GOT SKILLZ

PRELIMINARY QUESTIONNAIRE

This is a questionnaire I circulated to my colleagues in 6M1L
and ex.e.r.ce. before starting my project, in order to posit my plans
for "Got Skillz" with the interests of its participants.
Below are the answers gathered so far.
- August 2008

1 what motivates you to dance, in any context?

The sheer sensual pleasure of movement, music, spacial relationships (body to itself, body to space,
motion in body/space), empathy, grumpy-happy self,
desire to embody ideas, music, music, sweat, letting go,
not thinking like i think when i don't dance, tripping, money,
being specific with my thoughts, being looked at, flirting,
the sense of community, discovering trajectories in my body,
sensing myself, training, feeling that i expand physically,
constant change, active state, contingency, political potential,
other people dancing, my own momentum, music, nostalgia,
desire to specify or deepen a particular sensation, to mix the interior sensation and geometrical intention that my body can create.

2 what physical and/or performative skills have proven
in the past to be the most useful in your work, career,
and/or experience as a dancer or performing artist?

interpretive imagination, social skills, physical adaptability
(ability to try different approaches), physical articulateness,
balance, proprioceptive sense (body in relation to itself),
concentration, yoga, precision of movement, the connectedness
to my body, dryness skill, stamina, diversity, non-judgement,
proprioception, different body-movement practices, collaborations,
relations, text, protests, investment in socio-political-artistic
scanning of surrounding context, inventiveness,
immitation/impersonation, imagination, access to emotionality,
self-reflexivity and reflection, being able to turn off self-reflexivity,
determination, flexibility to different situations, also physical
flexibility, expressive extremities, embodiment as a lack of
separation between the self and the task at hand, versatility,
speed, memory, extended concentration, perseverance,
problem-solving, the utility of the interior imagination as a method of approaching intention. MY ability to improvise and create a character in my capacity as a comic actor, has proved useful in dance theatre pieces.

3 what skills do you currently rely on the most in your work?

social, musical sensitivities (+counting, rhythm, singing),
physical articulateness, kinesthesia (awareness of motion),
ability to respond abstractly, multi-tasking, propreoception,
organizing of the body, anatomy applied, hearing, doubting,
confronting, criticizing through statement, action,
performance and re-organizing (new) public space, attention,
sensation, voluntary curiosity, skills of intuition, logic and other brain-related skills, the physical aspect of how i create movement can provoke a relation with still imagery.

4 what skills do you consider yourself to have?
what skills do you consider to be your strengths, assets?

physical articulation, I have a way of counting that works (for me),
analytical skills-- part of social skill, interpretive imagination
(making up a response -- abstract or literal), collaboration,
the above mentioned in 2 and 3,
the above mentioned in 2 and 3,
[no answer]
Skills for planning and executing an idea.
Skills in improvising in capacity as an actor and dancer.
Skills of understanding and decoding intention and meaning in texts and of relating ideas from disparate fields.
Time keeping.
I think that I own some skill of diversion in the movement.
I use musical aspects as a skill in researching movements.

5 what skills would you like to develop further?

all musical skills, embodiment...

I think a lot of skills avoid embodiment and am trying to think
what skills develop it.... I think all the senses are involved,
maybe particularly touch, sound, proprioception and kinesthesia.
The only skill really clearly an embodier (for me) is imitation,
but rhythm probably too -- maybe that's related to sound.
Some styles of movement inspire embodiment in me, but it's
a little hit and miss, and it definitely changes over time.

I would like to develop percussions skills, play the drums for
example, or learn to be able to recognise and move precisely on
complex music rhythms.

propreoception, sensing, anatomy applied, speech and voice,
softness, fluidity, musicality, discourse, relaxation, challenging
the idea of being content too easily, ability to apply elements of
certain techniques and methods as content and means of my
performative aspect, proprioception, more ingenuity with gravity, discipline, range of
movement, finite-ness of movement/articulation, splits, I want to develop the skill of auto-analysis in order to be more clear in the way that I research movement