C19: The Conditions Have to Be Right

I think a big part of why I like kites so much is because there is a lot that can be learned from using them. From the get-go, the conditions have to be right. I can't keep track of the amount of times I've left the house with my kite in my hand, thinking I'll be able to go fly it successfully because I FEEL like it, only to trudge back home with no flight because there's no wind.

I used to think that I should start keeping my eye on the weather, so I could plan to go take advantage of the weather when it was right for kite-flying. Sometimes, best laid plans don't pan out. This is true with the weather, and really, everything else.

Sometimes, flexing to the direction of the wind is the best thing that can be done. But that is easier said than done. As a person who tends toward planning, it's taken me a long time to even recognize that being able to 'flex to the wind,' as it were, is a valuable skill. Yes, skill. Something that has to be practiced to put into practice.

This all comes back around to my centering spiritual belief in cultivating a lively sense of consciousness, and putting it into action in every day life. Sometimes lively consciousness calls for planning. Other times, it calls for flexing to the wind, taking cues from and responding to the surrounding environment. A kite can take a nose-dive if it is not consciously being paying attention - and sometimes even if it is!

Try as we may, it's not possible to change the direction of the wind, or how hard it gusts. What we can do is change how we respond to it.

I think it worth calling in again that if there is no wind, there is no kite flying. Sometimes, if an element at the very DNA of a practice is missing, that practice is not possible. In the same way, if there is no gathering together in person, there is no live performance. Some would argue this and say that "digital live" is live too, and to a certain extent, I agree. That said, it still requires a qualifier - live online, live streaming, live tv. LIVE, at it's heart, means in the flesh, in person.

Sarah and I got talking last night about how the energy toward adaptation and innovation of theater and dance performance and education has been both amazing and quite concerning. My feeling of the later is fueled by worry that too many people will come to think how performance artists have adapted is a good enough permanent way forward or even replacement for being together, in person to witness people dancing, acting, playing music.

Note I specify witnessing. People who dance or act or play music together in person, be it for recreation or as a profession, know on a cellular level that live tv, live streaming, live online will NEVER deliver the magic of witnessing and practicing together, in the flesh, in person. Sweating on the same floor. Making eye contact. Brushing skin. Picking one another up and rolling on one another. Giving hugs when things conclude. Even just thinking of these things makes the hair on my arms stand on end and my heart race and my mouth water a bit.

The conditions have to be right.

I am here for adaptation. I am here for innovation. I am also here for limitation when it feels important. I'm here for being willing to stand up and say, in the face of an innovation that just won't do my art form the justice of being able to deliver the live magic it does, that "my craft just isn't at it's best that way."

I want to pledge to myself, during this time and beyond, that I will be honest about this with myself and with others. I know it's going to take practice to build my muscle for this, and it's practice that feels worth pursuing.

I also wish to pledge to myself to assess the wind when I head out the door for my (better than having a porch to drink my coffee on anyway!) morning walks during this time that is becoming even more flexible for me. If the conditions are right, I'm gonna grab my kite and let it fly.