Montana Tour Day One and Two

“To set spirit free from stone” – Alison Wearing

I love this quote. A sculptor wrote it and it speaks to me of what I want my art to be -- of what I want my life to be, my art setting free the broken through the love of God.

Nerves, hesitancy, and excitement all intermingled yesterday as I drove to meet the other 3 women in the dance company I am now a part of. The 4 of us come from all over North America and have, without ever meeting each other (and some with out even meeting the company director or her us, since auditions were by DVD) decided to commit the next 4 months of our lives to tour a brand new production about poverty, the oppressed, and human suffering. The show is a multimedia production that will tours across America, Canada, and Belize raising fund for social justice non-profit-organizations at home and abroad.

Aw doesn’t that sound ever so artistically wonderful and lofty?
– enter reality stage right.

Yesterday after 2 of the girls flew from the east coast (one with her teething one year old baby) we all packed into an incredibly tiny hatchback and headed off for the interior of BC where we would be rehearsing. Ok now when I say `packed in` I mean PACKED IN, every inch of the car was covered in our luggage, dance wear, purses, oh and of course a stroller and car seat. Exhausted we arrived right before midnight at the house we would be staying at. A house that has no hot water, only 1 bed (a single at that), and -as of this moment- no toilet paper, somehow the shows themes have seeped into our lives…(okay I am exaggerating, after all real poverty is not the absence of sheets and hair blow dryers).

The work is inspiring, the rehearsals physically exhausting, and the potential of what lies ahead in the tour brings goose bumps to my arms. I am discovering one cold shower at a time that I am not quite the self sacrificing humanitarian that I supposed – and one sore muscle at a time am discovering my humanity. Apparently setting spirit free from stone requires a little more chiselling than I knew.

Stay tuned…