An email to my real friends...

I don't want to feel limited, I need to feel liberated.

I desperately need a place where I have enough space for dancing and designing... A place I can do whatever I want whenever I want. The idea is to find a large old house and open a design and dance studio, something very “doable” in Uruguay. I hope to do it together with my love. I want to work freelance for companies and other than that, work on my own designs and other projects such as fashion productions, blogs (I’m really serious about this), and practice/share my dancing...

I have a project where I want to video tape my improvisation sessions and put them online in a blog or webpage… I want to add new material either daily, weekly or whenever I feel like (but first I need space). I've been talking to my NY dance friends and we are going to work together... So we are probably going to start a virtual dancing community soon... We'll use the Internet to share our art no matter the distance.

Back on July 8th of this year, 2006, I had the idea and wrote it to Cathy and Jelena, NY dance friends:

From: Monica / To: Cathy and Jelena / Date: Jul 8, 2006 1:41 AM / Subject: I had an idea!
“I had an idea! What about starting a website where people can upload and (maybe) download dance videos... exactly like youtube, but dance only. Maybe there is already something like that, but we could start a dance blog where people can put on the internet, their home made or professional videos of dance experimentation, which could be anything: Monica dancing in her living room, Cathy and Abi performing at the DUMBO festival, Jelena dancing and singing in a musical comedy, Mark taking a Cunningham dance class, a video dance by Hiske, maybe a performance by MCDC etc, etc, etc. That way we could exchange art very easily. Maybe we could also do a section on dance photography (what's more beautiful than photos taken of people moving, dancing?)...”

To start my virtual video dancing career (I have decided I will be a professional dancer my way) I have started talks with my cousin Maria who will be producing and directing my first video... which will be the background in my graduation runway show. So, in the show I will not only be kick starting my fashion career, I will also start my video dancing career. I have to say my dancing is getting even better (thank God!)... The Cunningham technique is still in my body and I'm surprised with the evolution of my movement... Cunningham was the best thing that could have happened to my dancing, so it will be around for a long time in my life and I'm trying to figure out when can I go take more classes...

For clothes the ideas are:
Perfect for dancing/moving and having fun. Freedom of movement. Body consciousness. Strong Personality. Adaptable. Practical. Artistic. Original. Sexy. Smart. I want lycra to be my prime material. I want the fabric to “hold you tight and show you off,” so you don’t have to worry about anything, you don’t need to wear a bra for example… The fabric naturally molds your body, it hides imperfections, it makes you feel beautiful, comfortable and confident. In the future I want to work with intelligent fabrics. Dancewear (for class and practicing sports) is one of the lines I'm starting this year. And of course dance costumes are in my future plans also.

So for now the idea (so many ideas) is that at least for next year I will be here still... There is still "juice" I can take out of Uruguay... Uruguay has its positives although is nothing compared to NY. I'm in a small town here!! But it's given me lots of things... Including the career that will pay my rent. I love fashion and Uruguay gave me that...

So in 2007 I will (all of this is subject to change):
-Continue working for ASICS, which is a great experience... I want to stay at least till the end of next year because by then I will have done three shoe collections and 2 apparel collections, and there is lots to learn from that!
-I also still need another year of serious drawing, sowing and pattern making studies... There is still a lot I need to learn, (but for that I need the space and time for personal experimentation, which I don't have in this moment). I need to be 100% independent and I'm not in the moment... I still need help with my patterns and definitely need guidance sowing.
-Kick start my careers in design, virtual dancing and blogging.

Then after all that I think I will be ready to go back to NY? (at least to stay for a few months and take some Cunningham classes) Maybe I'll go to São Paulo? Stay in Uruguay? Who knows what the future holds! Lets see… Please send me your positive energy.

What about you? What are your ideas? Muuuah!

Monqui / Moni / Moniquinha / Moniquita / Monquichi / Monica