Hello.

Being(s) in plain site is a way of being. Playing off the common turn of phrase “hidden in plain sight” or “in plain sight”, to put it simply, it is a way of being simultaneously hidden and revealed within plain sight. In recent months, I have had this curious feeling of leading a kind of double life, Erika the artist and Erika the person / human / citizen or “day-off Mitsi” as my partner once put it. In the initial lock-down due to Covid, how my sense of self was so tied to being an artist and my relationship to myself was all thrown into flux. After a period of grief, I began enjoying the double life that I was (maybe always) leading. Just myself, an artist in plain sight.

Jackson & Prior, June 26, 2020 Vancouver, BC

When I passed by this being on my way to and from a park near my house, they yelled out to me, “Don’t stop till you get enough!” Adorned in an outfit made of morning glory and flowers, I couldn’t help but take all of this to heart. No, I won’t stop till I get enough. It’s funny what a being that emits such confidence does to me. I also miss outfits I saved for occasions or for wanting to feel a certain way about myself.

I realize I haven’t been wearing them.

Image description: No parking sign with ivy, white and pink flowers wrapped around the pole base. Sign in front of a beige building and overgrown bushes.

While quarantining in early 2020, like many folks, I started cherishing walks and excursions that took me out of my apartment. Out of a mix of loneliness and missing the structure in which my creative self had occupied, as a “career artist”, I began seeing other beings (or “non-human companions” as my friend Alexa often says) in plain site. It started as just paying closer attention to the imagined narratives that I built mainly for the plant life in my neighbourhood. It then evolved into an awareness that I was tapping into the thinking part of my brain and my being, that was imaginative, curious, full of desire and creative ideas and yes… it’s cheesy…you’ve probably guessed it… full of dance. Full to the brim with dance.

I have always had an active imagination and it has sparked many things in my life. It has kept me entertained when bored, made my dream life rather… expansive and is so tied to my internal landscape. From many places, I am learning that internal landscape / perspective / subjectivity are all intertwined in a rhizomatic network of things that make up a person and how they experience reality. I have always been curious about how other people think, feel, occupy their time and thought to myself, maybe someone else would be interested in taking a peek into my rhizomatic network? To be determined….

So, this blog-ish, photo essay-ish, choreography in another plane-ish, is a collection of ponderings. It’s peppered with reflection about different themes that arise from my new relationship to my self-directed life. Sometimes it’s composition in real-time and it’s accidental aesthetics at other times. It's an attempt to be with the non-human and the delightful randomness of this reality. Maybe some of these things will be interesting to you, maybe this is a window into my perspective, maybe this is boring and self-indulgent, maybe this is un-original and everyone feels this way, maybe this is bringing to life some beings that you would normally pass by, maybe this is life (dare I say, existing in this reality) as choreography, maybe this is about being a part of and apart from the dance community in Vancouver. Whatever this shapes up to be, please know, it comes with full earnestness and love. A healthy, but pretty all-consuming love and nostalgia for what I have the immense privilege to do.

Strathcona Park March 21, 2020, Vancouver, BC

centre, centre.

Image description: Large Cherry Blossom tree in a park with grass and gravel in foreground. Metal fence and white buildings in background with blue skies.

I am truly curious about where are the dances right now and how do these dances want to behave / exist / interface in a digital plane? So with the blog-ish thing, I’m excited to see how things bump up / translate / fall short and what not. Feel free to read what you want or just look at the images. I might add some audio from time to time and I might offer invitations to think about your body. Like with most of the things I make, I hope this provides some kind of respite space to think dreamily and thanks for stopping by.

Thank you to The Dance Centre for programming this as digital dance worthy.

Eternally yours,

Erika, in plain site

I’d like to acknowledge that this digital performance takes place in the digital sphere and on the land where I am. I am located on the traditional, ancestral and unceeded territories of the of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. I am grateful to the these nations who have cared for this land since time immemorial.