What will tomorrow bring?

There are view things in life that are certain... and few things unites us like birth, love, war, old age and death.

Tomorrow will be one of those anomalies. The UK will find out what the government thinking will be and how to cut our ever-increasing deficit.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=277

Back in March 2010 there was this report on the BBC website..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8569418.stm

So something's gotta give. The deficit must be curbed which means that there will be some harsh cuts to make in government spending. Tomorrow we will know what.

The current general feeling of malaise in the Arts world is due to the belief the Arts has been earmarked. In it's initial address to the UK 10 days ago the Cameron coalition talked of making cuts of £6 billion to "non-frontline services" within the 2010-11 tax year, calling these cuts "modest" to boot. With this backdrop I gotta start getting creative with my artistry and far more shrewd with my approach to my career and my aspirations. Because if the hype is to be believed the Arts Council of England will have few resources to fund my work.

Now is the time for me to start being the artist I am. The last 10 days have been in equal parts amazing and frightening. It's amazes me how there are people in the world who are so supportive of me and my ideas. It also frightens me how easy and fragile I can become with those who doubt my artistry, my voice. And how that can cause me to doubt myself...

What I need to remember is that at this time I'm preparing the way... the world will soon be ready to hear me. There is a book called the Lotus Sutra which starts with the opening words...

"This is what I heard..."

source: http://www.mandala.hr/3/lotus-sutra.html#one

This one sentence says it all for me. You are only ever ready to hear when you are ready to hear it. There are people who have always been in my life who are really coming forward with their support for me right now. And that's because I'm ready. Ready to accept. Ready to discuss my ideas and concepts with others. Ready to become.

I realised something the other day. I haven't been in a dance studio for nearly 3 months. And that thought terrifies and mortifies me.

When I'm in the studio, when I'm creating movement, when I'm collaborating with others, brimming with ideas and discussions, when I'm in that place of "what if..." I am alive. It's when I'm at my best. It's where and when I am happiest. It's when I look at the world in a different way and smile. It is this place I NEED to get back to. Tomorrow brings that day one step closer for me... Which is a strange juxtaposition given the current political climate. What I know is that the need to create is SO strong that I will do so no matter what. There are people in the world who realise their artistry using the few resources that they have access to and very little funding. It doesn't stop them from creating wonderful work.

There is a gentleman called Patrice Naimbana, an actor. Look him up. And when you do don't be fooled by some of the names he has worked for. I was involved as an actress in one of his project's called "The Gospel of O" in November 2008 which was based on Shakespeare's Othello. Patrice's vision and determination meant that he directed a cast of 20 most of whom had little acting experience to learn, rehearse and perform Shakespeare's words within a one week period... That's right... ONE WEEK'S REHEARSAL using SHAKESPEARE'S ACTUAL TEXT. We then took that work on a 5 date regional tour. It was an abridged version which looked at the key moments of the play and the whole thing was 50 minutes long. It also used the dialects of the cast who were predominately of West Indian origin. I played Desdemona. Now that's a whole other experience I will one day write about. Anyways I digress... the long and the short of it is it's more than possible to create an amazing piece of theatre with scant resources time and funding, a group of people who believe in your vision and want to make it work and a hell of a lot of self-belief. I will take his example. I will forge my artistry fuelled by my self-belief and the values I hold to create fantastic work.

And it all starts tomorrow....