April

This month I focused on writing the thesis as well as developing video material for the final production of the project.

The video work can be found on this Google Drive. Here is the development of the thesis paper.

One of the things I have been struggling in this month is the way that this project has become a burden for me and it has been feeling hard to create organically. The pressure and expectations I put on myself for this project is a lot. So I have been playing with finding the joy in it again and making the work more manageable for the timeline.

Part of the research work led me to think about the relationship between my teachings and my art. I have been teaching a lot over the last few months and I have compartmentalized as separate from my art but actually now I am starting to see the two as being more connected. The teaching practice of community making and wisdom sharing feels like a core part of my art practice. In the last month I taught alongside Daniel Maté a Jewish Healing Circle as well as a collective processing space open to anyone. I also have been hosting people on my personal podcast Hadar’s Web and have updated my graphic for the show.

So much of my project is the relationship between the word and the image - the conversation and the body. My challenge has been how to visualize the body and show the process of embodiment as part of this work. Through conversations with my advisors and comments from my students, I realized that two are more integrated than I think. One student remarked to me how she sees the way dance has shaped my teaching style because I speak a lot with my hands. This has led me to think about focusing my project on hand movements through the ways I teach. I have since been exploring the documentation of hand movement and how to see patterns and shapes through the hand gestures.

This month I also engaged in some learnings of my own. I have been going to Dance Church weekly - a really special dance community space that integrates movement and emotional release experience. I find it interesting how much of the dance world and the somatic healing field are converging and integrating more. I also went to a show by Mercedes Dorme that really inspired me.

I also went to the Kabbalah Center for a new moon meditation all about the energy and how to work with it. I taught a class at Shel Maala about Jerusalem in Exile and compiled scripture for that.