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Nat Lipstadt Mar 2023
Fri Feb 10
8:12 AM


“As artists, we are exposed to a heavy level of scrutiny, mostly from ourselves,” adds Villarini-Velez. “At times we might be insecure when a choreographer asks us to do something that takes us away from our usual, classical vocabulary. I felt like some of my peers who aren’t exposed to this movement would feel insecure at times, but nonetheless, rise up to the challenge of exploring new levels of artistry. It’s easy to rely on our usual bag of tricks, but I enjoy the risks of detaching from what looks good and moving in a way that feels good. It’s our responsibility to rise to these challenges and expand our artistic horizons.”(1)

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guilty. as charged.
so, incorporating new words,
differing styles.
do what does not come naturally.

“detach from what looks good,
moving in a way that feels good”

make radicalization your ethos
make new-for-you your eponym.
give your name to what you create,
a mere signature insufficient, it is not part of the work!

taste the wet words upon tongue and lips,
let the saliva linkage be to the following morseling phrase,
the mouth sac moist be where verbal embryos are birthed.

hear them spoke in your voice, but,
silently, in your mind, and yet, speak-say them inside
with the shocking thunderous force of a newborn’s first cry.

and when you read them assembled,
weep with pleasure, relieved, this, your child,
looks exactly like no one, with but trace elemental traits of you.

but it is all yours, sinew and cell, fiber and skin,
drawn unformed, ejected from the intramural hollows of the body,
then and only then, mark them at last as truly

*mine..
(1) https://www.nycballet.com/discover/stories/dancers-on-keerati-jinakunwiphats-fortuitous-ash?utmsource=wordf­ly&utmmedium=email&utmcampaign=FY23MKTRELBalletBriefing-February&utmcontent=version_A&uid=1075607&promo=58231

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