Air Falbh leis na h-eòin, Away with the birds - Choreographic Research

Choreographic Research - week 1 Posted by Rosalind Masson on Feb 16 [Rosalind Masson] Dear collaborators, Usually I keep my notes in one of my diaries but I thought in the run up to our residency I might share them online. Feel free to comment. 6.00 - 7.00pm Voice and Body work 7.00 - 8.00pm Choreographic Ideas Connecting specific sounds with specific movements diving, swooping, gliding - images of flight sound in connection with arms Fall and catch/balance connection of eyes to arms walking and stopping in relation to calling: do you walk after you make the sound? before or simultaneously? sliding sounds/vowels sounds oooooooooo slide fingertips hmmmmmm rock transfer of weight ayayayayay call walk/stop Flocking with specific movements Flocking with specific movements and associated sound Development Sound connecting to body - connection to space/spatial score- creating suggestion/image of bird(s) Considerations : Birds not having any extraneous movement - every movement with behavioral logic. Action generated from sound/generated from movement? e.g. calling and walking exercise Identify a spatial plan for four movements Some reflections : In the gap between sound making and movement there is breath. This gap creates space. I have been connecting or thinking about the movement of the arms - particular movements of the arms in space and how they create a shift of weight down into the feet. How details like the opening of the fingers or the direction of the finger tips create a reaction felt throughout the whole body. I haven't played with rotation as much - more often swing and suspend. I played with calling and moving the head, turning the head in isolation and then calling. I also played with rocking/swaying/shifting the weight from foot to foot so the tranfer of weight moves through the pelvis and shifting the weight from foot to foot transferring the weight in a way through the whole body. Then I thought about how this rocking motion could travel in space connected to the sound either by pivoting or by stepping one foot after another. Looking down at my feet was a form of recognition to know I'd been walking. Discuss this message [Rosalind Masson] Rosalind Masson – Reflections contd... This also allowed me to realise that sound I was making connected to each foot fall so when I stopped the sound naturally stopped. With the transfer of weight also came a more direct push into the floor which made me begin to throw my voice into space connecting questioning how are sound and voice one? The movement from throwing my voice naturally connected into my spine where there was an opening and closing beginning to happen. Making a warbling call opened up my throat and face to the space above. Function of the arms: In her class Rafaella Galdi said the breath is the bridge between the body and mind. Breath then is also the meeting point between movement and sound. Breathing Meditation for the arms: In standing, feel how breathing - the actions of inhaling and exhaling animates the body. The lungs expand and as they expand they also move the ribcage. Since the shoulder blades are resting on the ribcage they go for a ride on the breath. They are attached via the collar bone and sternum to the ribcage but free to glide across the back, moved by the breath. You can initiate movement from any part of the arms/body so it's interesting to make choices, try different points of initiation and pathways. One of the things I found most interesting was the potential energy connecting right down to the floor as I lift my arm perhaps above my head. It made sense at first to work with the restriction of having my feet in one place. I had a strange sensation when transferring weight on to my hands, maybe my feet could become wings. Thinking about the connection of the feet and shoulder blades in reflexology. I straight away felt a different weight or concept of weight from my body into the floor and more detail in the fingers and wrists - isolating them in motion. In kneeling this isolation/bending and flexing of the wrist became gesturally like a signal and I wondered about bird behaviour. How they use visual signals. Finally I thought about and questioned the function of the wings/arms and how in flight the wings function symmetrically but at rest can be moved independently. Repetition of wings flapping is cyclical like breathing. An action that is by nature functional and yet expressive. Walking score: Walking and balancing on one leg. Tucking your head, tucking your leg Tucking head and leg together Walking on tiptoes Walking with bent knees Walking on tiptoes with bent knees Walking backwards on tiptoes Walking backwards with bent knees Walking backwards on tiptoes with bent knees.