INTERVIEW: Intimate histories explored in ‘now my hand is ready for my heart’

Photo: Nicky Paraiso created and stars in now my hand is ready for my heart: intimate histories. Photo courtesy of Theo Cote / Provided by Everyman Agency with permission.

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Nicky Paraiso has been a common presence in the New York City arts scene for quite some time. He has been an actor, musician, writer, performance artist and curator, and he continues to bring his artistry to audience members.

His latest world premiere is now my hand is ready for my heart: intimate histories, which continues through April 7 at La MaMa on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Press notes mark the performance as Paraiso’s most ambitious project yet.

In the performance, Paraiso is joined by choreographer-dancers Irene Hultman, Jon Kinzel, Vicky Shick and Paz Tanjuaquio. They explore many important themes through the show, including aging, identity, sexuality, class and race. In many ways, now my hand is ready for my heart documents what it’s like to grow up in a productive artistic community like Paraiso did.

Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Paraiso about the show. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.

What can audiences expect from now my hand is ready for my heart: intimate histories?

Audiences can expect at the very least a very passionate and (hopefully) clear telling of the life of a first-generation Baby-Boomer immigrant child of Filipino parents who grows up to be a theater, dance and performance artist in the rarified artists’ community of off-off-Broadway and downtown New York.

Nicky Paraiso uses autobiographical storytelling to articulate a life standing on the edge of the margins, from Flushing, Queens, to the East Village and Downtown Manhattan. Nicky has called together a respected group of individual choreographer/dancers who have created their own nuanced and detailed choreography and have also worked in the pieces of other esteemed choreographers.

They have come together to weave and meld their own particular movement vocabularies with Nicky’s theatrically precise and resonant storytelling, informed with a sly humor. Both the actor’s storytelling and the dancers’ movement-based choreography have been woven together under John Jesurun’s expert theater direction and evocative visual design of the overall production.

What has the collaboration been like with the other performers?

The collaboration between Nicky and the choreographer/performers Irene Hultman, Jon Kinzel, Vicky Shick, Paz Tanjuaquio has been one of mutual respect and also a wary, tentative meeting of two very different disciplines, i.e., theater and dance, but always and throughout the process, an invigorating thoughtfulness.

What do you feel the piece says about aging?

I think it’s about a particular perception of what virtuosity is, as it moves from a younger to an older body, whether it be the dancer’s or the actor’s body. The answer is not always evident in a tangible way, but it’s a quality that is embedded within the bodies of actors and/or dancers. Both dance and theater are existential disciplines to a certain extent, and the performer’s commitment or lack thereof can define the authenticity of a gesture or a creative moment. Perhaps aging can help ground the experience, nuance and details of a performer’s life, as we continue to experience our limitations with increasing awareness of our own mortality.

Is the Downtown arts scene today anything like you remember during your formative years? 

There are certainly reminders and remnants of the last golden age of performance in the mid-late 1980s in the East Village. I don’t think what’s creatively happening now in Williamsburg and the outskirts of Bushwick, Sunset Park and Red Hook etc., is really similar or comparable to what happened in the ’80s, but younger theater, dance and performance artists are no less talented or creative, or willing to travel to the edges.

What inspired the title of this performance? 

The title of this performance, now my hand is ready for my heart, comes from the lyrics of a song by Laura Nyro called ‘Timer,’ from the beloved, legendary record album Eli and the 13th Confession. Laura Nyro was a singer-songwriter who composed songs from the late 1960s through the early-mid 1990s.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

now my hand is ready for my heart: intimate histories plays through April 7 at LaMaMa on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.