Parkinson’s Snake
Thoughts on the artistic process of Layers of Oak and Stone
by Claudine Naganuma, Artistic Director
In November of 2018, I began a collaboration with Annamarta Dostourian, an installation and sculptural artist. We began working on ideas for wearable art pieces that would make dancers feel beautiful and powerful. Two of our dancers with Parkinson’s have had Deep Brain Stimulation surgery and Annamarta created beautiful fascinators made out of crocheted wire with beads that swoop past the neck and over the location of the implanted battery pack that lives just below the clavicle. As the dancers perform the art pieces catch the light and are very beautiful.
In addition, Annamarta created beautiful crocheted snakes that we wound around the torsos of the younger dancers. On stage, the snakes look like soft but glimmering fabric with gemstones that glimmer in the light. When the dancers work in close proximity with the audience, people cannot help but reach out to touch the pieces, surprised, they exclaim, “it’s wire!” and “why snakes?” When we first performed the piece, I really didn’t have a definitive answer, only that there is something about them that feels right. Later, I found the reason why.
In preparation for the World Parkinson’s Congress in June of 2019, in Kyoto, Japan, I am developing new dances that will combine dancers from the East and West Coast. I recently engaged in a rehearsal process in Brooklyn, where I had the opportunity to work with PD dancers Carol Enseki and Manny Torrijos along with long time dNaga dancers Lucie Jerome and Erin Landers. We had first met in 2012, as part of a performance that culminated in Dave Iverson’s film Capturing Grace. The rehearsals were intense and set the groundwork to return to Brooklyn in May to participate in a 2019 performance project.
As part of the rehearsal process, I brought Annamarta’s beautiful snakes with me to see what creative movement they would inspire. While visiting a friend in Brooklyn, Myra Kooy, I brought them with me. Myra had recently lost her wife, Leonore Gordon, to Parkinson’s disease. Leonore was a fierce advocate, a loyal and loving friend to many, and one of the leaders of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group. When I brought the snakes out to share with Myra, she offered a poem that Leonore had written in June of 2018, and there was the answer to the question, “why snakes?”
“Parkinson’s Snake”
By Leonore Gordon
O, shape-shifting neuro-snake,
(so sly, invisible
to the unsuspecting eye),
who, some twenty years ago,
somehow slipped inside my brain and, uninvited,
settled in and made yourself at home.
Please know—we haven’t finished yet.
Your hired venom isn’t shy; like a shameless common thief
he steals away every single day with valuables of mine:
Why would you need my sleep, or voice, (once confident
and strong),
my balance, patience, first one hand, and then a foot,
What on earth is wrong? And what? My balance, too?
And what use for you the skills to sort my mail,
or pack a bag or pay my bills
on time?!
I can’t evict you, nor the games you love to play;
Freeze tag is the one you love the most,
but since you never care for rules,
it only goes one-way.
“Unfair!” I’ll shout, “Unfreeze me!”
but it’s on your time, not mine, and so I’m never really
free.
Well, oh-so-smug, shape-shifting snake of mine,
I have my own
bag of tricks, you’ll find.
My fierce soul and poems are venom-proof
and hidden up my sleeve,
and those, as such, you’ll never touch,
we hold them tight and close.
And trust me, one day we’ll all bid you,
“Adieu!”
So wait, my greedy near-snake.
Believe.
「パーキンソンの蛇」
作：レオノール・ゴードン
おー、変幻自在な神経組織の蛇よ、
（目には見えないずるがしこい蛇よ）
２０年前に私の脳に勝手に入り込み、
のうのうと住みついている蛇よ。
覚えていろ、まだ戦いは終わっていないことを。
お前の毒は容赦がない。恥知らずの泥棒のように、
毎日私の大事なものをひとつひとつ奪っていく。
私の眠りを、私の声を、かつては強く自信に満ちていた声を。
私のバランス、私の忍耐、私の手、そして次に足！
どうしてなのだ？そんなもの、蛇には必要ないだろう！
まだある、手紙を整理したり、荷物を詰めたり、小切手を書いたり、
そんなことまでお前に必要なのか！
私はお前から逃げられない、お前の得意なゲームからも逃れられない。
お前の好きなのは冷凍ごっこ、凍りついたように体を動かさないゲーム。
お前はいつもルール無視、
だからいつも勝つのはお前だ。
「フェアじゃない！」と私は叫ぶ。「解凍してくれ！こわばりをとってくれ！」
だが勝敗はお前の意のままだ。
だから私はいつまでも自由にはなれない。
おー、わがままな変幻自在の私の蛇よ。
だが私だって無力ではない。
それは私の激しい魂と詩だ。お前の毒にも負けはしない。
袖の中に隠してある奇術のトリックのように、
お前に触られないように、しっかりと守っているもの。
そしていつか、お前にきっと言ってやる
「グッドバイ！」
だから私の蛇よ、待っていろ。
約束だ。