Studio as Blank Canvas

Facebook sent me a memory from 4 years ago when Starfish Dance & Yoga was in full swing. It was an invitation to a Pop-Up dance party with Amy Podolsky & Lisa Pearl. An image of the empty studio came into my head, and then of it being filled with dancers for that event. I was there, it was wonderful. 

I have always loved the idea of a blank canvas; a clear space on which to create and allow an experience to emerge.  When I went from my primary creative expression being visual to dance, I imagined that I had left the blank canvas behind. However, seeing that invitation I realized that the studio itself had been a blank canvas for me and also for the community of teachers sharing their joy and creativity in the space as well. I like this idea, that the space itself is the canvas. Instead of using primer to go back to a blank space, we simply emptied the space & let the dance go to then perhaps be filled with future experience. 

Unlike visual art, which leaves a recording of the art making process, dance experiences that are shared and not recorded, leave a trace of the experience within the soul; a body memory, perhaps a moment of revelation or an opportunity to move something that words could not. In this way, the self that walks into the space to dance is also potentially a blank canvas.  Regardless, with all kinds of art, the event can be repeated, but each time it is new. I love this frame around a dance event. 

As I teach my Zoom classes in my home studio without people around, I am experiencing yet another kind of art making. Although I am sharing the class with others, I am mostly in the space within myself and within my home. I am able to connect to my experience in a more concentrated way. I am reminded of the the difference between working in a studio full of other artists and working alone. As with the physical collective studio space, after class I am left with the way I have been transformed and shaped by the dance making. Another finished canvas to let go of.