Laurel Smith's back at it: a report on the incredibly entertaining, funny, smart salon on obsession presented by Alexandre O. Philippe (Lighthouse & Cinema Vertige) and Garrett Ammon (Ballet Nouveau Colorado).
[caption id="attachment_541" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Mike Henry, Garrett Ammon and Alexandre Philippe on obsession. "]
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Last night we packed the studio at 910 Arts sipping our beers and munching on sliced meat. Garrett Ammon and Alexandre Philippe provided the evening's entertainment, delighting us with stories of their obsessions.
Garrett is the artistic director at Ballet Nouveau Colorado and his obsession is, appropriately, dance. Garrett had a childhood of artistic experimentation, trying out choir, only to have the self-realization that he’s not a singer. He moved on to theatre and suffered from stage fright. When he found dance something clicked.
"I found a place where I can be me,” he said.
I think that’s what leads a lot of us to our obsessions. When I was in high school I became obsessed with Rocky Horror Picture Show for that reason. For those of you who don’t know, RHPS is a cult film about alien transvestites. As an awkward teenager who didn’t fit in at school, I loved putting on my fishnets every Saturday night to shout profanities at a movie screen for 90 minutes with my fellow societal outliers. Thank god I grew out of that obsession.
Alexandre, on the other hand, never grew out of his childhood obsession. He is the creative director at Cinema Vertige and an award winning film director (and the director of screenwriting at Lighthouse!). His obsession is George Lucas. Now this was a little bit difficult for me to understand. I shamefully must admit, I have never seen a Star Wars movie, and had no idea what Alexandre was talking about most of the night. Despite this, by the end of the night Alexandre had me convinced that I too was obsessed with George Lucas. Passion must be contagious.
Alexandre uses film to express his passion for George Lucas in the documentary The People vs. George Lucas. In creating the documentary he found others that shared his obsession who used their own art mediums, such as puppets, music, Legos and cartoons, to express what it means to be obsessed with George Lucas.
We use art to express our obsessions. Garrett made the move from dancer to choreographer because he had tons of ideas and didn’t know how to express them. Through choreography Garrett explores these ideas, which too end up becoming obsessions. His most recent obsession is our own Mike Henry. Garrett combined Mike’s poetry with dance and music, and from the short clip we all got see, the results were powerful and moving.
Most of us at the Lighthouse are not choreographers or filmmakers but we all have obsessions that drive our work. Here are some of Alexandre and Garrett’s final thoughts on how our obsessions can guide us:
-Don’t write what you know. Write what obsesses you.
-Creative minds have endless ideas, far too many to follow through with in a lifetime. Pick an idea that evokes something that grabs you powerfully enough that you can take the project to completion.
-Finish what you do!
-Collaborate with other writers.
And finally…
-Don’t do like George Lucas.
If you missed last night or if you just need an extra dose of obsession I recommend you check out the book The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp or Episode 30 from This American Life titled obsession.
Still haven’t gotten enough obsession? Blog about it. What obsesses you?
Cheers,
Laurel
