Aimee Smith

Adventures In India

17 October, 2008

The Search Continues

My work with the company here is starting to find its form. The work looks at ideas of fear and hope, through the structure of stories, both individual and shared. It looks at how stories shape us, how we are the stories, or we become the stories, we tell ourselves. Within this investigation I wanted to find and celebrate the hope, along with the fear, but have found fear so much more dominant, so much easier to present. Here I am, critiquing the domination of fear-filled stories in our lives, particularly perpetuated by the media, and yet here I am telling more of them. So my challenge at the moment is to find the way in to hope. To find the segue where fear melts away and hope collects.

This leads me to the question I often askâ€¦.why is it so hard to make celebratory, hopeful work, particularly when it is concept driven. I have seen beautiful examples of celebratory dance works where and when the focus is on the craft itself, the joy of movement and not primarily driven by concepts. But so much of the conceptual based work I see carries a scepticism, it investigates these ideas through a sarcasm and/ or satire. This critical analysis of our world is incredibly important and potent, and it is often this kind of work that I most value and esteem, but my question isâ€¦.where is the hope? Why is it so hard to represent hope or to celebrate through our art in our contemporary world? Are we so used to the rational way of thinking and existing that we expect all reputable analysis to be satirical and critical? Have we lost the ability or appreciation for aesthetics and analysis that is emotion-filled, that is dream-based, that is imagination-driven, that is positive and hope-filled?

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Adventures In India

7 October, 2008

DIVING IN
As our lives move away from the structure and value of community and move towards the notion of the individual, more and more I feel that things do not get talked about. I believe passionately that we need to re-engage in conversation in our world. We need to find forums to discuss, debate, criticise, and celebrate the issues that are integral to our lives. This is why I am an artist and dancer. I see art as one forum through which this conversation can occur, and a forum which utilises and draws on a vocabulary and knowledge base that is usually unheard or un-valued in our society, knowledge of the heart and knowledge of the body. But I am the first to admit that I donâ€™t always put this into practice in my daily life.

Recently I have re-discovered the power and beauty of conversation and of sharing oneâ€™s thoughts, ideas and heart with other people. I think the majority of us have grown to believe that we can only really share our most intimate thoughts, fears, and hopes with our very closest friends, family members or lovers. And outside of these very few people we tend to stick to chit-chat and niceties. I know this is the case for me. But I have been reminded recently of the joy and healthiness of â€˜diving inâ€™, of opening up and participating in deep conversations with all kinds of people with whom I have all kinds of relationships. And often, when I do, I find that the other person is craving to dive in also, just waiting for the invitation. In diving I discover amazing things about people. In diving, ideas, hopes, and dreams are shared and a connectedness grows. I think there is nothing more empowering to the human being than to have oneâ€™s ideas or thoughts validated by a shared identity or belief system with others. Through this sharing there is a feeling that we are not alone, that we can face the problem together, and as a result, a strengthening of spirit. So this is a call out to everyone that cares, to whip out their weaponry of words and start to talk.

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Adventures In India

1 October, 2008

ON PRAYER
Iâ€™ve been thinking a lot about religion. Sometimes I get strange looks here in India when I say Iâ€™m not religious. In Australia when I say this I feel like the status quo. Apart from recognising human natureâ€™s need to believe in SOMETHING, I have never quite understood or connected with the idea of a god. Though, if there are any religions that have appealed to me it has been the religions from the east, particularly Buddhism. Buddhism has always fascinated me. I have often noted down its principles and philosophies with the intention of letting them lead my life. It is the concept of interconnection, of the one-ness of all life that stands out most strongly for me.

In India religion is often inseparable from life. For many people they are one and the same thing. Being so immersed and surrounded by religions I have learnt a thing or two, and come to one very strong conclusion about what may be the most potent and powerful aspect of religious practice in our troubled contemporary world. Prayer. The way that prayer allows oneself time to be thankful, to reflect, and to dream. Prayer time is one moment in an individualâ€™s day when they think about themselves in relationship to the rest of the world â€“ to their families, friends, country, world, future. It’s the one time of the day when an individual is given the space and time to be quiet within and through this create a space where self-reflection and awareness can exist and grow. And this, I think, is the key. Perhaps if I can find time within my day to take this prayer-ful space, to be thankful, I will have taken the most potent part of religion and place it in my own life.

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Aimee Smith

Adventures In India

17 October, 2008

Adventures In India

7 October, 2008

Adventures In India

1 October, 2008

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