SJW World - Sarah Jane Watson

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“There is a certain tone in the things that matt

“There is a certain tone in the things that matter, an architecture of delayed light or slow sounds from long ago. Fragments for the after-silence, the sorting of a garden. Things in their essence. Spiritual forms, an invisible geometry of objects that gives strength to us through music...whispered petitions to show us the way or destroy us completely. Every word a last word. Every sound a revenant.”
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~ Herbert Pföstl : 📷 Don Freeman

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“Storms make the earth honest. They rattle the e

“Storms make the earth honest. They rattle the edges and tear it to shreds before gifting the calm again. Your own hardships and storms do the same to you. They rinse you clean. They paint new colours. They deepen your understanding. They give you a new language. A certain sweet serenity not previously known.“
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~ Victoria Erickson : 📷 Carlos Gotay Martínez

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“Starting here, what do you want to remember? Ho

“Starting here, what do you want to remember? How sunlight creeps along a shining floor? What scent of old wood hovers, what softened sound from outside fills the air?
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Will you ever bring a better gift for the world than the breathing respect that you carry wherever you go right now? Are you waiting for time to show you some better thoughts?
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When you turn around, starting here, lift this new glimpse that you found; carry into evening all that you want from this day. This interval you spent reading or hearing this, keep it for life –
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What can anyone give you greater than now, starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?”
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~ William Stafford : 📷 Petra Veikkola

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“Night is purer than day; it is better for think

“Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming.
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At night everything is more intense and true.
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The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning.”
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~ Elie Wiesel : 📷 Mal Bray.
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Wishing everyone magical summer nights. I shall take a little time off from here now and look forward to catching up with you all when I return.
Much love
Sarah ✨

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“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside

“Stand still.
The trees ahead and bushes beside you are not lost.
Wherever you are is called Here.
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes.
Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it, you may come back again
Saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or branch does
Is lost on you,
You are surely are lost.
Stand still.
The forest knows where you are.
You must let it find you.”
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~ Lost by David Wagoner : 📷 Unknown

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“You are tired, (I think) Of the always puzzle o

“You are tired,
(I think)
Of the always puzzle of living and doing;
And so am I.
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Come with me, then,
And we’ll leave it far and far away - -
(Only you and I, understand!)
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You have played,
(I think)
And broke the toys you were fondest of,
And are a little tired now;
Tired of things that break, and - -
Just tired.
So am I.
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But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight,
And I knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart.
Open to me!
For I will show you the places Nobody knows,
And, if you like,
The perfect places of Sleep.”
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~ E.E. Cummings : 📷 Unknown

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“Children dance before they know there is anythi

“Children dance before they know there is anything that isn’t music.”
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~ William Stafford.
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Young girls at Matthew F. Maury School improvising variations on their teacher’s dance moves, Richmond, Virginia, USA May 1950 by Nina Leen.
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Children have a natural propensity to be creative and love to express their imagination through painting, movement and music. Who as a young child didn’t love to dress up and put on plays for the family, while away the hours with a colouring book and box of crayons, or whirl around the house to their favourite songs? When creative expression and use of the imagination is so inherent in us, we have to ask ourselves why they are so often overlooked when establishing education in schools.
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It seems ironic that the things that are helping us to stay physically and mentally healthy midst this global crisis: exercising, spending time in nature, music, culture, along with the pursuit of some form of creative activity, are the very things that appear to have a lack of importance in the school curriculum.
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As Daniel Barenboim states in his book, Everything is Connected, “No school would eliminate the study of language, mathematics or history from its curriculum, yet the study of music, which encompasses so many aspects of these fields and can even contribute to a better understanding of them, is often entirely ignored.”
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Plato also believed in the place of the arts in education saying: “I would teach music, physics and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning.”
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If we want to live in a world where the arts are truly appreciated and supported, they have to be introduced at a young age. And if we want a flourishing, healthy, creative society that is in touch with its soul, we need a system of education where the study of artistic subjects is given the same importance as academic learning.
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Highly recommended viewing: Sir Ken Robinson’s illuminating 2006 Ted Talk ‘Do schools kill creativity?’

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“The artist’s role is to raise the consciousne

“The artist’s role is to raise the consciousness of the people. To make them understand life, the world and themselves more completely.”
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~ Amiri Baraka : 📷 of Maria Pagés.
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When I think back over all the years of seeing performances, I realise how many opportunities I’ve had to explore culture from other nations. Some of the greatest dancers and musicians from around the world have graced our theatres and music venues and I have been fortunate enough to have listened to legendary singers and musicians from India, Cuba, Spain, Mali, Brazil and Mozambique to name a few.
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The arts provide an important platform for the preservation of cultural heritage as well as the means for exploration and exchange. Artists have shown and continue to show an openness towards other cultural forms of their art and many collaborations have sprung from this interest. Flamenco guitar virtuoso, Paco Peña created productions which marry his Spanish tradition with music and dance from Venezuela and with that of Africa. In ‘The Thread’ @maliphantworks brought together traditional and contemporary dancers from Greece. @akramkhancompany and Israel Galvan embraced each other’s traditions of Kathak and Flamenco in ‘Torobaka’ and @sidilarbicherkaoui and @mariapages_ (pictured above) brought together their genres of contemporary dance and Flamenco in ‘Dunas’.
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Perhaps one of the most recent interesting collaborations - currently available to see online this month - is that between The Pina Bausch Foundation and École des Sables. Former dancers of @tanztheaterwuppertal chose 38 dancers from 14 African countries to restage a performance of The Rite of Spring. Germaine Acogny co-founder of @ecoledessables says “The Rite of Spring should be danced by African dancers because it is something universal. When I first heard the Stravinsky music, I felt it was an African rite.”
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Music and dance have the ability to transcend language and nationality allowing the heart to immerse itself in its very soul. We connect at the deepest level with the feelings being conveyed because we recognise them as our own. As Marina Abramovic says “But what is art other than revealing human nature?”

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“It is art that makes life, makes interest, make

“It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance for our consideration and application of these things, and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process.”
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~ Henry James : 📷 @mariahelenabuckley
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If there is one thing Lockdown has given us, it’s time to reflect on what is important to us. It has allowed us to envision the type of world we want to live in: one where nature is looked after, diversity is embraced and creativity is valued and given greater recognition.
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During these past weeks where the future of our theatres has looked so uncertain, I want to dedicate my next few posts to the necessity of the arts’ existence and highlight the valuable benefits they bring to our world.
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I am a passionate believer in the contribution that art can make to our state of wellbeing. Haven’t we all been uplifted during these difficult months by the creative offerings put together by artists and performers along with the streaming of productions from companies around the world?
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Back in 2017 The Guardian Newspaper published an article about the powerful contribution the arts make to our health and wellbeing. When asked why the arts are so beneficial, Phil George, chair of Arts Council Wales replied “The arts are a way of forming, shaping and holding something in front of your eyes that you feel internally. It’s about story telling. It helps people develop a narrative of their lives and relate to their experience in a new way. I’m convinced from the evidence, that investment in the arts for health would pay off. It would be beneficial, not just in terms of wellbeing, but in terms of the pressures and costs that mental illness puts on the system.”
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Gavin Clayton, one of the founders of the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing adds “The arts are important for wellbeing because beauty has a role in our lives.”
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Continued in comments ⬇️

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“The moment in between what you once were and wh

“The moment in between what you once were and what you are becoming, is where the dance of life really takes place.”
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~ Barbara de Angelis | 📷 Vadim Stein

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“Some periods of our growth are so confusing tha

“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognise that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person to explain to us, that we were in fact in the process of change, of actually becoming larger, spiritually, than we were before.
Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant. Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening [...]
Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realise that we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of the personality is about to be revealed.”
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~ Alice Walker | 📷 Donata Wenders

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“We yearn for connection, yet isolate ourselves.

“We yearn for connection, yet isolate ourselves. We seek love, but fear loss. We dream for someday, instead of trying for today. We want change, but don’t want to change. We over-consume, then wonder why there’s no space to create. We love the ocean, yet buy plastic. We advocate for education, then bury our students in loans. We want health, but for a price. We believe in equality, but struggle to bridge the gap of inequality. We ask for better leaders, but don’t think to lead. We wish for a better world, but not at the cost of comfort and convenience. There’s a disconnect here. And it’s not any one person’s fault. The world is made up of both beauty and brokenness. Most of the time, I believe we have our hearts in the right place. The problem is how overwhelming it all seems, but change is made up of small moments. Change happens when we have been hurt, but choose not to act from our hurt. Change happens when we see someone who seems upset, and ask how we can support them. Change happens when we don’t pretend to have all the answers, but are willing to ask the uncomfortable questions. The truth is, if we knew the whole story behind everyone’s actions, we would see why they are the way they are. And it doesn’t excuse it but compassion is the birthplace of change.”
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~ Allie Michelle | 📷 Unknown