ANNE BOGART

When you put your life into the service of what you value, that action will engender other values and beliefs. Through engagement, things happen. Movement is all. Keep moving and yet slow down simultaneously. In Latin this is known as festina lente, “make haste slowly.” Inside of this paradox, you make a space where growth and art can happen. Within the framework of art and theater you will find a special freedom and the space and time to explore complexities. It does not cost you anything. It costs you your life. (Anna Bogart, page 2 of And Then You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World)

I chose this quote in the script because at the time, it really summarized for me my opinion towards movement. In retrospect, I would find that it to be a semi-superiority complexed perspective. Regardless it became a mantra that I carried with me on a daily basis. “Festina Lente, make haste slowly,” inside of this paradox, I planted seeds of artistic growth and art at the same time. Particularly in the theatre, we discover the freedom to truly explore space-time continuum of spending a life-time being timed by a tiny rhythmic reminder pushing you to revolt, on and ever onward, to revolt.

The previously posted essay on Eugenio Barba was one I read on my trip to France. Which also inspired the following annotated bibliography:

Building Upon the Previous Discussion of the Potential Transformative Nature of Mourning & Melancholia

Intro

“I always took for granted that the best art was political and was revolutionary. It doesn’t mean that art has an agenda or a politics to argue; it means the questions being raised were explorations into kinds of anarchy, kinds of change, identifying errors, flaws, vulnerabilites in systems.” – Toni Morrison

“Given the methodological ideology encrypted within Morrison’s quote, it is not surprising that a postmodernist such as Anne Bogart would choose to use it to introduce her book, “And Then, You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World.”

Q1: When exactly, do you act?

Q2: What are some strategies (advice)/useful tools this provides to the artist?

The following quote appeared in all drafts of the script for a very specific reason. I knew I was onto something:

“When you put your life into the service of what you value, that action will engender other values and beliefs. Through engagement, things happen. Movement is all. Keep moving and yet slow down simultaneously. In Latin this is known as festina lente, ‘make haste slowly.’ Inside of this paradox*, you make a space where growth and art can happen. Within the framework of art and theatre you will find a special freedom and the space to explore complexities. It does not cost you anything, it costs you your life.” (Bogart, 2)

This quote illustrates not only the depth of Bogart’s directorial methodology, but also connects back to previous chapters on Eugenio Barba and Trisha Brown. Moreover, Bogart’s realization that “the outcome of an artistic process contains the energy of your commitment to it, expresses the traditional postmodern obsession with a process that extracts the difficult from the difficult. In my opinion, this quote also brings up questions of physiscs in the formation of a movement. The passages to follow will seek to connect (natural)laws of the universe (i.e. ‘energy can be neither created or destroyed, but never transferred. We’ll also touch upon susan sgorbati’s emergent improvisation and conclude with the role of accumulation and gravity in the clay figure.** To add: “the Key to Dancing is to Allow yourself to Fall”