Journal Entry #3 – September 22nd, 2009 September 22, 2009

Comments heard while rehearsing excerpts of the Partner Project at three sites on Water Street in lower Manhattan:

“What is that?”

“Wow, it’s like watching a movie”

“Why is he making you leave? This is nice. This is great” at witnessing a security guard ask us to leave the front of One State Street Plaza,

“I know what that is”

“This is great. Thank you for teaching me something new today”

Woman passing by with eyes rolling, “Ya gotta love New York.”

Man passing by who stopped to watch and take pictures, “They are very talented. I don’t know what that was but it was lovely to watch”. RJ, “what did you see?” Man, “I saw the love and antagonism in relationships.” RJ, “would you like to be on our mailing list?” Man, “Oh yes.”

Hope you can come see for yourself on Sept 25th/26th, at sites along Water Street and in our rehearsal space at 14 Wall Street. See our website for times and locations, http://www.risajaroslow.org.

RJ

Journal Entry #2 – September 17th, 2009 September 17, 2009

We’ve taken the duets outside.  I love seeing them on park benches, in big open plazas surrounded by tall buildings, on a wall with parked tour buses as a backdrop, in front of a waterfall in a city park.   The duets read differently depending on where they are.  Outside, in the midst of “normal” life, they look to me like subtext – how we’re really feeling while doing what we have to do.

New Yorkers are so purposeful and have an astonishing ability to either walk past anything that’s not useful at the moment or look at it while doing something else, usually being in conversation with another person or on the phone.  There’s a kind of head turning dance done by people walking by.  Look at the picture below taken in front of One State Street Plaza, across from the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.  We’ve had to abandon that site because of being hassled by security guards in the building.  We’ve moved it one block north.  We’re showing the Partner Project material on Sept 25^th and 26^th at three sites on Water Street in lower Manhattan and inside at our rehearsal space at 14 Wall Street.  I am looking forward to getting feedback from both our accidental audience – those who happen to encounter it outside – and those who come to see it.  

We’ve just started working on a section in which I want to get at the experience of longing for comfort while you are doing something that you have an obligation to do – a rescue fantasy while enduring boredom or stress. 

At the end of August we had four wonderful long days to work on the Partner Project in Stone Ridge, NY at the Performing Arts Center of the High Meadow School.  It’s a big beautiful space.  It was fantastic to have full days to work in a perfect environment.  Now we’re back at the vault at 14 Wall Street.  I’m so grateful to have a space grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council that gives us time to use this great space at no cost.  I hope you can join us on the 25^th or 26^th on Water Street, in the vault or both to see the beginnings of The Partner Project and share your thoughts about it with us. 

Risa