Bizzilions of Hours

 

I am working on my ten bizzilion hours of floor time.

It made me recall the years of art school. Students in the Fine Art department were required to rack up studio hours. Drawing, three days per week, minimum, all afternoon, three or four hour sessions in the drawing studio. It all adds up to ten bizzilion hours. (This is why I did not major in math..) Life drawing from the model. There were "critiques" now and then, but for the most part it was just do a drawing, do another drawing, do another, etc. We used newsprint and did so much of this that self criticism fell away from sheer numbness, and the time was a blur after awhile. It just became a meditation. One could see, without judgment, that improvement was taking place, but one was too tired to care. This...is training. It is exactly like what a dancer needs to do. They must learn to walk before someone lets them loose to throw boleos around.

Funny how it all reminds me of tango.

Right now: Those studio hours.

Training, quiet mind, lots of time. Just one dance after another. And also, dealing with neurotic people in the business and just stepping very carefully over the mine field which is art, and dance. Also, being too tired to care.

Today in the studio those hours of drawing (which must be maintained) are serving me well. With quiet mind, not judgment, I can let go of perspective and line quality and other formalities and just let the thing go to serve a vision which is sometimes just a whiff of life, a little glance sideways into life, and a view through a little window into the world behind the world.


At night, at the milongas, I just put in the miles, check in with posture, relaxation, my partner, try to confront these things in much the way I confront that white paper in the studio. Quiet mind. Then go.