December 31, 2011

new year's resolution 2012

well, it's that time again.  resolution time!

now, a quick disclaimer.  i don't really "believe in" resolutions; conscious focus and effort in an often subtle, consistent way is how to make changes in one's life.  or at least that's how it works for me.

but i also do believe in focusing your attention on something in that consistent way to bring an awareness to that part of your life.  (i wouldn't have said it this way until this year.  guess i've become a yogi...)

time to get fierce about creating movement! in the first month or two of 2010 and 2011, i set out to choreograph a little bit of something every day.  it has been a really rewarding experience - putting unfinished work out there, creating for creativity's sake, and observing how my movement patterns emerge and change over a month or from year to year.  as an added bonus, i used a lot of raw material for projects like The Way We Danced 'Til Three.  (you can find excerpts of both years in the choreography page.)

this year, i'm going for 31 days of choreography - the month of january - and i'm focusing entirely on bits of creative input from my friends, family, audience members, dancers, supporters, and anyone else who wants to tell me something.  i have a book full of slips of paper from TWWDTT in chicago with audience answers to the prompt "what is your philosophy on love?"  they were designed just to get audiences thinking, but the responses were funny, charming, and very interesting... too interesting to never be used!  added to that, i have notes from four different casts of dancers performing TWWDTT (or excerpts of it) four different times-- written personal ads, thoughts on "mr. right," what coupley things drive them insane, etc etc etc.

so i have some great stuff to start with, but wanna get in on this?  fill out whatever parts you want of this survey. you can be as honest or as outrageous as your little heart desires.  i'll take it all.  and then stay tuned right here for the results of this "resolution."

i think 2012 is going to be great. and i'm feeling oddly emotional about 2011 coming to a close.  have a beautiful night, everyone!


November 6, 2011

thank you!

in a much-belated post: we are FUNDED!  the jaema joy dance campaign on kickstarter.com was successful.  our goals have been met!

better yet, the ball is already rolling.  last saturday, we presented the work in its latest form at Steps on Broadway for an informal showing.  despite the snowstorm (yes.  slushy nasty snowstorm.), Halloween, and subway trouble, there was a small and mighty audience of wonderful souls willing to give us some feedback - on the dancing, on the story, on the props, on everything!

i could not be more grateful for how it turned out!

there's always a nervewracking feeling when you put something in front of an audience for the first time (or, in this case, not for the first time, but for a new audience in a new city with new dancers....) because you're so in it that you don't even know if your basic thought behind the work is going to come through.  i still am always pleasantly surprised when people don't get up and leave during the show.  so imagine my delight when people have insightful strong opinions about what they have just seen... and even some things they LIKED.  incredible!

look forward to more updates soon about the show in the spring.  feeling inspired and ready to share more with all of you!

thank you as always.  overwhelmed by the support and ever grateful.
love!

October 3, 2011

structure

all our lives, we participate in a certain sort of structure imposed from the outside.  most of this is extremely helpful.  we are born into a family structure.  the structure of traffic laws keeps us safe while we cross the street, and while we grow up and become drivers.  the education system, if we follow it, keeps us moving through its structure of grade school, middle school, high school, (applications), college, (applications), internships, (applications), (interviews), jobs.

as an upper-middle-class college grad from a good school with an engineering degree and a corporate job, i felt a continuing structure imposed socially.  i worked hard at the office.  i went out to bars for happy hours and football games with coworkers and friends.  i went to the gym in the morning.  i ordered thai food and watched tv with my roommates. i went out on dates.  etc.  and it was fun! and the structure was helpful, again, for propelling me in that life/career path.

but now, i've decided i want my life to be about movement and creativity and growth and gratitude.  so if i'm looking at that big picture, the old structure doesn't necessarily get me there.  the 18-years-old-fresh-face-in-NYC-auditioning-daily structure doesn't really apply to me, either.  or even the 25-years-old-starving-artist-waiting-tables structure.  and secretly i think none of us actually fit into a structure.  we have to choose the parts of it that are helpful and throw out the rest.

i have a very dear friend who's currently in africa for the peace corps, and she's the one who illuminated this idea of structure for me when she said that life right now is about creating a structure for oneself instead of relying on the structure imposed socially and culturally by the well-meaning society.

there are little examples of creating one's own structure every day.  for example: i'm feeling stressed, so i write a to-do list.  this is structure.  then i don't have to think about anything, i just work my way through my list.  working within a structure that i set up allows freedom from stress and "keeping it all together."  for a second example: i'm in a choreography class, and the professor gives us some wacky assignment about movement.  i'm not worried about creating something artistic or my style as an artist, i just do my "assignment." and voila, i come up with something more creative than i ever would have thought of if you just locked me in a dance studio.  by inserting myself as subject to the structure, i allow freedom for creative movement.

our work now, then, is to create a big-picture "structure" for our lives, to free us up to live meaningfully and creatively, in africa, in new york, in our families, in our jobs.  piece of cake!  haha.

... something to work on.

August 29, 2011

new undertakings.

i've been extremely blessed to work in an environment that takes goal-setting very seriously... (we are literally "goal-coached" regularly, and that term is extremely normal at work. pretty powerful) and one of the most important things i've been dwelling on lately is how crucial it is to be clear and specific about your goals, write them down, and share them.

a little history. in september 2009, i took a scrap piece of paper out of my notebook one night and i wrote the following:

by january 2010: present dance pieces in 3 different venues.
by april 2010: come up with new choreographic idea.
by september 2010: quit this job.

i stuck that paper inside a journal of mine and i'm not sure how long it was before i forgot about it, but i definitely did.

fast-forward to june 2010.  i was flipping through some stuff and a piece of paper fluttered out.  it was that little scrap with those deadlines on it (bet you didn't see that coming).  i had completely forgotten that i had even written it.  but upon further thought, i realized my success rate was pretty incredible.

by january 2010: present dance pieces in 3 different venues.  i had work in Dance Chicago in November of 2009, and Northwestern University put up my first show on campus in December 2009.  so that's two out of three.
by april 2010: come up with new choreographic idea. january brought with it my first choreography resolution, so that's 31 new ideas. and i had just started rehearsals for my at-that-point-unnamed project that would become The Way We Danced 'Til Three.  so that was kinda thirty-two out of one.
by september 2010: quit this job.  i had just days before started my leave of absence from Accenture.

that felt pretty powerful.  not a bad track record.  as you might imagine, i've been making a point to physically write down some goals and dreams regularly!

here's my latest.  until now, i've fronted money from my savings account to self-produce my work, but i can't really afford to do that anymore, so my latest goal is to actually get FUNDED to put up TWWDTT here in NYC.

the best part about that is that then the ticket sales from this show, instead of reimbursing me for the expenses, can go towards the next production.  and then hopefully i'll keep this cycle going!

here it is.  i just launched my kickstarter campaign, and you can see it here! at least you can see what i'm up to!

on another note... survived Hurricane Irene, and my part of Brooklyn was fortunately spared!  grateful for all of it!


July 15, 2011

practice makes practice

tonight i had the pleasure of practicing at mala yoga (which, by the way, is an amazing yoga studio in cobble hill, if you're in brooklyn).  they had a little flyer advertising a "yoga camp," basically a little morning intensive for two weeks, and the tagline was "practice makes practice."  i love that.

one of the reasons i put myself on choreography regimens for new years is the idea that 30 consecutive days of doing something creates a habit (the benefit of habit being, of course, that you don't have to TRY so dang hard anymore).  i want the creative process, and specifically for me the creation of movement, to be a habitual thing that just kind of pours out of me every day.  shocker - i haven't made it yet.  BUT, the more i do it, the easier it gets.

what i love about "practice makes practice" has two parts.  first, the idea that practicing creates more of itself is nifty.  like how smiling makes one feel happy, and happy people smile.  that's a pretty inspiring concept when applied to creativity.  you aren't going to "use it up;" rather, you use it and use it and there's just more of it.  (so the one or two good ideas i've had, those aren't the last two i'll ever have!  YES! sounds obvious when i type it out like that, but hey it gets scary up there in my mind sometimes and these things aren't so obvious.) similarly, if you love more, you aren't going to run out of love, you're just gonna keep loving and its going to keep coming back to you.  actually, if we take that a step farther, i think that's a pretty profound measure for things of value in life.  does "using" or "practicing" something create more of that something?  creativity, smiles, love, thoughtful yoga practice... yes.  money, gummy bears, positive reviews of my creative work... not so much.

the second part i love about it is the distinction between "practice makes practice" and what it's playing off of, "practice makes perfect."  fashion is never finished.  you're never done working on a successful relationship.  creation is never done.  it's about the process.  thank goodness, because turning out quality work, or the best work of my life, or constantly "improving" my craft can keep me up at night.

what's empowering about all of this is that we can create our own habits.  we can break the old ones, create new ones, and break those new ones if they're not working.  we can intentionally put the stuff we want in our lives until we don't have to focus on it so much, and then we can let those habits continue while we focus on intentionally adding something else.  sweet.

July 12, 2011

living clichés

While gearing up for the Boston fireworks last weekend, I heard Martina McBride sing:

"This is for all you girls about twenty-five
In a little apartment, just trying to get by
Living on, on dreams and spaghetti-o's"

And Sara Bareilles popped up on my iTunes this week, singing:

"I'm gonna quit my job and move to New York"

And here I am, scraping by in an apartment in Brooklyn, practicing yoga, cleaning dance studios for classes, and making my own kale chips.   It's kind of strange to suddenly find myself living a kind of life that people mention in songs (?!)  Sometimes I feel like a giant walking cliché.

But then-- don't fit me perfectly into the mold.  (Enter geeky Harry Potter obsession, engineering degree, love of pretty makeup, lack of enthusiasm for most indie films.)  Just a nice reminder that all the "cliches" I see walking around this city are probably just as one-sided as I am.

June 22, 2011

a quick thought on guilt.

after dwelling on gratitude the other day, i thought i should throw the other side of the story out there.  sometimes i feel SO blessed, SO lucky, that when i get down in the mouth about things i feel like laughing at myself (cue dick van dyke... anyone?) because it's ridiculous that a person who has had so much provided in life should feel angsty/angry/disappointed.  and then the guilt sets in, because i feel bad that i'm not just making the most of all i have to be grateful for.

then that gets pretty crippling, too, because as i'm sure you know, guilt isn't a very creative emotion.  and while i obviously think having a little perspective (ie, i grew up in a beautiful town in the midwest with this loving family who sent me to this fantastic college and then supported me when i moved halfway across the country, etc, which is just a little easier than growing up, say, in a third-world country with a single parent) is important, the truth is, that shouldn't be a limiting factor.  in fact, it's pretty snotty to allow it to be a limiting factor, considering all i've been 'given.'  pretty vicious cycle, huh? well then.  back to the start.

once again, it all comes down to: creating.  not because of anything, not in spite of anything, just making something for the sake of making something.

in the spirit of creating, i reworked The Way We Danced 'Til Three, with some holes, for eight performers.  i sat in central park with my ipod and my notebook and didn't let myself get up until i had an outline.  nearly three hours later i was a little stiff and hungry, but the skeleton is there! more to come on that, soon.

June 20, 2011

reflections on one year of full-time creativity

it has been just over a year since i began my leave of absence and started doing this artistic thing full-time.  and what a year it has been! life as an artist has presented an interesting host of challenges, and while i by no means have it figured out (just ask my savings account...) i have stumbled upon some encouraging bits of wisdom from others.  you know that mindlessly anxious / lazy / jittery / tired / forgettingsomething / i'vebeenwaitinginlinetoolong feeling? no? uh let's trade lives.  yes?  then you know what i'm getting at here, and it's what author Steven Pressfield calls Resistance.  he looks at living a creative life as a battle.  in a dramatic way, he says

"The artist ... has to know how to be miserable.  He has to love being miserable.  He has to take pride in being more miserable than any soldier or swabbie or jet jockey.  Because this is war, baby.  And war is hell."

but it's kind of true, you know? I look at the obvious, boring, stereotypical things that i worry about on a day-to-day basis (how much money am i making? will auditions ever go well? am i working hard enough? is anyone ever going to WANT to pay money to see stuff that i create? do i look stupid? does this outfit look crazy?) and i think you have to get to a point where you're just so tired of hearing it, in your head, every day, and you just have to "do" it anyway.  life, i mean.  i also get paralyzed with anxiety (aka fear) over some of the slightly-less-stereotypical issues my life choices are presenting.  (and i do only mean slightly. clearly i'm not struck by plights that the rest of humanity isn't also dealing with.  stick with me, i'm still in my 20s, i'm not that mature yet.)  such as: would i be making more of an impact on the world if i were doing something else? am i too hard on myself? do i push myself far enough? where's that line? could i be more inspiring to the people around me if i were xyz? is this really what my life's work should be? yikes.

which is why i feel really encouraged when he writes

"Self-doubt can be an ally.  This is because it serves as an indicator of aspiration.  It reflects love, love of something we dream of doing, and desire, desire to do it.  If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), "Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?" chances are you are. 

The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident.  The real one is scared to death."

okay.  so the fear is apparently a good thing.  and i'm going for it anyway.  it's not a matter of feeling supremely confident. or stopping the endless questions in my head. it's about not really listening and just focusing on the task at hand: creating.  and i'm learning that when i rearrange my thinking and decide to just go with this creative path, it kind of breaks down and i actually get to be flooded with...

gratitude.

and that's WAY nicer.  i just get to feel unbelievably grateful for the city i'm in, the friendly guy in the deli on the corner, my amazingly talented and fun siblings, my friends who still somehow love me even though i'm bad at calling them, this healthy 25-year-old body that is imperfect and wonderfully useful. 

so here's to year two of being a professional artist, full of fear, full of gratitude, workin' it out anyway.  who's with me?!

more transitions.

(moved from jaemajoydance.com on june 20th)

march 24th, 2011

well well!  it's been awhile.  and i have some updates!

as i put all over facebook, i presented an excerpt of "The Way We Danced 'Til Three" at Dance New Amsterdam in january for their "works in progress" showing series.  it was a lot of fun, it felt wonderful to get some rehearsal going (props to the ever lovely nicole west and michala stock for learning the dance in... oh... three rehearsals), and it was sneakily videotaped for me and you can find it right here!

also in january, i was lucky enough to perform work of the talented and wonderful jenny shore butler. it was a fun and rewarding process, an amazing opportunity to dance with some old friends (and new ones!), and i'm proud of what we created!


and finally, as mentioned below, i've been working on my 50 days of choreography for 2011.  yes, geeks, it's true, there have been way more than 50 days in 2011 so far.  i haven't quiiiiiite done it every day.  but i'm pushing through to 50!  and i've been playing with interesting constraints.  last year, i did most of my work in the studio of my gym, which had wood floors, mirrors, normal dance studio-y stuff.  this year, the fitness center in my building has been the site of most of my creation, but the floors are recycled rubber nonsense (aka, sticky as maple syrup that dribbled on your counter) so i've been not only working around that, but taking advantage of other less dance-designed spaces to get a little movement out!  i get weird looks everywhere.  sometimes i stop and say to myself "this is why people think new yorkers are crazy."  i'm clearly reveling in the sweet anonymity of this city. see a little highlight reel of what i've done so far under choreography.

that's it for now.  hopefully much more news soon - i submitted a bunch of applications this week for spring and summer fun, both excerpts of old work and proposals for a BRAND NEW work that my brain is stewing on... (yikes!) cross your fingers and i'll keep you posted!


december 29th, 2010 - news and reflections

the blizzard that knocked out all of NYC has had an unexpectedly lovely side effect:  i am stuck at home in michigan until new year's eve!

what does that mean?

it is time to dwell on a new year's resolution for 2011.  for the past few years, i have done a "january resolution," with the thought that devoting myself to something for a month will influence my mindset for the year to follow.  after all, as aristotle said:

"we are what we repeatedly do.  excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit."


last year i did 31 days of choreography.  it was an exercise.  i decided to CREATE with no express purpose, no specific goal other than to just get it out there.  miraculously, some of it was usable, and it ended up feeding a lot of the work i did for "The Way We Danced 'Til Three."  (see what i mean.)

without even concentrating on it, i really think it did affect my mindset for an entire year.

i've had some time to reflect on that, and a huge theme of 2010 for me is just how powerful it is to develop creativity as a habit.  a little over a year ago, a good friend turned me on to a TED talk by elizabeth gilbert.  (consider listening.  it's really good.)

she talks about how in ancient greece and rome, the idea was that creativity did not come from human beings.  there were these divine spirits, these "geniuses," who were attendant spirits to us mere humans walking the earth.  they could, at any time, work through the human beings they attended to create extraordinary work.  but it was the spirit that was the "genius," not the human.  and how to get the genius to come through in your work?  well, there's nothing to do but show up and get working.  if you don't work, the genius has no chance to descend upon you and make something brilliant with you.  so you just gotta show up.

so the goal, ultimately, is to make creative work-- creativity--a habit.  a day-in, day-out activity that i don't think about, i don't judge, i don't dread, i don't carve out special time for... i just DO.
so 2011.  i've done 31 days... let's make it 50!



elizabeth gilbert also talks a bit about fear as a response to devoting one's life to creative pursuits.  i've felt that firsthand this year.  when i started working for accenture and dove into that life, no one asked me if i was worried about that, or afraid of doing that as a CAREER.  but choreography?  of course!  everyone is wondering about whether or not this is a good idea, and jaema aren't you worried about that, and jaema do you have some backup ideas? is that going to be a CAREER?

i sure hope so!  and i mean sure.  there's not *quite* as much financial security in choreography as there is in supply chain consulting.  but i'm still the same person, with the same education, the same strenghts, the same skills... and maybe more determination.


other than reflecting, what else have i been doing?
uploading video, of course!  there's gorgeous video footage of "The Way We Danced 'Til Three up and ready for action.  i rearranged the site a little bit, too, and there are some other little goodies posted along the way (including an updated resume!  download and send to all your well-connected friends from the bio page! haha).

that's all for now, friends.  browse and enjoy and let me know what you think!  and most of all.... HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you and yours.

transitions.

i'm moving my website material over to an actual "blog" format.  makes it easier to work with, you pretty people can comment on stuff, etc.  so for now, here's some old news from jaemajoydance.com

november 15th, 2010
HEADLINE: first presentation of choreography by jaema joy berry in the Big Apple.  it's official! saturday, january 29th, 2011, at Dance New Amsterdam, as part of their "Works in Progress" series.
the performance will be an excerpt of "The Way We Danced 'Til Three," called "Though They Take You."  i'm excited to hone in on a little chunk of the show and get into rehearsal again!  more information to come as we get closer to january!

also upcoming: video from "'Til Three" will be up soon - stay tuned!


september 14, 2010 - Announcements!
well well!  finally i have a few moments to breathe and a few moments to update.

first:
"The Way We Danced 'Til Three" was a WONDERFUL experience and a big success-- so much love to the wonderful people working on the show, the audience members, my family, etc etc etc etc.
much more information on the show to come, but in the meantime, here are a few photos from Garen Checkley, a TimeOut feature article, and a SeeChicagoDance feature article.
video clips of the show and more pictures, etc, will be coming in the next couple of weeks.  hard to believe we closed a month ago!

second:
lots of personal stuff happening in that month, too.  the biggest news being:

i no longer live in chicago.

that's right.  as much as i adore the windy city, the dance scene there, the wonderful people that live there, and the midwest in general, i've packed up and i'm headed to new york city.
sooooo what does that mean, exactly?  first off, it means a shift in focus away from full-length choreography, at least until i get settled.  and financially squared away.  (ha.)  it also means that when i rework TWWDTT (and that's the plan!) it will be for an entirely new audience, with entirely new dancers (although let's be real, if i could fly my old cast to nyc to do the show with me i would do it in a heartbeat.)  it also means (and get excited... cheryl, allison, this is for you) that i'm working on turning my news page here into something a little more "bloggish" so that i can keep everyone updated.  cheryl tells me there are ways to do this in a much more sophisticated way and link it to the almighty facebook, etc, but despite my engineering degree i'm a little old-fashioned when it comes to the blogosphere, so for right now, this is it.  and i'll put a link on facebook which is probably how you all came here to read it anyway.

right now, though, right this minute, i'm in my childhood home in traverse city, MI, because moving to nyc is proving to be more complicated than previously imagined.  apparently my lovely new building in brooklyn hasn't gotten cleared with the Dept of Buildings, so they're stringing me and my roommates along as we wait to actually get IN the building.  feeling lucky to be able to hang out with my parents and dance at Dance Arts and soak in a little lake michigan before i go... but i'm kinda chompin' at the bit here.  you know?
more more more to come.


july 29, 2010
it's almost here!  we had a visit during rehearsal yesterday from Zac Whittenburg, dance editor for TimeOut Chicago.  keep your eyes peeled for our listing in the magazine!
we also have a Facebook event... invite your friends!


july 20, 2010
"The Way We Danced 'Til Three" opens in three weeks!  we could not be more excited.  keep checking in for information, press, and artwork for the show.  it will all be HERE!


june 3, 2010
hello friends!  a couple of updates:
- "The Way We Danced Til Three" is officially opening at the Fasseas White Box Theatre at the Drucker Center on August 13, 2010!  More information to come.
- Rehearsals for said production began on Sunday, May 23rd.  The dancers are looking fantastic and everyone is getting excited about the show.  Huge thanks to Visceral Dance Center and Skyline Dance for opening their doors to us for rehearsals!
- In personal news, I have officially taken a leave of absence from my position as a supply chain consultant.  It's all dancing, all the time for me now!  I could not be happier.
- See some production photos and promotional material from "You Can't Dance Out the Side of Your Mouth" here.  Check back for an upcoming choreography reel, new photos, and a sneak peek of some new material for the show.  Lots is on the docket!


february 26, 2010
well, here it is!  my very own website!
I also have my very own facebook fan page.  be a fan!
i still have exciting things to add, so stay tuned.  but for the moment, click around and enjoy.  and feel free to let me know what you think!