Earning My Rabbit Ears

After two days of the Summer Lab I am already loathing the idea of heading back to the joe job afterwards. It's like the return to the default world after Burning Man. You know you have to do it, but you feel like you need a week to decompress before you can. Why decompression? Because you're leaving an awesome rich zone to an environment that has very low concentrations of awesome.

Only 16 hours in, and I'm feeling the rust start to flake off. I am returning to an awareness of my body, posture, and habits. The mechanisims of creativity are spinning up again. I'm surrounded by an eclectic group of artists: A playwright who's work I studied in school (and may have memorized a monologue from at one point), a concert clarinettist, directors, actors, dancers, a drag king, and a black belt.

So what is this Summer Lab thing anyways?

I've waxed poetic about it to you, but now I'll just let you know what's going on.

One Yellow Rabbit's Summer Lab Intensive is a three week program hosted by members of the performance ensemble and the company in general. Monday through Friday, from 10am to 6pm, 15 "Labbits" study in The Big Secret theatre. The same people every day for eight hours for three weeks. It reminds me of theatre school again.

After regular school hours three rehearsal spaces are bookable. The Big Secret Theatre, Motel, and ATP's rehearsal hall are ours. At the end of three weeks, each Labbit will have created their own 10 minute piece to be performed. It can be a movement piece, a monologue, a scene, or whatever performative work we wish to create using the skills that are tuned during the Lab.

Each day starts with two gruelling hours of Yoga. Mind you, I'm only two days in, and we only did about an hour of Yoga the first day. But the three hours of Yoga that I have done in the past two days have been memorable. It's the most detailed practice of Yoga I've ever participated in, with Denise Clarke leading the sessions. She is the principal of the Summer Lab, and teaches the physical discipline. Not limited to yoga, we continue after a break to work on developing our physical vocabulary with her. After two hours of that, we take a lunch break.

Olympic Plaza during the summer has proven to be a glorious place to lunch these past two days. People watching, sun, good company... In five years of working downtown I've never taken a lunch break at Olympic Plaza. This is mostly because I want my work day over so I'll just power through lunch at my desk and get out of the office as soon as possible. But this way, sitting in the breeze overlooking the kids playing in the water is part of the proper ebb and flow of an engaging day.

We return after lunch to participate in sessions with Blake Brooker, Chris Cran, Andy Curtis and Michael Green. Blake will be leading us through text and the creation of it. He's helping us to understand our own person through how we view and express, which will lead us to define our own style. Chris Cann will help us build an understanding of artistic observation, how moments can grab us and illicit an emotional response. Green and Curtis round out the sessions with work on the core principals that One Yellow Rabbit works with: Economy, Precision, and Relaxation.

We will experiment with movement, writing, and observe the results, either as a group or independently. We will play with ideas, learn the strength of our bodies and convictions. We will try to let go of some of our biases, and invest in others. We will invest our time in our own growth every day until the final performances.

It's an invited performance, not open to the general public. And as I learned today, it's a gift. To ourselves. It's the chance to do the work I want, that I value, that is the challenge I'm terrified of and can't wait to plough through. And that's why I'm here. The the physical and creative practice. The day to day study and investment. The gift of participating in my growth as an artist.

When it's all over, I'll proudly call myself a Labbit. That is, if I don't fail and have to repeat it again another year...*

*Maybe an inside joke?