listening skills, confidence, connection, storytelling, public speaking, controlling nerves and breathing, fun and play, creative release, a sense of belonging, a sense of achievement…and the list goes on.

F: What are the moments that reward you as a teacher?

E: When someone walks away from a lesson feeling happier and more connected than when they walked in. Simple.

F: In your own learning, did you have any teachers who were pivotal ? What qualities or actions made them so influential?

E: My high school music teacher, Narelle McCoy! She is a firey, passionate, highly intelligent red head and she forced me to audition for the school musical after I had been in hospital with depression. She believed in me and showed me that I could do more than I ever imagined. She was the reason I realised I could become a singer and probably the reason I had red hair for so long too!

Source: https://www.tigercommon.com/ — Source: https://www.tigercommon.com/

F: What is your business? What is unique about it/them?

E: The Tiger Common is my music school. We are different because we place emphasis on community and try to connect our students as much as we can, through choir, workshops and other informal events. Our mission is to encourage creativity, human connection, self-love and respect through the magical and healing powers of music.

F: How did you get into starting your own business?

E: I had already started Cheep Trill and I was working with Tony Dean (my brother) and Corinne Buzianczuk and we were looking to ‘formalise’ what we did and include our teaching work and workshops. It was a natural progression.

F: Do you feel that there are unique challenges when ones’s business is so personal?

E: It is certainly harder to not take conflict personally when you run a heart-based business. But I have learnt that the bigger we get, the more likely it is that we will not be able to please everyone.

F: What was the toughest learning curve that you experienced?

E: The toughest thing to do so far was splitting the choir in two. We were responding to so many location requests and we thought the best idea would be to have a north and a south side location. However, many of the choristers believed this meant we were splitting up the family. Another tough learning curve was to figure out what to do when we would receive gig requests for a choir of 50 people. We have 150. We are still figuring this out!

Source: https://emmadean.bandcamp.com/track/feed-it

F: What are the most useful strategies that support your business and work?

E: Honestly, the key is communication. Tony, Corinne and I have a whatsapp thread that has been invaluable and we have regular in person meetings. Knowing where all our different strengths lie has been incredible.

F: What performer skills have come in useful in your business?

E: Standing in front of a choir for two hours two nights a week and trying to teach as well as entertain is a performance in itself. My career as a performer has been invaluable!

F: Is there a tension between your career as an artist and your business?

E: Only when it comes to scheduling! In terms of the creative stuff, the business feeds into the artist stuff and vice versa! I feel more balanced than ever before because both itches are being scratched. The business also helps to take the pressure off needing to make a certain amount of money from my artistic pursuit!

F: How do you go about networking/promoting your business?

E: Word of mouth has been the most valuable thing alongside performing in front of new audiences!

F: What challenges does your business experience?

E: Community choirs have TAKEN OFF here in Brisbane (and perhaps everywhere!) which is a wonderful thing. Recently we had an experience where we had an idea to expand the business and reached out to a venue with a proposal. We didn’t hear back and then next thing we knew, an acquaintance was doing the exact idea we proposed at the same venue… This might have been a coincidence, but it took me about six months to emotionally recover. Now I keep things closer to my chest and instead of comparing our business to others, I focus on making our business the best it can be.

F: Yes! I have definitely seen that happen a few times in a city like Brisbane, unfortunately. When I get excited, I like to share or bounce ideas off others and I have to remember to stay quiet. Where do you see your business going?

E: I actually don’t want it to get much bigger, because the sense of community is lost when it gets too big. I am being contracted to do a lot of other choir work outside of Cheep Trill which is keeping me busy without disrupting the preciousness of my own choir community.

F: What is the most draining aspect of your business?

E: It involves constant, time-consuming music arranging and having to be somewhere in real time to actually make money. So there is no passive income, it’s just a bit of a long hard slog. A slog which I love and enjoy, but a slog nonetheless!

F: And how do you manage maintain your enthusiasm for this work?

E: As mentioned, I don’t manage this very well. Wine?

You can follow Emma Dean through her website, Instagram, Facebook, T witter, YouTube channel or on Candyrat Records. You can read further interviews with Emma Dean and articles about her career here.

We didn't have nearly enough time to cover everything! I invite you to learn more about The Tiger Common, a collaboration between Emma Dean, Tony Dean, and Corinne Buzianczuk offering creative workshops, musical coaching, and the community choir Cheep Trill in order to build a community united by a love of music.

We can aid you in achieving your goals with our individualised approach and flexible sessions. Contact us:

Frances Mulinix 1/10/18 Frances Mulinix 1/10/18

NYC Midnight's 12th Annual Short Story Challenge

Calling All Writers and Aspiring Writers on this #WritingWednesday!

Be sure to join NYC Midnight's 12th Annual Short Story Challenge before their deadline on the final entry deadline of January 25, 2018! This creative writing competition is open to writers around the world.

There are 3 rounds of competition. In the 1st Round (January 26 to February 3, 2018), writers are placed randomly in heats and are assigned a genre, subject, and character assignment. Writers have 8 days to write an original story no longer than 2,500 words. The judges choose a top 5 in each heat to advance to the 2nd Round (March 29 to April 1, 2018) where writers receive new assignments, only this time they have just 3 days to write a 2,000 word (maximum) short story. Judges choose finalists from the 2nd Round to advance to the 3rd and final round of the competition where writers are challenged to write a 1,500 word (maximum) story in just 24 hours (May 11 to 12, 2018). A panel of judges review the final round stories and overall winners are selected.

Every writer receives feedback from the judges for every story submitted, and a special review forum is available for the participants to submit their stories for review from fellow writers throughout the competition.

In each Round, writers are assigned a Genre, Subject and Character assignment for their stories. All stories must be created within the competition periods and must include the Genre, Subject and Character assignment. The story must be written in the assigned genre. The list of potential genres is Action/Adventure, Comedy, Crime Caper, Drama, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Ghost Story, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Political Satire, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sci-Fi, Spy, Suspense, Thriller, and Open Genre. The assigned subject must be integral to the plot of the story. The assigned character must be a relevant character used in the story. The Genre, Subject and Character assignments will be different for each Heat in each Round of the competition.

You can read the rest of the rules here and sign up here.

This group also does a Screenwriting Challenge, Flash Fiction Challenge, and Short Screenplay Challenge, so be sure to join their newsletter.

Whatever your aims, we can aid you in achieving your goals with our individualised approach and flexible sessions. Contact us:

Frances Mulinix 1/6/18 Frances Mulinix 1/6/18

Success Is...

With the beginning of a new year, it is common to take stock and set goals for the months ahead. An important aspect of this process is to understand the elements of what ensures success. There are six skills that successful people excel at and you can develop to ensure your success. This framework shapes the Vibrance philosophy and influences how we teach our clients.

1. Grit

“Grit is a marathon, not a sprint”

— Angela Lee Duckworth

The foundation for success is grit. Grit means having the motivation to work toward your goals, the perseverance to keep going when things get difficult, and the passion to keep your heart and soul in the work. As Duckworth argues, Grit is key to success.

Impress this on your mind: grit is not based on talent or intelligence. In fact, those with talent may become complacent, preferring to coast along thinking they can fool everyone. Despite being intelligent, individuals may be ill-equipped with problem-solving skills to meet challenges and setbacks. Grit will get you where you are determined to go, and the skills you acquire along the way will make you more successful at success.

Part of grit is developing a growth mindset. This contrasts with a fixed mindset, the belief that failure must be avoided at all costs because it reflects a failure of the individual's intelligence or character. A growth mindset acknowledges that the human mind is plastic. It adapts and changes all the time. This means that we always have the ability to learn if we put in the effort and grow our passion for learning. Think of what you would teach a child, that they are not a failure, but rather their plan was not adequate to meet the demands of the situation or that they have not yet acquired all the skills they need to meet the challenge. Failure is never permanent if you cultivate a growth mindset.

My husband has an incredible a growth mindset and I learn much from his example. He was raised with the ADB philosophy, Always Do Your Best. The outcome was less important than process as long as he was doing his best. If he knew that he was and learning along the way he was realizing his potential. My husband has taught me that there is always a solution, one simply needs to find it.

2. Discipline

Discipline builds on your gritty foundation. To succeed at anything you must put in the time. More than that, it must be quality, focused time. You cannot phone it in. You must be fully present and bring your complete concentration to the activity.

learn-practice-and-improve-on-three-red-dice-for-betting-on-your-future-in-attaining-new-s-Stock-Photo.jpeg

For some endeavors, this takes the form of practice. Remember Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours of diligent practice? This is certainly part of the puzzle in situations with stable structures and unchanging rules. Individuals must also be good at practicing and know how they best learn. This means constantly building skills and aptitude, raising the bar constantly so that there is failure at times, and having a feedback loop in order to perceive areas for improvement and to take appropriate action (think of dancers practicing with a mirror or artists attending a weekly class).

I like to use sports analogies because people understand that athletics entail effort, challenge, focus, hours, practice, and difficulty - elements that some are less willing to apply to other areas of their lives. A person gets stronger quickly at the gym by lifting heavy weights until failure (8-12 reps) meaning their muscles simply cannot complete the exercise with full range and structural integrity. They will use the mirror, peer feedback, and video recordings to improve their form. They will follow a regime that challenges them mentally and physically while ensuring adequate recovery and nutrition to maintain progress. Lastly, they will incorporate enough diversity that they stay passionate and prevent injury, tedium, and burnout.

For other contexts where there are no set rules or constantly changing frameworks, as is often the case with creative and entrepreneurial endeavours, practice, however diligent is not the X factor, Instead, discipline may take on another form. A choreographer will get into the studio space 4-5 days a week, an artist will paint for a set number of hours a day, a writer will commit to writing a certain number of words before bed. A stockbroker building a client base may determine a quota of cold calls for the afternoon, a medical specialist may read a specific number of articles a week, an entrepreneur building a business will decide upon a minimum number of meetings a fortnight.

Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most consistent and successful comedians in the industry. On Lifehacker, Brad Isaac relays a story regarding receiving advice from Seinfeld about becoming successful. Seinfeld has since claimed that this advice was never his to give, but the "Seinfeld Method" remains the stuff of legend. Isaac claimed,

"[Seinfeld] said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day.

'After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.' ”

3. Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are often described as "soft skills" (to contrast with the "hard skills" of STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and are becoming recognized as more important than ever.

These include:

communication skills (verbal, non-verbal communication, listening skills)
emotional intelligence
team-working
negotiation, persuasion and influencing skills
conflict resolution
problem-solving and decision-making

As Cathy N. Davidson describes,

"among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM expertise comes in dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas [....]

[Google] enlarged its previous hiring practices to include humanities majors, artists, and even the MBAs [....]

Project Aristotle shows that the best teams at Google exhibit a range of soft skills: equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates, empathy, and emotional intelligence. And topping the list: emotional safety. "

Source: http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/05/facial-expressions.aspx

One of the simplest ways you can develop your interpersonal skills is to slow down, listen, and observe without immediately thinking of what you want to say or of the next place to which you must run off. Try it with your friends and romantic partners, listen to them without trying to solve problems or to judge. Try it with your coworkers and notice what changes.

Another important skill to develop is to understand facial expressions. This will allow individuals to better develop connection, rapport, and trust, in an individual's professional and personal life. Facial expressions have been found to be universal across cultures, both in interpretation and production. There are seven basic emotions, anger, contempt, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise. This field has been widely developed by Dr. Paul Eckman. We now understand the concept of micro-expressions, involuntary responses that can be as brief as 1/30 of a second, and therefore can be a very honest portrayal of emotion.

Vibrance offers programs to build interpersonal skills in young people and adults.

4. Failure (is Success)

“You will become clever through your mistakes.”

— German proverb

Ooooof, this one is very difficult for me!

Set time at the start of the week and month to set new goals and reassess old ones. Starting now, your aim is to fail at 20-50% of the goals you set yourself while aiming to attain 100% of them.

This indicates that you are setting goals that are just the right challenge, with the stakes being high enough that you must exert yourself. If failure is possible, you will work harder - within reason.

With my school-aged students, I will often pick up a pencil, do a bicep curl, and ask "will this make me stronger quickly?"

"No," they will say.

"If I used a much heavier weight instead, will this make me stronger?"

"Yes!" they exclaim.

"If I try to pick up a truck, will I get stronger?"

Mixed answers.

"No, I won't because a truck is too heavy for my muscles to engage at all" (at least at this stage). If the bar is set too high, it can be demoralizing, failure seems certain. Here is where my husband offers another bit of wisdom, how do you eat an elephant? The answer?One bite at a time. Break larger tasks into manageable pieces. Maybe I cannot lift an entire truck, but I could work on flipping one of its tires, once, then twice, then ten times and more.

That being said, ensure that you don't become attached to output or outcome. Some days may not appear productive. You may be gathering inspiration, learning a new skill, or finding yourself going down some dead-ends before finding the right path.

Source: http://www.escapeseriestri.com/philadelphia-escape — Source: http://www.escapeseriestri.com/philadelphia-escape

Another sports analogy: I attended a triathlon workshop that focused on transitions. Being new to this sport, I had not realized how much strategy and practice is involved in ensuring smooth transitions that will support your overall performance at a triathlon event! The coach reminded us to keep moving forward and to find economy in movement. When switching from the swimming to the cycling, have your equipment arranged so that you can bend down once instead of multiple times. Then move forward as you finish buckling your helmet and arranging your number. If you practice enough, you can even keep your cycling shoes clicked into your pedals and learn to fasten your shoes as you get onto the bike! Find ways to introduce economy of effort into your day and know that forward momentum (whether a slow plod or a lightning-fast sprint) is progress. Sometimes, just showing up and putting in a diligent effort is forward momentum.

Failure is how one learns. Whenever I am embarking on a creative endeavour, it feels as if I have to fail a few times in order to figure out how I need to do it. Bring curiosity to your risks and focus on mastery instead of success. We see this in children. A toddler learning to roll over or to walk will try and fail - until they succeed. As we get older, failure is associated with shame and fear of looking incompetent to others. As adults, we must ensure that we support failure in others and facilitate reflection and learning. Perform post-mortems of your own failures without ego or shame, commit to remediating any areas in which you need to improve, and your progress will be exponential. This is growth mindset in action.

Embracing failure will also reduce suffering. Think of the opportunities you have missed due to fear of failure, the agony you experienced when venturing into unchartered territory resulted in a mess instead of success. How might you have changed your experience by looking for the learning opportunities in every "failure?"

5. Mentorship

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.”

— Phil Collins

Source: http://zelig880.com/the-power-of-mentoring

Better yet, conduct post-mortems with a mentor. Find someone you respect, who shares some of our values, and is willing to give you their time. Ideally, this would be on a monthly basis. In health occupations, this is a common aspect of professional development. A mentor can offer you perspective, inspiration, and accountability. Be prepared to be vulnerable and transparent. Picking the right mentor is vital. They must be able to balance empathy with neutrality. Ensure that they do not shut you down or frustrate your vision, but that they still challenge you and hold you to account.

In the future as you progress, consider mentoring others. Again, ensure this is free from your ego. We often learn best by teaching others and it supports perspective-taking. Don't become attached to your mentee's progress. In my dramaturgy course, I remember my close friend talking about the choreographer she was working with. My friend personally didn't find the performance that they were working on personally engaging however, she realized that it didn't matter. The performance wasn't her "baby." Her role was to support this choreographer in bringing forth her baby.

6. Voice and Body

Often, my clients come to me hating the sound of their voices. Therefore, when they speak to others, it is under duress and tension. They will even say their own name apologetically or with contempt, revoking the power of their existence. Listen to your voicemail message and hear how you say your name.

Voice teacher Roger Love rightly us to percieve our voices exist as a gift for others. If we want to speak to our selves, we can simply speak in our minds. In order to reach others, we much open our mouths. By thinking of our voices as a gift, this moves our attention away from our selves, our nerves, our inner-talk so we can focus on reaching the other person and reading their responses.

People may not remember what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel. The way that you speak informs your listeners as to whether they consider you a knowledgeable and trustworthy person. For example, if I end every statement as if I am asking a question, I am unlikely to convince a client that I know what I am doing or have anything useful to teach them. If I use a monotone speaking voice, I am unlikely to maintain a client's attention long enough for them to retain any information I am trying to share.

The body, breath, and voice are inexorably linked. Amy Cuddy's research focusses on the way that body language impacts our body chemistry, the way we see ourselves, and the way we are seen. In training the body and voice we can transform our lives.

Peter Strick's research uncovered evidence indicating that our stress responses are tied to the primary sensory and motor cortices through complex networks:

"The motor areas in the brain connect to the adrenal glands. In the primary motor cortex of the brain, there’s a map of the human body—areas that correspond to the face, arm, and leg area, as well as a region that controls the axial body muscles (known to many people now as 'the core').

The Pitt team didn't think the primary motor cortex would control the adrenal medulla at all. But there are a whole lot of neurons there that do. And when you look at where those neurons are located, most are in the axial muscle part of that cortex.

'Something about axial control has an impact on stress responses,' Strick reasons. 'There’s all this evidence that core strengthening has an impact on stress. And when you see somebody that's depressed or stressed out, you notice changes in their posture. When you stand up straight, it has an effect on how you project yourself and how you feel. Well, lo and behold, core muscles have an impact on stress. And I suspect that if you activate core muscles inappropriately with poor posture, that’s going to have an impact on stress.' "

The body is how we encounter and filter the world. This, in response, shapes our inner world which, in turn, influences how we re-encounter and interpret our surroundings in a constant loop.

Vibrance specialises in training the body and voice to be free of unnecessary tension, to be dynamic, supple, and supportive of our presence in the world.

Don't Forget to Breathe, Pt. 2

Building on Part One, today we are going to look in greater detail at the process of breathing and the specific results of breath work, with an exercise you can do in this moment.

I want you to form a more concrete understanding of your body regarding the process of breathing:

The Process of Breathing

http://vocalsplendor.com/visualizing-the-diaphragm-in-action/

1. Breathing Starts at the Centre

Breathing is a whole body activity, requiring the muscles of the lower body to occur. The lungs cannot fill themselves but require the action of the diaphragm.

The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle creating a "floor" in the thorax, the chest area containing the lungs and heart. Fibres in the diaphragm connect to the ribs and into the pelvis, radiating down into the abdomen.

The diaphragm contracts and the intercostal muscles (muscles in between the ribs) pull the rib cage upward. In a closed space, an increase in volume results in a decrease in gas pressure (Boyle's Law). This creates an air pressure differential and air rushes into the lungs, the abdominal muscles relax. The internal organs move downward and outward.

2. Pathways

Air usually enters the body through the nose. The hairs and mucus in the nose filter, warm, and moisten the air before it enters the airway. Whether inhaling through the mouth or nose, the air travels to the pharynx, past the larynx (the "voice box"), and into the trachea. The trachea branches into the bronchus, the air traveling through branches that become smaller and more numerous until it travels through the respiratory bronchioles, the alveolar ducts and finally, into dead ends - the alveoli.

3. Cellular Respiration

Upon inhalation, the chest wall moves away from the lungs and the elastic alveoli which exert pressure back inward (like a spring ready to recoil). The wall of each alveolus is a single cell thick. Capillaries (tiny blood vessels) exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. This exchange is called cellular respiration in the lungs.

Source: https://yr8science2011.wikispaces.com/arefeh

4. Exhalation

The diaphragm relaxes and the transverse abdominis (deep abdominal muscles) contract. The ribs release in toward the centre of the body. This drop in volume increases the air pressure in the lungs and air rushes outward. The transverse abdominis controls the rate of exhalation, allowing for speaking or singing longer phrases. The viscera (internal organs) move inward and upward to their original position.

In this way a dance is created, within the body and between the inner and outer world, the organs are massaged, muscles work in harmony.

Many of my clients come to me with the habit of not engaging their diaphragms fully. Typically, their breathing is shallow or involves a lot of unnecessary muscle tension.

When To Tune In To The Breath

Source: https://yurielkaim.com/belly-breathing/

When you feel exhausted, breath work will help you to feel energised. Studies suggest it will also increase insulin and reduces glycemia. Try some deep, energising breaths if you experience a late afternoon energy slump.
When you’re feeling disconnected from yourself, breath will help to put you in touch with both your proprioceptive self and emotional states.
When you’re feeling tense or under pressure, engaging in the rhythm of the breath allows you to release unwanted tensions. It engages the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls the body's ability to rest and relax. Inhale, exhale, pause.
When you are healing from exercise or an illness or injury, breath to accelerate healing. Oxygen reaches the area that has been injured. Studies indicate that diaphragmatic breathing after exhaustive exercise results in an increase in antioxidant defense status, a decrease in cortisol (the hormone associated with stress) and an increase in melatonin (a hormone associated with relaxation).
When you want more Mobility, breath creates flow in your body.
When you want more Stability, breath increases your sensitivity to the connection within the body, and between your body and the ground.
When you want to connect to and communicate with another person, attune to their breath pattern - give it a try and see what results!

A Breathing Exercise To Practice On Your Own

This breathing exercise will help to calm a stressed nervous system.

Try it sitting, standing, or lying down.

Exhale completely through your mouth, blow out all the air.
Inhale through your nose while mentally counting to four.
Hold your breath while mentally counting to seven.
Blow out all the air, mentally counting to eight.
This is one breath. Repeat the cycle three more times.
Breath quietly without controlling the breath.

New Year, New Logo!

Just in time for winter break, Vibrance is very excited to unveil our new logo design.

What an exciting way to enter the new year, with our new look!

We wish a wonderful holiday season to you, your families, and communities, however and whenever you celebrate!

We can aid you in achieving your goals with our individualised approach and flexible sessions. Contact us:

Frances Mulinix 12/16/17 Frances Mulinix 12/16/17

#CreativeInnovative with Gabrielle Leah New: Passion Is Creating

Gabrielle Leah New On The Healing Power of Connection and Being An Artist Who Doesn't Paint

This is the third in a regular series of blog posts in which I speak with exciting artists, innovators, and entrepreneurs exploring how their creative skills have enabled them to do incredible things in their personal and professional lives.

You can find all of these interviews by searching for the tag #CreativeInnovative.

Bystander. Copyright © 2017 Gabrielle Leah New

Gabrielle Leah New is a practicing performing artist and a senior Occupational Therapist (OT). She runs her own theatre company, The Space Between Performance Collective, and has traveled around the world for numerous residencies, performances, and exhibitions, which can be read about further here. Her OT work, blended with her surrealist costume, installation, video, and live performance works means that Gabrielle is rarely ever still - and never bored!

I had the privilege of meeting Gabrielle in 2010 when we were both interns at Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre Company in Brisbane, Australia. I performed in her butoh show Creature, and I have been following her work ever since.

Stair. Costume by Camilla Gough. Image by Tony Banks — Stair. Costume by Camilla Gough. Image by Tony Banks

F: Tell me a little about your background in the arts.

G: I grew up in Melbourne Australia. I studied art at high school then went on to do a degree in Occupational Therapy. I have traveled extensively living in the UK, New Zealand and India. I feel like I’m a citizen of the world.

My training is quite unusual. I have always had an arts practice but it wasn’t until I was 30 that I began my formal training post high school. I went to the Conservatorium of the Arts in Lismore where I studied dance. I was particularly interested in Butoh (Japanese contemporary dance) which I had discovered the year before by attending community classes. I went on to study Butoh with teachers around the world and working with MAU Dance Theatre in New Zealand. I then returned to Australia and studied 3D Art and did a directing internship with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre in Brisbane.

My main art form was dance and physical performance for many years and I still train and attend classes regularly but over time my practice has developed to be more of a multi-arts practice. This particularly changed after completing a Masters in Fine Art a few years ago and since then I have been exhibiting more in the gallery space than theatres. I now consider myself a multidimensional performing artist, as performance and the body always underpin my multi-arts practice.

F: Your art has taken you to lots of interesting places. What are some of the most interesting locations you have experienced?

Working with MAU in the early 2000s took me to the 4 yearly Pacific Arts Festival in Noumea, New Caledonia. Here I had a major identity crisis as a white Australian performing Japanese dance for a pacific Island dance company and delegation from the Aotearoa, New Zealand. I have danced in Fjords in Norway, In storms painted gold in Japan, in creeks and the ocean in New Zealand and in a city park in Vancouver, Canada. I love making work in/for extraordinary spaces.

Most recently I exhibited and had a residency in Lisbon, Portugal and am on my way to India and Sri Lanka to make work.

F: You have created many collaborative creative works. What are the benefits and challenges of collaboration?

Collaborating with other artists is my favorite way to work and I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing people. One of the challenges is finding people you gel with and can create a shared vision and language with, this can take time. The benefit for me is having someone to bounce ideas around with and I think that the outcome always benefits from collaborating if people are clear on their roles. Sometimes it’s been tricky when creatives disagree but a resolution has always been possible through listening well and respecting each other. I have been collaborating with sound artists Norman Skipp for over 15 years now even though we live on other sides of the world.

Working in theatre, collaboration is a necessity. You need other people to do the things you don’t have the skills for, like sound and lighting for me. I usually have a lot of input and discussion with collaborators but ultimately I trust them to do what they do best. In my extended arts practice I still work with other people who have skills in areas that I don’t. for example I have made two projects with a videographer/editor, I WANT… and ‘States of Being.

F: Did this require you to take on additional training/learning curves?

G: No, as a therapist I had already developed good communication skills. I’m a team player as well as being really comfortable to share my ideas and opinions so collaboration works well for me.

F: What drives you in your work?

G: I have a passion to create. I constantly have ideas forming in my mind. My main interests, that all the content for my work comes from, are from my therapy practice and a deep desire to understand people. Archetypal stories and myths as a reflection of the human condition alongside current contemporary dilemmas such as Greed, a project I created that had a number of components including two video installations, an internet group and a live, participatory, site-specific performance. My work often externalizes internal worlds making the invisible visible.

F: To what extent have you been able to make your creativity work an aspect of all of your jobs? Do you have other (non-creative) work that you engage in? How did you make that choice?

G: I feel that creativity infuses all that I do. In my work as a therapist, I integrate creative activities (which is par for the course for OT’s). I have developed movement therapy groups for people with serious mental illness and a creative art based group for people with mental health and substance use issues. I use it in my work with individuals and with making dinner in the evening when I get home.

F: How do you use your performance skills in undertaking “non-creative” jobs?

As a group facilitator and therapist, I need to be able to perform, improvise, listen and respond. My ongoing training allows me to be constantly developing these skills. I think a lot of my training is about being present. In my work I need to be present with people who are in psychological pain and also be available to them authentically but without my personal shit interfering with the process. I think my practice as an artist and therapist feed and support each other.

F: Yes! Your ability to be seamless between Artist and Occupational Therapist had a profound influence on my own career.

What does your creative process look like?

G: My creative process is a lot of thinking to start with. I create things in my head before making them in the real world. I tend to create in bursts and I work best under pressure, when I have deadlines. Also if I make dedicated time and space. Physical training and writing are important ongoing elements of my practice. I flood with ideas; I’m never short on them. It’s a process of sifting through them, which ones stick, which are practical and achievable and starting them and seeing where they go.

F: Gabrielle, you have such an impressive list of endeavours, performances and exhibitions. What are your proudest accomplishments thus far?

N: I think my biggest accomplishment is supporting people to move through mental and emotional difficulties to create a better life for themselves. It’s a real privilege to be able to work with people at their most vulnerable and see them rediscover their personal power.

I am also immensely proud of making CREATURE- a shapeshifting journey in butoh wonderland with the company I directed - The Space Between Performance Collective.

More recently, it has been my solo exhibitions, residencies, and receiving an award for my video performance installation Persephone 7 of which I am proudest.

F: What role does communication, performance, and using your voice and body to connect to others have in your life? Why is it important?

G: I believe one of the key elements in healing trauma and addiction is connection. Often verbal communication is difficult initially so having other ways of communicating through movement or drawing or other creative forms can be great initially and I use these creative tools a lot in my work. OT is about healing through doing. I think that doing, action, being in the body allows one to find their voice. We all have multiple and individual ways of expressing and as a therapist, it is important for me to be able to offer a range of meaningful alternatives to my clients. My job is to be creative in what I can offer my clients and not to be stuck in one way or one thing that I offer. When working with trauma clients memories are often stored in the body (differently how regular memories are stored) moving in new ways can help move clients through these stuck emotions and give them more options for responding to events and their environments in the future.

F: Working so intensively with people, how do you prevent burnout?

G: By not working 9-5, 7 days a week and taking lots of holidays. Having a balance between my personal, creative and work life. Having a supportive partner. Staying healthy.

F: My own work is founded on the belief that an arts education not only makes people better citizens (heck, better human beings), but that training in art gives individuals concrete and adaptable skills.

N: I definitely agree. I think anything that makes you more tuned into your own creativity gives you more options on how you respond to situations, we break out of habitual patterns and understand ourselves better,

F: What skills have you gained through your art form that you apply in other contexts?

Improvising. Trusting my instincts. Listening (half of communicating). Self-reflection. Giving feedback to others generously. Being grounded in my body. Facilitating groups. Creating activities to meet a particular investigation. Trying new things. Dealing with failure. Persistence. Acceptance. Intuition is a daily part of my life. Everything is based on my intuition. It is strong. I trust it and I listen to it. My aesthetics are present in my home environment, how I dress and the art I make.

F: How do you set boundaries with regards to managing your personal from your creative spaces?

G: I’m not sure that I do. They often merge. I have really clear personal boundaries and sense of self which helps me to create balance in my life. My boundaries often blur but I don’t have a problem with it and I don’t question it. I think it’s difficult when we compartmentalize our lives. My life is my life it’s messy and not in little boxes. I don’t separate my creative skills with my life skills. It’s all blurry. I am what I am not what I do.

F: Do you have to behave “differently” depending on the environment you are interacting with?

G: Yes and no. I’m always just being me but at the same time using Improvisation Skills and Being present to the moment, the person, the situation so what I do is different and individually tailored.

F: Tell me a little about your teaching.

G: I teach butoh when I’m asked to do so. This includes performance/art professionals and novices. I also facilitate groups for people with trauma, mental health and addiction issues of all ages and stages. It's rewarding when students discover something new in themselves and they change habits. Or as one of my teachers used to say ‘Find another way.’

F: Do you have an "ideal student"?

G: I’m not sure I have one. I suppose one that challenges me, one that I also learn from.

F: With such diverse teaching work, what values underpin your approach to teaching?

G: Growth, trust, exploration, risk, adventure, self-reflection, challenge

F: And what do you say to people who claim to “not be creative”?

G: I think everyone is creative but they have a narrow definition of what creative is. People are often injured in their school education by being told that. I try to help them to see all the ways that they are creative in their lives that aren’t being able to paint or draw or sing. Living is a creative act.

F: How can art, music, or movement training benefit someone who doesn’t wish to be a performer?

G: This is the key question. The answer is ‘In so many ways!’ They are kind of elusive and magical and amazing but include; confidence, self-esteem, personal power, better communication, passion, fun, community, mind expansion, connection with others, self-reflection, self-expression, new friends, using new parts of the brain, new skills, spiritual development, etc, etc.

When I went to dance school I had no interest in being a performer. I went because it was something I liked to do. Over time it grew and grew and grew.

I’ve been lucky enough to have many amazing teachers. I think my favorites have a generosity of spirit and they are always learning from their students and refining their practice through their teaching. They do their job but don’t put themselves above you. They are very positive people and have so much to give that is truly authentic. The training is physically and mentally hard but they remain soft. They are fun.

F: Tell me about your business.

G: I’m not really that interested in business. I do what I do because I love it. I don’t fit the mold and I don’t do things the way others do. I’m just making it up as I go along. I follow my intuition and my passions and dreams. I am unique so what I do is and how I do it is. I like making stuff and helping people find more joy in this difficult world.

I started my business because it was something I needed to try. It’s hard and a lot of it is pretty boring. I’m not sure it’s for me. I don’t see myself as an entrepreneur. I’m not that driven by money or business more by what interests me and challenges me and creating a life where I can utilize my skills and develop them and support others as I do that. It’s about following my passions. I’m not cutthroat and I don’t think that actually serves anyone. I think we all need to work as a community and support each other where we can in whatever way we can.

Fear, States of Being. Image by Robert Spillane.

F: What was the toughest learning curve that you experienced in running a business?

G: Early on I realized that the hardest times were the times of biggest growth. I relish them and use them as opportunities for my personal growth. I always trusted my instincts and faced my fears trusting that things would work out. Never do things that make you feel terrible for too long.

I think self-doubt is part of growth and moving outside of one's comfort zones. Growing is uncomfortable but soooo rewarding. I think my arts practice and training has taught me how to do this and know that it’s safe. It has also taught me how to fail and manage rejection. Being an artist you really need to know how to manage constant rejection and keep going.

F: Do you feel that there are unique challenges when ones' business is so reliant on you? How do you manage these?

G: Yes. I think this is my biggest obstacle as I’m a bit of a commitment-phobe. I find it hard to stay in the same place doing the same thing for too long which makes it difficult to develop my own business. I also find it hard to do things I’m not interested in likes tax and plan for more than 6 months in advance which you need to do as an artist and with your own business.

The environment constantly changing. I’ve been in the therapy business for over 25 years and in 3 different countries. In Australia, customers are wanting more choice.

In my private practice, getting clients is difficult as I often don’t put much energy into promoting my business. When working for others, it's key to find support to take creative risks. And in my arts practice, the challenge is managing rejection as well as finding time, space and resources to continue.

I just keep on trying to do the best that I can do.

F: What are the most useful strategies to support you through these challenges?

G: Having good regular supervision. Having great supports and mentors. Getting other people to do the stuff you don’t like or aren’t good at.

F: Is there a tension between your career as an artist and running a business?

G: Mostly time and splitting my attention but I have made peace with this and do both to my best ability as I know that I need both in my life. Both are of great importance to me. Tension is Ok. I think I could be much better promoting my business. This is one side of the business that I feel I’m not great at. I need a Personal Assistant. There is so much documentation and form filling and rubbish that needs to be done now.

F: Where do you see your business going (eg. is it about consolidation/growth/transforming services)?

G: Currently, I’m not sure. I’ve taken 8 months off to travel and work on creative projects but I want to head more into Community arts and engagement with a healing focus.

You can follow Gabrielle Leah New's work through her website, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Redbubble

We can aid you in achieving your goals with our individualised approach and flexible sessions. Contact us:

Frances Mulinix 12/9/17 Frances Mulinix 12/9/17

Don't Forget to Breathe Pt. 1

“I know that how I move affects my environment and that my outer environment is in interaction with my inner experience.”

— Peggy Hackney

Often, a newer client comes to me relaying a personal account of a time where they were called on to speak. They describe how their brain went blank or the words they formed in their brain didn't make it out of their mouth, one of the first things I ask is, "were you breathing?"

Usually, the answer was "No!," or "I don't know."

As described by Hackney, breathing can be less than optimum for a number of reasons:

birth defects or chronic damage
acute trauma due to an accident or injury
heightened emotions or feelings
sub-optimum movement or posture (slumping, trying to "flatten" the stomach
smoking
misunderstanding the process of breathing
seasonal allergies or pollution

In a culture obsessed with flat stomachs (and dis-integrated bodies) we truly do not understand how to breathe.

Encounter your breath

Breathing is the most basic way there is to connect yourself to yourself, to your environment, to other people. Consider for a moment, how incredible it is that we draw out environment into our selves on inhalation, and expel little parts of our selves out into our environment on exhalation. From that perspective, the boundary of our physical form is much less solid.

Breath is a physical action that carries a deep and complex emotional wallop. As Arthur Samuel Joseph notes, "The root of the word ‘spirit’ means ‘to breathe’. The root of the word inspire, ‘inspirare’ is to ‘to breathe into’. The Hebrew word, ‘neshama’ means both ‘soul’ and ‘breath’ "

Take 3 big conscious breaths upon waking and when you turn off the light at night. Observe what shifts.

Why Does It Matter?

Neurological Patterning

Breathing is the first movement pattern of an infant and is therefore the foundation for all other neurological patterns.

Seeking A Connection

"Conscious cultivation of breath is recognized in many cultures to be an important part of attuning to a spiritual connection between the individual and the universe." - Peggy Hackney

Health

“Cellular breathing forms the building blocks of our ‘life process’. Where it is not taking place, the cells are dead, where there is difficulty, the cells are struggling; and where it is occurring freely the cells are alive and healthy" - Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

In Part Two, we are going to look at breathing in greater detail - the physiological process, benefits, and get started with a breath exercise...

#WritingWednesday Writing the Body with Danez Smith

“Poetry, at its best, is our collective diary, not our best tool at saying what happened, but our best way of communicating how the happening felt.”

— Danez Smith

Danez Smith is an African-American, H.I.V.-positive, genderqueer poet and speaker. Their poetry is volatile, spontaneous, passionate, unapologetic. Smith's work shines when spoken as slam or spoken word, but also work sing when read, elegant works of language that leap off the page.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Smith received an MFA from the University of Michigan. They authored two books, Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), and [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014); two chapbooks, hands on your knees (2013, Penmanship Books) and black movie (2015, Button Poetry); and have their work published in several magazines, online publications, and literary journals. Smith appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in February 2016. Smith is the winner of the Button Poetry Prize and the recipient of fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, and is a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow.

Smith is a founding member of Dark Noise collective, a nation-wide, multi-racial, multi-genre poetry collective, and is the co-host of the podcast VS with Franny Choi, funded by Poetry Foundation and Postloudness.

“Smith has a rare talent for mapping the body and its authority onto the page.”

— Dan Chiasson

One of the aspects of Smith's writing that I adore is how they demonstrate that the personal and particular is legitimate to write about, perform on stage, and publish. Some of Smith's references go over my head, but that doesn't lessen my experience of their work. If I have to reach it is not a negative, it is how I enlarge my circle of understanding. It is not seen as problematic to read classic literature that will be entirely out of our realms of experience or to read about different geographies and cultures that we will never witness. Similrly, we shouldn't shy away from work that stretches us:

"My most annoyed thing from workshop in undergrad was somebody saying,'I don’t understand what this is' or 'I don’t know what this is, so you should take it out of the poem.' What that translates too is that you’re creating poems for the most middle-of-the-road, straight, white, Midwestern aesthetic of a person, which maybe poems do. But sometimes I write a poem, and it’s for fat, black, gay dudes who eat too much chicken on Friday. Whoever else shall gather in this poem and find themselves—or get a kick out of it: 'Sure, you come along, too.' But I wrote this with fat, black, gay dudes who eat too much chicken on Fridays in mind. And that’s who the hell this poem is for. We can’t shy away from that, because I think when we shy away from it that’s how poetry becomes bland and uninteresting. It doesn’t move the masses. There’s power in specificity. Once we try to make our poems for everybody is when we make our poems so wack, so damn wack. My book is for everybody, but I really hope there’s young, black, gay, or queer men that get this book in their hands. I wish I would have had this book when I was sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. I want this book to do for others what Jericho Brown’s Please did for me. I think every poem is for a somebody and the worst poems are for everybody." - Smith

a note on the body - Danez Smith

Danez Smith's back, the text is from Gravity by Angel Nafis; Source: http://tattoosday.blogspot.com/

your body still your body

your arms still wing

your mouth still a gun

you tragic, misfiring bird

you have all you need to be a hero

don’t save the world, save yourself

you worship too much & you worship too much

when prayer doesn’t work: dance, fly, fire

this is your hardest scene

Source: behindthediva.tumblr.com/ — Source: behindthediva.tumblr.com/

when you think the whole sad thing might end

but you live oh, you live

everyday you wake you raise the dead

everything you do is a miracle

little prayer - Danez Smith

let ruin end here

let him find honey

where there was once a slaughter

let him enter the lion’s cage

& find a field of lilacs

let this be the healing

& if not let it be

not an elegy for Mike Brown - Danez Smith

I am sick of writing this poem
but bring the boy. his new name

his same old body. ordinary, black
dead thing. bring him & we will mourn
until we forget what we are mourning

& isn’t that what being black is about?
not the joy of it, but the feeling

you get when you are looking
at your child, turn your head,
then, poof, no more child.

that feeling. that’s black.

think: once, a white girl

was kidnapped & that’s the Trojan war.

later, up the block, Troy got shot
& that was Tuesday. are we not worthy

of a city of ash? of 1000 ships
launched because we are missed?

always, something deserves to be burned.
it’s never the right thing now a days.

I demand a war to bring the dead boy back
no matter what his name is this time.

I at least demand a song. a song will do just fine.

look at what the lord has made.
above Missouri, sweet smoke.

& even the black guy’s profile reads ‘sorry, no black guys’ - Danez Smith

imagine a tulip, upon seeing a garden full of tulips, sheds its petals in disgust, prays some bee will bring its pollen to a rose bush. imagine shadows longing for a room with light in every direction. you look in the mirror & see a man you refuse to love. small child sleeping near Clorox, dreaming of soap suds & milk, if no one has told you, you are a beautiful & lovable & black & enough & so—you pretty you—am i.

This is a reprint of an interview Mic 50 had with Danez Smith, a profile of the next generation of leaders, innovators, and trailblazers:

What’s the role of a poet?

I write America down. My job is to live and pay attention to other people living around me in order to archive it for whoever may stumble upon it. It's the poet’s job to make sure there is a record of what it meant to live, love, fight, rebel and be in their brief time on earth. Or something like that.

What can poetry do that other modes of expression cannot?

I think, but I’m not sure, that poetry is the best way to archive the feeling or emotions of an era. Film can document, music can sing, fiction can tell the tale, but only through poetry have I gained a sense of what it meant to be alive in its most tender and vulnerable ways throughout history. Poetry, at its best, is our collective diary, not our best tool at saying what happened, but our best way of communicating how the happening felt.

What do you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?

I wish I knew "career" didn't mean "has to be done today." Every day is about showing up for tomorrow.

What major change or innovation makes you excited about the future?

To be real, the future sorta sucks. At least the one our collective imagining is leading to. It’s dry, like no water dry, and sad. I'm interested in ways in which can use the current state of "suck" in the world with the creative innovations in technology and within ourselves to imagine new, better futures. I feel like technology looks more like good science fiction every day. Most science fiction is either a utopia or a dystopia. I hope we can imagine ourselves into the former. And fast.

“My job is to live and pay attention to other people living around me in order to archive it for whoever may stumble upon it. It’s the poet’s job to make sure there is a record of what it meant to live, love, fight, rebel and be in their brief time on Earth.”

— Danez Smith

juxtaposing the black boy & the bullet - Danez Smith

one is hard & the other tried to be

one is fast & the other was faster

                    one is loud & one is a song
                    with one note & endless rest

                     one’s whole life is a flash

both spend their life
trying to find a warmth to call home

both spark quite the debate,
some folks want to protect them/some think we should just get rid
of the damn things all together.

“I think every poem is for a somebody and the worst poems are for everybody. ”

— Danez Smith

Your Turn

Smith reminds us to be personal and to be passionate. Pick something intimate to yourself. What is something that gets you fired up yet can disconnect you to the world whilst connecting you to individuals in it? This is your fuel for the week. The personal is always political, there is no escaping it.

Read one of Smith's poems on this page, borrow one of their books from the library, or listen to a poem performed by Smith on YouTube. Then sit for 5 minutes and feel your body. Listen to what it has to say and how it intersects with the world. Our identities can be complex. Pick one as a lens from which to look through.

Set the clock for 25 minutes and write!

#CreativeInnovative with Anthony Wade-Cooper: A Retirement To The Theatre

Anthony Wade-Cooper on Finding a New Career in Retirement and Learning to Be Confident in Chaos

This is the second in a regular series of blog posts in which I speak with exciting artists, innovators, and entrepreneurs exploring how their creative skills have enabled them to do incredible things in their personal and professional lives.

You can find all of these interviews by searching for the tag #CreativeInnovative.

Anthony Wade-Cooper is undoubtedly one of my favourite people that I have met through working in theatre. I had the privilege to perform in a show that he stage managed. The show was incredible emotionally taxing, and then I was injured in the middle of the show.

His presence brought an oasis of calm wherever he was. A stage manager who can manage technical details while at the same time bringing levity and empathy to the rehearsal space when required is an invaluable skill set. For me, this is theatre at its best: professionals who maintain authority over a project, synchronize with other authorities in the production, and employ an array of interpersonal skills in order to care for the performers.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that Anthony came to the theatre later in life. In his prior carer as a flight attendant, Anthony developed his acting and interpersonal skills, which he grew further in teaching service procedures, as well as the computer bidding and holiday bidding system as they were introduced. Then, his partner encouraged Anthony to consider stage management.

F: Where are you originally from?

A: Long story… I was born in India of a British father and an Australian mother. I grew up in the UK and emigrated to Canada in 1973. I emigrated to Australia in 2015. I know live in Mooloolaba, Australia.

F: Tell me a little about your training in the arts.

Trouble in Tahiti, Vancouver Concert Opera Society, 2011

A: I attended Capilano University for one semester and have taken Meisner acting beginner's level. it's basically been on-the-job training in Stage Management since then. I worked in community theatre, for opera companies, and in some independent productions. Bard on the Beach in Vancouver was my last Canadian gig. Here in Australia, I have worked at the Noosa Arts Theatre, have worked on several professional productions including Noosa Long Weekend for two years, and the staging of a [David] Williamson play with the Sydney cast on tour.

F: Has your art/training taken you to other places? What are some of the most interesting locations you have experienced?

A: Working in Sulmona Italy was the most outstanding experience, stage managing opera amongst palaces built in the Middle Ages! My Meisner training was under Meisner himself in his studio on the island of Bequia in the Carribean. This was an intense course which was somewhat over my head but the island charm and lifestyle will never be erased from my memory.

F: What are the benefits and challenges of collaboration?

A: Collaboration is absolutely essential. Ideas arising out of collaboration often take the work in directions that you hadn’t conceived in the initial stages. I have been very lucky to have learned most from incredible mentors in my field, my partner Stephen Atkins, and some very very talented cast members and technicians. I am not afraid of letting people teach this ‘old dog’ new tricks.

F: What drives you in your work?

A: The love of the end product. The journey to get to the end product. Seeing a page on paper translate into a living breathing piece of art (usually!). The initial ‘GO’ cue to me is so exciting. Watching all the hard work of rehearsals eventuating into a unique performance that is never 100% the same the next time. Watching all the element of rehearsal and production come together.

Midsummer Night's Dream, Bard on the Beach, 2014

F: To what extent have you been able to make your creativity work an aspect of all of your jobs?

A: In the airlines, being creative was always necessary when handling a passenger mishandling. I don't think of myself as creative. I just try and so what I consider to be the most logical way to solve a problem that creates an end result that we are all pleased with.

F: How do you use your performance skills in undertaking “non-creative” jobs?

A: In Canada I volunteered with AIDS Vancouver and did lightwalking for the Vancouver Opera. I also worked as the team leader in the Roundhouse at Expo ‘86. The experience I have had dealing with the public help me. Performance skills are required when dealing with a group of people, be it actors, or people you are working with a group of volunteers in a job. If you are in-charge they look to you for guidance which they expect you to provide. Sometimes you are exhausted and really don't feel like being in-charge but that's when performance skills come into play.

F: What demands dictate your creativity?

A: Basically, as stage manager, the creativeness comes in making sure everything runs smoothly in rehearsal and pre-, during, post-show. Professionally one rehearses at fixed times during the day as per union contracts but in the volunteer jobs rehearsals are done at night usually two or three times a week. Usually, the cast will warm up before a rehearsal, which entails breathing, vocal and stretching exercises… like the ones we did at ZZZ!

Inferno, Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre Company, 2010

F: Anthony, you can boast of many remarkable achievements over your career, but of which creative accomplishments are you proudest?

A: In my airline career, it is the fact that I was chosen three times to work with the Prime Ministers of Canada on diplomatic missions. In my theatrical career my Italian opera achievement was to me the most remarkable. The rest of the cast and crew were young twenty-somethings and there was I at my age keeping up with the lot of them. Bard on the Beach was also one of the most professional and impressive shows I have worked on. I learned so much about professionalism there. I consider myself very fortunate to have had such amazing careers through my life

F: Wow! Anthony, what incredibly diverse adventures you have experienced!

What role does performance have in your life? Why is it important?

A: I am basically a shy person so the ability to communicate and ‘act’ and use my body when I am in a situation in public helps me an awful lot. I might not be feeling confident but if I project that I am, the outcome is inevitably successful.

F: Yes, exactly. A confident but also genuine outer persona can enable you access to many experiences that you would not otherwise enjoy. What do you advise people do in order to mitigate burnout?

A: Professionally, you work intensely for a couple of weeks to achieve the best performance you can give so sleep and nutrition are important. Nutrition, however, must be carefully planned as often one has to eat dinner at 4:00 pm and have nothing else to eat until 11:00 pm by which time you are ready to ingest anything. So sleep, planned meals and if one can meditate I would advise it as it can slow you down especially after an evening’s performance. It is impossible to go to bed straight away – you have to give yourself some time to "come down."

F: Yes, I can relate as I struggled a lot with "coming down" and trying to manage my energy over the course of a prolonged rehearsal process. I get home after rehearsal or a show and my brain is a circus!

Would you agree that having training in voice, performance, and movement can help someone who isn't looking to be a performer?

A: Yes I would definitely agree. The more confidence you have in dealing with other citizens can only make you a better citizen yourself. Voice, posture, performance all go to creating an image that's easier for you to interact with other people.

F: What adaptable skills have you gained through your art form that you apply in other contexts?

A: I think the skill of thinking on your feet is one that I have developed because you have to always think of the next move in stage management, where you are needed next or what prop or set piece you have to have in place. So I find it easy to plan ahead and if something goes wrong then it's easy to adapt.

F: That being said, how do you set boundaries with regards to managing your personal from your creative spaces?

A: I am not sure one does divide ones personal from one's creative spaces. Of course in one’s personal space one tends to lessen the creative side but I feel it is always there in one shape or another.

F: What roles do intuition and aesthetic play in your personal life?

A: I rely on my intuition a lot when working, I think that you instinctively know when you are on the right track with a show or an actor. I think the aesthetic is left more to the creative i.e. set, costume and lighting designers. My job is to make sure their aesthetic is kept intact for the duration of the show.

Anthony Wade-Cooper, Vancouver Concert Opera Society Archives

F: You are multilingual. Do you feel that this gives you a different relationship to language and communication?

A: Interestingly enough when we were in Italy with the opera, we had to learn the Italian stage language and indeed even in Australia the basics are different such as load in/bump in, headsets/cans control booth/bio box. So you adapt but definitely, my languages help me with finding the right word often for the situation. Using one word when you could have used three…

F: Do you have to behave “differently” or be different people depending on the environment in which you are in? What skills served you in these different places?

A: Many years of being a flight attendant has served me very well in dealing with different situations and environments. In this day and age of lack of arts funding, you have to be adaptive and do the best with the tools you are given. In answer to the question yes I do behave differently depending on the situation at hand.

F: Now, you are unusual in that your Stage Manager career is your retirement.

A: I am retired and I work whenever I feel I would like to and with people that I like. I really don't have a business, just freelance and take some paid work if offered and if I feel I can do it.

F: What was the toughest learning curve that you experienced? What skills supported you?

A: My basic skills were learned through the airline, how to deal correctly with a group of people be they clients or colleagues. This took a while but now it's ingrained it comes naturally. There are always ‘prickly’ people and always solutions to their problems. It just day to day dealing with people – sometimes you are in the mood to deal with everything, others not so much but you always have to appear that you are confident in what you are doing.

Lipstick Dreams, Noosa ArtsTheatre, 2017

F: What strategies support you in appearing confident and managing "prickly" people?

A: Preparation, asking questions, consistency, and patience and learning how to get into a problem without complicating the system.

F: How do you go about networking/promoting your business?

A: Just staying in touch with the companies I work for. An occasional email to remind people I exist. I am lucky that I don't have to hustle to work, I work when I want to

F: Has technology changed your work?

A: Most definitely – when I started you used, for example, cassettes or DVDs for sound and now I use Qlab which revolutionized my work.

F: What is the most draining/challenging aspect of your business?

A: The unusual hours – eating requires planning, and I am no good with ladders anymore. The joys of aging!

F: How do you manage burnout/maintain your enthusiasm for your work?

A: I simply take time off if I feel I have bitten off more than I can chew… this year I have had two projects going on at once and another starting the day after the current one finishes. I won't be doing this again as I value my time off!

You can follow Anthony on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter or Instagram

Whatever your aims, we can aid you in achieving your goals with our individualised approach and flexible sessions. Contact us:

Frances Mulinix 11/29/17 Frances Mulinix 11/29/17

#WritingWednesday with Bruce Weigl

I love to discover a new writer who leaves me feeling as if I have just unwrapped a precious new gift. This is one of the reasons I enjoy reading anthologies of short stories or poetry. It's like speed dating or a tasting menu, you don't have to worry about the consequences of a long-term commitment, trying to find a convenient excuse to go home or staring longingly at your friend's meal.

“Say it clearly and you make it beautiful, no matter what”

— Bruce Weigl

Discovering a writer that I had not read before is unwrapping an unexpected and valuable gift. Bruce Weigl is a recent discovery of mine. I read one of his poems, and then another, and I knew I wanted to read all of his work. I see in his poetry an economy of words that belie the richness of images he creates. I like to form an idea of the writer through reading their work, then learn about them. It is essential to engage with the person, their background and aims in order to fully engage with their work.

I formed an image of a poet who contemplates, sees things clearly, and acts with deliberation. The word "Buddhist" sprang to mind. Imagine my sense of satisfaction when, in conducting a cursory research into Weigl, I discovered that he does have a Buddhist practice. According to him, his experience fighting for the American army in Vietnam as an 18-year-old both, "ruined my life and in return gave me my voice” The Circle of Hanh, 2000), and I certainly hear the "wounded warrior" throughout his work, a perspective with which I am familiar as some who has lived and worked with veterans.

In admiration, here are a few of Bruce Weigl's exquisite poems. Look at how Weigl uses language, builds imagery, employs repetition, and evolves his theme over the poem. Pick an element of his writing that you will incorperate into your own this week.

Home - Bruce Weigl

I didn’t know I was grateful
for such late-autumn
bent-up cornfields

yellow in the after-harvest
sun before the
cold plow turns it all over

into never.
I didn’t know
I would enter this music

that translates the world
back into dirt fields
that have always called to me

as if I were a thing
come from the dirt,
like a tuber,

or like a needful boy. End
lonely days, I believe. End the exiled
and unraveling strangeness.

Dead Man, Thinking - Bruce Weigl

i.
Snow geese in the light of morning sky,
exactly at the start of spring. I was
looking through the cracks of the blinds at my future which seemed
absent of parades, for which I was grateful,
and only yesterday

I watched what an April wind could do
to a body wrapped in silk,
though I turned my eyes away,
the way the teacher says,
once the beauty was revealed.

ii
How long it takes to die, in the fifty-fifth year
is what I thought about today.
I told some truths so large, no one could bear to hear them.
I bow down to those who could not hear the truth.
They could not hear the truth because they were afraid
that it would open a veil into nothing.
I bow down to that nothing. I bow down to a single red planet
I saw in the other world’s sky,
spinning,
as if towards some
fleshy inevitability.

I bow down to the red planet. I bow down
to the noisy birds, indigenous to this region.
Only sorrow can bend you in half
like you’ve seen on those whose loves have gone away.
I bow down to those loves.

Your Turn

A valuable way to develop as a writer is to be a voracious reader and devourer of creative work. Take the week to "supplement" your creative diet by intentionally seeking out and soaking up art over the next few days. Read aloud a poem or selection by a writer you admire before sitting for 5 minutes and commencing your writing practice.

Emma Dean Reflects on Forging A Unique Creative Path And Using The Healing Power of Music to Build Community

Calling All Writers and Aspiring Writers on this #WritingWednesday!

1. Grit

2. Discipline

3. Interpersonal Skills

4. Failure (is Success)

5. Mentorship

6. Voice and Body

Other Reading:

The Process of Breathing

1. Breathing Starts at the Centre

2. Pathways

3. Cellular Respiration

4. Exhalation

When To Tune In To The Breath

A Breathing Exercise To Practice On Your Own

Further Reading

Gabrielle Leah New On The Healing Power of Connection and Being An Artist Who Doesn't Paint

Encounter your breath

Why Does It Matter?

Neurological Patterning

Seeking A Connection

Health

Further Reading

a note on the body - Danez Smith

little prayer - Danez Smith

not an elegy for Mike Brown - Danez Smith

& even the black guy’s profile reads ‘sorry, no black guys’ - Danez Smith

juxtaposing the black boy & the bullet - Danez Smith

Your Turn

Further Reading and Sources:

Anthony Wade-Cooper on Finding a New Career in Retirement and Learning to Be Confident in Chaos

Home - Bruce Weigl

Dead Man, Thinking - Bruce Weigl

Your Turn

Further Reading