In Combat with Filezilla!!!

During the process of uploading my website, (and to be honest, the complete creative process), I asked myself numerous times why I chose the computer as a creative medium. It freezes, it malfunctions and bluntly refuses to negotiate if you accidently press the wrong combination of keys!

It is often said that it is the user, not the tool, who is at fault when things go pear-shaped. I whole-heartedly agree, knowing full well how computer illerate I am. So perhaps I should not direct my anger at the tool in question, but rather at those who I have turned to in utter desperation, who have then assumed I do understand html lingo, proceed to speak in this language in fast mode and I'm still at a loss!! I reflect back on the night I uploaded my website, and I'm sure I conveyed to those on customer help how little experience I had in dealing with website publishing and FTP*... and then I remembered...these poor people have been staring at computers all day long too!

The blame comes full circle back to the computer. They sap our energy and drain away the subtle techniques required for human interaction. This is why the escape into the imagination is such a vital part of being human. It can be used as a coping mechanism.

So, coming back to the computer yet again...it's not all bad...in fact, it is the perfect place to share our escapes with each other and find mutual consolation in what makes us tick.

* Just a note, the FTP program Filezilla worked like a charm...it was the dumbo user who put in the incorrect file destination :)

How to explain...

So...what's contemporary dance?

Perhaps the most dreaded question to be put forth to a member of the contemporary dance species. The answer is often inconclusive and leaves the questioner looking at best confused, and at worst returning to the cliched belief that you belong to some strange cult of people who get the most out of life by rolling around on the floor and leaping through grassy fields, Isadora Duncan* style.

Maybe I'm exaggerating...but it is frustrating to be asked to clearly define the indefinable and put in a box an element in your life that you are passionate about because it forces you out of the box, exposing you to fresh experiences.

Sure, it's possible to just give up and remain a defiant member of the facebook group Yes I'm a contemporary dancer..and don't ask me to explain. However, as artists we should be encouraging people to ask us the hard stuff, and have an amazing answer at hand so that they then become intrigued and commence a thorough investigation of our artform through becoming an avid audience member.

So, what do we say to those who don't know what contemporary dance is? What do we say in order to entice the uninitiated to our domain? I've been thinking a lot about this. Let me know if you've got an suggestions!

* I'm actually a fan of Isadora Duncan...and even though some of the representations of her work can make you giggle, she was a pioneer of contemporary dance and a woman who never baulked at confronting the rigid conventions of society. As being both a woman and a dancer, I found it an inspiration to read about her life.

No new ideas?

Have you ever had one of those creative "EUREKA!!!" moments...only to discover that someone else (or even multiple persons) has been there done that? It's annoying...or is it?

I tend to think the best ideas have come from somewhere else...but it seems that we're always in search of the holy grail of the "undiscovered". So why is it so important to be the "first" at something? Is that how our creative success is measured?

Creating aPatchi

Yes...it's almost there...almost...for those of you who know me I've been talking about my creative website for a while now...and once I understand all the "FTP" business it should be uploaded within the next two weeks!!!

The website is called "aPatchi creations", and basically it is a self-designed platform for me to share my creative visions with all of you on the web. I am dancer and a pianist who loves to create...and each "Patchi" that I upload onto the site is a miniature doorway into my imagination.

Hopefully I will be transporting this page to the site proper...or there will be links provided until I work out how to do it...and in the meantime...lets talk creative!!!!