How To Be Alone @andyradorfman

Andrea Dorfman ** UPDATE ** WE HAVE A NEW VIDEO!! "How To Be at Home" youtube.com/watch?v=OT40Rmjwd-Q&feature=youtu.be

HOW TO BE ALONE by Tanya Davis

If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you've not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren't okay with it, then just wait. You'll find it's fine to be alone once you're embracing it.

We could start with the acceptable places, the bathroom, the coffee shop, the library. Where you can stall and read the paper, where you can get your caffeine fix and sit and stay there. Where you can browse the stacks and smell the books. You're not supposed to talk much anyway so it's safe there.

There's also the gym. If you're shy you could hang out with yourself in mirrors, you could put headphones in (guitar stroke).

And there's public transportation, because we all gotta go places.

And there's prayer and meditation. No one will think less if you're hanging with your breath seeking peace and salvation.

Start simple. Things you may have previously (electric guitar plucking) based on your avoid being alone principals.

The lunch counter. Where you will be surrounded by chow-downers. Employees who only have an hour and their spouses work across town and so they -- like you -- will be alone.

Resist the urge to hang out with your cell phone.

When you are comfortable with eat lunch and run, take yourself out for dinner. A restaurant with linen and silverware. You're no less intriguing a person when you're eating solo dessert to cleaning the whipped cream from the dish with your finger. In fact some people at full tables will wish they were where you were.

Go to the movies. Where it is dark and soothing. Alone in your seat amidst a fleeting community.
And then, take yourself out dancing to a club where no one knows you. Stand on the outside of the floor till the lights convince you more and more and the music shows you. Dance like no one's watching...because, they're probably not. And, if they are, assume it is with best of human intentions. The way bodies move genuinely to beats is, after all, gorgeous and affecting. Dance until you're sweating, and beads of perspiration remind you of life's best things, down your back like a brook of blessings.

Go to the woods alone, and the trees and squirrels will watch for you.
Go to an unfamiliar city, roam the streets, there're always statues to talk to and benches made for sitting give strangers a shared existence if only for a minute and these moments can be so uplifting and the conversations you get in by sitting alone on benches might've never happened had you not been there by yourself

Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.

You could stand, swathed by groups and mobs or hold hands with your partner, look both further and farther for the endless quest for company. But no one's in your head and by the time you translate your thoughts, some essence of them may be lost or perhaps it is just kept.

Perhaps in the interest of loving oneself, perhaps all those sappy slogans from preschool over to high school's groaning were tokens for holding the lonely at bay. Cuz if you're happy in your head than solitude is blessed and alone is okay.

It's okay if no one believes like you. All experience is unique, no one has the same synapses, can't think like you, for this be releived, keeps things interesting lifes magic things in reach.

And it doesn't mean you're not connected, that communitie's not present, just take the perspective you get from being one person in one head and feel the effects of it. take silence and respect it. if you have an art that needs a practice, stop neglecting it. if your family doesn't get you, or religious sect is not meant for you, don't obsess about it.

you could be in an instant surrounded if you needed it
If your heart is bleeding make the best of it
There is heat in freezing, be a testament.

updated 16 years ago

How To Be Alone

Andrea Dorfman 2010-07-28 | ** UPDATE ** WE HAVE A NEW VIDEO!! "How To Be at Home" youtube.com/watch?v=OT40Rmjwd-Q&feature=youtu.be

HOW TO BE ALONE by Tanya Davis

If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you've not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren't okay with it, then just wait. You'll find it's fine to be alone once you're embracing it.

We could start with the acceptable places, the bathroom, the coffee shop, the library. Where you can stall and read the paper, where you can get your caffeine fix and sit and stay there. Where you can browse the stacks and smell the books. You're not supposed to talk much anyway so it's safe there.

There's also the gym. If you're shy you could hang out with yourself in mirrors, you could put headphones in (guitar stroke).

And there's public transportation, because we all gotta go places.

And there's prayer and meditation. No one will think less if you're hanging with your breath seeking peace and salvation.

Start simple. Things you may have previously (electric guitar plucking) based on your avoid being alone principals.

The lunch counter. Where you will be surrounded by chow-downers. Employees who only have an hour and their spouses work across town and so they -- like you -- will be alone.

Resist the urge to hang out with your cell phone.

When you are comfortable with eat lunch and run, take yourself out for dinner. A restaurant with linen and silverware. You're no less intriguing a person when you're eating solo dessert to cleaning the whipped cream from the dish with your finger. In fact some people at full tables will wish they were where you were.

Go to the movies. Where it is dark and soothing. Alone in your seat amidst a fleeting community.
And then, take yourself out dancing to a club where no one knows you. Stand on the outside of the floor till the lights convince you more and more and the music shows you. Dance like no one's watching...because, they're probably not. And, if they are, assume it is with best of human intentions. The way bodies move genuinely to beats is, after all, gorgeous and affecting. Dance until you're sweating, and beads of perspiration remind you of life's best things, down your back like a brook of blessings.

Go to the woods alone, and the trees and squirrels will watch for you.
Go to an unfamiliar city, roam the streets, there're always statues to talk to and benches made for sitting give strangers a shared existence if only for a minute and these moments can be so uplifting and the conversations you get in by sitting alone on benches might've never happened had you not been there by yourself

Society is afraid of alonedom, like lonely hearts are wasting away in basements, like people must have problems if, after a while, nobody is dating them. but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it.

You could stand, swathed by groups and mobs or hold hands with your partner, look both further and farther for the endless quest for company. But no one's in your head and by the time you translate your thoughts, some essence of them may be lost or perhaps it is just kept.

Perhaps in the interest of loving oneself, perhaps all those sappy slogans from preschool over to high school's groaning were tokens for holding the lonely at bay. Cuz if you're happy in your head than solitude is blessed and alone is okay.

It's okay if no one believes like you. All experience is unique, no one has the same synapses, can't think like you, for this be releived, keeps things interesting lifes magic things in reach.

And it doesn't mean you're not connected, that communitie's not present, just take the perspective you get from being one person in one head and feel the effects of it. take silence and respect it. if you have an art that needs a practice, stop neglecting it. if your family doesn't get you, or religious sect is not meant for you, don't obsess about it.

you could be in an instant surrounded if you needed it
If your heart is bleeding make the best of it
There is heat in freezing, be a testament.

Brain Canada: The Story of Bea

Andrea Dorfman 2021-09-21 | Brain Canada is a national charitable organization that enables and supports excellent, innovative, paradigm-changing brain research in Canada. braincanada.ca

Written and Animated by Andrea Dorfman
Produced by Kate Shingler
Music by Tanya Davis and Carlie Howell
Sound Design by Sacha Ratcliffe
Narration by Carlie Howell

Created on the iPad using the app, Callipeg, and then edited with Premiere Pro

Heirloom

Andrea Dorfman 2021-03-26 | Song by Kim Harris
Animation by Andrea Dorfman

Every once in a while I hear a song that stops me in my tracks. This was the case when I heard Heirloom by Kim Harris (kimharrismusic.ca) the title track off of her latest album. It brought me to tears. Kim's voice is moving and strong and sumptuous and lofty. The entire album is a gorgeous dream - but there was something about that song... It created a flurry of images in my mind. Two years later, I finally had some time to manifest those images and now I'm excited to share with you the animation I made from them. It's a celebration of Kim's song and also of the power of collaboration because we're so much better together than alone ❤️

Song Produced by Daniel Ledwell

Kim Harris - Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards
Daniel Ledwell - Guitar, Keyboards
Michael Belyea - Drums
Glen Leck - Bass
Stewart Legere - Backing vocals
Margot Durling - Backing vocals

"Heirloom" the album is out now on LHM Records
Buy/Stream here: select-digital.lnk.to/kimharr...

Lyrics

maybe I lost it in a parking lot
or in caverns under my rib cage
wanted flattery to fall off my back
but it's worn into my skin these days
to be unwanted
when I warm so easy
to the honey of you
have you burned every thought of me
set ablaze in fireweed
you'll find a trace in ruins
heirloom
I kept you held in arms of goldenrod
or in patterns under haunted scenes
following muted lines of mountain tops
a reminder of how soft i've been
to be unwanted
when I form so easy
to the colours of you
have you burned every thought of me
set ablaze in fireweed
you'll find a trace in ruins
heirloom
to be unwanted
when I form so easy
to the colours of you
have you burned every thought of me
set ablaze in fireweed
have you burned every thought of me
set ablaze in fireweed

How to Be at Home (2020)

Andrea Dorfman 2020-10-04 | Ten years after Tanya Davis wrote the gorgeous poem, How to Be Alone, she's done it again with a poignant poem for these times, How to Be at Home...and the two of us found ourselves collaborating again (scroll down to read the words to the poem).

This animation was created in my home studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia, while in social isolation through the spring and summer of 2020.

How to Be at Home is one of thirty films made through, The Curve, a National Film Board of Canada series of films created within (and many about) our pandemical times. You can see more of these wonderful and affecting films, and the full list of credits for this one, if you visit this link nfb.ca/the-curve/lights-camera-pivot

Credits

A National Film Board of Canada Production
Poem written by Tanya Davis
Directed, animated and edited by Andrea Dorfman
Produced by Annette Clarke
Original music by Tanya Davis and Daniel Ledwell
Sound designed by Sacha Ratcliffe

How to be at Home
Tanya Davis 2020

If you are, at first, really fucking anxious, just wait. It’ll get worse, and then you’ll get the hang of it. Maybe.

Start with the reasonable feelings – discomfort, lack of focus, the sadness of alone
you can try to do yoga
you can shut off the radio when it gets to you
you can message your family or your friends or your colleagues, you’re not supposed to leave your home anyway, so it’s safe for you

There’s also the gym
you can’t go there but you could pretend to
you could bendy by yourself in your bedroom

And there’s public transportation
probably best to avoid it
but there’s prayer and meditation, yes always
employ it
if you have pains in your chest ‘cause your anxiety won’t rest
take a moment, take a breath

Start simple
things you can handle based on your interests
your issues and your triggers
and your inner logistics
I miss lunch counters so much I’ve been eating [pickles and] toasted sandwiches while hanging unabashedly with my phone

When you are tired, again of still being alone
make yourself a dinner
but don’t invite anybody over
put something green in it, or maybe orange
chips are fine sometimes but they won’t keep you charged
feed your heart
if people are your nourishment, I get you
feel the feelings that undo you while you have to keep apart

Watch a movie, in the dark
and pretend someone is with you
watch all of the credits
because you have time, and not much else to do
or watch all of the credits to remember
how many people come together
just to tell a story
just to make a picture move

And then, set yourself up dancing
like it’s a club where everyone knows you
and they’re all gonna hold you
all night long
they’re gonna dance around you and with you and on their own
it’s your favourite song
with the hardest bass and the cathartic drums
your heart pumps along/hard, you belong
you put your hands up to feel it

With the come down comes the weeping
those downcast eyes and feelings
the truth is you can’t go dancing, not right now
not at any club or party in any town

The heartbreak of this astounds you
it joins old aches way down in you
you can visit them, but please don’t stay there

Go outside if you’re able, breathe the air
there are trees for hugging
don’t be embarrassed
it’s your friend, it’s your mother, it’s your new crush
lay your cheek against the bark, it’s a living thing to touch

Sadly, leave all benches empty
appreciate the kindness in the distance of strangers
as you pine for company and wave at your neighbours
savour the depths of your conversations
the layers uncovered
in this strange space and time

Society is afraid of change
and no one wants to die
not now, from a tiny virus
not later from the world on fire

But death is a truth we all hate to know
we all get to live, and then we all have to go

In the meantime, we’re surrounded, we’re alone
each a thread woven in the fabric, unravelling in moments though
each a solo entity spinning on its axis, forgetting that the galaxy includes us all

Herein our fall
from grace from each other from god whatever, doesn’t matter
the disaster is that we believe we’re separate
we’re not

As evidenced by viruses taking down societies
as proven by the loneliness inherent in no gatherings
as palpable as the vacancy in the space of one person hugging

If this disruption undoes you
if the absence of people unravels you
if touch was the tether that held you together
and now that it’s severed you’re fragile too
lean into loneliness and know you’re not alone in it
lean into loneliness like it is holding you
like it is a generous representative of a glaring truth
oh, we are connected
we forget this, yet we always knew.

~~

Parsley Days (trailer)

Andrea Dorfman 2018-04-26 | Parsley Days (2000) was my first feature film. It's a first love break up story. It will be streaming for free on the YouTube channel, encore+, starting May 4th!

Theres A Flower in My Pedal

Andrea Dorfman 2017-09-26 | ...

Tug of War (Girls Dance Video 2015)

Andrea Dorfman 2015-07-09 | This is an inspiring youth dance video and music project I was involved with in Halifax, NS, coordinated by Music Liberatory www.musicliberatory.com. Over the course of the 2014/15 school year, a group of girls worked hard with coordinator, Tamar Dina, dance choreographer, Courtney Loppie, musician Samm Splash and project support by Kayla Borden to make the second annual Girls Dance Video. Enjoy!

Thanks to:

All the participants both regulars and one timers. Both in the video and in class:

Roslyn, Manani, Carmahn, Alisha, Diamond, Kelsang, Hananiah, Chrishia, Kissie, Ah-maur, Tyanah, Freedom, Samanda, Tyrene, Mysheila, Wonseh, Asia, Deteasha, Jade, Tolulope, Folayemi, Evansae,

Courtney Loppie: Choreography Facilitator
Devona Wilson: Choreography Facilitator
Samm Splash: Music Facilitator
Kayla Borden: Project Support
Andrea Dorfman: Cinematography and Editing
Tamar Dina Project: Coordinator

George Dixon Centre: Rehearsal Space
Centreline Studios: Recording Space
Uniacke Centre for Community Development: Meeting Space
North Branch Public Library: Showcase Space
Atlantic Film Coop: Equipment

"Tug of War" (2015)
written by Samm Splash and Tamar Dina
Vocals preformed by Girls Dance participants
Bass by Alexis Smith
Keys by Hazel Fairbairn
Drums & Trumpet by Tamar Dina
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Lindell "LinPro" Smith

Big Mouth

Andrea Dorfman 2015-06-02 | Big Mouth (2012)
Written, Directed and Animated by Andrea Dorfman
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada
Music Composed/Sound Design By Mike O'Neill
Lyrics spoken by Tim Crabtree

Once Upon A Time

Andrea Dorfman 2015-04-28 | This short film was inspired by the issue that is going on in my home province, Nova Scotia, where the government has decided to stop supporting the film industry. This will be a devastating blow to those working in the industry, for young people wanting to stay and work, for small businesses who profit from film production and for culture which we all enjoy.

No Ones Gonna Love You (Quite Like I Do) by Jenn Grant

Andrea Dorfman 2015-02-13 | Our dog Sophie and her beastie bestie, Beans, playing like they love to play... A Valentines video to the beautiful Jenn Grant song from her wonderful new album, COMPOSTELA available on CD and vinyl and at www.jenngrant.bandcamp.com. Video shot on the iPhone 6, edited in FCP

Heartbeat Trailer

Andrea Dorfman 2014-10-01 | Trailer for the movie, HEARTBEAT, directed by Andrea Dorfman, starring and music by the hugely talented, Tanya Davis. Coming soon to a theatre near you in Canada and VOD elsewhere...

Flawed

Andrea Dorfman 2013-12-29 | This is the true story of how my boyfriend and I met and fell in love and how I learned to love my flaws. Thanks for watching!

How to Be Alone (the book!)

Andrea Dorfman 2013-12-08 | How to Be Alone is now a book! The beloved video poem written by Tanya Davis and directed by Andrea Dorfman is now a gorgeously painted hard cover pocket book, illustrated by Dorfman, and can be purchased in bookstores and on Amazon http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0062280848/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=0062280848&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwandreadorf-20

Eulogy for You and Me

Andrea Dorfman 2013-02-14 | Watercolour animation to Tanya Davis' lovely poem, Eulogy for You and Me from her awesome album "Clocks and Hearts Keep Going". Made with the generous support of bravoFACT www.bravofact.com

160 Girls Project - The Equality Effect

Andrea Dorfman 2011-11-30 | The 160 Girls project http://theequalityeffect.org is a legal initiative that aims to achieve justice and protect against rape for all girls in Kenya.

WHO ARE THE 160 GIRLS?
In eastern Kenya, 160 girls, all victims of rape, are determined to seek justice. In Kenya, a woman or girl is raped every 30 minutes. Girls are raped by family members and men in their own communities. Many of the girls are orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. They are vulnerable to abuse from extended family members and from strangers.

Because many men believe that sex with a virgin -- even a young child - is a cure for HIV/AIDS, these girls are doubly vulnerable.

The 160 girls have received temporary shelter and refuge for 6 weeks -- after that, they are on their own- and vulnerable.

WHAT IS "160 GIRLS"?
The "160 Girls" project is a legal initiative that aims to achieve justice and protect against rape for all girls in Kenya. The 160 Girls project will initiate litigation to secure legal remedies ordering the state to enforce existing laws in Kenya to protect girls from sexual violence and to hold rapists accountable.

The project will mobilize the law to secure concrete change for women and girls who currently experience some of the most appalling forms of violence in the world today.

BENEFITS OF "160 GIRLS"
If the State enforces its laws, girls will be protected from rape. There will be increased safety and security for girls and more state accountability for the enforcement of existing laws intended to protect women and girls.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Video Directed and Animated by Andrea Dorfman

Written by Fiona Sampson

Sound Recording by Patrick Njagi

Narrated by Lucy Wanjiku Ng'ang'a

Music Supervision by Colin MacKenzie

Music found on Jamendo.com

0 to 0:58 Old Memories by DJ Fab, Album: Echoes from the past

0:58 to 1:53 The Gaza Shore by Kostas Vomvolos, Album: Arab-Israeli cookbook

1:49 to 2:54 Wheatgrass by ARTSommerville, Album: Yael Bat-Shimon and Ariel Burger - Improvisations

2:33 to 3:48 Gypsy Road by ARTSomerville, Album: Serenata Chamber Musicians present Winter Solstice Concert 2007

3:48 to 4:26 The Gaza Shore by Kostas Vomvolos, Album: Arab-Israeli cookbook

Summer Stairs

Andrea Dorfman 2011-02-11 | This is a video I made to a song my boyfriend, Dave, wrote and recorded. He gave it to me for my birthday and it's beautiful so I made a music video for it. It's the first song he ever created! Amazing.

Special Thanks to Joel LeLièvre www.delicatemachines.com who taught me how to use After Effects!

The Equality Effect

Andrea Dorfman 2010-12-16 | An animated PSA I made for THE EQUALITY EFFECT, a non profit human rights organization doing legal/justice work for women and girls in Malawi, Kenya and Ghana.

The equality effect is an innovative non-profit organization that brings together leading human rights experts in Kenya, Malawi, Ghana, and Canada to conduct ground-breaking legal work on women's and girls' human rights issues.

The Canadian experience in advancing women's equality rights is the reference for the project at the express request of our African partners. The equality effect works to advance women's and girls' human rights and promote women's and girls' empowerment through the development of equality research and the implementation of practical equality initiatives (e.g. public legal education, policy reform, and test case litigation) that will result in tangible change.

The primary focus of the organization's work relates to violence against women, the feminization of HIV/AIDS, and women's property rights. For more information and to make a donation please go to http://www.theequalityeffect.com

Animated and Directed by Andrea Dorfman
Written by Fiona Sampson
Narrated by Sophie Njoki Ndungo
Music Composed by Sageev Oore
Voice Recorded by Patrick N. Njagi
Audio Support by Lukas Pearse

The Drums

Andrea Dorfman 2010-04-18 | An animated music video by Andrea Dorfman for the song, The Drums, by Tanya Davis from her cd Make A List (2006)

Thoughts On My Bike

Andrea Dorfman 2009-06-23 | This is a film I made for the NYC Bicycle Film Festival '09 http://bicyclefilmfestival.com/. Kev Corbett http://kevcorbett.com wrote the fabulous score to go along with it.

Goodbye Training Wheels

Andrea Dorfman 2008-10-20 | Max loses his training wheel, summer '06 in PEI. Music by Iron and Wine. My boyfriend, Dave's, son Max loses his training wheels...

Beautiful

Andrea Dorfman 2008-10-09 | This is a music video I made for Sook-Yin Lee. It was one of a series of videos I shot for the CBC radio website for her show Definitely Not the Opera. The song was written in collaboration with Michael Le Blanc. You can see other videos I made for the show at http://ca.youtube.com/user/CBCdnto

Art

Andrea Dorfman 2008-06-21 | Music video for Tanya Davis' song Art by Andrea Dorfman

Theres A Flower In My Pedal

Andrea Dorfman 2007-02-05 | A short film about bicycling and love.