Memories are strong of our time this summer on the water with music and movement, together for the first time in a year and a half.

Here in Vermont, it is a glorious fall day with that particular autumn angle of light, all the spent tall flowers nodding, the lawn grass matted down and covering with leaves of yellows and browns, bright, sundrenched nasturtiums spreading into the paths, big puffy clouds passing like ships in the sky.

The Artist in her studio
Leslie Anderson with ensemble member Tai Nixa Peterson as her apprentice has been creating this glorious, colorful, wearable art. The photos speak for themselves.

This month I have been out on the quarry with the new ensemble members, giving them a chance to slowly explore their “home” before we begin our final experiments in August.

Lukas Huffman, the filmmaker of The Quarry Project and I have scouted out a location for aspects of the 2021 film. Here I am amongst the rubble, one of our chosen spots for what we are calling “intimate video portraits.”

As you may know, the dance and music world has been deeply affected by this pandemic. Our art is about closeness, about breath, about sharing weight, about touch, about being grounded in our bodies and unfettered in our responses.

Last April, as everyone everywhere was struggling to adjust to separation, coping with waves of fear, I received an email from a man in Israel who shared my love of Pina Bausch, found Dear Pina and wanted to do a series of paintings from the images on my website.

The conversations I’ve been having lately with the quarry ensemble have focused on what this year of struggle has shown us to be important - simplicity, meaningful connections, spaciousness, time to ponder, a new perspective on the familiar.

We are delighted to share with you the film from The Quarry Project 2020, While We Wait.

These are precious moments together - excellent medicine for each of us, not fame, not money, but friends who will be there through thick and thin.

Someone recently asked me if we were fundraising for the project this year. I realized, oops, our internal decision had not become public. The answer is not this year.

Each day, it becomes clearer that our overall health is enlivened by the treasured relationships we nurture. Here are five recent examples of the way vibrant communications, even from a distance, act as our crucial connective tissue.

At the end of September, the TABLE dancers met near the quarry at Jay Southgate’s very long outdoor granite table to improvise, six feet apart, with the gestures from the Table dance.

Much to my surprise, two awards have come my way in September of this strange and wonderous year!

The other day, I was driving to Montpelier to meet up with two Quarry Project dancers to experience a slice of their lives outside on their own turf. Out of the blue, I got a call from someone I have known peripherally since 1980.

Over the course of seven weeks from June 17 – July 31, I spend a few hours nearly every day in the quarry, floating on the water, usually with just one person - ensemble members and a few supporters. It was a lovely, lovely time, quietly, slowly circumnavigating the perimeter, talking, listening, grateful for this unique pause in our lives.

Since mid-June, I have been in the quarry on the working stage floating about with one or two people from the ensemble and our community of supporters. As of this writing, there have been 20 floats with another dozen before we haul out the stage and leave the site for the year.

How does an ensemble ride this out together and arrive on the other side resilient, cohesive and filled with creative energy? Will we be able to complete our project in the way we envisioned?

Amy, Emily, Leslie and I have done our work to design a path forward for The Quarry Project during this extra year. We will "meet” once a month for an hour, cycling through a series of three “meetings.”

Meanwhile, we are collectively discovering new pathways of learning and interacting while we keep our distance. This Sunday, the ensemble will have its 3rd remote gathering.