Aimee Smith

Adventures In India

17 October, 2008

The Search Continues

My work with the company here is starting to find its form. The work looks at ideas of fear and hope, through the structure of stories, both individual and shared. It looks at how stories shape us, how we are the stories, or we become the stories, we tell ourselves. Within this investigation I wanted to find and celebrate the hope, along with the fear, but have found fear so much more dominant, so much easier to present. Here I am, critiquing the domination of fear-filled stories in our lives, particularly perpetuated by the media, and yet here I am telling more of them. So my challenge at the moment is to find the way in to hope. To find the segue where fear melts away and hope collects.

This leads me to the question I often askâ€¦.why is it so hard to make celebratory, hopeful work, particularly when it is concept driven. I have seen beautiful examples of celebratory dance works where and when the focus is on the craft itself, the joy of movement and not primarily driven by concepts. But so much of the conceptual based work I see carries a scepticism, it investigates these ideas through a sarcasm and/ or satire. This critical analysis of our world is incredibly important and potent, and it is often this kind of work that I most value and esteem, but my question isâ€¦.where is the hope? Why is it so hard to represent hope or to celebrate through our art in our contemporary world? Are we so used to the rational way of thinking and existing that we expect all reputable analysis to be satirical and critical? Have we lost the ability or appreciation for aesthetics and analysis that is emotion-filled, that is dream-based, that is imagination-driven, that is positive and hope-filled?

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Aimee Smith

Adventures In India

17 October, 2008

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