Just came back from Italy.
I went there to see Firenza Guidi at work and discuss with her a new project of, possibly coming to Israel next January with a selected part of her team, to conduct a workshop – creation process and a show for Givat Olga within the context of the Givol Circus Project. She would be working with Israeli circus artists during a period of two weeks.
Two days ago, Jean-David, my collaborator, sent me the request for funding for this project that he was working on. One of the questions to answer was: Why is this project needed, in this place at this specific time?
Well, it seems to me that Firenza Guidi’s work, or shall I say her way of work and being while she is doing what she is up to, is needed anywhere at any time. The distinctions she is working with and from, have been developed through years of work within contexts of many kinds and places around the world. I will not mention the places, but rather what to my understanding, these ventures fundamentally consist of:
- A deep and uncompromising commitment to the creative process Theater-Performance-Circus, are very big words, all three together containing the essence of the process, and possibly the nature of the result that would follow.
- An incredible team work, where every person being part of the team, is as committed as she is to the best possible result, where in the process and interaction with Firenza, their best of talent and creativity comes out and shows up constantly.
- Being in the moment, listening through her commitment to the creation at hand, things evolve organically and step by step fall into place. She does not have the pretence to know in advance how things will take place and the exact form and shape they will assume, instead she is proposing, researching, questioning her possibilities and opportunities on every step of the way, enjoying the process, having fun and trusting that what has to, will fall into place.
- An acute attention to details and an uncompromising approach to not settling for less than the best at a given moment or situation has her safe on her way to a promising result.
- She prefers to leave the balls up in the air, as she put it, until the last moment when final decisions need to be made, thus letting the performances themselves be a part of the creation process. Leaving space for things to evolve and grow as they take their form within the site specific set, and in the presence of the audience. Something that demands both of her and her team and performers, fundamental trust and courage. The part of the creative process that precedes this result needs therefore to be at that level, that will create this trust and courage in each and everyone involved, not an easy task when you have 32 young performers and 7 or 8 more team members to work with…
- Based on a text, the performance that will take place in the end will use visual elements, from costumes to the set, movement (well worked on during the process) circus arts, elements and skills, as well as live music, and designed lighting. A complete overall dramatic, audio visual, aesthetic experience, will have the audience be part of the action space, experiencing the artists’ interpretation on a very intimate level. Fundamentally this creation speaks of the human condition through the context of Julio Cortazar’s Hopscotch. Thus, it is very likely that most people will find something of themselves in the performance; I really wish I could be there to see it!
This and much more, I have learned from Firenza Guidi in three days with her in Fucecchio during the 19th edition of her Elan summer school there.
I have a commitment to myself to live a 100% inspired life. Firenza’s contribution to me being accountable to myself has been enormous. Very few people have inspired me at this level in the past few years.
This is also the beginning of me practicing another very important habit I am working on – “over responding”. My trip to Italy has been an over-response, the ways I will go about my work here, from now on, will be an over –response to that trip, it merits the best of it, I am unwilling to let my lessons of that trip go, without the proper response. I believe it was a tremendously important investment of time and money,
Time will tell.
Deeply grateful,
Orit.
Firenza Guidi and Over responding.
July 29th, 2010Cultural boycott on Israel
July 22nd, 2010I recently met the director of the French Institute in Tel Aviv.
While giving a short introduction about my work in Israel and abroad,
he asked if we ever had boycott problems in France, as they are very sensitive to this matter.
Apparently there were a few incidents of resistances to Israeli artists working in France.
I could proudly say that felt circus was an exception in this sense,
at least in my experience, and that possibly this relates to the clear stand for Peace that circus has taken in the past ten years.
Circus belongs to the arts of peace, like Aikido,
one works on the human spirit through perfecting physical forms and techniques,
but the real practice is a spiritual one.
“The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit”
Morihei Ueshiba – Tha Art of Peace.
Circus artists are practitioners of the art of peace.
The more I work in circus, the more I practice Aikido, the more I understand the one principle at the root of everything we do and are.
Grateful,
Orit
What’s cool about adding value
June 23rd, 2010I have been looking at adding value to my clients lately.
I realize it is one of the most rewarding things I can do for myself, while working with people. I get the coolest responses, but that’s the least of it, it’s mostly a strange and funny feeling that I can do anything…Here I am bragging again:) but it really feels this way, do you know the feeling? I also realize that with years of experience and a huge world network, adding value is the easiest thing for me to do, it’s practically costless and usually has a much bigger value for me in it, once done.
I look at it as living from the interest of my investments in time and human resources. It takes some time and a clear intention to know who you are and can be for people, but the feeling is, I am walking my talk and life is full of surprises, I reap investments with dividends from 7 years ago, that I sort of forgot all about:) it’s really, really cool.
Try it out, try and add value for your clients, your spouse, your children, your friends as Thomas J. Leonard says, just for the fun of it. And here’s a quote from the best in the field:
“…Adopt a style of relating that keeps YOU feeling positive…Add value to others for no expectation at all – just for the joy it gives you. Bees do it right. they do their thing going from flower to flower, collecting and spreading pollen as they go. technically speaking, their just in the honey- making business, working to support themselves and the other members of the hive. But they also create a by product. They add value to the rest of the world through pollination of the trees and flowers. It costs them nothing, yet the benefits radiate out to practically every living thing on the planet”.
This is from Thomas J. Leonards, ‘ “The Portable Coach”, a book I highly recommend to anyone in the business of coaching, or to any human being that values evolution of any kind.
While you are at it, check to see if this helps you in Defying Gravity!
Let me know!
If this has been valuable to you, add value for others, comment and share this with all your friends.
As ever,
Orit.
Feedback.
June 12th, 2010Hello there,
I decided to ask my clients for some more precise feedback lately, in order to know better what is special for people in working with me.
I know what is special for me in working with my individual clients (apart for the fact that i am madly in love with all of them:) , but I am in the process of reaching out to more people and thus thought: well, I need to ask them, so here’s the first answer I got, almost unabridged, it was just sooooo delightful to hear this, that I really felt like sharing it, nothing like sharing good things people say about you… I hope this doesn’t come across like bragging – but this is really a full answer I recieved to the following two questions:
1. What works for you the most when coaching with me?
2. What about have you gotten the most value?
” Clarity about any subject I bring up that confuses me, making priorities and decisions.
Distinction between what is important and what is secondary.
Precision of my intentions that assisted me also in being precise about what the subject really was.
Focusing of energy for the realization of things – accuracy, not too much and not too little.
The right thing at the right time – this is from the magic department:), sort of like miracles happening when we work on things…
The dissolving of obstacles such as negative feelings and how to deal with them, fear, overload, sometimes pressure, where to start when there is so much, each time a different obstacle…
You provide me with an environment/a framework to bring out disturbing or supporting thoughts and start working with them. There are many thoughts that if you are not aware of, they just take up space, there is no real awareness – thus impossible to face these thoughts and creatively confront them.
The work with the body – sometimes the experience brings me back to my center after discussing something in words. The physical experience is very strong for remembering the sensation or feeling of what we spoke about and vice versa. It is as if what we discuss becomes rooted in the body as well as in the mind.
Since I work in creation, the connection with the body is an inspiration, movement for movement’s sake is nice, but when it is also the expression of an inner state, it becomes an inspiration as well.
I got the most value in our work in:
The management of my teaching groups.
Moving with the latest show to a different location.
And last, but not least, my personal creation through working with you as a director, three years ago.”
Michal Oren, Dancer, aerialist and teacher.
Sharing this like this, so quickly, without thinking too much about it, has been a sort of ”defying gravity” act for me. This is a little different than what I usually share in this blog, but I decided to go for it.
Hopefully this will inspire some new people to get in touch with me, about personal coaching for their life:)
I have very little time left to work with individual clients, but this is one of my greatest sources of fulfillment and inspiration, since my clients are thriving and I see the difference made in their lives every day. It’s like, their successes are mine as well, there is a lot of success in my life:) This is the most inspiring environment to work in, if you want to get to the next level, which, if you read yesterday’s post, you probably know I do:)
So, that said, I have been fondly thinking of doing more of that lately, well, as much as I can, so if someone wishes to give it a go, I’d love to have an initial 30 minutes session for free, to see if this can be a match:)
You can start by simply commenting on this post, answering this question : How would defying gravity feel for you, in your life, right now? What would it look like, in your life?
Let me know, and if you feel like taking action about it, give me a call or write it in your comment:)
Please comment and share this with as many friends as you can!
Defy Gravity,
Orit.
Raising the bar.
June 11th, 2010Hello,
This post has been quite long in “cooking”, if to use the imagery of my Aikido master. Actually I am still looking at how to complete this dish. But I really missed the blog and wanted to open my thoughts about it,
I’d more than anything appreciate your comments thoughts and feelings at this point. Please interact with me on this one. So here goes:
I love my life!
I am a mother to a beautiful son, married to my ideal husband and his ideal father. We live in the house of our dreams that we designed and built, by the sea side. I love my work so much that getting payed for what I do, is the last thing I’m bothered about, though I am well paid for it. I am making a difference for the people I love and come in contact with, in my personal life and at work, I have a few great friends that inspire me and support me in what I do. I could say all is well.
In the past week, while busy living my life and enjoying every second, my Aikido master as well as my coach Jim Bunch, founder of The Ultimate Game of Life, invited me to discuss with them the future of my engagement with their teachings.
One day after the other, I was listening to people who I respect and am inspired by, who apparently seem to appreciate who I am in their environments, invite me to get engaged at the next level.
I know this will be a big stretch for me, in terms of investment of time, energy, thoughts feelings, well my whole being and finances.
As a result I found myself all of a sudden stressed by the thought of having to change the comfortable position I got to, I just barely arrived in this place in life, where I can say whole heartedly that all is well and possibly at times even better than that. If I could only be here a few more weeks in this nice, calm, centered place… Strange how these calls for the next level in life come to us when we are so preciously living the illusion that we have arrived, as if there ever was somewhere to get to…
Their timing was perfect, one day after the other, one in Israel, the other in the states, they do not know each other and there is no other connection between them, but the fact that I attend both their classes and follow their teachings. For sure the universe, as usual has to do with this.
I have been in close communication with the universe and its powers since a few years now. I know from experience that what i ask for, I receive, eventually, but honestly I don’t think I asked for this yet, or maybe I did?
Funny how the soul works.
I wonder what the next step will be.
Whatever it is, it will probably be the right thing to do,
always is…
Defying gravity again,
Orit.
When the body slows down.
June 2nd, 2010Hello everyone,
This was written on Saturday morning 29th May 2010:
I have been visited by a certain weakness yesterday and today, looks like my body is slowing down having me be as much as possible in the present moment. Any plans for action that are further than lunch in 30 minutes are exhausting only to think about.
This is interesting. In the past I would have done all I could to overcome this, I would see this as a disturbance of no use and try to resist it in any possible way.
But, I have learned from one of my coaches (Jim Bunch) that often, when the spirit is advancing very fast, the body may have difficulty catching up with it.
This is the weekend here in Israel, which incidentally is good timing for me to listen and tune in to my body and be with it while giving it rest.
A few days past since I wrote the above and another “teaching” comes up, it is often before a big breakthrough that we “slow down” on many levels, it is the work of the subconscious, it is our metabolism in a way preparing for the changes to come.
This week started with great news about a huge project that we were asked to write, design and accompany during the coming years. It is a long term project and the most exciting project proposed to me and my team in terms of scope, complexity and potential since the establishment of the Free Dome Project in Binyamina in 2001. So more about that later. But this is only to say that a very important shift started immediately after my weekend weakness.
A shift that is changing my whole life and work and the way I see, feel and act about and in them. A change that will make a difference for many people in our local community for years to come, not to mention the local circus community…
It was all worth while to “take the time off” this weekend, listen and tune in to my body and support it in going through what ever was required to have the energy and power I need now for the next 20 years…
Well, at least that’s how I see things.
Sometimes when we are not feeling well, when we are “out of our sorts” so to speak, when our body has us slow down, it is difficult to see things in a wider perspective. So this is just a short reminder, that what seems to be “down time” may very possibly be full of potential for what is to come. I was reminded of this recently by another awesome coach I am currently working with, Fran Henry.
Thank you all for being a part of my relationships environment,
As I said before,
It means the world to me, and I mean that literally:)
Defying Gravity!
Orit
and my awesome team!
Communication and defying gravity
May 25th, 2010Good morning!
Just came back from running with my dog out in the fields, and thought of an important blog post. But, before I go into it, let me just apologize for having replied only today to some of your comments, I guess I was not used to conducting a blog that gets so much response, thus being slow at checking comments, approving and responding to them.
Having read so many great comments this morning, I promise and vow to check daily for response to this blog, so please, please share it with your friends and comment as much as you like and can.
This is such a treat, for me and for other readers, as I feel getting response to your thoughts and what happens to you is tremendously important for each and everyone of us – it changes the way we perceive ourselves and how we act, so please, do not fail to interact, this is the only way to truly evolve and soar into heights you could not imagine before!
So now to my post, which I dedicate to Jessica Hentoff, she is the director of Circus Harmony and taught me about a year ago the following wish for people: “Defy gravity”, I since then used it in my news letters, on my website, at the end of many other personal letters and anywhere appropriate. So first I want to honor her for that and to attribute it to her.
Second I want to say something about the appropriateness, in circus, which is our trade, defying gravity is a common thing, we learn and practice how to do that physically day in and day out.
But we do it also mentally, emotionally and spiritually all the time, and not only we, circus people, but everyone, everyday. Defying gravity in a metaphorical sense is always and ever appropriate.
It is the essential human discipline for life. The better we are at it, the better life we live.
Think about it, essentially it is all about, when we wake up in the morning, how do we shake off the weight of our past, of our dis-empowering beliefs about ourselves and others, our heavy feelings of sorrow and pain, which heavily exist for all of us now and then, and for some daily… and spiritually, how do we transcend the survival instinct that dictates all our actions, what we do “for a living”, who we relate to, the quality of life we permit ourselves, to defy gravity and soar into the spiritual heights possible only for us human beings?
How do we address the question of “what we do for a living?” as opposed to “what we do for survival?”
How do we defy gravity? Evey day? How do you?
What could be possible if you looked at life from this perspective – of a circus artist – practicing defying gravity daily? Would would be possible for you then that is not possible yet now? How different would you feel? Emotionally? Mentally? Spiritually? and Physically?
Think about it, let me know!
All yours,
Orit.
My stolen Identity
May 17th, 20103 hours before leaving Buenos Aires my hand bag was stolen from under my seat at the lobby of the hotel. In it was my passport, my identity card, drivers license, my credit cards and some cash money, not to mention the paper back potable coach that I have been carrying around with me, everywhere for the past month.
In short – my whole “identity” was in that bag at that very moment.
Luckily there was a photocopy of my passport in the hotel and with the help of my hosts I could give a declaration to the police, make 2 passport pictures, get to the Israeli embassy and pay (from money that was given to me) a Laissez passer to travel home within the following 3 hours.
My friend Gabriela put me on the airplane 20 minutes before it left the ground and I got home with only that piece of paper (given to me at the embassy) in hand to testify for my identity.
Once here in Israel, when I got to the ministry of interior to make new documents, the question was raised by the clerck at the desk – how will I identify you? Luckily I remembered and brought with me that peice of paper with my picture on it (the photocopy of my passport was taken at the embassy in Buenos Aires), I showed it to her and she could authorize the making of a new identity card.
This is all just administravtive bureaucracy, but what is this to my true identity?
Who am I with this new clean slate?
What will I fill this new void with?
Webster’s dictionary defines identity as:
“The distinguishing character or personality of an individual”
How will have this event distinguished my individual personality?
Will it remain one and the same? Who am I? What is my identity?
How do these two questions relate?
How dynamic is all this?
Do we not, as human beings have the privilege to evolve thanks to events like this that mark us, so to speak?
food for thought…
A few days off!
April 21st, 2010Hello friends,
the past two days have been really important on a personal level. I got a chance to get a good look at the responsibility I have, having had a male son born to me in Israel in 2006. This year, 2010 was the first year Oran, my son, came to the memorial ceremony at the cemetery with us. A shocking event for anyone who does not know the reality of this land yet. Oran was one such person, until two days ago. He is 3.5 years old. we had conversations about death of all kinds, soldiers and the horrors of war, it was inspiring to speak with him about those things. It made it very clear to me that the only war I am willing to take part in, is the war for peace in the middle east.
For any other war is impossible to win. I have been appropriately coached by quite a few great coaches to set my game up to win, as opposed to setting it us to lose.
How’s your game of life going?
Are you setting yourself up to win?
Let me know, share, comment or post on this blog!
To a peace – full life and to inspiring conversations with our kids!
Orit