Berette's Creative Life Journey: Acting in Evolution

Tuesday, 27 September 2011

Acting in Evolution

This is new kind of share (and update for some of you) about a most timely and beautiful opportunity I had this summer. I'm always going on about 'the journey' and usually a very internal and personal one at that - with the occassional dash of work/professional news. But as these two aspects of our lives are intrinsically tied - I must share this recent and particularly meaningful connection.

I have been excavating a whole heap of stuff over the past couple of years, and one aspect of my past has been left unexplored: acting. It's kinda ironic, but not entirely uncommon, to find myself on a professional journey that has little to do with my course of study in college: Theater Arts. I have certainly created real connections between this and photography, in so far as how I develop my work, and how I attempt to go about the business of creating it. The principles of collaboration that I seek always to work by, come directly from the culture of the theater world. But acting - well, this I have not done for some years now. As I often would put it when it came up: I haven't spoken text on stage/on camera for....

As I've been on my other artistic explorations, I've missed acting, not sharply mind you, but rather, I've been aware of its absence as a form of expression.

My friend Danae Grandison, another soul-searcher/explorer and accomplished graphic designer, decided to switch gears and explore the artform of film making. Her first film, Unconditional Love, is a work straight from the highway of personal explorations, directly from the heart, a beautiful distillation of what it means to come out on the other end of a growth passage emotionally in tact, and in fact, to find yourself utterly in love with life and all the vicissitudes therein; to arrive at acceptance, wonderment, and open curiosity to what comes next. We can only be in such a place when we are willing to release the past, and thus the expectations it invariably breeds for the future.

I auditioned at precisely the right time for the part in this 2 minute short - when I could understand the meaning of such a personal evolution. It was also therefore, the right project to bring me back to this art form. Oh the connectivity!

Danae's work premiered at SVA (School of Visual Arts) at the end of her film course this past August, and she received the Audience Award for her work. I was so chuffed too of course - haha!

Here's our Labour of Love - which was shot in the New York City heat wave of 115ºF! Not easy, but totally cathartic. Thank you for this journey Danae!

Unconditional Love from Danae Grandison on Vimeo.
Time to release the bags you collect along the way...

Featuring Berette Macaulay
Written and Directed by Danae Grandison
Edited by David Lee

3 comments:

Danae Grandison28 September 2011 at 10:04
Thank you Berette!!! If people only knew how it went down. Berette saw my posting for my casting and gently asked me about it. I sent her the outline script and immediately she was on board. She was the first person I screened. Within the first 30 seconds of her audition I knew it was HER!! She was the one! She got it! We spoke about it more that night, the night before I had other ladies to cast and knew then in my spirit she was perfect for the part. But I still had to see the other ladies juts because... How often can you come across someone that feels and understands the message you are aspiring to deliver? After seeing all the other ladies it was even more abundantly clear she was the one! And so we continued to connect even more on what was to be achieved and released.

She was my trooper!! It was a ridiculously HOT day and quite a challenge. But we DID IT!! We continued on for weeks in full discussion about Loving our self. I could go on forever, I am so happy to have shared this experience with Berette and completely with a full heart encourage her to keep her fire burning as she is filled with a spirit for life you can not bottle. She is on her way, she is an inspiration... Thank you Thank you Thank you for bringing life to "Unconditional Love" ... Great things are happening in our absence!
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sawandi29 September 2011 at 17:50
yes, b!...love this!
*salute* to u both
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Tracey Edges8 July 2012 at 04:55
Only just come across this video. To convey so much, in so little, is a great accomplishment. Also, means more when you know, for the people involved, it was a heart and soul project. Interesting topic - the fine line of decisions and unburdening. letting things go to give yourself freedom. Excellent.
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kWotes and Haikus

How do I know what I think until I see what I write.
~Unknown

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.
James Baldwin

For an idea that does not at first seem insane; there is no hope.

Einstein

no one ever really criticizes those who live out their dreams. but some will curse the courage it displays that they have yet to adopt. share not only your dreams but your daring to realize them. go forth and inspire. build together.

~Scoop
i•ma•gine | e•volve

People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction, and anyone who insists on remaining in a state of innocence long after innocence is dead turns himself into a monster.

~James Baldwin~

The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating -- in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.'

~ Anne Morriss

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

~Albert Einstein

When you stay awake, you see the sun. Anywhere you are, you have to make it your paradise.

~Joseph Buchanan

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

~Albert Einstein

Tomorrow will bring different questions and answers. OWN NOW.

~Scoop

A government which robs Peter to
pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. 

~ George Bernard Shaw

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.

~Martin Luther King, Jr.~

Live with your toes digging into the earth, with your eyes open wide, and your heart warm. This way you won't miss a thing little one. :)

~Scoop

The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge.

~Daniel J. Boorstin

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

~Steve Jobs

Art is a microscope which the artist fixes on the secrets of his soul, and shows to people these secrets which are common to all.

~Leo Tolstoy

I'd rather be busy than bored;
I'd rather burn out than rust out.

~Johnny Mandolin

We are all we are all the time.

~Karin Wilson of YardEdge.net

Whatever you ardently desire,
Sincerely believe in,
Vividly imagine, and
Enthusiastically act upon,
Must inevitably come to pass.

- Sybil Leek, Diary of a Witch

Democracy means simply the bludgeoning
of the people by the people for the people.

~Oscar Wilde

For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.

Ivan Panin

Remember to play after every storm.

~Mattie Stepanek~

The most original thing you've ever come across is actually yourself.

~Saul Williams~

Why fight it?
Be seduced by your purpose.

~Scoop~

The light at the end of the tunnel
is not an illusion. The tunnel is.

~unknown~

Fear is just another word for ignorance
...
Freedom is something that dies unless it's used

~Hunter S. Thompson~

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

~Marcel Proust~

Unexpected beauty in life shatters our monument to suffering.

~Scoop 2001~

Once you label me, you negate me.

~Kierkegard~

The worst realities of our age are manufactured realities. It is therefore our task, as creative participants in the universe, to re dream our world. The fact of possessing imagination means that everything can be re dreamed. Each reality can have it.

~Ben Okri~

Cautionary actions to prevent future pain or loss may also function as obstacles to any happiness you could have presently.

~Berette Macaulay~

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.

~unknown~

We shall not cease from exploration, but at the end of all of our exploring will be to return to the place from which we originated and to know it for the first time.

~T.S. Elliot~

Isn't it funny how the word 'politics' is made up of the words 'poli' meaning 'many' in Latin, and 'tics' as in 'bloodsucking creatures’?

~Anonymous~

"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he, "it makes you quite invaluable as a companion."

~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle~

Magic becomes art when it has nothing to hide.

~Ben Okri~

[I am] not so interested in the length of the road so much as the width.

~A. Regsmith~

Losers fold; winners take hits.

Forget the odds; draw, raise, bluff, call, stand.

~unknown~

Great ideas are no different from useless thoughts until they are put to use.

~Kynan Cooke, 1994~

In life you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

~anonymous~

It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before, to test your limits, to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

~Anais Nin~

Choosing to live in narrow spaces leads to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. …the willfully unimaginative see more monsters, they are often more afraid.

~JK Rowling~

Chance has never yet satisfied the hope of a suffering people.

~Marcus Garvey~

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.

~Elbert Hubbard~

a simple guide:
no NOW...no JOY...no LIFE.

~Robert Holden~

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

~Bertrand Russell~

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.

~John Lennon~

Being proactive instead of reactive always lessens the pressures of adversity.

~Kevin C. Robinson~

There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.

~Hunter S. Thompson, 1988~

The minute you try to prove yourself is the moment you've lost the point. 'Doing it' moves you forward, 'proving it' takes you back.

~Berette Macaulay~

I want death to find me planting my cabbages.

~Michel de Montaigne~

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.

~Douglas Adams~

In my sex fantasy, nobody ever loves me for my mind.

~Norah Ephron~

Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.

~Shakti Gawain~

Can you get over
Something you truly enjoy
And if indeed, why?

~Mystic Urchin~

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

~William Shakespeare, "Hamlet"~

There are indeed a thousand ways of acquiring an opinion that have nothing to do with rational thinking.

~R.J. Hollingdale~

There is need to sway
Naked Rhythm summons blues
Wind and Whispers dance.

~Mystic Urchin~

Chill out somewhere for a minute. Things get clearer when you get quiet.

~Scoop~

Love is rarer than genius itself. And friendship is rarer than love.

~Charles Peguy~

We are so accustomed
to disguising ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.

~Francois de La Rochefoucauld~

A man is not an orange. You can't eat the fruit and throw the peel away.

~Arthur Miller~

There is no truth; everything is permitted.

~William S. Burroughs~

Nothing is true or false but thinking makes it so. You believe you have appeased the thunder and lightening and the ground that grows your grain; you believe it, you have.
~Shakespeare~

Knowing how to see is much more important than what kind of camera or lights you have.

~ David Harry Stuart~

Every work comes into being in the same way as the cosmos – by means of catastrophes…

~Wassily Kandinsky~

Every man takes
The limits of his
Own field of vision
For the limits of the world.

~Arthure Schopenhauer~ 1788-1860, Studies in Pessimism

Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion... the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.

~Dorothea Lange~

Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind.

Catherine Drinker Bowen

Nature Will Hold You
Live within Integrity
Sweet Dew Forever

~Ku by Scoop~

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.
~Hunter S. Thompson~

I refuse to lose my mind to the sadness locked in the illusion of my finitude.

~Chuma and Fiswe~

fear of mediocrity creates it by narrowing your vision of yourself. get as far away from fear as you can by daring your ass to face it everyday.

~Berette Macaulay~

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming -WOO HOO what a ride! ~JAH – E~

Kill the arrogance. It will never serve you in the long run - as ultimately it acts as an inhibitor.

~Berette Macaulay~

Desire is a magnificent nomadic energy.

~Scoop, inspired by Nietzche~

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

~Lou Holtz~

There’s no great genius without some touch of madness.

~Seneca~

Live for the truth or lie
What are the consequences?
RECIPROCITY

~Ku by Scoop~

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.

~Hunter S. Thompson~

Water marks the way,
We wander thru wet slipways,
Happy to be damp.

~ Ku by Steve Wilson, nee Mystic Urchin ~

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”

MIND THE GAP

The delights of self-discovery are always available.

-Gail Sheehy

"Watch Your Thoughts, They Become Your Words,Watch Your Words, They Become Your Actions, Watch Your Actions, They Become Your Habits, Watch Your Habits, They Become Your Character, Watch Your Character For It Becomes Your Destiny"

One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind.

-Dorothea Lange-

“Fear is temporary. Regret lasts a lifetime.”

“Caution is the death of Creativity”

Let your deeds themselves praise you, for here I leave them
in all their glory, lacking words to extol them.

~Cervantes, Don Quixote de la Mancha~

Tuesday, 27 September 2011

Acting in Evolution

3 comments:

kWotes and Haikus

i•ma•gine | e•volve

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