Well I've been very negligent lab scribe as the weather has been nicer and I've been resistant to sitting down at the computer, but now it's Monday yet again so I better get on with it. I have some very basic notes of what I can remember from the last two (very lovely) lab sessions.
Lab on 4/16 lead by Cyrus
Everything flowed together so smoothly that it is hard to separate out the different explorations/exercises, but this is some of what we covered.
Started in pairs and one trio, head-to-head, exploring and mapping the surfaces of the skull. This tender attention transitioned into the spine and a sense of fitting into the curvature of the partner's body.
Cyrus talked about the care around the head, the gentleness we give that sensitive area and compared it to how we treat children--with care and sensitivity. We danced again with that idea, to treat each person with the care we would give a child. Someone brought up the idea of having t-shirts printed with a childhood photo.
Then trios took turns with witnessing.
Here are some key words I jotted down during discussion:
Beauty, lack of agenda, no ego, high levels of coordination, finding stillness, organic discovery, fitting, feeding, nuzzling.
And some ideas:
Allowed to be open/non-defensive because you know everyone is in a state of care. Soft placed faces, eyes at back of socket. A score that is easy to stay with. The head is easy to return to. The head is the new pelvis.
Lab on 4/23 lead by Christian
Christian took the concept "what do you love about contact" and ran with it. We got to do some of Christian's favorites!
Started in a place of eyes closed and Christian paired us anonymously with partners for a ouija-style single fingertip dance of non-ambition, waiting, and listening. After a long while this was permitted to grow. Then one partner opened eyes and did the "Brushin' Russian" exercise (credit given to Michal) where one person gave little brushes that lead their partner on little movement journeys. Evolved from brushing into other qualities of touch. Then partner left alone to do a little solo of "surprises" imagining impulses coming at unexpected times from unexpected directions, imitating the quality of having the partner's information. Then we switched roles.
Then we did trios building on the idea of giving information through manipulation rather than center-weighted rolling point of contact. Then we had quartets where three people would fly one person through the air, and then the flying person would rotate. Then we did a 12 minute dance where there was always a trio and a quartet but it could shift fluidly.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Monday, April 16, 2018
A Dance for Michal
A little video we made Monday the 9th for Michal. Thankfully her surgery went well on Thursday, but sending continued love for her during recovery.
Tuesday, April 10, 2018
Lab Notes: Heart #4
Led by Kaitlin
Also in attendance: Scott, Christian, Denise
Thinking about the heart and it's functions.
--It pumps blood. Get it pumping, move blood through the body. Warm the core, wake the edges.
Dance Party:
One song solo warm up(Can't Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)
Three songs collective dancing--maybe some contact but primary directive dance party. Finding some idea of ensemble. (Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics, Stay by The Zodiacs, Higher & Higher by Jackie Wilson)
--Heart brings blood to the lungs to be oxygenated. It is vital, it is vitality. Life-blood. It is the pleasure of being alive.
15 minute duet of vitality:
Dance of vitality. Indulge in your aliveness, witness and celebrate your partner's vitality too.
We did two 15 min duets, swapping partners.
Reflections:
"Lungs are the wings of the heart"
"Look at all the things I can do with my human body"
Denise: Melded the quality of appreciating little moments, but also energy. These are not always dances that go together. ie detailed dances tend to be non-energetic, energetic dances not as focused on listening/nuance.
Christian: A sense of appreciating each other's choices and noticing being appreciated. The time to stay with the person and develop that noticing.
Kaitlin: Nice mindset to return to: positive and open. Places an intention around it that gives it a shine.
Denise: Gave a sort of permission to do anything because we're just honoring each other's vitality.
Christian: the way an electromagnet responds to polarity, pushing off, flipping back and forth, feeding off reciprocating energy
--The heart is the center of the circulatory system. A network. We have heart strings attached to people across our community.
Dance as prayer:
12 minute duets. Each person takes a turn tracing the names of those who they would pray for, those who are pulling on our heart strings, placing those names in the vessel of our partner. (Found a lovely melting-in or sand sensation if the back surface is smoothed with the palms between names.) Then together a dance of prayer, honoring the names placed inside both of you.
❤️
Also in attendance: Scott, Christian, Denise
Thinking about the heart and it's functions.
--It pumps blood. Get it pumping, move blood through the body. Warm the core, wake the edges.
Dance Party:
One song solo warm up(Can't Hold Us by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)
Three songs collective dancing--maybe some contact but primary directive dance party. Finding some idea of ensemble. (Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics, Stay by The Zodiacs, Higher & Higher by Jackie Wilson)
--Heart brings blood to the lungs to be oxygenated. It is vital, it is vitality. Life-blood. It is the pleasure of being alive.
15 minute duet of vitality:
Dance of vitality. Indulge in your aliveness, witness and celebrate your partner's vitality too.
We did two 15 min duets, swapping partners.
Reflections:
"Lungs are the wings of the heart"
"Look at all the things I can do with my human body"
Denise: Melded the quality of appreciating little moments, but also energy. These are not always dances that go together. ie detailed dances tend to be non-energetic, energetic dances not as focused on listening/nuance.
Christian: A sense of appreciating each other's choices and noticing being appreciated. The time to stay with the person and develop that noticing.
Kaitlin: Nice mindset to return to: positive and open. Places an intention around it that gives it a shine.
Denise: Gave a sort of permission to do anything because we're just honoring each other's vitality.
Christian: the way an electromagnet responds to polarity, pushing off, flipping back and forth, feeding off reciprocating energy
--The heart is the center of the circulatory system. A network. We have heart strings attached to people across our community.
Dance as prayer:
12 minute duets. Each person takes a turn tracing the names of those who they would pray for, those who are pulling on our heart strings, placing those names in the vessel of our partner. (Found a lovely melting-in or sand sensation if the back surface is smoothed with the palms between names.) Then together a dance of prayer, honoring the names placed inside both of you.
❤️
Monday, April 2, 2018
Lab Notes: Heart #3
(Heart #2 I was not in attendance)
Tonight's lab led by Hallie!
Also in attendance: Cyrus, Denise, Julius, Connie, Kaitlin
As always, my memory is limited and selective!
Began sitting in a circle, pressing our hands into the hands of the people on either side of us. Pushing harder, then barely touching, then finding the middle. We did a little dance of hand departure and found our way into the ground. Hallie invited us to find "arrivals and departures" with the floor, to notice as we roll that as one part arrives, another departs, and vise versa. She then invited us to find a stillness, and do a meditation on gratitude--picking a person, or switching between people, and remembering things they've done for us or things about them we are grateful for. We then broke into three duets of arrivals and departures. Hallie invited us to play with primary position (fetal) and secondary position (arching/reaching) and to use these to support and wrap around the energy of our partner. Then we paused and noticed the heat spots of where we in contact with our partner. We carried that heat with us as we did dances of arriving and departing with the whole room (grazing sort-of).
After some group reflection we did the following structure:
Two lines of three people. The 1st person in line (Person A) solos while Person B and C watch.
When Person A feels they have arrived, they invite person B to join, Person C witnesses the duet. When Person A feels the duet has arrived, they depart and join the back of the other line while Person B is left to solo. Eventually they invite Person C to join them, thus restarting the pattern. Both lines go simultaneously, and cycle through so you are always dancing with a new person. This was really lovely, even though yours truly got confused about which party initiates the joining, thus resulting in some extra-long solo action!
To finish up we had on person solo, and then, when invited, two others enter together to join for a short trio. The other three witness. Then we switched groups.
Tonight's lab led by Hallie!
Also in attendance: Cyrus, Denise, Julius, Connie, Kaitlin
As always, my memory is limited and selective!
Began sitting in a circle, pressing our hands into the hands of the people on either side of us. Pushing harder, then barely touching, then finding the middle. We did a little dance of hand departure and found our way into the ground. Hallie invited us to find "arrivals and departures" with the floor, to notice as we roll that as one part arrives, another departs, and vise versa. She then invited us to find a stillness, and do a meditation on gratitude--picking a person, or switching between people, and remembering things they've done for us or things about them we are grateful for. We then broke into three duets of arrivals and departures. Hallie invited us to play with primary position (fetal) and secondary position (arching/reaching) and to use these to support and wrap around the energy of our partner. Then we paused and noticed the heat spots of where we in contact with our partner. We carried that heat with us as we did dances of arriving and departing with the whole room (grazing sort-of).
After some group reflection we did the following structure:
Two lines of three people. The 1st person in line (Person A) solos while Person B and C watch.
When Person A feels they have arrived, they invite person B to join, Person C witnesses the duet. When Person A feels the duet has arrived, they depart and join the back of the other line while Person B is left to solo. Eventually they invite Person C to join them, thus restarting the pattern. Both lines go simultaneously, and cycle through so you are always dancing with a new person. This was really lovely, even though yours truly got confused about which party initiates the joining, thus resulting in some extra-long solo action!
To finish up we had on person solo, and then, when invited, two others enter together to join for a short trio. The other three witness. Then we switched groups.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)