What don't I know?

In 2011, I received a Fulbright “Specialist” grant as a part of their program that places professionals with proven excellence in their field for projects that are between six weeks and four months. That grant was used in support of a licensing project for me to stage Paul Taylor’s “Company B” on the graduating students at the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington. This also happened to be one of the few opportunities for me to connect in person with Nigel, whom I mentioned previously as having just lost a very short battle with cancer. I came to view the Fulbright grants as supporting global opportunities to build an international network for future projects, and deepening established relationships with institutions and individuals.

2011 – NZSD students perform their school “haka” for me in a very moving farewell at the end of my visit (photo by Nigel Boyes).

2011 – NZSD students performing Paul Taylor’s “Company B”.

What I did not know about Fulbright, at first, was the manner in which it administers to the considerable number of grantees, in a myriad number of countries across a cornucopia of disciplines. In hindsight, I have to admire the ability of Fulbright to manage all of the above. For me the biggest adjustment in working with Fulbright was that even though I may have a project in place a year or more in advance, Fulbright only approves projects for the upcoming academic year in the early months of the calendar year. In short, my projects that have been contingent on funding from Fulbright were prepared with a “leap of faith”, trusting that all would work out.

Once the grant was approved, for me, it felt like a short few months in which to get through the various bureaucracies for work permits, visas, travel arrangements, etc. And this is where I have needed to trust that things do work out. My paperwork for New Zealand was considerably different than for India, but in both cases the systems were not particularly user-friendly or intuitive.

For India, I will need to register with the local authorities once I have an address in my primary location which will be Mumbai. Under Fulbright’s guidelines, they will house me for my first two weeks and provide assistance to find and move into a local residence once I am in country. As a freelance professional, I am loathe to leave these types of arrangements to the last minute. Once again, I am assuring myself with the thought that I am not the first person to go through this process, and that I can trust in my own abilities to navigate the unexpected!

1990 - me paddling a dugout canoe on Lake Bratan, Bali, Indonesia

For many years I was a wilderness kayak guide and as a trainee instructor/guide I learned three tenets for handling my responsibilities. 

1) Be prepared! 2) Shit happens! 3) Do something nice for yourself! (Actually #3 was told to me as “Bring beer!” But I can’t drink, so I go with the spirit of the idea)

As an outdoor water sport guide, every outing is contingent on Mother Nature’s beneficence and rules governing things like tides, currents, topography, meteorology, etc. No matter how prepared one might think you are for ALL eventualities, something often happens that you could not have predicted, so you learn to accept the unpredictable… And remember to treat yourself at the end of the day when you are re-counting your adventures!

I have found this approach very helpful, particularly when I feel that there is much that is beyond my control until they actually happen, as with this trip to India.

In 1990 I was performing in Bali, and went to visit Lake Bratan. I gained a pretty large audience of locals when I expressed interest in trying to paddle a dugout canoe for the very first time. Sometimes the unexpected is the treat!