by Robert Wilkinson
Ordinarily this would post on Sunday, but as she's offering the world a great show this weekend, I'm posting this birthday celebration today! (More about the current show at the bottom of this tribute!) Today we celebrate the birthday of a truly unique artist and Spiritual force in our world, my dear friend Sally Jacques. Indescribably beautiful and affecting tens of thousands over decades of performances, her creations are the peak of blending of art, science, and precisely focused movement. These awe inspiring performances combine elegance and style to take us into timeless spaces. Today I'll show you the way to some amazing videos of her pieces offering fairly breathtaking imagery.
For those who haven't had the privilege of getting to know her through past birthday celebrations, Sally is a remarkable woman of deep compassion, intensity, integrity, and devotion to all that is good, or could be good, in our world. I met her years ago when we joined with others to do some human rights and anti-war work, and we've been close ever since.
She is based in Austin, Texas, and for those of you lucky enough to be able to attend any of her works, you will find yourself transformed forever by some of the most memorable and graceful performance art one could ever behold. Given that she also has an extraordinary wit and wisdom, I am pleased to be able to call her my friend and Spiritual Sister.
Her performance company is called Blue Lapis Light, self-described as "site specific aerial dance." The Austin Chronicle has written "Sally Jacques' work inspires a kind of wonder that connects us to the grandeur of creation." When you've witnessed multiple performers doing aerial ballet many feet above the ground, bathed in surrealistic lights, doing even more surreal movements perfectly coordinated in unique forms, you know you're in the presence of true artistic genius.
By all means, explore the videos available via the links on her front page. Here's a direct link to the multi-media library that houses the magnificent work of this equally magnificent artist and the Blue Lapis Light performing company. The names of these clips say it all: "Illumination," "Constellation," "Requiem," "Impermanence," "Angels in our Midst," "Whispers of Heaven," and "Where Nothing Falls II." Please check them out if you want to be transported out of the mundane world for a few transcendent minutes. These refresh the Soul.
The amazing thing about these performances is they are not done in usual venues, but instead on very improbable multi-story structures where her intention of creating beauty and peace through culture is imposed on buildings that house thought forms that are usually NOT "peace through culture." She brings the elegance of high art to spaces where there previously was none, and transforms dull shells of buildings into venues of timeless art and culture.
To give you a sense of where she’s coming from, her 2015 work is titled Edge of Grace. Here’s her statement about the work:
Grace finds you in the darkest
Grace Breathes the HeartWe are facing climatic and environmental devastation, extinction of species, ongoing wars, attacks on women, and racial discrimination. Many of us are dedicated to changing this paradigm and have been seekers on the path to compassion, connection, cooperation and harmony with one another, as well as caring for our planet.
Edge of Grace opens to music by Max Richter. It is titled Sarajevo. I was in the former- Yugoslavia, during the war in 1992, and there was a story being told about a cellist named Vedran Smailovic, who every day at noon, sat in a pile of rubble in a burnt out ruin and played his cello. He became a symbol of hope for the people of Sarajevo during this time. His courage and inspiration is the manifestation of Grace, in the heart of a terrible darkness.
In creating this work, the scaffolding with its bars, and confined spaces evokes a symbol of the limitations and challenges we face in our lives, as well as exploring ways to move through them with Grace and beauty.
It is said that when we envision our dreams, the Universe conspires to make them happen. Now is the time for us all to dream the dream of manifesting love and peace in the world and for all we share it with.
Sally Jacques
For more about The Edge of Grace and this remarkable woman and her work, please check out this 2-part series in the Austin Chronicle.
"Moving Toward the Edge of Grace" and from a week later, a companion piece: "The Edge of Grace"
Here’s something from KMFA that has a 41 minute video of the Blue Lapis Light performance of In Light on the IBC Bank Building downtown in September 2014. KMFA – Blue Lapis Light Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary
Here’s what she offered back in 2017 about her amazing project titled Belonging – Pt. 1:
Our earth is place of great wonder and beauty. Every animal, insect, tree, plant, mountain, desert, ocean, bird and human being belongs here. We are part of a great mystery, inter-connected like the root system of trees, feeding and nurturing the other trees even as they die off.If you want to see the video where this is the voiceover, it's powerful!It has been said that when a butterfly flaps it wings it is heard all the way around the world. Every act of kindness and compassion lifts the heartbeat of all of us. Every act of war and violence hurts us all.
We are facing extinction of species, and environmental devastation at an alarming rate. Because of our intrinsic connection with every animal, plant and mineral, our survival is dependent on the earth thriving. Now is the time for us as citizens of this planet, to join to gather and create the world we want, where we all Belong, where we respect and honor our earth and one another.
Belonging is a new site work that explores our inter-dependence with and relationship to the natural world. Belonging will be held on the JJ Pickle building in Austin in 2018. This piece will include film and digital imagery, as well as ground dancers, aerial dancers and rock climbers. During 2017 and 2018 we will workshop and perform sections of this piece throughout the year.
This work continues Blue Lapis Light’s mission of creating transcendent works of beauty as prayers for the planet. Blue Lapis Light is a non-profit site-specific aerial dance company now in its eleventh year. In addition to creating large-scale outdoor performances, we offer aerial dance classes to people of all ages and abilities, both in our studio and on-site at local social service organizations. Our Youth Taking Flight program inspires underserved youth to create stunning performances for our community. Our dedicated students commit to learning aerial silks and harness techniques, ultimately creating professional-level dance showcases for the public.
Another project going on now is called Mighty Universe, which is a Blue Lapis Light’s Student Showcase featuring aerial dance works created for and by students. It's happening in Austin at 8 pm on Friday, November 16 and Saturday, November 17, and 2 pm Sunday, November 18. I have no doubt an extraordinarily good time will be had by all!
Happy Birthday, Sally. May your work inspire the world to imagine greater dreams of what is, and what could be. May your work continue to attract the attention, respect, and resources needed to spread this iconic beauty globally. Aum Namah Shivaya! Aum Namah Ammachi!
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
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