Beginning and Ending

Labor Gras research, week beginning 2/3/10

(All these scores are performed with at least one person witnessing so observations can be made).

With Arthur, Emma and Neta in the studio we begin by improvising for one another in pairs: I propose something, you answer, I answer back and so on. How to trust the body to go deeply into the nuances of a phrase of moment and not impose on oneself. How do you enter the 'performance space'. How do you begin and how do you end? When do you begin and when do you end? In the space? On the periphery? What quality do you bring into the space or introduce once you are right in there?

Building a story in the space: The first person makes a sentence, a quality in the space. The next person enters into that quality and then brings it to another place and so on. Moving it forward, transforming as it is passed from one person to the next.

Components of sitting and standing. Different levels, working with stillness in proximity then

continuously moving, two at a time. How to remain in the fast movement with as much sensitivity as in working more slowly. How does the movement flow through the body in a way that you are aware of? How not to throw movement away.

Exercise by Mia Lawerence:

One person moving, eyes closed. The other watches the surfaces exposed and enters into light contact as an opportunity presents itself. Always the upper surface rather than the lower.The other continues moving and the moment passes. The watcher moves away and looks again at the forms that are appearing: whole sections or tiny parts of the body can be placed onto the other. But not heavily. How does the experience effect the watcher? What sensations are left in the body? How does this focus change how you move and enter into the next place of contact?