First of all, I’d like to publicly announce that that movie should have ended after the “eat” part in Italy… although I’ve been told the book is much better.

Secondly, that piece of strawberry pie to my left is not from Italy. It’s from the Hotel Santa Fe in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico. And it’s the best piece of pie I’ve ever had.

With ongoing rehearsals, Dance/USA, and new projects on the horizon, July has been so busy it’s been hard to hash out some time to process the things that have happened at PRODUCE. At some point I may have the opportunity to take a step back from my life, sit in my backyard with a frosty cold beverage, and think about it. In the meantime, I’ll have to settle for a blog entry of bullet points:

• Some artists prefer chaos and the Unknown, others prefer organization and pre-determined expectations. Much like the Kinsey scale, everyone seems to fall somewhere along a spectrum between these two extremes.

• Seeing the same seven groups performing the same thing in multiple combinations does not get boring.

• Somewhat (though not entirely) arbitrary pairings can bring out new layers of meaning in an existing work through “happy accidents”.

• Audience members are smart. They see a lot the things we want them to see – we just don’t often get a chance to have a chat about it. How can we and/or should we facilitate these interactions in a more “traditional” concert setting?

• Many patrons (so far) placed the monetary value of what they saw at the price they paid at the door. I was talking to a dancer/friend on the Saturday after PRODUCE 1 who paid $65 plus $11 parking for an hour of bowling and a beer with her boyfriend. I’m not AT ALL suggesting that our audience members are cheap; it’s just an interesting comparison to make.

• Aside: That then begs the question(s)…. IS PRODUCE worth just 8 bucks? Do we challenge this perception and try to prove that what we did was worth more than 8 bucks? Or, do we change what we are doing to try to create something else that is worth as much as bowling? Or, is it OK if it’s only worth 8 bucks? Or, is our audience made up of other artists, and because of the value predicament we’re in they need every dollar they can get to buy themselves dinner?

I have no answers to these questions (yet). Perhaps there really aren’t any…

What I know for sure is that, for me, at least, PRODUCE is something that was absolutely necessary. Stay tuned…