Rejection

I've been thinking a lot about rejection lately. I've been applying for residencies and other opportunities to get some support for my work but they all have turned me down. I know everyone gets rejection letters but it's getting ridiculous. It's hard not to get discouraged and feel like your work is not deserving of any recognition. I hung out with my friend Stanley Love last night and it really inspired me. He has never relied on any established dance place in this city and has managed to create some of the most interestingly subversive and thought provoking work I have ever been a part of and/or witnessed. This has caused him a lot of trouble as well since he is not the type to keep it quiet. I'm going to dance for him again since I really do like his work and he is deep down a gentle, generous and loving soul - yes, really! Anyway, just being around someone who creates purely out of necessity is inspiring. He's not trying to get a piece of everyone else's pie. So that in itself is refreshing. He never edits himself - which is another cool thing; not for everybody, I know. Being around him reminds me of what choreography is - an art form. Sometimes I get so bogged down on the business end of the continuum that it is paralyzing. Teaching has given me a nice balance but there's nothing like creating new and inspiring work. I will continue to make my work, despite all of these rejections. In fact, rejection, in some sense, fuels a drive in me to create. Maybe it's out of spite, at least momentarily, but I think it's more a need to be creative and not to be told "better luck next time, Honey..."
In case you were wondering, I was going to write down the long list fo rejectors for your perusal but I decided not to. Just call me and I'll tell you. You can't say I haven't been trying to show my work... I've applied to eight places...
There are good things coming up:
NYU. I'll be teaching there staring the day after Martin Luther King's Birthday. They are giving me some space :)
There's also UWM this summer. I look forward to being in school again with all of you amazing people.
I'm doing Joe's Pub on February 10 and 11 - thanks to Robin and Andrea.
Don't forget to catch Stanley Love Performance Group whenever you can. We will be re-doing Stanley's homage to NYC & 9/11. He says I'm playing an Arab. I've already played George Bush so this should be fun.
I'll be sarting a new piece with my dancers. I don't know where we're going to do it but I just want to start.
I took Lily's yoga class yesterday and she said that the Sutras say that just by starting the effort somehow disappears. I agree...
A great way to bring on the New Year!