 June 2013 marks the 4-year anniversary of A Mused Collective and I wanted to take a brief moment to muse on our journey together. In 2009 I reached out to a handful of talented friends with an idea and a vision that sparked a path of friendship, community and growth. After countless rehearsal and development hours both in and out of the studio and a closet full of costumes, A Mused Collective has danced, played music and sang in 30 performances and produced 6 shows throughout California and Oregon in the U.S. and in Edinburgh, Scotland all in just 4 years. We can’t possibly imagine what the future holds, but are excited to find out!
Performing is just one of the many perks to being A Muse… Through our desire to share dance and music with anyone and everyone we held free creative movement workshops in Oakland and provided a dance workshop series for a talented and inspiring group of young dancers through Coachart, a non-profit that provides free lessons in the arts and athletics for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Through our communities’ generosity we were also able to provide ballet slippers and healthy snacks to each student! Most recently on April 20th we shared a special preview performance for our latest project Sincerely Rescripted at Kinetic Arts Center in Oakland, and we have another Preview Performance coming up in July 2013. Since the launch of our project in November 2012, we have received over 120 letters and counting, and the project continues to change our lives for the better. See our Project Outreach Map for more details. Looking towards the future, we are in the process of planning our 2014/2015 Sincerely Rescripted Performance Tour throughout Northern California and beyond, culminating with a performance at our home base in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are currently developing four new performance pieces using your letters as the inspiration for our work. Twisted bodies and twisted tales of the heart will challenge the meaning of love and explore the bonds of community. We will take you on a journey to the depths of the human experience as we honor and remember lives lost. In addition to continuing our participation with Coachart, we will be volunteering with an international non-profit organization to teach dance and music to children in need. Our outreach will also include performances and collaborations with artists. We are in the early planning stages, so stay tuned for more details to come. Thanks so much for your continued support and I hope to see you at future performances, workshops and events. Without your support we would not be able to create community inspired performance art and provide free dance and music lessons. With Sincere Gratitude and Appreciation ~ Abby
28 Comments
 On April 20th we performed a special preview of Sincerely Rescripted as a work in progress at Kinetic Arts Center in Oakland, CA to a warm and generous audience. Between the laughter and tears both on and off stage, we were humbled by the experience. Never before have we felt such a deep connection to each other and our community. To date we have received over 120 letters from 5 states, 2 countries and counting. The letters and stories of our community resonate within us all and have helped us develop our quality and intention as performers. In this renewed, raw and vulnerable state we are creating our best work to date.
Directly following our Sincerely Rescripted Preview Performance I asked the audience to sum up their experience in one word on the back of their program and post it on a board in the lobby, and this is what people had to say… Connected, Passionate, Touched, Creative, Incredible, Heartfelt, Connecting, Emotional, Entertaining, Fun, Honesty, Memorial, Heart-song, Emotional, Core, Strength, Body, Voice, Word, Intense, Moving, Beautiful, Wonderful, Heart-wrenching, Remember, Tapestry, Celebrate, Honoring, Whole Hearted, Inspiring, Quirky, Great Grandpa wrote letters…1809, A serene and reflective experience! I then asked the performers the same question, and this is what they had to say... Pure, Delightful, Holistic, Present, Embodied, Witnessing, Honoring, Personal, Expression, Exhilarating, Mind. Heart. Body., Cleansing, Beauty, Prolific, Emotional. The audience, dancers and musicians shared in the CONNECTED – HONORING – HEART – EMOTIONAL – BEAUTIFUL - BODY performance experience. We look forward to future opportunities to share our progress with the World. Thank you to our wonderful audience and all The Muses who danced and played your hearts out! - Abby  I set out on this project with adventurous excitement and limited expectations. I desired to create a platform to engage with our community on a meaningful and genuine level and am near speechless by your responses. The letters received to date have brought tears, silent reflection, boisterous laughter and dialogue. Specific words and phrases from your letters inspire and guide my limbs. Physical contortions, contractions and impulses are born from the tone and quality of your written words. The movement vocabulary that we are developing is deeply rooted, twisted and grounded, contrasted by fluid and languid undulations of love and desire. We have not only learned so much about you, our community, we have in turn understood even more about each other and how we relate and communicate as human beings. Thank you for your contributions and we look forward to receiving future letters. - Abby
|
Musings
AuthorsAbby McNally 
Shelly Gilbride
Company Member 
Archives
June 2013
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed