WHAT ARE WE DOING THIS FOR, AGAIN?

So here we are again.
Me, writing (again)
you, reading (again)
us, breathing (again)
Making the blood going round (again and again)

After an ok start with blogletter #1 here we are on blogletter #2 and I can already feel my fortitude being tested but here at the keyboard I am going to breathe and persist by TYPING in CAPITALS anD AADDDIIIINNNGGGG MOOOOOORRRREEEE LETTTTTERSSSSSSZZZ AGAINNNN AGGGAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNNN AAAAARRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!

Well that did something,
I think.
So onwards and reaching out!
Using this S P A C E this time to offer some of my experiences at the Interval Retreat last summer at Chisenhale Dance Space, how that links to a new training in Facilitated Listening Circles with the Institute of Restorative Practices, and then finally adding a smidge on the January sharing of my new work (in progress) What Am I Doing This For? (see new short vid of that here…). Oh yes and also its Georgian Singing Season in the North West, who knew? I will put that in the DJ Mix footnotes.

INTERVAL. at CHISENHALE DANCE SPACE (CDS)

Interval was a long weekend away for mid career artists to spend time together and reflect on how we can keep our wheels turning. Whatever mid career means...we’re not emerging anymore. We’ve emerged. But from where? The shadows? The undergrowth? A bush? I’m unsure. But I do feel I am now here, and I was there, as is evidenced from the documentation. Ok so in the group photo for the vid it does look like I am still emerging actually, in a somewhat disconcerting manner from the back, but the video propper and the pretty zine CDS published about the work do suggest otherwise. Each artist responded to the experience in the zine in their own way and there’s nice contributions. I was in such good company & Eva and Frances were super facilitators. You can watch the video and read the full zine here. Below is a section of my contribution to give you a sense of things :

INTERVAL ZINE, Aug '25
'From where I was sitting it seemed much of our time together was spent trying to find the right questions to ask about ourselves. Our group have amassed a lot of experiences, knowledge, skills & understanding, and we supported each other in trying to figure out what to make of all this history. We were also asking one another what is next for us? What is next for us when external pressures - economic, political, societal, familial - are evermore strongly challenging our foundational ideas of who we are as artists and what we as artists do. What do we do for fun? for work? for money? for art? For what reason do we make these distinctions and are we clear enough with ourselves on our choices to become the artists we want to become? I saw that jobs that have burnt me in past might have been less traumatic if I could have been clearer with my intention for taking it in the first place. It was through discussion, with available time and space to be heard, that allowed me to be vulnerable and to see. The solidarity of the group made that possible, and many of us reflected how often we find ourselves alone in our struggles unwilling to ask for help, even if we know it is there. It occurred to me this isolation comes in part because of how easy is it to overlook the systemic pressures folks who work in the arts endure.

Reflecting on an early conversation the group had about the purpose of art experimentation vs art as entertainment, I wondered why I hadn’t brought up the recent UK government announcement to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP. As I see it there is room for all these types of art, and so much more. What if all the money in the world spent on making guns was used to make art? I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t be as introverted and insecure about the things we want to make, to do, to experience. Looking forward, I hope this (all too brief) time spent walking alongside fellow artists can serve as an ongoing reminder to me that community exists, and i need it. I need it to ask questions, to share experiences, to feel useful and to be generous with what I have.’

THINGS I MIGHT SHARE HERE
I am doing this to have a S P A C E to write other thoughts, experiences, moments that I’m storing up which may have a higher level of profundity than the babble above. Like how things went down on the INTERVAL retreat at Chisenhale Dance Space – A weekend away for Finnish and UK based artist looking at artists’ & longevity - A place for questions and drawings you see above and below. Then there’s reflecting on how graduating as a practitioner in the Feldenkrais Method has been influencing my output, and also there's the experience of going to OUT:RA music festival in Portugal at the end of the summer. I recommend!

A sadness - Our Butoh teacher Tadashi Endo passed away this spring. He was 78. My butoh dancing comrade Natsuko Kono and I gave our annual workshop in Berlin and talked about him a lot during and after the studio time. There’s a lot of things about him & his teaching to share.

Likewise the legacy of my time learning from Phillip Zarrilli continues to nourish us. I’m been working with force of nature Kaite O’Reilly (known affectionately as Spoony Mc Spoonerson on a recent R & D with mega new theatre company Same Hat) in the Tyn Y Parc Kalari Studio. We've been making a new work for Future Flares Festival in Manchester (Jan 21st) called What Am I Doing This For? There's a 2 day workshop too! Free too! And Peader's doing something too! I might like to reflect a bit more on that work's making process here through writing. The sharing at the festival is gonna be work in progress, a show about the absurdity of our polarized society, wondering how we do or do not understand each other, asking over and over...What are we doing this for?

DJ MIX FOOTNOTE
A testament to my fortitude is I am still on that message board and still a drum and bass nerd SO I still wanna share my mixes. Usually a new one each xmas but I’m off kilter. I know each of you usually play my fresh selections at full volume seated with your family around your xmas meal in silence holding hands eyes closed but you will have to wait till Feb. Although last summer I did do 2 mixes (13th Way & 14th Way). So perhaps you can still blast away any troublesome (racist? misogynist? ableist? anti-trans? - send me your favourites!) xmas dialogue with bass heavy frequencies from those two as required.

Blessings, W

p.s - Send a message & buy this single for Palestine so it can be no.1 on the 25th. It's this or Kylie...