Hip Hop Subway Series and NYC Blues

I am a little over one week back from New York City and from making a new piece of work out there. It was such a positive experience i am feeling a little blue i must say to be back. I am also missing the room we created terribly...
I found the creative energy and talent in that City this visit to be through the roof and it really has stopped me in my tracks and given me so much to think about as to where my own creative bar needs to be and how that feeds in to the next piece of work i want to make. 

Being there for almost six weeks this time, i feel like i really got to a deeper layer than past visits and i had the time to plan and seek out a wide range of creative things to experience; from observing Theatre Companies in training to just walking endlessly and looking up in awe.

A particularly inspiring experience i found through La Mama experimental Theatre (a Theatre whose work i have experienced before and love) was part of the Human Beatbox Festival. It was called 'the hip hop subway series'. 

We were invited to meet on the back of the platform of the A train and take the subway train together heading uptown to Harlem. Then we would go back down to Funkadelic Studios afterwards for an end of Festival party and to watch the artists' cypher. 

Unbelievably there were hardly any audience there for it but the small group of us that were there (including the artists) really connected and we spent the whole day and night together hanging out, dancing and smiling lots. (our five year old wants to be a beatboxer) The safe and supportive space that was created for everyone to do their own thing that day (even audience) in particular also struck me and gave me food for thought. Everyone was so brave and creatively wide open! Throughout the day and evening I was fed and watered, really looked after and it all was free (amazing that it was all free but that's not right is it but that's another conversation). I really feel like i witnessed something very special that day; something that i was meant to. The experience was all the more brilliant because it was intimate and confirms a lot to me about my own practice. The support we received back for our work a couple of weeks later was also returned with most of the audience and artists we met that day and night coming along to see the opening of our new work too. In fact everyone we met out and about in New York during our time making our work there and who we told what we were up to came through for us to see our work. I found that particularly special! My only sadness is that i didn't get the chance to see and talk to everyone who came to support us on our opening night. I was so busy in the work that it passed by in a whirlwind and i missed some people i really wanted to see : (

The man responsible for 'the hip hop subway series' is super talented and established American Beathymer, Beatboxer, singer songwriter Kid Lucky (Terry Lewis) who is keeping the subway's link to hip hop alive with this work and who needs to be credited for giving ridiculously talented and unsigned talent a platform. But the artist i met that day who has left the biggest impression on me is Seth Hirsch MC | Rapper | Actor and Comedian from Cincinnati and now based in Brooklyn, NYC. All i can say about Seth is keep an eye out for his name and work, he is a supremely talented nice guy and though i only met him twice his attitude and essence were very refreshing and remain with me.

NYC gets a hard time about being unfriendly, not my experience. I was very sad to leave it behind this time but i know where it is and my inspiration levels run high from this visit. You've got to go home so that you can go back right?

NYC you rock!

7C | Atrbreak Hotel Room|NYC

Starting to get really excited in our house about going back to New York next month. Received the plans for the room that we will be re-doing. Mixed feelings about going over someone else's work but i guess that is what this whole process is about and i'm sure what is there will inspire us in some way. 
It's funny, I was saying in my last blog that creating a Room in a Hotel is new territory for me and how it is a bit different from what I usually do as an artist when a good friend of mine pointed out to me that I have been creating rooms in derelict buildings for years. Oh Yeah so i have! Oh well, what do i know about what i do eh.
This one's not derelict though.
Of all the Hotel Rooms we stayed in last year throughout the twelve Countries we visited; this time we get to create one for other people to stay in...

NYC | Residency

After taking this year out to travel as a family and regroup we have landed a Residency (as a 3) in NYC! New York has to be one of our favourite Cities in the World so to be able to explore creating new work there and together is a bit of big deal to us.

Beginning February 2017...

Circumnavigating the Globe (with our 5 year old)(1)

So after the trip to end all trips we are trying to settle into a ‘normal’ life back in Scotland...
We set off to Delhi in November 2015 with only a back pack each, a 5 month return ticket and a desperation to inspire and open our minds further.. 
As we were travelling with our then four year old daughter and unsure how it would all be for her we thought the security of a return ticket was a good compromise but the promise to keep going should we all wish to, was also on the table. 
After three months travelling throughout India we had a family chat and all agreed that we weren't ready for our adventure to end. We were just finding our travel flow.
We cancelled our return ticket out of India home and once we did that the road ahead truly was open.
India doesn’t make it easy for you and there is a certain amount of surrender required to get the most out of the experience but of all the places we’ve been in the world we think it really gives you something very special back if you let it. It breaks you down for you to build yourself back up better.
We never ventured north of Delhi whilst travelling in India but we travelled both coasts and down to the most southern tip to Trivandrum. We had intended to fly on to Sri Lanka from Trivandrum but in the end and at the very last moment we decided to visit the Andaman Islands instead. We heard so many great things about them whilst in India that we were so intrigued and worried we might never go if we didn’t go in that moment.
Andaman is not the easiest to get to, you can only enter from the East Coast of India; Kolkata and Chennai.
We flew from Chennai to Port Blair and spent one month Island hopping. You can’t visit all of the islands, only some are open to tourists, we visited Havelock, Neil and the eerily abandoned Ross Island.
Andaman was probably our most favourite of spots for pure idyllic beauty and bliss with no-one there. 
Everyone should visit Andaman at least once in the lives…it's disappearing!

Andaman

There was a definite shift in our thinking on Andaman and after our month there our minds were so clear. Now we knew we weren't going home the freedom to choose which Country we would like to visit next was both terrifying and exhilarating.
We had travelled a lot before as a couple and even with our daughter but this time felt different, it felt much bigger. This time we were in charge of our child and we had no real plan! We were out of our comfort zone for sure...