Faith Dance - Obscurity Blog
Let’s talk.
Who was the last person you spoke to about mental health? When was it? Was it on January 29th of this year or in the days since? I’m asking myself the same question. Posting on social media doesn’t count. Clicking “like” doesn’t count. Writing this post doesn’t count.
Pretending we care about our those who are stigmatized and hurting in our community while hiding behind our screens doesn’t count.
When asked to put together a piece on my creative process relating to what I’m bringing to PROSPECTS on February 22nd, I thought for sure I’d end up talking about how OBSCURITY reflects my own journey with mental health, being an artist in the midst of depression, and how that affected my sense of community and relationship toward others and my own art. I was going to highlight the notion of obscured creative process and how I began working on this piece over a year ago, only to find obscurity in my way forward for a long, long time, until I was able to accept my state as a part of me. With this acceptance, the work flowed freely.
But then this year’s “Bell Let’s Talk” Day came around and I got angry. OBSCURITY was always intended to offer a mild critique at various points on the corporatization of mental health, and I wanted a few small moments within the piece to give a light, gentle nudge into thinking about what that means. But as voices were amplified over the past few weeks about Bell employees getting fired for requesting medical leave to—wait for it—deal with their mental health, not to mention the revelation of Bell’s predatory phone contract with Ontario’s jails that prevents inmates from reaching out to family members or physicians for support—all while making a record $7.7M for “mental health initiatives” through a record-setting 154+ million of, let’s face it, free online advertisements from you and me—I got angry.
OBSCURITY still offers a mild critique. The main thread of story is elsewhere. But you may notice a moment when my gentle nudge took a sharper turn. It’s brief. Blink and you’ll miss it. I have no wish to condemn actions taken with sincerity, I don’t want to point a finger (and if I do, rest assured there will be four more pointing back at me), but we’ve been taken in. Our community is around us. The people who need us are the ones you and I speak to every day. Not the stranger behind the screen. We need to take care of our own. Bell needs to take care of its own. It’s failing its own people with an “initiative” designed to support them. You and I won’t let that failing happen to the people we love. We’re better than that. We’re bigger than that. We are more than that.
In developing OBSCURITY, I considered my daily relationships in the real world while in the throes of crisis, and tried to translate that struggle to the stage. If anything, January 29th showed me that it can’t stay there. Life becomes art becomes life. I turn to you as you turn to me, we look each other in the eyes, we see ourselves reflected as we speak simple words of kindness, compassion, an invitation and a willingness to listen.
Let’s talk.
PROSPECTS: an evening of dance and discussion presents
Obscurity
Choreographed by Faith Boughan
Performed by Faith Boughan, Eshe Yildiz, Andria Guitard Henry
Saturday, February 22nd 2020
7PM | Door at 6:30pm
Burlington Student Theatre
2131 Prospect St, Burlington ON
$20 advance | $25 at the door | PWYC
GET TICKETS HERE!
Learn more about Faith Dance here