You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

-Mary Oliver

Thursday 29 January 2009

Go

It is one of the serendiptious beauties of life that so often when you are in search of an answer, it appears. Yesterday, when I was melancholic and life seemed uncertain, possibilities appeared that have galvanised and excited me, and once again I'm ready to take on the world.

I'll explain.

Before I boarded that fateful flight to London, I had it all worked out. I would spend Jan through April in London and Portugal working on a show with Alex, seeing friends and those dear to my heart, and possibly earning some cash. Then I'd head to Newport, where I'd live with friends and continue work with Aram and Diogo on the theatre project we'd started working on in Portugal this past fall until the end of July, when we'd perform at the MN Fringe. After August things got a little fuzzier, but I was sure I'd be in LA at some point, working with my dear, beautiful, intelligent, and highly talented friend, Erin.

You know what they say about the best laid plans, however. Obviously, being turned away at Heathrow by British immigration was in no way part of my grand scheme, and was a significant wrench in the works. But then other complications began to arise as well... Aram having other, previous commitments to theatre projects that would potentially clash with the MN Fringe and Portugal project rehearsals; Diogo being broke and unsure of when he'd be able to come Stateside... these significantly contributed to the erosion of what had seemed to be such a perfect, albeit a bit mad, plan.

So this is where I was yesterday... feeling a bit adrift, unsure of whether it was worth it to even apply to the Fringe so late in the game, unsure about going to Newport, but panicked at the thought of not having any plan at all, no goal to drive me forward, no inspiration to galvanise me to action.

Enter Erin, and a very inspirational email.

So now there's a new plan, which is LA in June, and anywhere from one to three fringe and theatre festivals in the following months. Now there's the great and very real possibility of returning to a piece (her final piece from LISPA) which was always immensely inspiring to me, and the opportunity to work with one of the artists and human beings I admire the most, and to discover a new place while I'm at it. And as far as I'm concerned, whether or not this all actually comes to pass, life is awesome again.

Another silver lining: until June, more time in Minneapolis, with Mom, and Finn, and friends. It was so lovely to be home over the holidays. So lovely. And I'm looking forward to being there again.

1 comment:

Janna said...

Isabel,
the work you do in the world is brave because it is beautiful, yet impermanent. Some creations need to be let go sooner, so you can move on.. your plan was only "a bit mad" when you thought of it as a stable, 9-5 kind of plan. Now your work makes sense, because you know your job is it give it away (not to keep it in one place). Anchor yourself in others, not in concrete places. We're all over the place for you!