I have been thinking quite a lot about this piece lately – The Space Between Us.
During this time of forced isolation, the physical space between “us” has certainly increased tremendously. I am also witnessing something remarkable within my own virtual community of family, friends, acquaintances, and – well – even strangers with whom I have come into contact through social media because of mutual professional and artistic reasons.
The latter group is amazing to me because, even though we may have never met face-to-face, many of us have developed a strange sort of closeness over the past few years – a closeness that in some cases has even increased during these first few weeks of so-called “social distancing.” Ironically, a part of me finds myself less distant from those whom I have never met in person than those who I have known all my life – with whom I have interacted physically over the past several years and before. There is certainly something about this very strange situation in which we find ourselves that is actually decreasing The Space Between Us.
I originally composed The Space Between Us with those events that bring us together physically: Concerts, Negotiations, Meals, Celebrations, Funerals, Reunions; and at these gatherings, we typically become one dynamic. Every one of these events offers the opportunity to reflect upon the past: perhaps to reminisce, perhaps to meditate, perhaps to remember those who cannot be present, perhaps to mourn.
And when these engagements are over, people rediscover the constant space that exists between them as they part to continue their lives.These events may change a small aspect of their beings: their perspectives or their physicality, for example, but on the whole, people remain who they were and who they are, even as they continue upon the path of who they will be.
I wonder what will happen to The Space Between Us when we part from our homes once this forced isolation is all over? We will seek out our friends and neighbors – and extended families. We will physically embrace as if it is the first time. We may seek to meet people we got to know online because we shared a bond created by this disaster. We will find ourselves
Coming Together
As One
Remembering (the seemingly)
Ever Constant (isolation, wondering if we will ever be normal again, because we learned that)
The more things change…
I think The Space Between Us is ever flexible, but many of us are closer than we have ever been right now. I wonder if we can keep ourselves ever closer in the long-term?
(With my apologies for any advertisements that interrupt the YouTube feed, here is a link to The Space Between Us. The piece is in five interconnected movements.)
