There’s not been one night
Since you left me
That I haven’t called your name
I’ve whispered it into my palms
–A prayer
To keep me sane
Now you want to come back to me
Make my wish come true
Tell me how am I to know?
Is this the undertow?
Is this the undertow?
Is this the undertow?
Is this the undertow?
“There’s more than one way for light to shine through our bodies, or there’s more than one course that we might go on. [There is] this quality of the light that allows for a real relationship with the unknown and with the possibilities that come from that, and of claiming it. …the Moon being a reflection, the Moon being a place that we will never reach, but there’s a thing between us. I think about that in my own life, the things that I have reached for. And it’s really the place between that becomes the project, the engagement, the thing that you experience.”
—Kyla Searle, in this edition of Constellation Conversations
Kyla is a writer/producer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is currently co-creating the feature doc The Black (W)hole. Kyla regularly produces short films such as Free (Sozo Media), Dear Black Girls (SF Dance Film Festival), and Ride Out to Vote.
Kyla’s work has been supported and developed by the Hemispheric Institute, Anna Deavere Smith Works/the Institute for Art and Civic Dialogue, the Astrea Foundation, the Kennedy Center, the Pop Culture Collaborative and more. Kyla’s work in creative documentation has been presented at the University of Heidelberg, The American University of Paris, New York University and the New School. Kyla holds a B.A. in Metropolitan Studies, minor in Public Health from UCLA, an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Research from NYU and an M.F.A. from Brown University.
If the Moon is born from the Earth, its proximity & distance, its consistent and ubiquitous cycles, and its aeons of symbolism combine to reflect us back to ourselves. Who is a Moon in your life? Who marks time with you? Who reflects back some principles of being that are mirrors in your life (keeping in mind that mirrors can be reverse images)?
Build an altar to one of your Moons. You’ll see in this case I have built an altar to the late, great Josephine Baker, whose presence in my life has been lunar. An altar can be as simple as you wish, or as elaborate. This hews toward the simpler side. Remember that it should be born of intention. I include elements of water, fire (candle), air (incense & the vibrations from the bell), and earth (crystals). I also include offerings of food (honey) and a flower. Finally I encourage you to speak or write a point of meditation or a request for clarity/communication. I will keep this up for a bit, and then take it down, with gratitude. There are many traditions of altar building that involve very particular processes and sequences. This is a simple gesture, intentionally broad, to encompass your own point of entry. When you have finished, if you feel like sharing (and keeping it private is more often than not the way) please feel free to share a photo of it, or part of it, by uploading an image to Instagram and tagging #atenlife
We invite you to share an image of your altar. All shared images will be displayed on the site for others to experience. You can attach your name or not in the upload portal. Feel free to stay anonymous if you’d like.
ALTAREDSTATES is made possible with generous support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional support provided by the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab.
Produced by CalArts Center for New Performance.
ALTAR NO. 1 is commissioned by The Public Theater, and created with support from CalArts Center for New Performance and New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Residency, with funding from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the Partners for New Performance.