Gallim Dance Blog

Health and Wellness

By Caroline Fermin 

I consider myself to be a pretty conscientious person when it comes to my health.  Combined with a generally robust immune system and a sturdy skeleto muscular structure, I’ve steered clear of most major health issues.  However, what happens when something is wrong and only other artists know what you’re talking about?  It seems that when I go to a western doctor with symptoms that are affecting my onstage performance or a monthly discomfort, the answer usually comes in a broad and blunt stroke - “stop performing” or “take the pill” for example.  Keep in mind that this is an individual experience and cannot be used as a general comment on ALL western medicine.  However, whenever I meet with a trusted healer I leave with a new understanding of my mind-body and a sense of where to continue the exploration.  Two people that have truly guided me in healing and health are choreographer and healer Howard Katz (based in Germany but visits NYC often) and acupuncturist Mona Chopra (peopletreewellness.com).  Check them out!  All of the Gallim dancers have their own favorite acupuncturist or gyrotonics instructor (hey Francesca Romo!!!), so I wanted to share some of my favorites as well.  Enjoy!

Encountering Time

By Caroline Fermin

OK, let’s start with an image: me in my living room, staring at my computer/the orange curtains by the window, the light growing brighter, the day wearing on. Now another image: me in my living room, staring at my computer/the orange curtains by the window, the light fading away, night coming fast. And I ask myself, “Where has the day gone?” You see me now a little disturbed–I have let time pass so quickly and unmarked. More with alarm than inspiration, I leap to my feet and try to get many things done at once, the quicker the better. Making up for lost time they say. 

Yes, but where has my time gone? And more vexing, why did it feel so sad to lose it?

I’m not sure why it happened, but I’ve been aware of time passing from an early age. The first awareness I can remember happened in a series of weird little episodes when I was three or four. I would be doing normal things out with my family, and suddenly I was able to literally sense time with my fingertips. I experienced it as either very thick and dense or very thin and brittle. It would last for a few moments and then I’d snap out of it. Time would bounce back to normal, but I would ruminate on the sensation. Later, at the ripe old age of eight, I had another very specific episode. I was laying in bed, thinking about my earlier years, and how easy life had been… The naps at school, the play dates, the parental hugs whenever I wanted. Then I began to take stock of my current situation–math homework, bullies in the cafeteria, and grueling ballet class twice a week! I started to realize that I was older and math wasn’t going to get any easier. In fact, school, friends, dance, and the whole of life was just going to get harder and harder. As it often happens when one realizes a major truth, I began to cry. Luckily my mother came in and with gentle words got me back to sleep. But in the morning the truth had fully sunk in, and I began my obsession with time. 

For a while my objective was trying to fit a lot of things into a tiny amount of time. I would write Official Schedules for myself in purple marker on my wall, wake up and try to get everything in. You know, everything. Like writing chapter books, recording a radio show, playing with friends, and walking the dog. Large portions of the schedule would be lopped off when earlier activities bled beyond their allotted time. New activities would get added to the bottom to make up for aforementioned failures. My Official Schedules began to get horribly backed up and I began to get more and more frustrated. The short five hours between school and bed were just not enough. So I decided to wrangle time in another way. Enter: editing.  Now I was going to do less but make it really good. So see you later Girl Scouts, and ta-ta to that little kiddie dance studio. I started honing in on what really mattered. I began taking lots of classes to get really good at ballet. I started studying a bit harder to get really good grades at school. I stayed up later to make really good art projects. Things were going really good for some time until one frightening day I made an D on my homework, lost the good dance role to my friend Lindsey, and didn’t get my artwork chosen for display. ARGH! All that culling and pruning and I was still missing something. Using my time wisely had done nothing for me this time. With a growing distrust in the rules of time management and nowhere left to go, I sort of gave up. Little by little I began to relinquish myself. I got in trouble for being tardy. I missed the bell for homeroom because I stopped for coffee. I forgot my homework because I stayed up all night reading mystery books. It became clear that time was passing on without me, whether I accomplished my ambitions or simply laid low. So I eased my grip on life, and life rewarded me with more time. “Don’t use so much and then there is plenty left over!” it seemed to say.

So what big truth did I learn? “Don’t waste your time?” Or “Slow down and smell the roses?” Which is it? 

You know, It’s hard to say. Somehow, as I get older and lose more of my allocated time, I also gain a bit more balance. Sometimes I rush to accomplish lots, and sometimes I’m happy to rest in stillness. It is as if the more I encounter time, the more I learn how to handle the darned stuff. Aha! There it is! A big truth! Which brings me back, with a thud, to my present: the computer, the night, the long hours spent here in this chair. I am more dexterous, yes! I am more balanced, yes! But still there’s that sadness. But it’s a good sadness. It’s sobering and healthy, and it reminds me that that I cannot outfox time. And why try to, anyway? It seems to me that the longer I exist, the more I want time as a friend.

Saving Arts Organizations: Support Gallim Dance

The mission of Gallim Dance is to create, to play inside the imagination, to find juxtapositions of the mind and body that resonate in the soul, to investigate our limitations and pleasures, and to realize the endless human capacity for inspiration.

Since 2006, Gallim Dance has been growing quickly. As you can see on our very busy calendar, we are currently preparing for many future events as well some venues abroad.

While Gallim’s work is becoming increasingly recognized, we are not always able to actualize all of our collaborative goals. Traveling costs, studio rental fees, and registration fees prevent us from participating in festivals and performances that could elevate the company to the next level of success.

This is not only a situation faced by Gallim Dance alone, but many arts organizations. As noted by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts president, Michael Kaiser, arts organizations worldwide are suffering major blows. Many of you may have already read his article, “No Bailout for the Arts?”, originally published in The Washington Post on December 29 in 2008. For those of you who haven’t, Kaiser discusses how arts organizations have been affected by the economic downturn, and the effort that should be made to save them. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

The arts have historically received short shrift from our political leaders, who all too often seem happy to offer bland endorsements of our work without backing those words with financial appropriations. But the arts in the United States provide 5.7 million jobs and account for $166 billion in economic activity annually. This sector is at serious risk. Because the arts are so fragmented, no single organization’s demise threatens the greater economy and claims headlines. But thousands of organizations, and the state of America’s arts ecology, are in danger.

Over the past few months, numerous opera companies, theater companies, dance organizations, museums and symphonies have either closed or suffered with funding. And the number of closings and programming cuts are expected to only increase.

In Kaiser’s “Arts in Crisis” article, published in the Huffington Post on June 29, he said

American arts organizations are threatened, but it is not the economy that poses the largest threat. It is the decision-making of boards and staffs in response to economic challenges that has much greater long-term implications for the health of our arts ecology.

We are losing the entertainment and inspiration we need more than ever during this terribly scary time. As we try to rebuild America’s image abroad, we are losing our most potent goodwill ambassadors. As we reshape our economy, we are losing the organizations that teach our children to think creatively. And as we celebrate the diversity of our nation, we are losing the voices that have traditionally helped change society’s thinking.

The arts have so much to contribute to this nation. It is for these reasons that Gallim Dance asks for your continued support so that we may carry on with our mission and keep audiences engaged in the wealth that the arts has to offer.

Please  contact us at info@gallimdance.com about the ways you can be involved with Gallim Dance as it continues to grow. Or visit our site to find more information at gallimdance.com/what_you_can_do.html.

—Melissa Ng, Gallim Dance Media Intern

Things We Like - June

Troy: Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing
Coming highly recommended from a Gallim dancer, this is what the publisher had to say about the 1972 release: “Surfacing is a work permeated with an aura of suspense, complex with layered meanings, and written in brilliant, diamond-sharp prose.  Here is a rich mine of ideas from an extraordinary writer about contemporary life and nature, families and marriage, and about women fragmented…and becoming whole.” Click here to read more about Margaret Atwood’s work.

Caroline: Radiolab Podcast “Where I Am”
This rebroadcast podcast deals with proprioception and the ability of human beings to literally feel space and gravity with our bodies. It is a musing on the beautiful connection between our minds and bodies and has a lot to do with Andrea’s movement process. Wow! If  you’ve never listened to Radio Lab, it is a funny, quick-paced, smart show, courtesy of WNYC.Click here to listen!

Andrea: The Generational: Younger than Jesus at the New Museum

A new exhibit that Andrea is dying to see, The Generational: Younger than Jesus features 50 artists, all under 33 years old. It takes an up-close-and-personal look at the perspectives of artists in the largest generation since the Baby Boomers. The exhibit will be up until July 5th and general admission is $12. The New Museum is located at 235 Bowery street, NYC. Hours vary from 12-6pm or 12-9pm Wednesday-Sunday.