Blue Lab #3 Score [Diana Crum]
Diana Crum
Trace the bones of your body. Begin at the joint between the clavicle and the sternum. Trace one clavicle out to the bony process on the front of the shoulder. Hold your shoulder in your hand. Walk your fingers down your arm with the intention of tracing your humerus. Then touch the elbow. Rotate the forearm back and forth as you trace the radius and ulna out to the wrist. Move your fingers around the wrist, down each carpal, metacarpal and phalange. Repeat on the other side. Have a friend hold your skull. Then have the friend walk their fingers down your spine. Lastly, ask the friend to trace each shoulder blade; then pick up the shoulder and circle it down the back. Touch your own ribs. Touch your pelvis, including the hip bones, the tailbone, the sits bones and the pubic bone. Walk your fingers down one leg with the intention of finding your femur. Along the way, find the greater trochanter. Then touch your knees. Trace your shin bone. Palpate your ankle, heel bones, tarsals, metatarsals and phalanges. Repeat on the other leg.
Now move your bones around. Investigate how living, spongy, malleable bones move. Explore how they dance.
Imagine the bones turning blue. Start in a specific spot, such as the tip of one finger. Imagine the exact shade. See blue spreading through the whole skeleton bit by bit. See it fill each nook and cranny of your skeleton. Keep moving as you imagine.
Once blue, keep moving. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Until you hear the timer go off, keep moving. The movements can be slow, fast, big, small or anything in between. Observe your actions. Observe each moment as it happens. Allow yourself to notice your thoughts, sensations and emotions.
When the timer goes off, stop moving. What do you remember? Try to repeat the experience of your memories.
| all content is property of the artist |
//
Diana Crum is a Brooklyn-based dance artist, committed to dance as a form of inquiry and exchange. After years of creating and presenting work, she is deep in a study of somatic practices and how they relate to public performances, discourse and community practices. Her choreography has been presented in NYC; Atlanta, GA; Durham, NC; Salt Lake City, UT; Vienna, Austria; and Nancy, France, among others cities. Commissioners include chashama (New York, NY) and loveDANCEmore (Salt Lake City, UT). She has performed in works by Steve Paxton, Emily Wexler, Jennifer Monson, and many others.
Crum's work often takes into consideration context and community. Consequently, she has developed a body of site-specific work, community projects and a strong teaching practice. She is currently Program Director of Dance Makers in the Schools at Movement Research and teaches with Abrons Art Center, Brooklyn Arts Council, Gibney Dance, New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Calhoun School. As Abrons Engagement Artist-in-Residence, she created and facilitated AUNTS, nieces, nephews and grandparents, a one-time performance party event that brought together seniors, teenagers and artists on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. She has previously taught at Washington & Lee University (Lexington, VA), University of the Arts (Philadelphia, PA) and Hollins University (Roanoke, VA), among others. MFA from Hollins University. BA from Columbia University.