"it goes on and on." (SLEEPING AT LAST, Marinda Davis Choreography.)

"it goes on and on."
music by : sleeping at last.
choreography : marinda* davis.
studio : big city dance center, lisa fruchey.
these are the beautiful dancers of BIG CITY DANCE CENTER of Wixom, Michigan, taught by the amazing Lisa Marie Fruchey. i was originally supposed to go to them at the end of 2015 but the dancers and that wheel waited for me patiently for an entire year while i battled for my life.
in so many ways i'm grateful for the wait. i had always had this vision for the song, but something about going through chemo clarified the vision for me and gave it such significance. there is no big story here with characters, a narrative, and plot line ; it is primarily thematic in content. it centers around the heartbreakingly beautiful awareness that life goes on with or without you and people go on with or without you. it shows us that you fight to get back on life's wheel or you don't, and sometimes even though you fight to get back on, your time on life's wheel is over. and even when it's over, you continue to go on somewhere else, while the rest of the world keeps spinning madly on. i kept the movement clear, clean, and simplistically beautiful because to me, that mirrors the consciousness of the realization.
the prop is heavy, difficult, and at first, scary. there is no solid ground in there. (big thanks to Mr. Fryz who figured out how to build this one ! you're the best !) our process for this was 6 hours and the kids were the bravest of rockstars. that human hamster wheel takes immense team work and courage and a willingness to get a few bumps and bruises, and they were 100% in. also, special thanks to my assistants Emily Brown and Lexi Tonniges on this one, for helping to make sure all the dancers stayed safe and in one piece during experimentation.
they have had immense success with this. highest score at all the competitions they've been to, a perfect score at one, golden tickets, choreography awards, etc. and while that's really awesome and largely due to their wonderful teacher who keeps them clean, i am just so proud that they get to deliver this beautiful message to anyone who gets to see it.
"every day you wake, ever more aware, than you ever were before."