Photo courtesy of Sea Heikes
Sea Heikes is a semi-nomadic performance and video artist who is obsessed with water and teaches movement workshops that combine Butoh, Body Weather and Somatic Movement practices. Her Fluvial Traces follows rivers using feet, bike, or paddleboat and has included the Mae Nam Ping in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the Detroit River and a river in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.
How has the lockdown affected your creativity?
It comes and goes in waves. I’m really into self-care, especially right now. There was a long period of playing video games. More recently I’ve gotten myself together.
I travel quite a bit through South East Asia (their noize/experimental scene is boomin’), Canada, Europe and the U.S. I moved to Milwaukee last August from the Bay Area in California, then COVID came. I was performing at MoxSonic (Missouri Experimental Sonic Arts Festival) when the first rumblings started making their way through the country.
Within a few weeks, all the gigs/festivals/conferences I was supposed to be involved in this Summer had been cancelled or postponed until next Summer. With the world watching the crisis escalate and lack of coherent leadership in the U.S., I’m kind of stranded here. Even as I submit proposals for new work, it’s now with this extra layer of uncertainty whether I’ll actually be let into any other country.
Do you have a routine or schedule for staying in practice or working on new material?
I have a schedule of streaming events, online festivals, and proposal deadlines, which is keeping me in check right now.
Are you making plans for when you can resume playing in front of people again?
I have some live streaming things coming up—my own and some collaborations. I haven’t thought much about when it’ll be “in front” of people again. I’m just a nomadic hybrid of sorts anyways so I’m just figuring out how to navigate new terrains.
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To read more stories of Milwaukee musicians dealing with lockdowns, sheltering in place and more, click here.
To read more stories by Blaine Schultz, click here.
