So my wife and I went and saw that guy last night. I had no idea that he was a world caliber, fully realized, artistic genius. I'm an acquaintance of his and we greet each other when we see one another, but now I'm really taken aback because of his work. Amazing. Fraught with depth and meaning. Art on so many levels.
Well anyway, I'm melancholic today. Trey is this guy:
I want to be that guy. That's the hero. He is in control of the dualities of the world. He is actively pursuing his adventure and winning his fame. He is the master of his destiny and in control of life on all its many levels and facets.
My role is quite different. Fame is not one of the things I can expect either:
He is Mercury, thus mercurial. He is Loki, Hermes, the magician, trickster, guide. He mixes with liars and thieves, and can bring luck or misfortune. He throws rocks and brings about change.
More often than not though, I'm mostly this guy:
Yes, the fool does eventually become the hero, but the fool still has yet to take his leap and become. I'm forever on the edge trying something new. I think I hear the call and follow, but haven't gotten lost in the dark forrest and had to find my way out. I'm a dilettante. So who were some notable fools?
The character that is really speaking to me right now is Parzival. He plays all the roles but importantly, he's the fool when he comes to town and meets Arthur and co.
So, melancholy? Parzival frees the prisoners, redeems the wasteland, heals the wounded king, captures the holy grail and eventually becomes king himself. What's the problem?
An aspect of my life right now is my "card", Strength.
I like tarot cards. But I don't think of them like most people do. It's not ghosts, spirits and fortune telling. These cards present a life's journey in pictures. It is the best language I've found to describe a human life. These are the archetypes. The first 22 cards, the major arcana, describe the various roles that an individual will play over the course of their life. They also describe the path of life both in its stages and in the nature of life. So by stages I mean, Childhood, Maturation, Cessation. The nature refers to the active portion of life in the first half and the passive portion in the second half.
The normal thing is to set off on one's adventure and build one's ego in youth during the active portion of one's journey. Later having won one's fame, one undoes their ego and prepares for death. At this point, one allows life to lead. Strength refers to this. This card is the beginning of the second half of life. One's active youth is finished, and one begins dismantling one's egoic structure and preparing for death. Instead of "forcing" the lion actively (male), it is a female that is taming the lion on the card. One must be tamed and not "fight". One must let go, and know that death awaits.
Melancholy. I'm a late bloomer. God I want the recognition of being the hero. I don't know why, but that is what I want. I want my name in lights in the theater hall, I want my vision to be what the intellectuals are talking about the next day, I want my creation to move people in the way that only authentic art can.
I'm into the second half of my journey, and I'm clearly not 20. For me, to actively pursue means obsession. It means to be negligent in my responsibilities to my family. I don't have the time to become the hero. It would be selfish. I would loose my treasure in the process. Yes, I have the treasure. It is the same treasure that Indian Jones sought and found. Sometimes I forget though and want to take a leap and become the hero. I had the time in my 20s but wouldn't go over the edge. I had plenty of chances. . .
Anyway, I sure enjoyed the performance last night. It clearly exceeded my ability intellectually to articulate the expressed narrative. My wife could see Trey's brush strokes and not only follow, but explain the meaning. I could only "feel" the beauty. Perhaps after multiple viewings I would be more confident and conscious of Trey's intention. I'm grateful that he is here in Boise. It gives me something to talk about.
Say, maybe we should talk about the racial implications of that last piece though, Ma Maison. What does it mean that Trey's "white" dancers are dancing in a historically black idiom to "black" music whose authenticity comes from the poverty of it performers? And then what does it mean that said "white" dancers are seemingly dressed in "black-face" and are performing this to dance to a wealthy, upper class, white audience? Everything is intentional, yeah?
I wish I spoke the language of dance. I could perhaps discern what those to seemingly "master" skeletons were doing. Evocative. Racist? Not sure. Need to see it again. Comment about Katrina? Quite likely. Ma Maison? "Mother House"? The piece is built upon New Orleans. That is the primary stone. There is a history of "black" folks getting fucked there. The hats on the two "master" skeletons were pretty colonial. Hummmmm.
http://www.treymcintyre.com/repertory/ma-maison/
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