I met her about three weeks ago. She had been working with Cheryl McFarren, Theater Faculty at Denison University, to compose music for the Theater Department's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Cheryl felt it necessary for the two of us to meet, mainly because Neska had been venturing into composing music for dance, or at least had shown interest in doing so. At Cheryl's house, and over a carton of Edy's Moose Tracks ice cream, I was able to talk briefly to Neska, where we basically both picked each other's brains a bit. She was a fascinating person and was even more fascinated by my involvement with dance. Without even hearing me play a single note, she told me, "I can already tell you are wonderful at it." To statements similar to this, my reply is often times, "Well, I definitely try to be."
I received an email from Neska today where she wrote, "I am really excited this connection has been made because, to me, it seems to have been created by what I call Hashem Energy......nothing forced, just natural." This kind of hit me as a bit of a shock, because I have been really pondering over this idea just recently. This notion of, not only things happening for a reason, but nature taking course and causing things to happen "naturally." Hashem (or HaShem as it is often written) is a Hebrew word, which translates to "the Name," referring to the name of God.
This concept got me thinking. I have been fortunate enough to have this "Hashem Energy" periodically appear my entire life. The truth is, I have worked hard to get where I am today, but anything positive in my life just naturally happened. Call it God, call it Fate, call it Nature, WHATEVER, this "positive energy" has always been present in my life, and I have received many great things and met/collaborated with some amazing people because of it. I do not necessarily believe someone is "up there" watching me and guiding my life on its course, but more so believe that the positive energy I give to the world is given back to me, and has been given back to me all my life. I suppose "Karma" may be the closest word for it.
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So, why do I bring this up? I am now beginning preparations for my month-long residency at the Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, Colorado, and feel this concept of Karma, Hashem Energy should be a part of my theme.
Originally, though, I was drawn to this idea of "storytelling." People telling personal tales or telling folklore. People telling exaggerated versions of simple experiences, and people understating the importance of their stories. Along with these stories, both farfetched and straightforward, I picture television monitors for peoples' heads. Possibly a connection to commercial storytelling through the media, television shows, and films? Not sure how much I want to stick with this as a possible visualization, but it is quite vivid in my imagination. For example, the audio from the "storyteller" is from a female voice, the face on the screen is female, but a male body is hanging out of the monitor Many other voice/screen/body combinations would be presented within this setup.
All I can say is that I am excited to finally have ideas flowing. Now that my job demands are very low, I can focus and research more on this possible topic.
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“No dear, one of the Raiders lives with me.”
