FINALLY I’ve done it. The 4 characters, or my new alter egos, have been unleashed upon the world. There’s a lot to announce, but let me start by explaining what the characters are even for. I was inspired by David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and other alter egos, and by the French comedy with its cast …
I like alter egos. I never really considered myself an actress, but perhaps that was because to act you play other people’s characters. I’ve always enjoyed creating my own. That’s why I talk about myself as a storyteller. Not every story has to tell you everything about itself! Some stories are just frames, a look, …
In July this year, I will have spent 10 years in Asia – from Cambodia to South Korea and then to Pakistan, where I currently live. People tell me all the time here in Pakistan: “Everyone here wants to go there, so why would you want to come here?” It drives me absolutely bonkers, because …
A couple weeks ago, my brain had a hiccup. It does that sometimes, it’s not unusual, but this one manifested differently. The best word I could use for it was content fatigue. I didn’t want to look at my discord, or twitter, or any social media, and my brain felt like a saturated sponge that …
Over the past few days, on the advice of a dear friend, I tried to get in on the World of Women Galaxy hype from @worldofwomennft. I entered giveaways, raffles, joined the discord. The #publicsale is not an option, bcuz simply put, I don’t have the money. I was not successful. And if I’m being …
Back in 2006, my dad and I started working on a thing called Not This Day. It was part of my dad’s reawakening, when he quit his law practice and tried to start a new life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as successful as he planned, and a few years later he went bankrupt. He never …
I’m delighted to introduce More Than My Gender, a spoken word/dance performance video produced in collaboration with British Council as part of the WOW grants project. More Than My Gender investigates and challenges the assumption that everything a woman is must be measured against her gender. MTMG is performed by me, Sarah Mumtaz, and Tanzila …
On a recent trip to Islamabad, I was browsing around Saeed Book Bank in the F7 Markaz. A giant, three-story building packed to the gills with books, Saeed Book Bank is one of my favorite places in Islamabad. I’ve spent over an hour wandering around, browsing coffee table books on gems and architecture, academic texts …
Colonization and the imperative of interculturality Read More »
There’s something I’ve noticed throughout the past couple years of the COVID pandemic. It’s not a researched or scholarly position, it’s an observation and an intuition. Really, it boils down to something very simple: colonized countries have a very different relationship with suffering than the colonizing countries. In case you’re new to my journey, I’ve …
I don’t often talk publicly or post about diversity or allyship. If I do, it’s to repost something on twitter or insta. I don’t usually speak up, for a few reasons. One, I often don’t see it as my place, and the world doesn’t need more white voices telling people what to do. Two, I …
Being a Better Ally: Diversity and Allyship Vlog Read More »
There are many layers to this video. On the first layer, it’s a recitation of Mary Oliver’s beloved poem, Wild Geese, which is one of my favorite poems ever. It’s inspired by some videos I saw recently which were an audiovisual representation of some Charles Bukowski’s poems. But instead of taking footage from existing movies …
Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese Dance Cover: 2021 year in review Read More »
How dare you speak to me of freedom, while yet I see the sky? The sky is bluer at altitude. Maybe it’s clearer as well. The air is sharper and thinner, and it makes you aware of how you breathe and when, and the effort it takes to walk. I’m aware of a lot of …
The Hills Are Alive: Dancing and Hiking in the Swiss Alps Read More »
Sign up at any tier on my Patreon by November 30th to receive a daily dose of festive content in December! The Performer Creative Advent Calendar could include videos, poetry, essays, reflections, photos, and more. Higher tiers can expect to receive an extra special surprise every week in advent. 2021 has not been the catastrophe …
A very festive special offer on Patreon: a creative Advent Calendar! Read More »
The Pirate is a sci fi short story mystery thriller, set in a world where the space junk problem has gotten so bad that rockets can’t fly and no one on the surface can see the stars. That’s the way it’s been for over a thousand years, but everything is about to change. After a …
You may have never heard the name David Joseph Wesley, but you’ve almost certainly heard his music. He creates film, tv, and video game music and has even been nominated for a Grammy award. His music is a wild mix of styles and genres but often works with high powered synthesizers such as the Prophet …
Gillian Performs to Video Game Music by David Joseph Wesley Read More »
You’ve probably heard, somewhere down the line, about the myth of Sisyphus. The poor Greek hero, bound forever to an impossible task that will never be complete. “Get the stone up the hill,” they said, “it’ll be easy, they said!” I always found that myth fascinating, and of course, I’m not the only one. Perhaps …
Catching Light is a collaboration between Croatian sculptor Milivoj Šegan and American performer Gillian Rhodes. Milivoj’s digital light paintings of ‘lumino mobile’ are created by putting light in hand-created terracotta sculptures and then photographed with long exposures. Gillian then projected the results onto a white screen and danced in and out of the projections. Finally, …
I was so excited to turn 30 last year. My 20s were fabulous, but somehow 30 just seemed like it would be more sorted, less figuring out and more doing and growing. Well – 30 didn’t quite live up to its promises, but let’s just say it was a rough start and assume it will …
There is no disguise: all these faces are mine. All These Faces Are Mine is a collaborative photography exhibition bringing together photographer Moin Anjum, makeup artist Iftikhar ul Hassan, and The Performer. The series deals with themes of gender identity, drag, and gender presentation. The exhibition presents four characters: two which are ‘typically’ male and …
Between chaos and climate change, pollution and pandemics, it’s getting harder and harder to breathe. I made this video as a little reminder of blue skies and calm minds – because to breathe easy, we also have to be easy. Shot on my rooftop in Lahore, Pakistan with my J2 Osmo Pocket and edited myself.
About a month ago, I made a dance for my dad for his birthday. While I was doing that, I rediscovered all the recordings from his live concert back in 2008/9 or so. The concert was a wild mix of styles, some covers but lots and lots of original songs. One of the songs in …
Happily Ever After: New Creative Video Featuring My Dad’s Music Read More »
On February 28th, 2021, I presented an evening length solo performance in three acts. The performance featured 3 of my most acclaimed solos, Pierrot, Big Universe Small Human, and With Love From Gillian. I have performed the first two in multiple countries including France and South Korea. This was the first time in my career …
I could say a bunch of stuff for my father that everyone says. Things like, he always supported me – and he did. Things like, he was always there for me – and he was. I was a daddy’s girl from the beginning, and he was always there to make me dissolve into helpless laughter. …
Since I launched my Patreon page in the fall, my patreon page has become a really special place for me. It’s a place I get to share all the messy behind the scenes bits that go into my creative work and projects. I am so incredibly grateful for all my patrons, and I just love …
Once upon a time, there was a great sorcerer. This sorcerer had everything anyone could possibly desire, wealth, power, fame. One of his favorite things was his collection of creatures as vast and as wide as the universe. But despite everything, he was not satisfied, because his collection lacked one thing. While his glass cages …
I come in peace, but not meekly. My hands are open and unarmed; I reach them but do not cover them in the colors of the soil that breathes through the pores of culture and cries poetry into the dailyness of what is and must. I come in peace, but not meekly; I neutralize and …
The End of Wandering was one of those pieces where I had no idea what I was making throughout the whole process. Honestly, I still don’t know what I made, but I know that it absolutely intrigues me. When I was planning my trip back to the USA, I knew I wanted to visit Copper …
This year I somehow managed to sign myself up to create and host a weekly live talk show on astronomy and art. Here’s the behind the scenes story on how it all happened! I stumbled into the CosmoQuest community by accident. It all started at the beginning of the year when I went looking for …
Space/Art Livestream for CosmoQuest Community Coffee Read More »
One of the themes that has been coming up recently in my life is the need to talk about art. It’s something that is definitely lacking in Pakistan. It only happens about once a year at the Lahore Literacy Festival, and the occasional conference. I’ve been working on my own avenues to expand this. For …
Artistically Speaking: A New Series with Thinker Guide Read More »
First Contact is a multimedia performance, blending digital light paintings projected onto the body. It is an experiment more than anything, but the story behind it is full of odd connections and good timing. Unexpected Collaborations One of the things that happened during the lockdown was that I found myself hosting a live show on …
First Contact: A Collaboration with Milivoj Šegan Read More »
When I lived in Cambodia, I heard a lot about “fusion” pieces when international choreographers came and worked with Cambodian dancers. Fusion is an exciting word and promises something new and innovative. The Holy Grail of cross cultural choreography, one could say. Fusion, however, is a much more complicated thing. I saw a few of …
Super stoked to announce that I’ve just launched my Patreon page. There are tons of exclusive benefits across the different tiers. You’ll find things like early access to video content, all the way to private tailored classes. You’ll have the opportunity to join an exclusive community and special patron-only workshops. Some tiers have peeks into …
The body moves quickly, but the soul is slow, catching up only after time. There is obviously more to say about cultural shifts. Today, I’m just talking about the wormhole. In astronomy, a wormhole is a theoretical structure that connects different places of the universe through a shorter “tunnel” of spacetime. Most astrophysicists agree that …
The Wormhole: Reflections on Deep Cultural Shifts Read More »
Hex and me weren’t rich, never had been. We lived in the slums by the docks, rumbling all night as the rockets fired, taking their payloads to the artificial moons and the other planets. I guess I hadn’t been around so long, but in all that time I only remember one time an interstellar ship …
I have always loved astronomy. When I was little, I loved reading Seymour Simon’s picture books about the planets. When my sisters and I started a newsletter called “Girls Express” for our homeschooling, I researched and wrote articles about each of the planets. I read The Elegant Universe at thirteen and taught a little class …
When the lockdown hit, I was in the fragile and fraught liftoff stages of getting my own production off the ground. I was about to lock a huge sponsor, I had confirmed my cast, and rehearsals were two weeks into full swing. Slowly, things were closing down but I wanted to push ahead. I knew …
Vida and The Void was performed for a special edition of Sway With Us at Olomopolo. The occasion was Remembering Jahanara, in memory of a young dancer who was killed. The piece was about someone coming to terms with their own death. All photo credits to Omar Rehman. Excerpts from the live performance:
With Love From Gillian is a piece about courage and loss and resilience – but mostly, it’s a piece about performance. It is a piece that requires me to give all of myself to the audience – everything that I am as a storyteller, performer, and dancer. Given with love, but lost all the same. …
