@webmind

Woah, well said.

@webmind

This is sooooo good. Did you write it?

@generica yes, was inspired by russ's post.

@webmind

WOW. Debussey seems to get credit for the quote "The silence between the notes" but your poem takes it further. It is beautiful and moving and somehow useful and practical. ❤️

@andrawatkins

It's a good word for that quiet ambient sort of productivity. Since I don't really know how to not being doing something, it's a happy restful place for me.

The shows were absolutely wonderful. No major glitches, all the new acts were funny and the old ones still were. Even the sappy, sentimental things landed.

I saw some cameras in the crowd. I'm hopeful for fan photos.

A personal victory: Our tech timed some of the acts. He'd been doing it for a while without saying anything, and I found out I can hold an audience completely enraptured for more than twenty minutes while sitting in a chair being stupid.

@RussSharek MTM would call puttering the same. Quiet preoccupation.

And that last morsel is the best. I speak for part of my living. Keeping eyes glued on the stage instead of a screen is a seminal accomplishment for any length of time. A boost of holiday feedback is the best gift.

@andrawatkins

As I teach a crash course in stage presence, I'm pleased to see it works. :)

@RussSharek

'on not knowing how to do nothing', 'the space between the notes', and for me, the space between breaths. I love that.

There are people who 'so stuff' and I think we are all those. There are many levels of nothing (very different for different people), and when we are allowed to experience those, they are delicious.

@andrawatkins

@lauraritchie @andrawatkins

I think the irony of it is how many times my teachers have told me to "do less" in my work and how much energy I put into engineering moments of near nothingness in my shows.

@RussSharek @lauraritchie @andrawatkins

I like these similarities you get with teaching. I had to learn that you should be explicitly quiet at times when giving instructions. Give your students time to digest the content, to ask for clarifications/questions and for you to breathe :)

Also here the silence between the notes is so important.

@webmind @lauraritchie @andrawatkins

There's definitely a performative aspect to teaching. It's all communication of ideas in the end.

@webmind @RussSharek @lauraritchie @andrawatkins

The silence is space for thought. The notes are the expression of thought after reflection. We can't produce or appreciate art (which I define *very* broadly) without the space to do so.

@K_REY_C @lauraritchie @RussSharek @webmind Very sorry I came to this thread so late but appreciate your thoughts and observations very much.

In the US, I often feel like people hate creatives. Conversations surrounding what we make so often center around money and fame. I’m grateful to be reminded of the importance of what we make. Growth, pleasure, pain......they all flow from the process.

@andrawatkins @K_REY_C @lauraritchie @RussSharek @webmind

Being bored is very underrated I think. It's emptiness provides space for new things to grow in. It is the cornerstone of creativity, next to new inputs.

It is an art I once hope to master. Doing nothing.

@andrawatkins @K_REY_C @lauraritchie @RussSharek @webmind

It is also something that is at best frowned up on in capitalism, called lazy, inefficient, a waste. I do not believe capitalism can produce anything creative without leaching of other social structures.

@webmind @andrawatkins @K_REY_C @RussSharek It makes me think of my 10y/o's wish list and the joy of being given things like a giant box to play in. There are all sorts of different 'things' to have and be given, and the price tag doesn't matter.

I really like how he crossed off a phone to put that last item. -and for non-UK people, yo-yo bears are fruit lunchbox snacks. :) https://mastodon.social/media/nO1qPz50BklnrW7UzG4

@lauraritchie @webmind @andrawatkins @K_REY_C

That's beautiful.

@webmind @andrawatkins @K_REY_C @lauraritchie

I'm in a capitalist system and managing to produce work. Not sure it's at the cost of anything but my own potential earnings...assuming I would ever mucking about and got the socially accepted 'real job' thing.

Not gonna happen. I'm in this nonsense for life. :)

@RussSharek @webmind @K_REY_C @lauraritchie I always tell people “I’m doing my real job” when they ask what I do for a living. It goes against the grain here, but I can’t imagine doing anything else.

The world needs more of that energy.

@andrawatkins @webmind @K_REY_C @lauraritchie

I have thankfully turned a corner where people stop asking if this is my 'day job'. I always found that infuriating though.

Felt devaluing.

@andrawatkins @webmind @K_REY_C @lauraritchie

I joke about the 'really's' of being a clown:

When I tell someone I'm a clown, there have been three career stages I've detected despite the response always being the same.

First they say 'really?' as if they didn't believe me.

Then they said 'really!' with a tinge of disdain.

Now they say 'really,' with a matter of fact tone which implies it was the only logical explanation for my existence.

@andrawatkins @K_REY_C @lauraritchie @webmind

Welcome to the thread whenever you got here. :)

I think we over-emphasize the value of 'product' in American creative culture. I run into this hard because I'm an independent maker of, for lack of a better term, social ephemera.

We make people feel things. You go home with that, not a souvenir in the physical sense.

Audiences and fans love it. I'm not sure critics always appreciate that there are some things you can't quantify directly in terms of sales figures.

Example that comes to mind:

I did a fantastic gig a couple of weeks ago. Made everyone happy. I also took the time, on the clock, to dismantle someone's socially driven fear of clowns. She went from petrified to hugging me.

We didn't bill for therapy, and the event wasn't directly told about it. Instead, it was simply a better day overall and someone went home healed from it.

That's the part of the job you do as a calling, and not for cash.

@RussSharek @andrawatkins @K_REY_C @lauraritchie @webmind insurance doesn't cover that type of therapy. 😉

@webmind @RussSharek @lauraritchie I love this, Sebastian. As a writer, we’re repeatedly told to keep everything moving. Action on every page. And I value the quiet, the space to breathe. A blank page here and there. Silence is healing.

@andrawatkins @webmind @RussSharek @lauraritchie Yes. I think this is true in many other places as well. For example, in many addiction/behavioral #recovery groups there is often a widespread suspicion of silence. If no one is "sharing" out loud somebody's bound to assume that silence equals shyness, fear, or failure to confront one's issues, and will prod the room to elicit talk. Oy.

Also in guided meditations. For me, at least, it helps if the leader can eventually just hush and let it happen

@RussSharek @lauraritchie Do less is a mantra of all creation, I think. Fewer words for me. I know I make it harder than it needs to be so much of the time.

@RussSharek @andrawatkins I wonder about this.

I have to teach people about this too. I tell them about bowing and they go all funny. -but if someone said thank you, you wouldn't ignore them, would you? Bowing is the same, I tell them. All the audience are thanking you with applause, but if you were to say 'thank you' even to shout, they would not hear. So the bow shows.

Students somehow think it is about them instead of about thanking the audience, saying I am humbled & receive your thanks

@lauraritchie @andrawatkins

Absolutely!

It's your last moment to connect with them, in the weird altered reality of theater that you've created together.

I remember my teachers spending as much energy on the mechanics of the entrance and exit as anything else, and I find those tools informing EVERYTHING I do on stage.

@lauraritchie @RussSharek I love this story about bowing. I’ve performed my whole life and never thought about it this way, Laura. No more feeling silly. It really is a way to honor the people who came.

@RussSharek @andrawatkins big congratulations here! fan photos indeed - please share if you find any :)

20 mins! That is huge! Ages ago I used to do one session on how visual we are, & how as musicians we need to retrain our ears to *actually* listen - our brains to concentrate. The attention example I used: tv scenes had been getting shorter and shorter and the average scene (this was 10 or so years ago & I know styles have changed) was something ridiculous like 3.8 seconds long.

20 mins

@lauraritchie @andrawatkins

The ridiculous thing was my fellow performers and a couple of friends asking if I was rushing it, because it seemed like I could have spent more time.

Unbelievable. Doubly so when you considered that act originally was a 4 minute skill demonstration.

@katebowles

I think I'm more excited about the fixing than the sand. Hooray for you getting both. :)