Let things unfold…

Athens, Greece

Last night, a friend of a friend pointed out that adventures are not adventures if you knew everything in advanced. He is craving for an adventure, but knows it is not yet the time. His work and current responsibilities are demanding his attentions. He is happy, but he does not want things to trap him and “ground him”. Today I woke up very confused. Confusion is a state that has been accompanying me for a really… and I say really long time. My strategy is to do not make choices when I do not know what to do. Hence, I do not want to fall into the comfort of not making decisions and not assuming responsibilities (this word again), for sometimes it is easier to “let things happen”. So how do we embrace this principle of serendipity, “adventure”, and improvisation to be present in our lives -I mean my life- without falling asleep on the couch and having a “free for all” attitude? This is my question now. I do not know the answer yet, but I am finding ways to go along the ride of self-knowledge.

Yesterday, I pulled a card out of my Astrological Oracle.

In my young adulthood I developed an affinity for astrology, energy, tarot and oracles which I left aside for like around 6 years. Oracles and tarots are not necessary intended to “tell you the future”, but to connect you with your inner wisdom, intuition and your energetic present moment. It is a mirror of yourself and the universal knowledge that moves us.

Saturn visited me… I felt uncomfortable because the day before I also pulled a card… guess which one it was… SATURN. According to this oracle’s guide Saturn is representative to containment, boundaries and limitations. Intuition plays an important part on oracle reading; the Call for me was to set my own boundaries.. to be clear in my limits. This has been a very hard task to do, because I have always been confronted with this aspect of myself; hence, since I got robbed last year, my indecisiveness have flourished to slapped me in the face. Hey I am a Libra but I won’t go there.

Dear Saturn, it is quite difficult to know what are your boundaries when you are discovering yourself in a new context. I am allowing Athens to speak to me again, I know what I am hearing is different to what I heard last year, and in 2012. Nonetheless, at the core I know what keeps me centered. Here, in NYC, in Puerto Rico, in Edinburgh: personal rituals, believes, and expectancies. Noticed I use the expectancies instead of expectations, for I believe the latter refers to the “ideas” of how things, people and situations should be/act; on the other hand expectancies speak to me about disposition and openness. I know things are going to happen, I might also have some expectations due to prior references, but this state of being suggests the capacities to “let things unfold” allowing that new information to dialogue with our previous experiences. In this re-experience of things I -we- re-construct ourselves. Sigh!! This is the choreography of life at its best!!

How does this relates to my mobility, or the enactment of leaving Puerto Rico without knowing or pre-determined when am I going back. I believe this is the core of becoming and being in mobility: dislocation, getting lost and finding my-selves along the way. This I have realized is the essence of my life-work so far, it has taken me more than 10 years to embrace it, not without fear/confrontation.

I am moving…

Transeúntes: Platia Amerikis

Video Documentation: https://vimeo.com/163653002

I was wrong, my memories of places were inter-lapping. I have passed by, but never really been on Platia Amerikis.

I arrived at the site 3 hours prior the “starting time” to familiarize more with this space. I was not supposed to be here. My proposed location was Pireas Port, and things happen in a very, but I was denied access. DENIED ACCESS in due to a matter of security according to the port administration. When I was told my first question was: Security, whose security?? I decided to go along with plan B suggested by the production assistant. I usually don’t ask for permission and things happen in a very subtle, almost imperceptible way.. but due to the context of the festival I was not going to compromise their efforts. I went with the flow..

Platia Amerikis has its own dynamics. It is a place were very distinctive people encounter as by-passers. It is a world on its own… How to inhabit it without been disruptive, if that is possible? How could I be there, a place that I have never been, in a “natural”, not “on stage” manner. This exploration started way before I arrive to the place.. On the bus, I realized I was already in a performative mode. Carrying nine, closed and wrapped, boxes is a very difficult task. Dealing with body space and body movement was quite a task in itself. That is what I am all about… Once I arrived I sat on a bench at the opposite site of the Platia… I wanted to have a landscape image of the street and people’s dynamic. A man started talking to me. He asked why was I not supposed to be there. He read the box next to me, that was the only one built and “I was not supposed to be here” is written on it. We talked until his bus arrived: first encounter at site.

I left after 20 minutes, was looking for a RODI for an exercise I wanted to enact. I failed! No Rodi.. I let that idea go. I went back to a café I saw on a corner.. I needed to eat something before actually entering Platia Amerikis… not eating well gives me anxiety and migraines. I did.. I ate, and I also cried.. I cried and wrote.. I thought: what am I doing here.. YES!! Again!!! I realized I was across the world attempting to wrap some boxes on my body.. what is it so important about that… why did i feel so lonely… I cried… and let that solitude sensation go.. Looking at an abandoned building across the street my thoughts faded away… I was scared, troubled, confused, in a very uncomfortable and profound emotional pain I couldn’t understand. Hence, I let that sensation to visit me and sit with me for a coffee paying just enough attention to contemplate it; pain was going to dance with me, but not to move me… which is indeed a very different thing for me.

After crying I was more than ready to let other things happen to me. I went back to the Platia and sat on the floor of a little playground… “Hey Sister”, two buys waved and called me.. “Come here”. At first I wanted to be alone, and answer with a in a while.. They insisted and I realized I had to play by other rules. “whoareyouwhereareyoufromandhowlongareyoustayinghere”

I was bombarded with defining myself, my place of origin, and the length/purpose of my mobility. I was certainly a foreigner, like them. That was the prelude of a 2 hour hang out with 4 migrants from a country on West Africa… How could I dance after this encounter.. intense, real, and so vivid. That question urged me, I found comfort only when I admitted that I was there to share my mobility, not anybody’s else. My attempt is not to make any sort of “statement”, “display” or “show” anything about “migration” -less in a context full of so much “struggle” about it. My intention is to be I -in a foreign- land, confronting myself, inhabiting my own margins… being/becoming shore.
Perhaps the I becomes we moving and land-ing together.

                There is much more I could say.. but words are right now diluted.

Transeúntes: Platia Amerikis/  Documentation: Anna Liolou

Transeúntes: Keramikos

Memories are Boxes on my back…

 

WIRE ME
(object: WIRE
Instant composition)

PERFOMANCE Mode #3 & 3.a: Platia Amerikis

I am not supposed to be here, but I want to.

Platia Amerikis is the place I have least related to. I remember vaguely that I once “passed by”. Hence, the fact that I get to inhabit a place called “Plaza Americas” or Amerikis Square is quite dislocating for me. I attempted to come here during my first days in Athens, but I couldn’t split myself. Platia Amerikis is out of my range, out of my usual transit zones. From what I have read, which never substitute the actual experience of being there, Greeks families living in this area moved to the suburbs of Athens. Consequently, migrants found a living in this neighborhood. That is the memory I have, a very diverse meeting point, a place where I heard different languages and experienced different encounters. This is what I will pull from… I think that is why I am so eager about Platia Amerikis… I can feel the animosity and the disposition to be here.

 I recall encountering a very small band playing salsa music and another hits by Ricky Martin.

I honestly think this is the place that I have less “figured out”, but I am expectant. I will be an Ameriki on Platia Amerikis on Athens. Do I belong here? I don’t take for granted all the sub-context and sub-content that this dislocating experience could suggest. Maybe is meant to be that I know little in advance.
I will do myself a favor and keep it simple:

TASKS

13hs: Departing to Platia Amerikis (BUS 11)
14hs: Expected Arrival (three hours before)
          Waiting/Being Here/Reading Space

17hs:
1: UPON ARRIVAL 3: (Assembling BOXES)*
     Memories are BOXES on my back (BUS STOP)
2: UNBOX
3: HOME (Performative Act/ Improvisation)*/**
4: Ritual de SAL
5: Unbuild BOXES
6: (re)scoring the experience**
7: Waiting Dance

NOTE: This will be the shortest Intervention. As usual, things could change according to the dynamic of space, energy and time. The actions mark with * are essential to me, the ones marked with ** I have never enacted.

Transeúntes: Evangelismos

Memories are square shadows on my back 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures taken by: Athina Eleftheriou

 

Perfomance Mode#2: Transeúntes Keramikos

 

I AM NOT SUPPOSED to BE HERE… just keep that in MIND.

Imagine that I am somewhere else, perhaps Kifissos Bus STATION.. 

How many times have you been here, wanting to be there? or somewhere else?
How many times ave you not been allowed to move, to go to a particular location?
Have you ever been denied accessed, have you ever felt the need to leave?
Have you ever felt that you have been moved and removed against your will?
Do we really choose when/where to go?
Do we really choose how to move?
How to be in our own skins? Is that even possible…

I asked myself, what am I doing here=GREECE:KERAMIKOS STATION:MY OWN SKIN.
I will rephrase; I asked myself what am I doing here: KERAMIKOS STATION? That was not originally what I proposed, what I intended. Hence, reconfiguring is part of what I have learned through dance, improvisation, life and meditation..
To reconfigure and change accordingly, to survive circumstances… that is why I MOVE.

KERAMIKOS STATION and GAZI are quite conflicted to me, it reminds me of certain areas of Brooklyn and SANTURCE (San Juan) nowadays. I haven’t lived in GAZI, so I looked at it from my experience as a temporary guest in Greece: TRANSEÚNTE.
I feel “abandonment” and “struggle”, dialoguing with  gentrification.
AM I part of it? who knows.. perhaps.

Anyways.. while I am not supposed TO be HERE, here I am.
I will make this time the best I can, despite this place does not invites me to move. does it? I will rephrase again; this place invites me to move in an uncomfortable way,
in a tense manner. I will embody that.

I see it now, I catch myself looking for refreshing memories within this space that may allow me to release my body, and I think I found couple of sites.
A little coffee shop corner in an alley, the shadow of the trees over the fence, the rocks, the construction site and those two little mountains, so inviting.

no exaggeration   …not everything is bad…

Wire is the material that stands out for me here…
Let’s move… and discover what happens along the way…

 

PERFOMANCE MODE #2.a: Keramikos TASKS

Pulling from my experience yesterday and my (un)disposition to be in this place I intend to engage in:

(1) generating similar images from yesterday (Box images), (2) exploring a new material I have never worked with until now: WIRE, and (3) allowing myself to move in-out-through discomfort.

17:00: Performative Actions/Explorations

1: UPON ARRIVAL 2: (Assembling BOXES)*
Memories are BOXES on my back
Railroad Crossing
2: UNBOX:
3: WIRE ME: how do I get out of here?*
4: UNDER THE UMBRELLA: (side Alley): Improvisation**
5: UNDER THE TREE SHADOW: sidewalk: Improvisation**
6: CAGE DANCE
7: Under Construction: Improv at Construction Site
8:Unbuild BOXES
9: Waiting Dance (Train Ramp: Aereodromo direction)

Note: When I use the word (un)disposition I refer to the discomfort it creates in my body, not to change plans but the site itself. This is a space for exploration. Also, as I noted yesterday the tasks are a map of actions/places/routes to follow. Things could change according to the dynamic of space, energy and time. The actions mark with * are essential to me, the ones marked with ** are “OASIS” to look for.

PERFOMANCE MODE #1.A: Evangelismos TASKS

The Essence:

I was told once to engage in, and investigate what is the essence of the “work”, for everything else was “ornament”; neither good nor bad. This was a revelation to me, and in times a strategy to keep myself centered. I have been trying to figure out what is the structure and trajectory for this first exploration, which brings a second important quote in my professional career: You can’t do everything you imagine.. ideas will flow.. just pay attention to what comes back to you. Of course I am paraphrasing both of the statements. Hence, this is fundamental here to keep myself in track (I think LA FUGA, is in part about what comes back).

TODAY’s TASKS:

(Preparation)
10:15am – Preparation
10:30: Morning Walk Vyronas, (finding some needed elements for 5pm)
11:30- Organization (Set up my bag with everything I need to take with me)
12:30- LUNCH, REST and MEDITATION
2:00- Personal Practice (Stretch, Yoga, Body preparation and some Improvisation in my living room)
3:00- Dress up time
15:30- Departure ( Walking from 100 Mikras Asias to the starting point)
16:15- Expected Arrival (Meeting Maria, Production Assistant)
16:30- Waiting time

“ TRANSEÚNTES”

17:00: Performative Actions/Explorations

1: UPON ARRIVAL (Assembling BOXES: SOUND recording)*
Memories are BOXES on my back (Crossing Intersection)
I was not supposed to be here waiting (Improv @ BUS STOP)
2: BENCH Wait: unboxing, wording, instant poetry on site.*
3: Moving in THE LINE of DESIRE: (what do you/I/we desire the most?)
4: Marabaristas (among the trees improvisation)
5: Ritual de SAL : ISLAS ROCAS (Salt Ritual at the Rocks)*
6: Walking Traces (RAMP Area)*
7: Unbuild BOXES.*
8: Waiting Dance (Train Ramp: Aghias Marina direction)*
9: Take the TRAIN- END

Note: This is a map of action/place route  things could change according to the dynamic of space, energy and time. The actions mark with * are essential to me.

Performance MODE #1: TRANSEÚNTES @ Evangelismos

Transeúntes in spanish is not the word used for “crowds”, according to google translator is the word used for:
passerby/ transeúnte
transient/ transeúnte
non-resident/ no residente, huésped no fijo, transeúnte

Here, as in many other places I embrace most of these adjectives, simultaneously.

I arrived in Greece on tuesday, March 29^th. Next day it was inevitable that to “pass by” Evangelismos Station; it is the closest metro station to my HOME in Vyronas*. Instead of taking the bus: 732, I decided to walk. Unlike many other times my intention was to be there, wait, observe, sense, inhabit that landscape. The purpose is obvious, my first attempt for Transeúntes will take place in that location. Crafted as an outdoors laboratory, I will engage in:

(1) re-creating images that I have been working with, and other that I haven’t had the opportunity to generate until this very moment,
(2) embodying memories of other places,
(3) responding to kinesthetic inputs I experienced from dynamics/interactions of the place itself, and
(4) relating  with by-passers to make things happen, request for help.

Transeúntes: It might be perceived as fragmented experiences, and allocation was done making simple and obvious transit choices. A lot of what will be happening is not planned or premeditated, and the in-betweens of the trajectory have intentionally left unresolved.

_____________________

*I use the word HOME with all the intention, for while I find myself homing in movement/mobility, I also find myself HOME/ing here.

UPON ARRIVAL

I am not supposed to be here…, says the box in my head.
…waiting
…to go
…waiting
…here
somewhere else…

On my back the weight of my departure…
memories are square shadows (over me)
on my back… boxes

weight
departure             shadow
squares

you are a memory…
on the surface of my skin…

I will forget
; and you will remind me someday that we met, or not.

Perhaps you wont even remember you were (not supposed to be) here..
Perhaps you wont                                  “           ”                                          …waiting.
Perhaps                                                                                                               …to go
Perhaps                                                      you were                                        …here
Perhaps                                                                                                               …somewhere else