S3.E2. Molly & Delia

Molly: Hello and welcome to the podcast where we talk about creating experimental art and trauma informed and sustainable ways that support artists, our communities, and our organization as a whole. I'm Molly and I'll be your host for this episode of any other Anythings. Now we'll go into it. All right.

Hello, all. Welcome to episode two of Season three of Any Other Anythings. I'm Molly and we'll be your host for this episode. Little bit more about me. I am the founder and creative producer of Gray Box Collective, and this is the start of season three, where we are passing the interviewee, interviewer hosting roles and responsibilities back and forth throughout throughout the season.

So today I'm here with Delia. So welcome Delia, and thank you. Yeah, welcome back cuz you were in season two, so we just heard from you back again. Excellent. So in a moment we'll get into more of like your origin story, but wa to start with a little check-in, a little resourcing. And if you'd like to do a little bit of context you're welcome to add that in as well.

Delia: I feel ready to get into resourcing. I actually rediscovered, I have a resourcing packed next to me and I hadn't looked at it in a long time, but I found it yesterday. That's nice.

Molly: Oh nice. Do you wanna pull a card out and maybe we can do a little refreshing moment.

I'm feeling that like, which card makes sense? Yeah,

Delia: shake it out is what came up.

Molly: Cool. So would you like to guide us in a little shaking it out moment?

Delia: Sure. Let's, I feel like shaking in my shoulders for sure. I'm noticing how my earrings are hitting my headphones, . And we can let that shake move into our arms

and I kind of wanna toss the shake into tapping the head

and the reverberations from tapping my head are going down my spine into my hips and my legs,

and we can let those shakes sort of settle.

Molly: Nice. Cool. Thank you. And so just like a little context, those resourcing decks were one of the projects that came out of Covid. It was like, the summer after, it was like, oh, what can we offer? And it's like, well, we do resourcing typically in rehearsals, so pack 'em together in a little, it's like a little gum pack.

And, and had that available on our store. So yeah, that's one of the first products we created in response to Covid. So yeah. Thanks for bringing it back. Cool. Anything else that you care to share as a check-in?

Delia: So we talked about this a little bit before, but I'm on the east coast and right now the East coast is having lots of fun weather.

So we're working with the audio and delays and things like that which is a response to some fun weather patterns and having internet when you live in a rural space. So that's sort of where I'm at, but it seems like I can hear you pretty well.

Molly: Yeah, yeah, I think it's going well so far, techni technically.

And if that changes, we'll adapt. Mm-hmm. .

Delia: Yeah. Cool.

Molly: Cool. So one of the things we're doing slightly differently this season compared to the season two and even season one is dividing. Dividing out each episode into three segments. So one, to focus on G B C creative's personal stories, one section to talk about behind the scenes of our most recent projects.

And then the last section is where we really lean into that, any other anythings title and we choose what to spark a conversation about today. So and for a little transparency, like Delia and I talked about the structure like this isn't completely winging it. We've got like a loose blueprint or a loose score to use some of our rehearsal language of what we're following today.

So like, the conversation's spontaneous, but the container it is in is something that we've, we've communicated about and we'll continue to communicate about throughout this episode. So up, first we have this holding space for origin stories. Another way to think of these origin stories are like, what are the clues that led the clues that like have existed throughout your life that have kind of suggested that you're doing what you're doing now?

And so that could be like physically where you've ended up professionally, personally. Another way to think about it is like, these are the parts of the journey that don't necessarily end up on our websites or in our professional bios or something like that. So it's kind of the, like in between threads of the bigger body of work that we do.

So today we'll be holding space for Delia to share their story. So now as a formal exercise, this was something that has been done previously in my experience, where the person listening is silent and there's no interjection. And it is really about holding that space, holding that container, and very minimal verbal communication.

And so I will go quiet. I'll, I mean, I can put myself on mute so I can like really hold myself accountable here. And Delia, when you're ready, care to share your origin story.

Delia: Great, thank you. Mm. Well, I recently came upon something that I wrote about myself and my the way I create and how I've come upon that.

So I'm gonna start by reading that little snippet and see where that takes me. From a, a young age, I studied music, painting, dance, theater but, and that was inspired by my parents. Both my parents are artists, so my artistry comes from the need to access the lands that are inside of me. That is the arid land covered in sage from my mother, who's from Colorado, the lush Rolling Mountains from my father who is from Colombia.

Those contradictions have made me think about how I can hold all of those different landscapes in my work. Both my parents are also, I think I already said that they're both artists. My dad is a graphic designer, a painter, an architect, and my mom is a poet, a writer. She leads writing workshops.

And so I grew, I was born in Northern Virginia, going to gallery events and Artomatic, which is this big painter's convention in dc going to poetry readings. My parents actually met at a poetry reading. So the arts have definitely been a part of me and the way that I was raised from a really young age.

And I, I remember having a birthday party that was the same day as one of our open houses. And so, and it snowed all, all at once, . So there were a bunch of kids over and it snowed and everyone was stuck and we were throwing snowballs at one another. And meanwhile there are people inside the house having this poetry reading.

And I was, would always put together shows with my friends. And the way that my parents talk about it, I would, I would never want it to be the star of the show. I would always sort of find. what people were good at and try and put them together and showcase their, their skills. And so I think it's really interesting to think about that in the context of what I do now, cuz it's really hard for me to focus on all of the ideas in my head that I want to create, but I find myself doing a lot of arts administration and organizing things and events and programs for people.

Let's see. So I talked about my parents but meanwhile I, while I was. Born in this northern Virginia DC area. When I was really young, we moved to a rural community, which is where I'm calling out of now. It's the northern neck of Virginia, and it is right along the Chesapeake Bay. It's in this place where three different rivers sort of converge, and there's lots of tiny creeks.

There's water everywhere just wrapping around itself. And so I think that, that, that land was really formative in terms of just growing up in a rural community. I'm didn't grow up with the traffic. I grew up with getting stuck behind a combine tractor or something. I, where was I going? Oh, Also living on the bay.

It's this place between freshwater and saltwater and living with parents who are from these really different places. My mom came from the west. My dad came from South America. We ended up in this strange, sort of strange place that none of us really belonged in. And so I think that the, the brackish water of the bay feels really important to the way that I think about myself as as being half Colombian being just a mixture of a lot of different places and ideas.

and yeah, I think that's been, I've been very conscious about that because I was in Arizona for a while. That's sort of like a weird detour. I took , I went to Arizona to, to realize everything that I didn't know that I knew about my home and my family. And then I feel like now I've come, come back here with more appreciation and fresh set of eyes to continue hopefully creating dance and visual arts, but also to, with the hopes of creating a residency program here so that other people can experience this in between space.

That I was born in

End thought .

Molly: Cool. Thank you Delia. Would you like to dialogue a little or may I ask a few questions or would you like to keep going into talking more creative process?

Delia: I am definitely open to answering any questions you may have. Okay.

Molly: I, I'll, I think the, the in between will probably come up in like where we're going with some of our other conversation.

So I'm curious, like, tell me more about these shows you used to put on, like what were the themes? What, like what disciplines were present? Like can you like paint that picture for us?

Delia: Yeah. So I think. A really distinctive one I remember is, and probably I remember it so well because my dad also has always loved taking videos and photos and has this, has a YouTube channel with hundreds of videos.

So there is video of this performance. And it was myself and some of my nieces. So I, I'm, I have siblings that are much older than me, so their kids are about the same age as me. So we grew up in this interesting way. And so I was probably like 10 or 11 and the nieces were ranging from six years old to 10 years old and.

We, there was a show where my niece, who's a really good singer, was the the narrator. And she told this, there was like a framing story. And then I was playing a character who learning from a bunch of masters. And then each of my other nieces was the master of a different thing. So my niece Elizabeth taught, had like a green tutu on and my mom's high heels and was doing a dance and I would just sort of stand behind her and follow her.

And that was act one. And then in the next piece the next oldest niece who's really funny was doing this, like almost, it was all very movement based, but Laura's section was, it almost reminds me Clown or commedia dell’Arte. And then my oldest niece, Jaydeen and I did a tango dance to a Shakira song.

But between each , each piece, my niece, who was the narrator sang a song and there then my youngest nephew, who was like three or four at the time, he would like be playing the drums, which was a box in the back background,

Molly: So very dynamic performances that yes, and I love just even knowing that there's a video out there that exists. Yeah. That's,

Delia: that's, maybe it goes into show

Molly: notes. . There we go. There we go. I'll leave that up to you if you care to link it in the show notes. Cool. And so then the idea of like, like really kinda like maximizing what each individual is bringing to your production and then like, kind of like solving the puzzle pieces of like, how can you make a production with the humans you're, you happen to have around you.

Where did that impulse come from, or do you have a sense of it? I, I

Delia: feel like I've always had that impulse, so it's hard to sort of emit to a certain moment. Actually an interesting thing about being back. Home where I grew up is that I re recently reconnected with someone I, I knew in preschool. We haven't seen each other since we were four years old, and he is now an artist, a a paint, a visual artist. And he remembers me as always te like telling people what to do and where to go.

And so even in preschool I was doing this. So yeah, I don't, I guess it's intrinsic or something. Yeah. That's

Molly: great. That's great. Thank you. And I feel like this kind of leads into more of the creative process, so Yeah, let's just jump into to that. So getting into a little bit more like the behind the scenes of our most recent projects and what you've been working on with Grey Box Collective.

And so yes, so like with any creative project, creative activity, like we know that the final thing is like just the tip of the iceberg, right? And there's all this work that goes into it and wanting to bring a little bit more light to that, wanting to bring more ways to engage in that process is part of where this section is really inspired by.

And so Delia, if you care to share a little bit about your work that you've been doing with the, the film and. Yeah. Then we'll just dive in. I think this is where like the in between is gonna come up and also like kind of circle back to the stories of you directing at a young age.

Delia: Okay. . Yeah. So this season I was involved in the digital process of creating a film with the theme and title, understanding otherness and

where do I wanna go with that? I, I think something I've been thinking about recently is at the beginning of the season I remember how like, coming into the conversation being like, oh, I'm not sure if I'll be able to be present if I am. I just wanna sort of throw ideas in. But. Put, you know, put anything together.

And then it ended, of course, things shifted and my capacities and willingness shifted. So by the end of the process, I volunteered myself to also edit together this content we created. And yeah, I, so it's funny because a couple months ago I was like, I will not edit anything I refuse. But this was a really, really fun process.

It felt like a space where I got to be more curious than I'm used to in terms of video editing. So that was a lot of fun.

Molly: Could you go into that a little bit more? Yeah. Like, yes, it looked like you had, you were ready to go. So yeah. Could you dig into what was it that allowed that curiosity as opposed to maybe some, like comparing and contrasting as a, a generative exercise, not saying one's better or whatever, but, mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Delia: Yeah. So I think that the, even the desire to participate in editing came from the way that our, our process as a group went because so much of our time on Zoom together ended up just being conversations rather than being tasks. Found myself visualizing so, so many things as hearing people talk about their ideas, that then once we got our hands on everybody's everybody's videos and the sort of the, the content with which we would, the buildings for the, the final film it was like I had built up all this anticipation inside of myself for all of these possible visual representations of the ideas we were talking about.

And then, but at the same time, a lot of, so I guess for context, a lot of the visuals that we came up with were. Inspired by a series of removing things from their initial con context. Like we saw an image that turned into a sentence that turned into another mo movement phrase that turned into a video.

And so then all of the clips we had were very abstract and removed from the initial things that we talked about. So I felt excited by seeing the ways that things were linked together and trying to to tie that back in to some of the subject matter we spoke about in the rehearsal process. And then at the same time, I was really excited by how, how sort of separate and abstract everything became because.

Like other othering sort of happened in front of our eyes in an intent, intentional way. But it was also fun to work on because in, in the process of gathering materials, a lot of videos were sent, but not a lot of sound was sent. And I'm not a sound designer. I, I mean, I've dabbled with it, but I wouldn't consider that my medium.

And so to have a couple of poems and then some ambient sounds from videos to craft a soundscape from made me really dig into different effects and settings. And Molly, you created that. Videos of playing with eggs and I and cracking eggshells. And I remember you saying, I got a little carried away.

This was a lot of fun. And so, and then I started playing with those eggshell sounds and slowing them down and speeding them up and reversing them. And it turned into this almost, I don't know, I think the reverse eggshell sound is almost like how I imagine shooting stars would sound or very spacey. Mm-hmm.

So yeah, that was a lot of fun. Yeah.

Molly: Yeah. Cool. Thanks for elaborating on like your pr I know like we had met, but we had met in like very like practical, logistical, like conversations about it. So thank you for sharing more like kind of the inner workings. And yes, I did get carried away with the eggshells.

I did not even send you all the material. I think I have like 30 or 40 minutes worth of me just playing with cracking eggshells. Which was a lot of fun that I was not ready for. But when you told me like, I think I had asked like, what is that sound? That's like, I don't, I don't even, I'm not even gonna attempt to replicate it

But when you said like, it's an eggshell in reverse, like, it like blew my mind. And so as we're recording this, we're like two rehearsals in for the in-person group. And so we're hoping that somehow the eggshell sounds and that reverse can also echo in the in-person version as well. So like your creative process is spilling over.

Delia: Yeah. The eggshell and reverse topics. Bring up two thoughts. Mm-hmm. one is that I was just thinking about how when you and I met, it was when I was crafting my my senior capstone at asu. And that whole show ended up being about creation mythology, and one of those big symbols was the egg.

And so I, at the, in 2020 had a big egg phase where I was also also like cracking them, filming them sometimes one one time I dropped an egg accidentally and then I was like videotaping it for two hours, . So

I just think that that full circle moment was really interesting

Molly: That's awesome. Yeah, I feel like there are definitely moments like that where I'm like, ah, I'm gonna capture this sound.

I don't know why, but there's something about like, in the creative process, like I'll, I'll figure out how to use it at some point. I don't know. Yeah. You mm-hmm. and that's why we film Eggs that splatter on the floor. Mm-hmm. totally. . Totally. So I'm curious as well with the, the, because you, you kind of alluded to it and I've noticed it in my creative process lately, that like, I don't hear performances, I don't like hear the shows or hear the films in the creative process like maybe I did once upon a time or I've just now become aware of it.

So I'm curious, cuz you kind of said that too, of like, Whoa. I also had to do sound from fairly, I'm gonna say unintentional source material. And I'm not sure where I'm going with it, but like, was there a, a moment in the process where you were like, oh, this is gonna be the sound that works. Like where is like that tipping point of starting to either play with the eggshells or the poems that you saw it with the visuals as well?

Delia: Hmm.

Well, I remember I did, I started sort of hearing what I imagined it sounding like during one of our last Zoom meetings when I remember. Ray was talking about the use of headphones and how like putting on the headphones and muffling out the sound is like, is a way that you can other yourself from a really sensory overloading situation.

And the idea of the sort of muffled hands over ears kind of sound or the sound of like our blood rushing that you can hear when you cover your ears was really interesting to me. And then we ha already had some clips of, I think you, you provided them of the, the water when you were in Maine. And so then the water sound replicated, what I imagine this like blood rushing sound was like

And I think I, I wanted to start to use Adam's text Bec because all of these visuals we had were so so abstract, which is exciting to me. But I think I also understand that people need something to grab onto . So the text was something that could be a different, a different doorway. And

so I think I, I think initially using the Shells, I was just like, oh, there just needs to be something more than just water rushing and words. And that was the way that I started playing with the eggshells and. and there are other sounds in there. I think some of my clips have like crushing leaves sounds and bird chirping.

And, and then I, I layered them in different ways. I ha if you look at my, my file, it's like nine layers deep because I was just tr trying a lot of things. Yeah.

Molly: That's great. I love, I love seeing like how deep, like maybe that's one thing I really enjoy about editing, whether it's video or audio, is you get to see the layers, mm-hmm.

in a way that with like dance, you can't necessarily always pick up all of the layers, but to visually see them represented is always really interesting. That's true. Yeah. I'm curious. And I'm borrowing your word. I think in one of our last rehearsals you said, we had like these lush conversations and yes.

I need that word in my vocabulary more so like, yes, we had these like really lush conversations at the start of rehearsal and then like reality sets in and it's like, okay, cool, we have to have parameters and there's a budget and you know, like time, energy, resources, et cetera come into play. So I'm wondering, is there something that was in those early conversations that you feel you really hope was, was amplified or was there something that was missing that you'd like to name here?

Delia: Yeah,I was really moved by. by the opportunity for sharing to be an intentional choice. Mm-hmm. , you know, I think, you know, there were talk, there were definitely parts of the conversation where we talked about you know, our identities and being pulled between places or feeling excluded from spaces. But the I think two phrases I re I remember from our our virtual sticky notes were otherness as as boundary setting, like othering ourself for our own good or away from a person or situation that isn't benefiting us.

And also, The ways that that the things cause us to be othered can also be the things that that cause us to find our community or Yeah. Communities that are built on shared otherness. Yeah.

Molly: Yeah. Similarly, I think that's what really struck me. It's, or not where I anticipated the conversation to go is maybe a better way to say it.

So like the history of the show is the original time we explored understanding otherness as a company was in 2017 and we were making it during the 2016 election. And so it was a very particular kind of othering that we were looking at and now emerging from this period of time of isolation with the pandemic and quarantining and social distancing.

It's a very different conversation. I think it's much more nuanced cuz we've all had to like, kind of hang out with ourselves a little extra than, than perhaps we want to. But yeah, the idea of like intentionally othering ourselves as a a means of safety was really interesting. And I also, as I've been talking to other people, I use the word other way too much now.

As I've been talking to humans who hopefully will attend the in-person performance or see the virtual one the, there's also talk of like othering ourselves from ourselves, like that mind body split. Mm-hmm. Where we're not even like in tune with ourselves anymore. And I didn't even, th I don't think we got to that point in our conversation,

Delia: right?

Oh, I don't think we did

Molly: I guess like othering ourselves intentionally could be that. .

Delia: Yeah. Yeah. I, I often wonder if we, if we had like just 30 more minutes for some of those meetings, like how, what, where would we end up? Yeah,

Molly: totally, totally. Mm-hmm. , I feel that, I feel that I know that you had one question for me, or you said Yeah,

Delia: yeah, yeah.

Especially you've already, you've already mentioned a little bit about being in this in-person process now for understanding otherness. So I, I'm curious about, Maybe not necessarily comparing, but how the fact that you've been in a facilitation role for the digital process and the in-person process.

Yeah. What's coming up? What kind of Yeah. I'm interested I guess both in a, like as a facilitator and also like conceptually, and

I don't have the words, but

Molly: Yeah. Like the, the various hats I wear in mm-hmm. in this. Yeah. Yes. I think my first thing for context is this is the second season I've done the in-person and virtual and I've been the one human to cross over between the two projects. And last season, The digital was being created roughly the same timeframe as the in-person, which was a lot, which was too much.

I'll just name that. I was burnt out at the end of having a double creation process happening. And so, and also I think just with film, especially the digital, we needed that extra time at the end for technology to do what technology does. So starting the digital group three months ahead of the in-person group, I think is roughly where, what that distance is.

Yeah, it, it's once again, like really weird to, to have had some conversations. The, the lush conversations that we've had and. In some ways it feels like starting from a blank canvas. And with like the wisdom of some of the conversations that came up in the digital group. So like right away bringing in what is it to other ourselves versus other, other people.

And because it's a different form, right? The content stays the same, but the form changes. That's really where we've started this. It's like, how do we distinguish when, if you see on in a performance space, there's four performers in one space and one over here, how do we know, did this person choose to leave that group?

Did this person get left behind? So really at this point we, we've been talking a lot about intentionality and just Maybe some of the tableaus that we might be able to, or the motifs that we might be able to incorporate to really illustrate that. We also have technology, we have Half's work and thinking about how it's this wearable broach type thingy with lights and like, can the lights also be indicating how someone feels when they're separated from the group?

So again, it's like using the different tools and the different disciplines to in many ways tell the same story or explore the same questions. But I think the question that has really hooked people once again, is that, like, what is it to other ourselves as a form of safety?

Delia: I have, yeah. Oh I guess I'm curious if, if, you know, because the digital group is all, is sort of spread out and this, and the in-person group is pretty much based in Arizona, in the metro Phoenix kind of region.

Do you do the themes that show up in the in-person performance or at least process feel tied to Arizona?

Molly: I've been thinking about that actually. And I'd say at this point in the process, it hasn't revealed itself in any particular way, but it feels pretty early in the process. So I could definitely see that.

Happening. Ooh. And that makes me think about, I didn't, I had another thought to your previous question. Cuz one of the things that I set up as a structure this year was the crumbs, nuggets and muffins. We actually have cupcakes now too. But like, where do you wanna enter into the rehearsal process and realizing that also like where people enter, it's almost now some of that separation and some othering built into the structure of how we create in general.

Not just the generative work that the process you brought in of like, okay, we're gonna like riff off of each other. So that's been an interesting thing. That's just, it's like embedded in the process. Yeah. So that's been another. Element I've been thinking of. And I feel like you're starting, you're, you mentioned wanting to spark a conversation about place and grayness and otherness, and I think it ties back to your in between.

So maybe we can shift a little bit into, into that. Right. Yeah, so into this like final stretch of the, the episode where we're leaning into the title of any other anythings which is a phrase that comes from rehearsals, that's essentially like a last call before we check out and close rehearsal.

Like, what else do you need in the space? Or what else do you want in the space? And so reframing it here to ask like, what do you wanna spark a conversation about? And I know because we've talked about it, place has been the thing. So would you like to add a little more context to that conversation and then we can dive back in?

Delia: Yeah. . So I have been, so I like sent an email to Molly, wait a couple weeks ago, and I was like, I'm really interested in talking about the impacts of place on otherness, grayness these sort of in between spaces that we talk about. And that for me has shown up in the work that I want to do. I've been sort of crafting this, like this term for the work that I do, that I, that I'm calling process in place.

So I'm thinking about how ecosystems have these really specific processes and then how we, how our processes are reflecting those places and all of. All of the different ways that you can define the words process and the word place. But I was ex I think that because the digital group, what we're all in different places and those different places show up in the, the videos that we that we shared.

Yeah. I felt like place came up in a, not, not in a clear way in the, in the digital process, but as like an undercurrent.

Yeah.

Molly: When you had said that you wanted to talk about place, it. My brain goes to like two places. Oh, that doesn't help. But my, my brain kind of splits into like, are we talking like physical environment? But I seem to also automatically think about time and space when talking about place and place being like the place in our lives where we are at.

You know, we're, we're Gen Z, we're millennial, we're Gen X in the company. And so like even that's quite a, a span of place. Not just the physical, geographical separation and like our little boxes of the digital world. Yeah, I don't, I don't know if you would define place as re it relates to time and space as well, but.

Yeah,

Delia: that definitely, it's not a, it's not something that I've like dug into as much, but you know, I, I do sometimes I have been thinking about place as like stages in a cycle. So then the sort of time element does also make sense. It's interesting cuz I also, I'm in like that in between of Gen Z and millennial type of spot, another in between.

So I don't always, I feel like I don't notice generation differences in the same way. Yeah. So I hadn't even thought about like the span of ages and times in the company. Yeah.

Molly: Well, and it's, I, I appreciate you talking about like, the place in terms of like, in a cycle. Cause I've been thinking of alot about like the cycle and just like the rhythm even of our seasons and of a creative process.

And there's something about naming it as a place that I hadn't really thought about before that feels like you can arrive to it as like, it gives a little more settling to a process where sometimes it's like, oh, one thing and then the next, and then the next and the next. It's like, no, I've arrived at this stage or this place and this process and, and the cycle will continue.

But there's a, there's a presence that comes with naming it that way. I think.

Yeah. I mean

Delia: even thinking about like, about the term season as it's used in a. Performing arts space where there's like the, the, the season and then I guess off season. But the entirety of the off season is preparing for the next season or even, you know, I'm sure you're already in like three seasons ahead and so yeah, how do we sort of arrive into the season that we're currently in like while also being in, in this future place and yeah. Those, that sort of whole be between preparing and being present is really tricky. Yeah.

Molly: Yes. And yes, you are correct. I'm, I'm into season 10. We're in season seven, but I'm.

Yeah, multiple. But yeah, there's also the I was just talking to someone about like transitions, so like that in between, and I mean this is like one of my, probably like biggest lessons on the yoga mat was like, I do not like to be in between shapes, put me in a shape. And like, I think it's also the dance training, especially coming from like a ballet background.

It's like shape, shape, shape. So what is it to, to hang out longer in between the shapes that we're making and then allowing us to arrive fully in each of them, but like, not like skipping the, the in between. Cuz so much like, I mean part of the reason it's a gray box is because of the in between and the messiness of it all.

So I think there's a lot of value in the in between. Mm-hmm. , maybe not a lot of comfort

Delia: Yeah, I, yeah, I've been really thinking about about comfort a lot like it. Why that? Cuz it seems like that is such a, a thing that we like, hope for a, a big goal in our lives, which I think is a good thing. But yeah, I, yeah, like working on being okay with discomfort. Not noting what's, what's uncom, what's uncomfortable because we're growing versus what's uncomfortable because it's not because it's holding us back or in, or in an unsafe mm-hmm. space.

Molly: Yeah. Yeah. The messiness of. The, the visual that's been working for me, cuz I think we talk about like our comfort zone versus our like stretch zone versus our like panic zone, right?

And we have that mm-hmm. A new visual that I don't, I can't remember where I saw it, but looking at, like, looking at moments of comfort in a growth process or in a personal development process or professional development, whatever kind of growth you're going through. Looking at those moments of comfort as like the platform between staircases.

So like that moment where like you don't have to take any more steps. You can hang out and not feel stuck with that. Know that it's like, oh, I made it cool next like flight of stairs.

Delia: Yeah, that's a really helpful visual cuz it's not, it's not contained that way. That's like, you can tell that there's somewhere you came from, there's somewhere you're going and you can kind of teeter back and forth between those places too. Yeah,

Molly: yeah. Where the other feels like consistent linear as opposed to like a more dynamic linear journey of the staircase.

Delia: Yeah. Yeah.

Molly: I'm curious, tying this back to your origin story, a bit of mm-hmm. , the in between, well actually it kind of ties into everything we've been talking about and we're getting close to wrapping up. So the in between understanding otherness. The gray areas, thinking back to your origin story in particular is what's coming up for me of like, existing in the in between.

I have like a couple questions I'm curious about, but I mean, how does that inform your art making? Let's go with that one.

Delia: I'm definite, I definitely consider myself multidisciplinary and I have made a, i, a lot of active choices that I've made about my path and career have been based on not feeling like I had to stick into a box and of, of a discipline.

And, but also I think something that has been really interesting is that, is thinking about how the Chesapeake Bay, where I am. This is a really, is like this really important ecosystem because it's a space where certain species can coexist. That like they couldn't do that, couldn't all thrive in ocean and they couldn't all thrive in a river.

You know, there's this, it's sort of a compromise. It also, the water, the brackish water can exist that way because it's sort of, it's enclosed by land in, in a particular way. And so there's like

this. This container of community that it makes me think about. And so that shows up in my work because I definitely, I don't really like to make things alone. Even if I'm not actively, you know, collaborating on a particular project. I think that there, there, the ways that ev everything I'm making is inspiring everything else I'm making and every conversation I'm having with someone else is I impacting the next conversation.

And yeah, so that feels like this sort of this same invitation in, I don't know what word I was trying to go for, this, this space that, that they reminds me of.

Something that is coming to mind right now though, is that there's this feeling that I've seen from some people that like the, the Bay is dirty, , like, I don't know. It's, I guess because things are sort of rushing in and out, the water's not clear and it's not, it's not all salty and it's not all fresh, and so it kinda gets a, a bad wrap.

It's like muddy. Mm-hmm. . And you know, I think that there have been moments where I've felt like, you know, people who are, are very disciplinary don't always have a, have the, I guess, vocabulary to wrap their heads around multidisciplinary process. . And so yeah, that's a new interesting comparison.

Yeah. Wow.

Molly: Yeah. You said there are, there are three bodies of water that come together,

Delia: or three. Yeah. So, well, yeah. It's basically where I live is at the point where the Rappahannock River and the Potomac River empty into the bay. So that's sort of, yeah. Yeah. That's,

Molly: Does, as you're like sharing it, I feel like that's such a, an yeah.

I feel like it's such a great metaphor for being interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary or anti-disciplinary, insert whatever, disciplinary mm-hmm. Artist you wanna be. And. I feel like it echoes a lot of the conversations I have around Gray Box Collective as well. Of like, well, no, we're not like just dance or, well, no, no, no, we're not like just theater.

Right. Because there's something about wanting to be able to define and put things in boxes. That I think when we don't have the language to talk about what those messy merged convergence kind of spaces are yeah, it gets bad

Delia: reps

and it's interesting because I, I think a lot of people who exist in that world were probably creating because, or at least in part trying. Express meanings that there aren't words for, but then we, but then you have to have some words to apply for the grant or get a book booking with the presenter. All of the things.

Molly: Mm-hmm. . No, totally. Totally. Yeah, like what's the language for the things that we don't have language for? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. and English being a pretty limiting language that's true. Vessel doesn't help

Delia: Yeah.

Molly: So I'm wondering if there is anything else you'd like to add at this time and then if, and when ready we can do our checkout and seal it

well.

Delia: I'm curious if you have any o other anything I always appreciate,

Molly: The, the way that you

Delia: facilitate spaces, and it feels like it gives me a moment to take that hat off, but yeah, I'm interested in, yeah. Okay.

Molly: Let's see. Any other, anything from today? I think what's, I don't think I have any, like,

there, there's you know, not having language for things. There, there's a, this like forward momentum sense that, that I've been picking up on with various conversations in this. This feels like that as well for me. . So kind of what you were saying around like, every conversation influences the next conversation you have.

So just feeling like that, like, yes, this is definitely one of those conversations that like, kind of goes into that forward momentum flow. No detours and that, that's, that feels really lovely. So just naming that. Yeah. For, for anyone who gets to see the video, there's a lot of gesturing for those who just listen.

I'm doing my best. .

Delia: Yes.

Molly: Yeah. Would you like to end with a little checkout and seal it? How you doing and what are you thinking about?

Delia: Yes. All I am doing is, well, I feel very. Seated in my place. I don't know. I felt the like gravity in a good way was like really settling into me as we moved through the conversation.

And I just started thinking about how we have, you and I haven't necessarily gotten to ha be in conversation in this way before. So this has just been nice. And I think it's funny how we have to schedule things like conversations sometimes to make them happen

Molly: Yeah. That, that reminds me like when we first, when we did season one, which was the summer after lockdown it was like, oh, I get to have conversations with everyone. That's really nice. Like, yeah, we spend a lot of time together, but that doesn't necessarily mean we get like this kind of time to just like, Talk about maybe the bigger picture So, yes, it, and I didn't, because I, I handed off season two. I didn't get to do many interviews last season, so thank you for, for letting me hop in on this one. And let's see, what am I thinking? I'm also thinking about how timing wise, my cat has decided that it's dinner and is like right here staring just off screen.

Very intensely. I can like, feel it. So yeah. Cats . Yes. Cool. All right. Shall we do our slow motion clap? Mm-hmm. .

Delia: Okay.

Nice.

Molly: Cool. Thank you Delia. And so that's a wrap for this episode of any other anythings. And I'll toss it over to Delia to take us out.

Delia: Hey listener, thank you so much for taking the time and energy to listen to this episode of any other anythings. Be sure to check out the show notes for links to find out more about this podcast, the speakers and Grey Box collective. You can also go to greyboxcollective.com/podcast for a full transcript of the episode thanks again for listening and have a beautiful rest of your day.