A Note from Allyson Sereboff: When heart and soul is put into something you believe in…out comes brilliance and truth. I would like to thank Maria for her patience, skill, dedication, amazing attitude… you are a teacher. You are art history in the making. The following entry speaks for itself. Dreams do come true in Tromaville…

On a summer very much like this one exactly 10 years ago (heat wave and all!), I lived and worked among a community of artists, and I still tend to describe it as the best summer of my life to this day. I studied ballet among 200 of my artistic peers from various disciplines ranging from music to theatre to visual arts to writing. Not in the 10 years since have I seen a group of people more adequately represent the concept of making art for art’s sake until this cast of true characters.

Maria working out steps

That summer, however, was distinctly different from this one in a few ways. For starters, we were all kids then. Not a single one of us, save for our counselors and teachers, was out of high school and further, we were all at least one year away from graduation. We were babies, whereas this group (with a few exceptions) is composed primarily of adults–at least in the legal sense, if not in the mental sense. ;) Next, (and crucially critical) we shared one shower between 4 people as opposed to 50 (oh boy!), and last, and perhaps most importantly, we were all working on projects independent from one another’s departments. The theatre kids’ show, for example, had absolutely no connection to the final dance production, and neither shared a common bond with the music concert. Further still, for the most part, there were no interdepartmental themes (even within the same production) that weaved a link between the ballet and modern pieces, for example, or between the painters and the sculptors. This never hindered the development of the genuine feeling of community however; we all had a deep mutual respect for one anothers’ arts forms and talents, and we developed friendships there that lasted years. (Some of mine, in fact, are still active.)

What makes my experience here so far even more enlightening than that summer, however, and the sense of community even stronger, is the fact that all these people from all these very different walks of life working and creating in all these very different departments are all striving for one common goal: combining all of our talents into the cohesive whole that will be the finished product of our collective efforts… Poultrygeist: Attack 0f the Chicken Zombies! I won’t pretend that this experience has the dignity of classical ballet, the artistic freedom of abstract painting, or the meticulousness required of classical music, but it does have one thing that none of them do: the spirit of true collaboration. (And Indian zombie chicken spirits, of course.)

Working with dancers

See, at some point in our adult lives, we are tricked into believing that art must have some sort of monitary reward. We forget about doing something for the pure and simple joy of it, and place importance only on efforts which result in financial gain. What’s most exciting and refreshing about this place is that most people aren’t making a cent off of this project. In fact, we’re all actively losing potential income on the daily. But you know what? Everyone here is busting their collective asses (and busting collective ass!) anyway. Some PAs clean toilets as if their very existence depends on it, some members of the office staff sleep in front of their computers each night, and the FX team pulls graveyard shift nightly prepaing for what may be a 2 minute moment in the film. This is a group of people wholly motivated by rewards that have nothing to do with the dolla dolla bill, ya’ll. I’m sure each person has his own set of reasons for being here, but we clearly all realize the benefit of concepts such as learning experiences, risk-taking, creative problem solving, personal growth and the sense of pride following a job well done.

And all the while we’re making it work without the benefit of personal space or our own beds to collapse into at the end of an endless day. No, most of us are making this happen all while sharing the same (far too small) living, working, thinking and breathing space. It’s not without benefit… Before now I can’t remember the last time I had an idea for a section of choreography at midnight and had the luxury of being able to grab my dancers to say, ‘Can you try something for me please?’; I can’t remember the last time I thought of a last minute rehearsal that needed to happen and had only to walk down the stairs to have a chat with scheduling to get it set for the next day; I can’t remember the last time I had a question or request about a costume piece and was able to go down to the basement and actually see and discuss it, rather than just attempting to envision it.

Yes, I think true collaboration is one of the most beautiful rarities in the artistic world, and in this place there’s evidence of it everywhere. A person needs only to take a 5 minute tour of Tromaville, Buffalo, to see it. It’s in our backyard, our basement, our TV room, our office, our bedrooms, our bathrooms, our hallways. I’m not saying that we haven’t got our problems from time to time, but we also have the wisdom of the production office visionaries to see us through by identifying and dealing with these problems accordingly so that we can all continue to function at our greatest potential as a team.

Strike a pose, Lloyd!

And make no mistake about it… don’t get it twisted kids… that’s what we are here: a team of unique individuals who combine to make something far greater as a whole than the sum of each of our own personal experiences could ever allow. Each person here is an intricate, specific and necessary piece of the puzzle our community is building, and when it all falls into place just right and the final picture becomes visible, I think we’re going to revel in the power of our accomplishment.

We don’t have all that many opportunities in a lifetime to participate in something as experimental and baffling as art for art’s sake on such a grand scale. It’s not always possible. In fact I think it’s downright rare to be in a position where one can drop everything, quit normal life for awhile, and enter into a bizarre little functioning colony of freaks, weirdos, dorks, crazies, some zit-faced teens and poor retards (of course), the occasional eerily kindred spirit, and yes, even a few genuinely quirky, loveable genuises to share a range of experiences all in hot pursuit of something uniquely creative. The summer of 1995 was the last time I can recall an emotion that even came close, but I figure that if I get to have one experience like it every ten years, I’ll consider myself lucky indeed.

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been so mentally, artistically, and personally inspired by the dedication and hard work of a group of people, and I want to extend my personal thanks to each person here who is making this experience everything that it is for me: a re-awakening of the kind of joy that comes only from the internally motivated pursuit of excellence. To each of you, I say:

“I do it for the joy it brings
Because I am a joyful girl
Because the world owes us nothing
And we owe each other the world”
— Ani DiFranco

Thanks for reading.

— Maria Gismondi, Choreographer