by Shana Simmons

Let me tell you where we are currently at in the process coming from the overall Artistic Direction of Shana Simmons Dance. I feel like a tight wire has been pulled tighter within me and it (me) could snap at anytime. The stress level has increased in the past couple of weeks and we have a LOT to accomplish. I feel a certain obligation towards ensuring The Missing Peace is of a certain caliber of choreography and performance ability, the dancers are invested, the choreographers are inspired and proud, and the audience is moved beyond words. This is what I aim to provide through, not just The Missing Peace, but all SSD productions.

I want to be honest, this is no easy task. Bumps, and sometimes pot holes here in Pittsburgh, happen on our journey. Take for instance, our space got shifted this week and we currently have nowhere to rehearse. Scrounging for new rental spaces, emailing current contacts, asking those contacts if they have contacts that might be available...this is all part of our process. The difficulty of having space to practice your art, whatever it may be, but specifically dance, is always lurking in the corner. We stare at it head on, most times successfully, but what happens when your ability to practice is taken away?<--in dance, this is a CONSTANT question whether it be injury, rehearsal space, time, scheduling etc...

The Works In Progress showing was an incredible experience. Personally, the first rehearsal back was very difficult. How do you revisit something you just performed as a concrete idea? How do you take it further? This process is new to me and a privilege to be able to address it. I started with a section I knew was going to stay the same to help develop it further. We have yet to address the other sections since that rehearsal due to other unforeseen circumstances, but I have had time to think about the creation. I have a game plan walking into the last few rehearsals (pending a space to rehearse in). It is down to the time wire and we need to make these concrete ideas a living reality.

By Brady Sanders
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This week we began incorporating four dynamic sculptures into What Remains.  These unique aluminum structures represent a variety of concepts, changing and devolving throughout the piece.  They start as frames that house larger than life images of individuals impacted by Alzheimer's disease whose experiences are shared during What Remains via interviews and sound bites woven into the sound composition.  As the piece continues the images become distorted and finally disappear all together.  The sculptures are still in the process of being detailed and produced.  While there are a few quirks to figure out incorporating them into the piece has been very organic.  I think they add a valuable layer of identity, accessibility and story telling to What Remains. 

By Jamie Erin Murphy 

In this process I have begun thinking a lot about the layers of our identity that make us who we are. There are the typical ideas we think about like gender, sexuality and race for example. However, it feels much more complex than that. We are so much more than the boxes we check on a form.

In our rehearsal last week we played with the idea of putting on and taking off layers. I used a pile of clothing that belonged to everyone in the cast and gave different directives on how we put on and took off layers. This stemmed a lot of questions and ideas became a part of our improv exercise...

We searched out items that seemed to "fit"us

We never fully put on items that weren't ours because we new they weren't right. 

We weren't ever sure how to put something on to make it fit right.

Sometimes we struggled to keep the items that made us comfortable. 

We had to make a mental choice to let "a part of us" go.

Sometimes we saw discomfort in changing layers but we still allowed it to happen for our own comfort.

We allowed ourselves discomfort to keep what was important to us.

Is it ok to give up a layer to see if something else fits?

These ideas and so much more are inspiring a new section of Me Vs ... that I'm so excited to explore. Much more to come....