The Art of Faux Pas #0 - Presentation

A presentation of where this podcast comes from, and what I imagine it might become!

Music: Martin Durov 
(from the piece 'The Ephemeral life of an octopus')

Transcript

Episode #0 - Presentation

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Art of Faux Pas. This episode zero is a presentation of what this podcast will be, of why it was born, and of what I imagine it might become. My name is Léa Tirabasso. I guess what describes me best is that I'm a dance artist, and frankly I'm amazed that I'm still going after 15 years working as a dance artist.

One day, one of my collaborators believed something I had made was a failure. But when I understood that it was actually their failure they were talking about, when I understood that what they considered a failure was to my eyes a huge success, I thought, yes, it's okay, I'll [00:01:00] keep failing if that's what failure is to you.
So it got me to question, what on earth is a failure within the arts, within the creative process, and does it even exist? I mean, I create. I make stuff. And if I start thinking about what the audience might think, it is the end of artistic integrity. Of my own integrity. 

If you make something to please someone, it is, as Grotowski rightly says, a coquetry. And I don't think art should be about coquetry. When art starts to confront ideas, provoke conversations, it's usually hard on the artist, and it's fine. But does it mean that what they made is a failure? 

I think the creative process is full of necessary failures. 
Like, I have an idea that I really want to try. We try it, and I realize that it doesn't really work. Thank you for trying, sorry for trying, but it was needed, I had to [00:02:00] see it in front of my eyes, embodied in the space, to realize, to understand, that it wasn't right. Is it a failure? Is it a creative fuck up? If it is, well, it's great, they do feel great, and I love these creative fuck ups.
The feeling of not knowing is empowering. You test, you taste, you try out, and you only know once you've done the work. Because, well, making and analyzing are two different things, right? You can't do both at the same time. 

According to the Collins Dictionary, a faux pas "is a socially embarrassing action or mistake". Which means that a faux pas is only one because it has been witnessed, right? But as artists, you make work that often, if not always, will be witnessed. I think a faux pas is obviously something you made without the intention of making it wrong, like a fashion faux pas. I doubt a celebrity wearing a terrible outfit in 2006 [00:03:00] worried thinking it was terrible. It's only further down the line that they might appreciate it differently. 

But what's the difference with a failure? A failure is a lack of success in doing or achieving something, especially in relation to a particular activity. But then, what the hell is success? "It is the achievement of something that you have been trying to do".

But what the hell are we trying to do? No, more seriously, over the years, I realized that my definition of success had to change, otherwise I would burn myself out. Today, success is to me, being able to create my own work with a team of collaborators I trust, admire, and love. When I say being able to create, well, it involves the trust of a team of collaborators, the trust of partners who will infuse money in the project.
It is earning my life doing work that is uncompromising, that is made with, hopefully, [00:04:00] integrity, curiosity, and boldness. 

Spice up your life. 

Another thought. Could something you made be qualified a failure by someone else, or are you the only judge of it? Well, I tend to think that you are the only judge of it.
Back to the idea of integrity, really. If you believed in what you made, then that can never be a failure. But that is, of course, also debatable. There are canons and rules that might be best followed. But again, how boring it is to follow the rules, right? Also, how can we challenge our art form and contribute to its evolution if we keep sitting all comfy in the same patterns than the one we've been seeing for decades?

Then I started to think of the other potential failures. The failed auditions, the unsuccessful funding applications, the missed counts, the falls, the blackouts on stage, the ignored emails, the bad reviews. And I loved it! It made me laugh, both at myself and [00:05:00] at our industry. I mean, how the hell do we mentally survive?
As artists, the rejection stamina we develop is extraordinary. Like, you never write on your CV how many auditions you didn't get, or how much money you asked for and was never granted with. We only talk about the positive experiences, the yeses, the experiences that seem to add on to our CVs. But those who were aborted are so much more interesting in a way.
I mean, I personally failed so many auditions. I didn't get invited to so many. So many applications I wrote were unsuccessful. Most of them were unsuccessful. I thought I had found a punchline for this podcast, but realized it was actually very cheesy. But I'm still going to share it with you, like a little failed punchline: "because a little faux pas will always be more interesting than a perfect entrechat." Anyway, so I thought why not talk about all [00:06:00] this? It has an amusing power and I believe a healing power as well. 

The faux pas, all the things that went wrong and that allowed, gave space, energy, strength to keep going but also to keep developing ourselves as human beings.

I know that for some of you the word faux pas and the word failure might be problematic. But I want to talk about them, like the real faux pas, literally the wrong steps, and the metaphoric faux pas, the wrong decision, word, partner, move. I will be chatting with professional dancers and choreographers in the future, with other artists too, such as composers, designers, maybe even programmers, and discuss with them their experience of these feelings.

A little bit about myself, I have worked as a dancer for 8 years before unexpectedly -I mean that wasn't a career plan I just happened to obsessively fall in love with it, becoming a choreographer. But even that word I don't think is right; before making my own work I would say. [00:07:00] A lot of faux pas, a lot of failure but millions of successes too.

Some of the people I will be chatting with are also parents. So imagine having to deal with all these feelings of doubts, failures, questions, well, but also certainties, successes, and possible answers too, while having a family. So there's a little project I'd like to bring back to life with this podcast.
It won't have anything to do with failure, although it might.. It will be about ending the Faux Pas conversation with a different conversation for about 10 to 15 minutes about their experience as parents and working artists. I had started this project I had called Milky Boobs on the Dance Floor a couple of years ago on Instagram.
It was about sharing pictures of myself with my kids, stuck on my boobs during rehearsals, tech meetings. The reality of the dance world is that you have to travel a lot when you create. [00:08:00] And when you have a family, either you travel with your kids, or you find other solutions. In my case, and I know I'm not the only one, hence the need for these conversations to happen, my partner is also a performer and a theatre director, and has to travel as much as I do.
So when our kids were tiny and still breastfed, they came with me. I literally took them everywhere. Some partner institutions were amazing in supporting me and my collaborator's kids around, they really were, and I'm specifically thinking -I'm going to name them, because they were great- I'm thinking of the place London and Centre National de la Danse in Lyon. It was not just about saying yes to us bringing our kids to work. They both created a little nursery space for our babies. Yoga mats on the floor, cushions, etc. They made us feel so welcome. And really, it helped us work better. So I want to talk about this. 

It also got me wondering. Where will the change come from? [00:09:00] How can we create a more welcoming environment for artists and their kids? How can we make sure our industry does not exclude passively parents? When will childcare costs stop being a swear word? 

So this podcast is a space to share, chat, think. A space to realize everything is, or at least will be fine. A space where we can laugh at our mistakes, faux pas, failure, and be grateful for them.

Love life, even when it's shit really. Well, cause it's not. 

So let's see how this goes. This podcast project is really taking me out of my comfort zone. Will it in itself be a faux pas, a failure, a what the fuck am I doing? 
No idea. Let's see. And if it is, it's fine. I'll laugh at it. 

So welcome to the Art of Faux Pas.

You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many other streaming platforms. 

Like, share, follow, and all that jazz. 

Thank you for tuning in. 

Speak to you very [00:10:00] soon with very interesting conversations I cannot wait to share with you. 

Bye!