act/re/act

April 19, 2008

Rearranging

We've entered into a new phase with My ocean is never blue as we're getting ready for our semi-site specific performance on June 22 at the Bladensburg Waterfront Park, right along the Anacostia River. For this performance we've pulled the work completely apart and are restructuring it from the ground up. Two Fridays ago we went to the park to see what we could structure specifically for this space. We ended up working on a dock that goes about half way into the river. I had one idea that we tried (doing the Drench section) and then asked for suggestions from the dancers. We ended up creating a nice 10 minute section there on the dock that will serve as the beginning section of our performance.

One of the challenges with this project is bringing in material that is specific to the site - we already have alot of material from this project that we want to include, but I don't want to ignore where we are. We also want to not make it only about the river, but still keep the multi-faceted aspect of the work intact. So, bringing in more specifics about the Anacostia River and keep the larger, more general observations about water present. I'm not too worried about this, but it is an interesting balance to explore and, hopefully, find.

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 11:09 AM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 31, 2008

50 Liters a Day, honestly

Still struggling with our internet connection... but, here are the totals for the week that I was trying to only use 50 liters a day (they are the actual amounts, honestly)...

Day 1: 64
Day 2: 41
Day 3: 41.75
Day 4: 63.5
Day 5: 45.75
Day 6: 51.75
Day 7: 42

total: 349.75

round that up to 350, divide by 7 and you get an even 50 liters per day. So, its possible, but certainly difficult.

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 5:05 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 24, 2008

More Water Days

Well, I survived my days of a 50 liters limit pretty well. On Saturday, my last day of the water week, I took what was the most satisfying 4 minute shower of my life. After spending all week taking a 2 liter "bath", having water run down my body was so pleasing. As the week went on the most interesting aspect of the experiment was not figuring out how to use less water - that was interesting at first - but, it was the development of my awareness of water use. Each time I went to wash my hands, take a drink, or wash a dish, I would pause and make sure I really needed to do that action right then. Each time I began to ask, "can I wait alittle while before I use this water?". It became an interesting meditation of sorts. I'm still not exactly sure how I will incorporate this experience into the final work, but it will be interesting to continue to reflect and see how it effects my day-to-day life.

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 1:44 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

March 17, 2008

Water Days 1 & 2

So, I was planning on making a real push to write about every day this week as I try and use only 50 liters of water each day. Then, of course, my DSL line goes down. Now it's Day 3 and I'm finally able to get out to pick up a wireless connection..so...

The first 2 days have gone fairly well - on Day 1 I used 42 liters of water and on Day 2 I used 51.75 (drat!). Today, Day 3, will be alittle higher because my wife and I did a load of laundry, but I'm trying to reduce the rest of my use to compensate. Here's the brake down of my use:
     Day 1
          Drinking     2 liters
          Food prep .25
          Bathing      2
          Toilet         33
          brushing teeth 1
          washing hands 2.25
          dishes       1.5
          total           42

     Day 2
          Drinking     3 liters
          Food prep .75
          Bathing      2
          Toilet         36.75
          brushing teeth 1
          washing hands 3
          dishes       5.25
          total           51.75

The first question when I look at these number is "how do you bathe with 2 liters of water?" Well, it is not as bad as it sounds. Because the average shower uses 6-10 liters per minute that seems out of the question (you have to also count the time it takes the shower to warm up). So, in the morning when I'm heating water for my tea I heat up an extra amount. I pour this extra hot water into a bowl add some colder water from the faucet until I have 2 liters. I take this into the tub and use a washcloth to get wet, then soap up and then use a very wet washcloth to rinse. And, I actually feel pretty clean. Now, I don't have long hair and I can see how that would be a challenge, but otherwise it works well. : )

Next entry - how I'm cleaning dishes with very little amount of water...

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 2:55 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

March 11, 2008

Your Water Use

Follow this link to see how much water your household uses each day...

http://www.owasa.org/pages/WaterCalculator.html

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 12:14 PM - Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

50 Liters A Day

The World Health Organization says that every person needs to have access to at least 50 liters at a minimum each day. As part of our ongoing research for My ocean is never blue, next week the company is going to try and only use 50 liters per day. One recent statistic I saw stated that the average American uses 300+ liters per day - now, I'm pretty sure I use less than that, but never the less it will be a challenge to get my use down to 50 liters. Here are some averages for water use:

Drinking (cup of tea, coffee or water) - .25 liters
Shower - new shower heads: 6-10 liters per minute
Bath - 80 liters
Flushing the toilet - 6-10 liters
Brushing teeth (running water) - up to 6 liters
Dishwasher - built after 2000: 35 liters per load
Washing machine - Energy Star Washer: 65-95 liters per load
Cooking - 1 liter per pan
Garden hose - 10 liters per minute

Clearly I won't be taking a shower each day, nor washing many clothes. I will be posting my daily water use on the blog and reflecting on some of the challenges each day. I will also be posting some ways I've found to reduce my water use. If anyone has further info about water use please post it as a comment.

I'm not exactly sure how this will translate into our performance work at this point. I think of this as more like background research that informs our overall understanding of the issues as creators and performers than something that is directly carried into performance. But, maybe as we go through this process some movement, text or image ideas will emerge.

Also, I invite you to participate in our 50 Liters Per Day research - we'd love to hear how you do!

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 12:01 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)