Saturday, May 03, 2008

Bonus Track: "The Magic Hand"


Last Wednesday, I performed my annual gig at the Very Special Arts Festival at the Los Angeles Music Center. It took me back in time, to ten years ago when I taught the art of mime to school kids. One day while teaching at a school with "normal" kids I had a "unifying experience" when everyone in the room saw the "magic hand" that materialized right in front of our very eyes...

"A Very Special and Intense Day" shot by Lance...

Proudly presented "raw, uncut and in one take"...

33:32 / 31.5 MB/ Rated: PG-13 (Some adult language.)

"Thanks for the download"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lance,
You nailed it... again.
You have this way with making stuff say more than the words themselves.
Nuances.
Metaphors.
I have to assume it is that, rather than me hearing things that are not there.
Or maybe it's a combination of storyteller and listener.
You said something along the lines of "wanting to be with people who are not repulsed or afraid of you".
That's how I feel.
Not physically, of course, but spiritually.
It's funny because it's true.
Dude, loved it.
Great piece.
It's art.
It enriched our day, and our lives.
And I am not being a sycophant, honest.
Thank you for recording and posting.
Once again, I am going to have to listen to it several times to get all I can out of it.
There are layers within it that cannot be experienced in one listening.
Kudos.

Peace.

David Given Schwarm said...

Excellent!

This one had just about everything...strangely I missed the singing & thought to myself when it was over what song would have fit.

There is a lot of tension built up during the preparation--the stuff about evaluating a school (how the leader behaves defines the behavior of the group), the sixteen candles stuff about which kid is the clown, the brain, etc., and even your kind of apathetic approach to the event that caused the flash back--I was expecting tragedy. Like you picked him and some other kid was gonna yell out "he cannot do it, he does not have a HAND" or something.

I like the way your story turned out. I liked the somewhat spiritual touch at the end--the recognition of the value of shared experience. I had not really thought about Physical Dramas ability to produce that kind of state--I find it more in music or literature. Food for thought. And perhaps the fact that a song did not happen at the end allowed me to live in those thoughts longer then I otherwise may have.

Magic Mountain and the White Flight was nice LA touch as well.

Did you consider using a song for this piece? What would it be if you had to go back and add one?

Also,

Brad P. from NJ said...

Nice. Dude, I was hoping that the story would go in that direction. That right there is one amazing kid.

And good on ya for being bold enough to keep your brain flexible, on your toes, in that "there is no spoon" moment.