Please join me at this groundbreaking conference:
I'll be telling Sleeping Beauty, and there will be tons of fascinating and useful workshops for artists, educators, and those interested in the frontiers of creativity.
Welcome
More and more I want to stay close to you,
this way I can travel far from home,
and return back with new eyes,
new stories,
a new tongue.
this way I can travel far from home,
and return back with new eyes,
new stories,
a new tongue.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Samsara: a "must see" film
Go see this movie, a wordless visual poem on time, timelessness, beauty, suffering, and wisdom. Shot in stunning 70mm and using advanced cinematography Samsara is a feast for eyes as well as the heart/mind. See the trailer here: http://youtu.be/P0xVp3N-M84
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Man of the House
I've been happily holed up writing in my perfectly simple cabin at the Byrdcliffe Artists Colony in Woodstock and yesterday sent the Kennedy Center a working draft of The Man of the House, a new solo theater piece based on an episode in my own life...boy loses dad, boy finds dad, boy grows up.
Below is an excerpt from the play. I hope to get a production in the 2013-14 season.
Onward,
d.
PABLITO
Mom doesn’t hate
you Dad, she’s hurt, and she doesn’t trust you.
There’s a difference. She has to
work her butt off and with no help from you.
How do you expect her to feel?!
You left us stranded, and here you are with a Caddy, a Mercedes, a boat,
antiques…
DAD
It is much more
complicated than that.
PABLITO
(Angrily) Not really, pretty simple
actually. You have your life, we’re not
included. Period.
DAD
One day you’ll
understand how it is for a man to…
PABLITO
Bull.
DAD
…live with…
PABLITO
Double-Bull.
DAD
…a broken heart.
PABLITO
Triple-Bull…a
stampede of Bull!
DAD
Pablo, stop.
PABLITO
You stop bulling
me and just say the truth, that you were a coward, that you screwed up, that
you choose yourself over me!
DAD
Pablito…Pablo,
you…are…I am…(long pause)
PABLITO
A coward!
DAD
Waiter! The bill.
We are going home.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Music of Your Dreams workshop starts tomorrow!
A joy to be with my soul-brother, Andreas Gerber, prepping our workshop for tomorrow -- 36 people, a gorgeous vegetarian farmhouse, a barn full of instruments, and a bucket-full of dreams to play on. Check it out HERE
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Wounded Splendor - a page of resources.
Wounded Splendor is my song to the earth. Check out the link below for videos, blogs, and poetry from the show.
A choreographed suite of poetry, monologues and dance accompanied by
an original musical score and set within a luscious video design, Wounded Splendor contemplates our suffering planet, our capacity for reverence and our exceptional ability to destroy — and to preserve our "piece of the universe".http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/2010/c/engage09/e10-gonzalez
Thursday, May 24, 2012
The Art of Storytelling
A while back I was interviewed by the brilliant Eric Wolf about my storytelling approach to theater for young audiences. Eric travels around the country talking with practitioners of the "world's oldest profession" :) and puts them up on his cool podcast site The Art of Storytelling. Have a listen and lemme know...
Podcast with David Gonzalez
Podcast with David Gonzalez
Friday, May 4, 2012
Article in today's Lufkin News (Texas, that is...)
Read here a nice article about The Frog Bride. We just got off stage with our first (of two) school shows -- great response from audience. The presenter said, "this was the most elegant family show I've ever had on this stage...and I've been doing this a long time!" Nice.
Frog Bride article
Frog Bride article
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Sleeping Beauty review -- ALARMS ARE RINGING!
Pleased to find this nice review of Sleeping Beauty today -- ahhh, the pleasures of googling oneself --(actually I was searching for material for a grant application!)
Sleeping Beauty review from Kennedy Center run
Sleeping Beauty review from Kennedy Center run
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Poem for today: DONKEY - from The Carnival of the Animals
Donkey (Persons with Long Ears)
The straw is too dry,
My shoes don’t fit,
The fence is too high,
I’m done with it!
The barn smells bad,
The sheep snore at night,
The cow’s have gone mad,
It’s a sorrowful sight,
Everything around me
Dissapoints,
The quality, the service,
The endless oinks,
My patience has gone
right out the door,
My only recourse, of course,
is to kick,
and HEEHAW!
OWS May Day
Outrage and hope, ideas and inspiration, all in the polyglot American reality. Long live free speech, the right to assemble, and the messy cauldron of democracy.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Poem for today: AQUARIUM from Carnival of the Animals
Aquarium
Silver beads of bubbles, rising,
Golden curtains of light, falling,
Down to sunset coral of the sea,
Threads of thin silver silk ribbons, rising,
Blades of gold, falling,
Down to milkwhite sand of the sea,
Bluegreen water flowing, rising, falling,
Everywhere greenblue water,
Golden curtains, silver beads, sunset coral,
Bluegreen water, flowing…
A fish!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Poem for today: ELEPHANT - from Carnival of the Animals
Elephant
I’m large as a barge,
legs thick as a tree,
I’m chubby in the middle,
but fit as a fiddle,
or a piano for that matter,
yeah I’m fatter,
‘cause I’m built for comfort, not for speed,
except when there’s a need,
then stand aside, give a wide berth,
make way for my substantial girth,
or end up smushed all over the place,
but I’ve got grace, and elegance I’d say…in my own way,
I mean, look at this this sizeable snout,
it’s a hunk of trunk, this snakey sniffer,
it’s a handsome honker,
you couldn't ask for a better peanut picker,
and these ears, big as Bhudha’s…hey…I just heard a pin just drop in
Bermuda,
I have no fear of forgetting, like letting birthdays slip,
or the grocery list,
or the name of that great acupuncturist,
I’ve got it all up in my noggin,
I don’t need a computer, and never have to login,
welcome to my wonderful world of XXXXXXXXL,
I happen to enjoy it very well.
See more HERE
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Poem for today: TORTOISE (from The Carnival of the Animals)
Tortoise
With that shelly ‘round your belly,
as you meditate in place,
slow and steady most definitely
won’t win the race.
They say for you every hour
Is like for us like a day,
and that all of creation sits upon your shell,
well, then take us for a ride
show us, bestow us your ancient lore,
“Slowly, to see more,
slowly, to feel more,
to know more,
to live more.”
Ah, Great Master Turtle,
I slow down
to catch up to you.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Poem for today: WILD HORSES (from The Carnival of the Animals)
Wild Horses
Wild horses galloping,
cascading flash of hooves
striding streams, dashing
grasses, bounding boulders,
majestic mountain of mighty muscle,
speed-spirit,
Run, run, run! Run!
arrow shot across the horizon,
one more mighty leap
to reach the starry pasture
of the heavens.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Poem for today: HENS AND ROOSTERS (AND THE EGG)
Hens and Roosters (and the egg)
What came first - the chicken or the egg-cellent plumage of the
rooster’s head peck-pecking, scratch-scratching…ooh! a grain of corn, no a
pebble, gulp, it’ll come in handy, dandy ruler of the roost gives a boost to
the day when he opens his mouth to say cock-a-doodle-do, or kikirikiki, in
Spanish, kokekokko, Japanese, if you please, And the egg, the International
sign of breakfast; scrambled, poached, fried, on a roll, in an omlette, on
toast, the gooey yellow pre-chick is the most, it makes the world go round, the
world go round, the world go round, the barnyard is busy with flutter and
feather, clucking and dashing, the corn, the corny rooster, the corn-ish hens,
sitting upon the simply magnificent, totally terrific, egg-salted and peppered,
egg.
(Part of Carnival of the Animals, which I perform with the brilliant Frederic Chiu on piano)
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Poem for today: THE LION - from The Carnival of the Animals
Lion
Here he comes, the mane-man,
swaggering, swinging low,
bring him a chair, no, a throne of his own,
he’s the boss of the jungle,
head honcho, macho, the king of the ring,
doesn’t need to prove a thing,
he’s a natural born leader,
first-in-line eater,
deep sleeper,
female keeper,
sunbather, soothsayer,
never gets ruffled,
barely gets in a tussle,
lets the ladies use their muscle,
he’s got gravity like the center of the universe,
this cool cat is the feline felon, the witness, the jury and
the judge,
order in the court! order in the court!
the lion is coming,
listen to him roar.
(see more here: Carnival of the Animals video demo with Frederic Chiu on piano )
Sleeping Beauty - article from Washington Post on show for Special Needs kids
Great article about a special performance for Special Needs kids at the Kennedy Center last week.
Sleeping Beauty -- Special Needs Show article
Sleeping Beauty -- Special Needs Show article
Whoa.
Can barely catch my breath...Sleeping Beauty, Cuentos, Aesop Bops, and City of Dreams at Chicago's College of DuPage McAnnich Theater, straight to 12 sold out shows of Sleeping Beauty at the Kennedy Center, with a reading of a new work-in-progress at KC too.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Poem for today: EAGLE CLIFF
Eagle Cliff
Stuck and holding
on,
a bloody knuckle
grip into the Miniwaska granite,
a toe-hold with the
right foot,
the left on a
one-inch ledge,
spread eagle
thirty-five feet above
rock shards that
slid off this mountain
before sound was
born on earth,
I am scaling Eagle
Cliff alone,
when a bee buzzes
my ear
and returns again
and again
in tight chaotic
orbits.
Why am I here?
going back is
impossible,
...there...a rotted
pine shrub,
barely within reach
of my left fingertips...
I grab for
it, seems to snap
even before I touch
it, falls out of my
hand to the rocks
(below, I was
immortal, now I’m
not on terra firma
any
more thoughts of my
kids don’t have to
prove to themselves that they are young
forever)
shoulder elbow wrist and digits jerk away
from the mountain my right hand digs deeper into its crack hips and thighs push
against the wall I arch my spine in a convulsion.
In this infinite
moment
dark oblivion
invades my lungs,
and leaves the
etchings of her claws
on the chambers of
my heart,
as a warning.
Poem for today: YOUR GLANCE SCATTERS SEEDS
Your Glance Scatters
Seeds
Your glance scatters
seeds,
They jump at the asking of your eyes,
It is their reason for being, that moment of springing
outward.
(after Octavio Paz)
When we exclude we
betray ourselves,
Generations of immigrants, itinerants and explorers
Are within this blood,
Within this history,
When we include
we find ourselves.
(after Carlos Fuentes)
This necklace as
beautiful as a dream,
Tooth, husk, bead, skin,
Silent in the thick forest,
A prayer before the sacrifice,
The bow, the arrow, the howl.
(after Dom Helder Camara)
I have no brakes,
So make my horn louder.
(after a traditional Cuban saying)
Light winks at me,
I blink back,
It goes like that,
I can take just so much at a time.
(after Roberto Iuarroz)
At the beginning, mother
and light are a single entity,
In the middle, a thousand thousand refractions,
In the end, a luminous heart.
(after Pablo Neruda)
(First line quotations taken from Revelations: Latin American Wisdom for Every Day)
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Poem for today: THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
By David Gonzalez (after Whitman)
When I
heard the learn’d astronomer,
when the
board filled with the arcs and symbols of the craft,
when
invited to enter the idea-world beyond all I see,
when I
opened the eye of my mind to the heavens
for the
first time,
the
astronomer curious and quiet before the mysteries,
how my
heart quickened,
how my
thoughts raced,
possibilities
jumped headlong into the moment,
till
rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself
into the
night-air,
to gaze
upon the brilliant puzzle of diamonds in the sky,
perfect
in their silent beckoning
for
understanding.
(Here is the original, tell me your thoughts dear reader)
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
By Walt Whitman
Look’d up
in perfect silence at the stars.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Poem for today: ENTANGLEMENT
Entanglement
Now that the scientists have caught up with us
will love catch on like the hundreth
monkey with the sweet potato at the beach?
We knew from the beginning that entanglement was the only efficient way forward,
The elegance and ease, the instantaneous tranmission,
The recognition from afar.
Somewhere in Pasadena, locked in a research lab
Bare but for a candle, two solitary souls sit facing one another
In silence,
Experimenting with the new technology that says
What happens here, can happen there,
When I move, you move,
When you move, I move,
We are connected.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Poem for today: ECLIPSE
Eclipse
Neither Nostradamus nor Edgar Cayce could have predicted
last night’s full lunar eclipse –
their visions reached just so far.
At first she was bold,
sailing even-keeled across the heavens, keeping watch,
then she was touched,
then stained slowly, like ink bled into a napkin
till all her light slipped off but for a slim crescent at the bottom of her bowl,
like the eye lid of a sleeping child,
and then even that shut,
so that she disappeared,
gone, vanished at the height of her radiance like a fairy princess
run off between courses at the ball,
determined to live a life of adventure.
It has taken astronomers and mathematicians,
Eye to scope and graph wrestling gnarly calculus,
Buoyed and propelled by the accumulated knowledge of a hundred generations
To know that she’d return,
Once again gathered in her silver silks,
to continue her vigilant sojourn of the night.
Gopala with me and friends in a poetry concert from Madrid, 2/12
The first in a series of clips from a wonderful concert in Madrid earlier this year.
Gopala - original poetry
Andreas Gerber - hang and percussion, and piano
Lorenzo Solano - sax, flutes
David Gonzalez - guitar and piano
Gopala with me and friends in a poetry concert from Madrid, 2/12
Gopala - original poetry
Andreas Gerber - hang and percussion, and piano
Lorenzo Solano - sax, flutes
David Gonzalez - guitar and piano
Gopala with me and friends in a poetry concert from Madrid, 2/12
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
See this movie! Or at least view the trailer.
I've seen this movie twice and am filled with gratitude for it. It is a musical love story set in Havana and New York in the 1950's and in our times. Great music by Bebo Valdes, gorgeous animation, and a tear-jerker of an ending. If you love latin music, a great yarn, and fantastic hand-drawn animation don't miss Chico y Rita -- it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Film.
Chico and Rita trailer
Chico and Rita trailer
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Today's Poem -- Belly Laugh
Belly Laugh
Finally today at high noon,
it became clear,
all the prostrations,
all the incantations to deities and infallible flesh and blood masters,
the long silent retreats,
the bell clanging,
all of it converged into a wide-eyed belly laugh
that dissolved the clouds,
stilled the seas,
and completed his joining with the truth.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Kennedy Center Residency begins
Just checked into my hotel in Arlington to rest up for a week-long residency with the Kennedy Center. I'll be working under their auspices at two schools, performing and teaching kids about the "four rivers" of storytelling. Looking forward to a good week.
Plus, it's Spring here and the Cherry Blossoms are in bloom...c'mon.
d.
Plus, it's Spring here and the Cherry Blossoms are in bloom...c'mon.
d.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Poem: The SeeSaw of Aloneness
The SeeSaw of Aloneness
On one side sits terror,
on the other relief,
on the first sadness,
on the second cool joy,
this seesaw keeps moving,
up and down terror/relief/sadness/joy,
it's a treacherous crawl to the fulcrum,
from here the game is clear,
up/down, down/up,
all day, all night,
at the center spot, sitting lotus,
amused at the flying boards,
un-fazed by the creaks and squeaks,
calm in the eye of the storm.
My New Blog
Good to be here with you. Crazy, but I didn't realize how easy it would be to do this. I'll be back!
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