Retro San Fran (April 26)

Up early and on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to Berkeley. Second and final day of the conference. Our last day in CA.

The day is a blur. Two sets of presentations in the morning, a break for lunch, and then Jen presents. I can only hope if I’m ever in the position of presenting that I’m as collected as she was – good job, girlfriend 🙂

A long break for dinner and then a final performance to attend. Jen and I have been looking forward to this performance throughout the conference. In our over-tired delirium we totally misunderstand where the performance is being staged and end up not having enough time to get there before it will be mostly over. F@#K. Suddenly the overly long dinner break to allot for travel time makes sense. We decide it is Fate’s way of telling us we are not meant to go to the performance. Instead we head back to our hotel, stopping by the bar to grab a couple of glasses of Napa Merlot to ease the pain of packing up and preparing for an early morning cab ride to the airport.

LAST WORDS: The underlying message presented by the conference has been “what happens when limitations are imposed on and accepted by an artist?”

I am inspired and humbled by the artists I have seen who have accepted limitations that have been imposed on them and haven’t let these limitations prevent them from pursuing their goals, no matter how difficult or improbable. I have to shamefully admit that before this conference it never occurred to me that someone who was not able-bodied (in the conventional sense of the word) would consider dance as a medium to work in. Just proves what a narrow little box I keep my mind in. None of the physically challenged artists I have seen this weekend are disabled. I’m the one who is dis-abled. I’m mentally dis-abling myself from reaching my goals with self-imposed limitations on myself and others. Epiphany. Ouch.

Dearest Jen: thank you, thank you for a fabulously inspiring, mind-altering (not to mention fun, fun, fun) experience in San Fran.