ARCHIVE: LIVABLE FUTURE IN RECALL

Livable Futures Community Archive Site Taken in October 2017

Q&A

LF: What makes more livable futures for you?

LROD: For me, a pursuit to re-imagine justice, resiliency, and love against the current oppressive or destructive ways of living would be a start in making the future livable. I believe it is crucial to create a realm of care, ethics, and compassion to work towards balance in our overly consumptive world. These liberal acts help to reconstruct/heal dilapidated structures in our social, economic, and industrial ways of living but prioritize these acts within the environmental sphere. As an artist, I think creating performative/experiential environments in a community of co-creation kickstarts the imagination needed to unlock the potential of our future.

• A livable future responds to crisis, injustice, and inequality.

• A livable future is continuously adapting.

• A livable future makes and holds space for all.

• A livable future is a possibility manifested through imagination.

• A livable future redefines freedom.

• A livable future is not always polite.

• A livable future is transparent.

• A livable future thrives in equity.

• A livable future redefines love and care.

LF: What are you reading, viewing, listening to right now?

LROD:

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017), Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (2019) by adrienne maree brown

Chicano and Chicana Art: A Critical Anthology by Jennifer A. González

Black Brown & Beige: Surrealist Writings from Africa and the Diaspora (2009) edited by Franklin Rosemont and Robin D.G. Kelley

Dawn (2012) by Octavia E. Butler

On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal by Naomi Klein

The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Borderwall as Architecture: A Manifesto for the U.S.-Mexico Boundary (Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Imprint) by Ronald Rael

LF: What practices are sustaining you?

LROD:

Sustaining my practice is daydreaming, hyper-creativity in co-creative environments, performance as protest, and ritualized self-care.

• Sun’s kiss on my skin

• The desert

• Aesthetics in environmental design

• Home

• Community

• Daily improvisation

• Mi Familia

• Napping

• Sustento

• Artmaking in all its capacities

• Deep conversations

• Immersing into books/movies/shows

• Truth

• The moment when I am told something is impossible

©LROD

Re-Creating the Stage Roundtable

Creative Discipline & Training During COVID-19

Panel #2 | 2:45pm - 3:45pm (PDT) | 5:45 - 6:45pm (EST)
Panelists: Elbert Joseph, LROD & Margaret Odette
ASL/English Interpreters: Rachel Judelson & Sho Devon Guion Grant
Moderator: Kezia Waters, KB Associate Theatre Director

I am honored to be apart of this wonderful panel this coming Saturday. Muchas Gracias to Jesús López Vargas for connecting with me and inviting me into this wonderful roundtable. Anyone can sign up to gain access to free events by visiting our website: https://www.kbtheatre.org/re-creating-the-stage.html

Adelante y see you there!

MORE ABOUT THIS WEEKEND

Re-Creating the Stage is a digital summer program produced & organized by K.B. Theater Company members & collaborators, offered to the public free of charge. This program is predominantly aimed at undergraduate/graduate-level students or young industry professionals in the U.S. who have lost their internships, apprenticeships & summer work opportunities due to the COVID-19 crisis. Our program consists of panels of both up-and-coming & established industry professionals as well as 1hr. creative workshops centered around the collaborative nature of theater-making & storytelling. Our program will begin on July 11th and run through August 15th, 2020.

PANELS

WEEK 1, PANEL #1 – Acting & Performance Saturday, July 11th | 1:30 – 2:30pm (PDT), 4:30 – 5:30pm (EDT) Category is: Navigating Culture & Identity in Acting & Performance Panelists: Terrell Donnell Sledge, Linedy Genao & Chris Mansa

WEEK 1, PANEL #2 – Acting & Performance Saturday, July 11th | 2:45 – 3:45pm (PDT), 5:45 – 6:45pm (EDT) Category is: Creative Discipline & Training During COVID-19 Panelists: Elbert Joseph, Margaret Odette & LROD (Laura Rodriguez)

WEEK 2, PANEL #3 – Theatre Directors Saturday, July 18th | 1:30 – 3:00pm (PDT), 4:30 – 6:00pm (EDT) Category is: Tokenization VS. Representation Panelists: José Carrasquillo, Rebecca Rivas & Mei Ann Teo

WEEK 3, PANEL #4 – Producers, Managers & Technicians Saturday, July 25th | 1:30 – 3:00pm (PDT), 4:30 – 6:00pm (EDT) Category is: Personal Finance & Self Sustainability in our Industry Panelists: Michaela Bulkley, Veronica Hernandez & Ross Jackson

WEEK 4, PANEL #5 – Producers & Leaders Saturday, August 1st | 1:30 – 2:30pm (PDT), 4:30 – 5:30pm (EDT) Category is: Producing for Social Change & Accountability Panelists: Jeffrey Lo, Arpita Mukhherjee & Víctor Élan Vázquez

WEEK 4, PANEL #6 – Producers & Leaders Saturday, August 1st | 2:45 – 3:45pm (PDT), 5:45 – 6:45pm (EDT) Category is: Inciting Change; How to be a Leader in the Arts & in our Communities Panelists: Patrice Amon & Armando Huipe

WEEK 5, PANEL #7 – Projections, Lighting & Sound Designers Saturday, August 1st | 1:30 – 2:30pm (PDT), 4:30 – 5:30pm (EDT) Category is: Skills Learned by Practicing Design & How to Navigate the Freelance World Panelists: Melanie Chen Cole, Sherrice Mojgani & David Murakami

WEEK 5, PANEL #8 – Costume & Set Designers Saturday, August 1st | 2:45 – 3:45pm (PDT), 5:45 – 6:45pm (EDT) Category is: Challenging Stereotypes in the Design Process Panelists: Valarie Sue Henry & Ramaj Jamar Schedule of Workshops

WORKSHOP

WEEK 6, WORKSHOP #1 – Creative Collaboration Saturday, August 15th | 1:30 – 2:30pm (PDT), 4:30 – 5:30pm (EDT) Category is: Creative Collaboration & Devising New Stories Hosted by: TBA, with Jesús López Vargas & Brandon Ray Alba

WEEK 6, WORKSHOP #2 – The Art of Storytelling Saturday, August 15th | 2:45 – 3:45pm (PDT), 5:45 – 6:45pm (EDT) Category is: How to Share Difficult Subject Matter Through Art Hosted by: Ryan Trecairtin, with Kezia Waters & Stephanie Carrillo Schedule of Affinity Spaces

AFFINITY SPACE

WEEK 1, AFFINITY SPACE #1 – The Latinx Community Saturday, July 11th | 11:00am – 1:00pm (PDT), 2:00pm – 4:00pm (EDT) Category is: Conversation with the Latinx Community Facilitators: Roslyn Cecilia Sotero & Addys Maria Castillo

WEEK 1, AFFINITY SPACE #2 – The Black Community Saturday, July 18th | 11:00am – 1:00pm (PDT), 2:00pm – 4:00pm (EDT) Category is: Conversation with the Black Community Facilitators: Kezia Waters & Addys Maria Castillo

WEEK 1, AFFINITY SPACE #3 – The Womxn / Fem Community Saturday, July 25th | 11:00am – 1:00pm (PDT), 2:00pm – 4:00pm (EDT) Category is: Conversation with the Womxn Community Facilitators: Roslyn Cecilia Sotero & Stephanie Carrillo

WEEK 1, AFFINITY SPACE #4 – The Asian & Pacific Islander Community Saturday, August 1st | 11:00am – 1:00pm (PDT), 2:00pm – 4:00pm (EDT) Category is: Conversation with the Asian & Pacific Islander Community Facilitators: Kelley Ho & Elijah Punzal

WEEK 1, AFFINITY SPACE #1 – The LGBTQIA+ Community Saturday, August 8th | 11:00am – 1:00pm (PDT), 2:00pm – 4:00pm (EDT) Category is: Conversation with the LGBTQIA+ Community Facilitators: Ezra Anisman & Elijah Punzal

Motion Capture: The Quarantine Salsa

THE QUARANTINE SALSA

Choreography, Dance, and Lighting all collide in this motion capture edit and render to explore not only the current state of quarantine but exist alongside the movement exploration of Latin forms. Vamos a bailar! Enjoy!

Made by LROD

©LROD

Key Thoughts: Love + Ethics Manifesto

Archive Date: February 25, 2018

A response to my Research Studies course from bell hook’s All About Love.

bell hooks says “A love ethic presupposes that everyone has the right to be free, to live fully and well. To bring a love ethic to every dimension of our lives, our society would need to embrace change” (hooks 2000, 87) Freedom, revolution, and wellbeing are the three words that come to mind when I think of the love ethic – an action and – a doing. With the full force of my body, I am made aware of the grave injustice that divides our country and those who live in it. Just an example, coming from Seattle where the cost of living is rising so quickly that they now have the third largest homeless population in the country and where the median income is $80.000. When black and brown bodies are the major populations that make up our mass incarceration numbers. Where poverty, lack of education, starvation, and unemployment appear to be systemically put into motion. In an era of polarizing fear that films police brutality with no action to correct, high school bullies murder their peers in violent acts of hatred all while capturing on Facebook Live. When is enough? Where do we begin? Can I justify my work as an artist to the greater good?

I find myself questioning this love ethic in the middle of the Florida shooting that took 17 lives. If society as a whole cannot put down their daily lives to join together for society’s well-being to have our gun laws changed for the safety of our children’s futures, then we are farther away from functioning as a society or the “collective good” hooks speaks about (Hooks 98). I have three children so anytime a school is on lockdown or I witness another mother on TV crying, mourning, pleading for action, I am ready – ready to go. We have marched, petitioned, and continue to support groups for a cause – but at what point does the love ethic take hold to make radical change happen? When does change happen now for us? Do we have a combined voice to shake the foundation? Can we join together and find a pushback against the power’s neglect? Can we “awaken to love” as hooks suggests? Or are we blindfolded or desensitized by the power and domination our country endures with patriarchy, systemic racism, and capitalism?

In thinking about technology hooks says, “For example, revolutionary new technologies have led us all to accept computers. Our willingness to embrace this “unknown” shows that we are all capable of confronting fears of radical change, that we can cope.” I find this example to be a wonderful catalyst for why Humane Technology is important in transforming our society. Not only can we confront the fears of love in our society, but we can move (action) toward freedom, revolution, and well-being for all. Can we use technology to birth the love ethic movement? What does this look like? How does this collective work?

“To live our lives based on the principles of a love ethic (showing care, respect, knowledge, integrity, and the will to cooperate), we have to be courageous” (hooks 101).

Values Chapter: What are we doing already in our class to “organize around a love ethic” and what more could we do?

Norah does a wonderful job at implementing a love ethic into the class and has provided support platforms at many different levels. Again, it can be hard to understand the “love ethic” within peer-based situations since most of our interactions are graded on some level. However, our interactions, openness, and acceptance challenge the dominant structure and when encountering face-to-face interaction, I witness care and love demonstrated beautifully. I also enjoy the different voices that are brought in through the readings to inform our collective knowledge. Having more time to discuss together would be nice.

Citizen artist platform: I wish to seek out the how or action of our projects to get away from naval-gazing assessments. How does our project impact society? What does our project do? What community is involved? If we could implement “love ethic” from a technological lens as a changed society what does this look like? Where does it begin? Where does it end? How do we work as a small collective to radically change the structure and find a collective voice? These questions would be worked at in a roundtable as opposed to one-by-one delivery.

I am thinking is there a collective charge to our work that we might not recognize yet?

What does living a love ethic mean to you in your daily life as an artist and student? What new commitments might we make together?

I struggle to find the love ethic within the institution, while I am a part of movements to change and bring in the love ethic – there are areas of the space that feel alienating or isolating. There are things I am aware of that are not noticed by the collective and I feel my otherness. How do you move through institutions as a “marked” body? How does the work interact with and inform the communities? “Whose voices are in the room?” – Norah.

The love ethic has been a major part of my life since a young person, maybe this is the culture (action) I was brought up in to do twice the work, as a citizen, artist, and teacher. Maybe this is from the losses I encountered in my upbringing as a young person. May be a combination – not sure. My focus has been on the community of dancers, artists, and collaborators I work with not only to radically change space, ideas, and hearts but to put forth the challenge of doing the work while bringing in the “audience” or “potential collaborators”. The more I can dig into the work with other human beings the more connected energy of goodness surfaces. I felt this the other day during Grad movement practice and Climate Lecture spaces this is an active feeling – drawn to it. I believe there is something very healing about the love ethic that saturates the space and invades our bodies. I enjoyed how hooks closed this chapter so I will bring it back, “Those of us who have already chosen to embrace a love ethic, allowing it to govern and inform how we think and act, know that when we let our light shine, we draw to us and are drawn to other bearers of light. We are not alone” (hooks 101).

Commitments:

Radicalize the space.

Listen actively.

Love accepts.

The challenge to think collectively.

Think more about equality and equity.

Who are the love ethic heroes?

We are not alone.

Citation Station:

hooks, bell. 2000. All about love: new visions. New York: Harper Perennial.

©LROD

Improvisation: Graduate Movement Practice

Archive Date: February 19, 2018

Facilitator: LROD

For my facilitation, I was initially going to do Lisa Nelson’s “Tuning Score” and then move into Barbara Dilley’s “Red Square” since they complement each other nicely.

My foundation for the day was the focus of love, care, and ethics that surround our daily ritual of a rigorous movement practice together. I was also interested in researching some models that I have been working on for developing community connections that can be deepened with every practice using the material from my ancestor’s lineage. So preserving the past connections here but moving forward.

First: The Gift

This piece of paper was given to me as a gift with no ties to any resource or page number (Cornish: Alia or Wade). However, I cut it into parts and as each person came into the room I offered them to choose a gift. I hope that one day I will find its home, but for now, it sets up some wonderful values for space, time, and movement. We used this in our walking structure for our pre-warmup and dropping into connections. We used voice, movement, memory, and care during our interactions and explorations. These words became one of the containers for our time together.

The Outline:

Care + Senses + Imagination + Attentionography

Lineage Building from Lisa Nelson, Barbara Dilley, and Alia Swersky/Karen Nelson. Some viewpoints work has been integrated.

1. Welcome + Clearing

2. Gift exercise (vertical space and 360 perceptions): Walking pre-warmup for connection. Exit Space.

3. 2nd sequence: You are cared for, you are safe (building sensory awareness, listening inner/outer and close and far space): Take a moment to answer your own I am _____________ mantras. Moving practice deepens in space – Group: You are cared for, you are safe mantra incorporating self-mantras and noticings inner and outer. The end was felt and happened collectively.

4. Reflection: I noticed the warmth, connection, and depth of space gained from these awarenesses. I was able to drop down to many levels with the group and explore movement attention, with my senses inner and outer. I felt at peace to experience what was there, and I was drawn to the other humans in the room. Touch, tenderness, care, warmth, present, here, and open are words I found myself collecting. Everyone shared beautiful reflections and thoughts during this time.

5. Break for Dept Announcement.

6. Communal Warm-up: to reinvigorate our body after a break I shared a version of a communal warm-up practice for care. Elevated music is played to motivate the working body to investigate movement. (vertical space, horizontal space, and 360 perceptions deepened)

7. Lisa Nelson Tuning Score: Laboratory on composition, communication, and the sense of imagination within a community. Dual dialogue of inner and outer organization, space, time, movement, and desire. We chose collectively to change the “insiders” and “outsiders” to “witnesses” and “doers.” Noting the emphasis on Lisa’s choice to specifically implement these words with an intent.

Lisa Nelson’s Tuning Score: We chose these words to start a 25-minute dive.

Begin – signal a shift of attention.

Pause – as long as you like or as long as you can (resume movement when you choose).

End – Dancers choose to exit or remain.

Reverse –  movement as far as you can remember without effort, then continue in real-time from a new starting point.

Replace – One dancer replaces another dancer’s activity – all dancers exit and begin again.

The collective was off to an energetic start and was well cared for by our rigorous communal warm-up. The group managed 25 minutes and passed through initial reserves quickly. It would be nice to develop towards an hour and a half dive with the score to experience where the “Go” phase happens or when Barabara Dilley would say the “river stage” appears. The point where we are operating without direction and the sequences have aligned. Or we could increase the words used by Lisa Nelson in the score or decrease it. The score came to a collective end while noting, we all wanted to continue for a longer duration.

Biography

LISA NELSON is a dance-maker, improvisational performer, and collaborative artist who has been exploring the role of the senses in the performance and observation of movement since the ’70s. From an investigation of video and dance, she developed an approach to real-time editing and performance she calls “Tuning Scores.” Nelson travels widely to perform, teach, and create dances and maintains long-term collaborations with other artists, including Steve Paxton, Scott Smith, Daniel Lepkoff, and Image Lab. She’s been encouraged by receiving an NY “Bessie” Dance and Performance Award and an Alpert Award in the Arts. She has co-edited Contact Quarterly dance and improvisation journal since 1976. In recent years, she’s been constructing two interactive computer video games with the Brussels publisher Contredanse that provide tools for players within a field of movement, sound, and touch.

http://www.movementresearch.org/publishing/?q=node/305

Contact Quarterly click here. 

8. Closing Circle: Share – energy in a close circle with I am Mantras.

There was so much care and charge in the room.

©LROD