little captain exploration

thank you to matthew for sharing with us material from a recent workshop with the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, the little finger or pinkie as the leader of spiraling motion

-and enveloping

I just remembered-and forgot to add-that i was surprised about how much i was enjoying exploring envelopments. It reminded me of doing butoh-I somehow felt transformed into something else-almost unhuman. I didnt know that you could connect with a partner with such bound and internal energy...i look forward to this wed :)

trust, habits, how we say it, and pathways

There was a lot to explore this week. The yielding brought about such a wonderful connection for me with my original partner, Margaret. I really wanted to stay there to allow for smooth and seamless transitions of weight-sharing and pouring. It felt secure and allowed for me to find that trust in building a jumping off point and really sensing Margaret through her skin and through her micro-movements, rhythms, and breath.

When we began to add in all the other ideas yielding, pushing, reaching, pulling, following through, I found it interesting which elements seemed more naturalwith certain partners. It brought to mind about our habits and where we are comfortable being in the dance. Angie had said she really think she is a "yielder"-meaning she primarily enjoys yielding in the dance and going with the flow and action.

How do we, or do we , include all of these in a dance and how do we follow -through? How are we clear of our intentions and split-decision made choices in our dancing?

what do we say yes to and when do we say it-how loud do we say it
what do we say no to -even maybe-and how do we say it in our bodies-when are we hesitant or when or how are we certain of our response-?

I also brought up the idea of trajectories. I think it is important to know how our bodies can feed into movement though space and through an exchange in each other. i guess im interested in pathways too duh ( i think i might be doing a workshop in that-ha)I think this can allow a follow-through to be more effective and allow for juicier and more mindful dancing.

Enveloping and the Developmental Score

Lab recap:

We began by revisiting our idea of “hook, pull, follow-through” and by placing it into Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s movement development framework: Yield, Push, Reach, Pull. We warmed up with a score the moved along that developmental framework by exploring each stage and progressively giving us more choices out of which we might “build a duet”: Yield, Yield + Push, Yield + Push + Reach, Yield + Push + Reach + Pull.

After reaching the “pulling” stage, we introduced “enveloping,” a new variable, into our movement mix. The image of enveloping is that of swallowing. In partners we explored the tandem sensations of envelopment: enveloping and being enveloped. A dancer placed a hand somewhere on the body of her partner, who would then move her body to swallow the body part. Getting a little more figurative, we used the image of swallowing to expand the scope of what we were enveloping to include limbs, body halves, and the entire body.

Results:

Out of our work came a discussion about habitual movement choices and a curiosity how a variable like enveloping can create an opportunity to engage in several activities: to further explore images that we enjoy (for example, a top being wound up and released); to ask questions about the limits of movement (for example, what physically happens around the limit of enveloping); to provide a point of focus that clarifies other variables like habitual choices.

Next steps:

Next week’s lab may continue to explore enveloping. On my mind are some of Melissa’s comments about tension—especially as it related to energy/focus pulling inward or exploding outward. Also on my mind is Margaret’s idea about transformation at the limit. I welcome any suggestions for scores that might get at some of these ideas.

1/20/2010

I learned a lot yesterday as I do every time I practice. I felt like there was some deep bodily understanding happening around the vacuum. I surely never felt myself falling back into patterns, so that was lovely, I usually have to work really hard to find the other. There were some lovely moments to watch, and even the watching felt different. I was looking intensely for the hook, the pull, the vacuum. The looking sent my eyes more deeply into the connection and the space inbetween. I so appreciate the openness of the group and the collectiveness. p.s. my knee feels good today!!

I was talking to Margaret last Wednesday and mentioned the vacuum that is occurring with the lungs and diapraghm, and how that constant vacuum is more subtle. I would like to return to an exploration to this vacuum deep in our organs. I think it would increase awareness when I am responding to other people's vacuums. The more obvious vacuums are easier to respond to because I can see it change in space, but how quickly can I respond to it and then to another. Maybe spending some time focusing on the subtle will open the possibilities with the more stronger sucking vacuums.