DING

Warming up with Sarah Shelton Mann techniques.
The yin and yang of movement and breath.

Deciding we'd set some vocabulary:

"D I N G" - spoken from anyone during anytime during improvisational score at moments of compositional interest. Noticing if it's said from within or from outside the composition. Furthermore, during our discussion after wards, it was discussed that for some it was difficult to see what was even making the composition from within the work. I brought up The Six Viewpoint Theory and the group decided they'd like to learn about it.

"E N D" - we didn't use it this time, but the E N D is to be spoken when a natural ending is felt. The open improvisational score then starts anew.

"N O T I C E" - wasn't used either. This was the option to bring the awareness to the columns, and the mapping of the floor work to the score.

"D I R E C T I O N" - not really saying direction but we gave one another the permission to sculpt moments if we saw the potential for a more powerful dynamic. Such as, go here. keep doing that. be still. Any structural modification really.

anything else?

Hesperus. Photo by Amelia Charter.

I brought in a sound scape composed of field recordings from our recent warm weekend of melting snow. I also layered in tracks from an earlier project of mine, Sound Vestige, 6 works composed collaboratively with musician/builder/artist Tom Murray. Feedback about the sound was positive and expressed that the sound had been supportive for the environment. Also something you could sink into and also leave behind in the background. A flexible presence. We'd like to find more material like this.

O B J E C T S A R E H A R D - Bringing in the red cushions was extremely challenging. Mind bending. For me it was like adding three new players to the room. Stubborn, small but stand-out ish players who would just look at me like... "yes, and...hmmm...what are you doing to do about it..." More layers to look at. Perhaps we will see how different objects could influence the group. Maybe doing an entire score focusing on objects. What torture! What fun!

T A L K I N G - finding more rhythms with talking and moving. Other vocal sounds working their way in. Repetition, variation and theme with logic systems. Not just with the body, but with narrative, with the voice. Working it, stretching it, pulling it, expanding it, and reversing it. Parallel to how you might do with a movement phrase.

W I T N E S S I N G - Taking the time to step out. Looking at the bigger picture. Seeing. Sensing. Sculpting. Noticing. This has brought an awareness to the group of a sense for being watched. It has for me brought in this layer of "performing" that I mostly don't experience during pure exploration. I feel it is good to integrate it into my exploration, so that I can develop that honest muscle. The honest muscle is the ability to be conscious of an audience with every breathe, but to surrender and resist putting on a show. To let yourself be seen.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig. Photo credit to Gerald Herbert

Glaciers. SSSSSScCCCCccinnamonnnn. Ssshhhhhugar. NUTMEG. My stargazing turned to mud. My stargazing turned to mud. ((((SINGING BOWL))))
Christopher? Christopher...Christopher! Christopher... He's not here. He took the bus. Went to the pool. To swim in cinnamon bun. I used to like cinnamon buns. So sticky. Because of all the pollution. Oh yeah, global warming. global warming isn't real. democratic plot. That's the pollution. sticky cinnamon buns. swimming. Sticky. Christopher? Hey! heyyyyy. Hey. He was like a dead fish. Out there in the middle. And we all ran to the perimeter. Sacred. Grossed. But you had my back and we went in. to check him out. You couldn't find his pulse. You checked his knee...his leg...maybe his elbow even...it wasn't anywhere. Just roll him out of here. He's bringing it all down. Yeah. Just like that. Umph. My stargazing turned to mud. Christopher is that you? Oh my gosh, Christopher! IIII'm Christopher. Your?..... Christopher....?.....Christopher. Can't trust any of you.