Well, the real inspiration, obviously, came from dancing and climbing, but the moment
that it actually happened for me was I was driving through the Virgin River Gorge, which
is in Nevada, north of Las Vegas, and I was listening to music, and it just really came
to me from a pretty deep spot in my heart, and I was driving through the gorge, and I
was able to sort of envision these climbers on the wall dancing to music, and it felt
really good.
It felt right.
It felt like something I needed to do, so that's, and, you know, obviously I've been
climbing for quite a while, and it just sort of combined my love for the movement of climbing,
my love for dance, and also my love for music, which goes really, really way back, and for
me, music is as important because it really inspires everything, like every inspiration
that I get from music, because it is where, you know, the emotions sort of are created,
and that translates into movement, whether it's dancing on a floor or dancing on a wall,
but that's sort of where it comes from.
So I met Isabel in Bishop, which is on the eastern side of Sierra, it's a climbing area.
March 2005, which I don't know, was not too long after she had had her original vision,
so my interest is coming to it from just a purely climbing perspective, and I just understood
her vision for what the movement could be.
It's 12 o'clock.
What can be a naturally just raw, powerful thing, but there's also this underlying subtlety
and beauty that really just can come together and create something, and so, you know, I
told her if she ever got it going that I'd be interested in coming and checking it out.
I think for me, it's the more dance aspect of the, like, relaxing your shoulders, keeping
them back, and not having this, like, you know, fighting gravity sort of tension thing
going on that happens in climbing, but being able to relax and open up your body and point
your toes and, you know, like, just have your hands at a nice, relaxed spot, and just being
able to just kind of convey that it's actually way easier than it is, and putting that sort
of dance aspect into the grace that's already in the movement, if that makes sense.
I had this initial vision, which was, you know, very romantic, very spiritual, very
deep, emotional, and especially, you know, when nobody really has done it and you don't
have anybody mentoring you, you're just kind of, like, on your own, and I was like, okay,
this is it, I guess.
I don't really know what I'm doing.
It was really crazy.
It was a very trippy experience.
I guess I just, you know, turned on music that inspired me at the time and just started
moving around and climbing to the music and exploring, and I did my first little solo,
which obviously was very simple, but it was like the start, you know, was the beginning.
The dancers that are involved really, you know, contribute most of the work, so one
beautiful thing about this project was that it hadn't been done.
There was no rule.
There's no first, second, third position, like, in ballet.
There's no formal background or style according to somebody who has done it in the past, so
really I wanted to give those dancers and climbers that would join the team the chance
to find their own style, and everybody brought their own style and strength, and it's apparent
also in the pieces, and so when we choreographed, I led and I sort of directed, and I, you know,
most of the times I decided what music we used, but the dancers really brought a lot
to the plate, so that was the beauty of it, is seeing how it evolved with all of us sort
of together, and dancers coming and going.
I've had three generation dancers now that, you know, came and left for different reasons,
and it's beautiful to see it evolve.
It's taken a life of its own, you know.
I might have, you know, given it a chance to be born, but I don't take any credit really
for it because I feel like that, you know, it's sort of become its own thing now, so.
My style for the Sin Dance, or the dancing, is because of that climbing background and
because of the, like, I'm learning the aspects of it that are the more dance side, I come
to it with more of like a, what's the physical challenge that's there, and then can we turn
it into something that works as a dance, and so for me to push my boundaries, it's been
more about body control, you know, can I get my body to do this off of the wall, or can
I go upside down, or how many different ways can I go upside down, and there's still a
lot there that can be done, and then my second part of it is how can two different people
interact on the wall, like how can I support Isabel, how can I hold her, what can we do,
and for me it's like, I know the climbing aspect, like I know what I can do on the wall,
I know how I can move from one place to another, so it ends up being the, like, I don't want
to say tricks, but it kind of is, it's like the stunts, the, like the ooh moments, the
ah moments, the wow's, and what can I do to kind of perpetuate that, and take it to a
different level as far as, you know, how far away we can get away out from the wall, how
can we come into this third dimension of, you know, instead of being on the floor and
being able to move this way, we're on a wall and we're going this way, but can't, how far
out can we go?
In other challenges that our backs are to the audience, you know, so, you know, even
if you're moving with your back to the audience, it's really pretty and emotional, but you
know, faces show so much, so when we can, and we take that as a challenge, like how can
we rotate, how can we bring the face to the audience, even if it's just for a glimpse,
it gives the audience something to hold on to, so I think that, you know, and then obviously
you're always having to hold on to something, so you're not free, you can't just leap, like
you leap on the floor, you know, you, you, there's a lot more control, you have to make
sure that you're always on a hold, you know, you can't, like, on the floor just step anywhere.
But it, it doesn't have to be this, you know, this struggle, it can be, it can be light
and feathery and graceful without having to use ropes, it can be done under the, like,
our own power, you know, as humans, we have the power to overcome gravity.
So for me, the, the creativity comes more from, from that aspect of feeling in the music,
which then translates into movement.
And the hurt, she knows it is real, if there's blood and there's dirt, war your soul, she
quiet's the mind that awaits you.
