Andrea Johnston recently performed at Mount Tremper Arts a solo that was created with choreographer Mark Jarecke. Audience members told us they wanted to hear about her experience. And she had such interesting things to say around the fire after the performance that we asked her to share.  Here you go, in her own words:

This piece is undoubtedly the most challenging artistic endeavor I have ever been asked to perform, and for that I am deeply grateful to choreographer and friend, Mark Jarecke. Being given a chance to revisit this piece was a true gift. The tremendous physical vigor and porous mind-space required to enter this piece were daunting at times. However, Mark revealed the necessity of me trusting myself and my body, having had a ten-year history of being inside his work and process.

I was being asked to be present in the moment. I was trying not to make a decision or compose in the moment. In other words, I was attempting to be less cerebral, because from Mark’s perspective, that state can dampen the immediacy and genuineness of the movement. Although completely choreographed, the challenge given to me was not to re-create past experiences of the piece but rather to surprise and create anew by being true to each moment of the movement quality itself.

Why was I dancing? I did not enter the space with any particular agenda, emotions, or narrative. I was simply beginning to engage in the labor that Mark had asked of me. I use the word labor not to conjure up thoughts of menial chores or tasks, but rather to give a sense of striving, effort, and exertion. Once inside I do feel deeply. But again, my intention is not to emote, but rather to be inside of this thing, this experience, this work. I believe that Mark’s process is fundamentally genuine and full of integrity, and I trust that those qualities bleed through to the viewer. It is true I was not dancing for the viewer per se, but it is my hope that what was created to be viewed had inherent value just as catching a glimpse of a mother mothering or a monk praying can be among the most profound and basic experiences in life.

Walking off stage, moments later, I am unable to judge my performance. It is as if I do not have a complete enough memory of the event to form a judgment. It was just something I did. I do feel pride. I completed my work.

Finally, a few words of how Mount Tremper Arts impacted my experience of this piece.

Sleeping in the loft above the performance space, I was intimately aware of the life of the space, frequently awakening to the cracking sounds of the wood floor and ceiling beams minutely shifting. The constant plasticity of the structure became an inspiring forum in which for me to address Mark’s challenges.

The quiet, mountainous forest retreat, with coursing rivers, immediately slowed me down. It encouraged me to be present not only during my performance but also in the moments of being a wife to my husband, a daughter to my parents, a dancer to my choreographer, and a playmate to his son. I was suddenly given the mind space to just be.

Both nights, the audience was very small. The piece feels intimate to me and therefore it seemed appropriate that a handful of viewers were there. Somehow, I think this piece is perhaps not meant to be seen by very many people. In a way I am proud of that element of mystery around the whole thing.