Physics/ Movement

I liked Body Cartography Project's 1/2 Life so much that I decided to go the their workshop at the Southern yesterday. I wasn't sure what to expect- all I knew was that it somehow had to do with dance and physics.

The first exercise was something called "Authentic Movement" which I had heard of before but never really delved into it. We got into pairs, and one person moved through the space while the other witnessed. The person moving was supposed to listen to how their body wanted to move. I found that when it was my turn, I had a hard time not judging what I was doing. I kept on reprimanding myself for not being authentic enough, even though that was precisely what Otto Ramstad told us not to do. I also was very aware of being watched, even though I had my eyes closed. Still, I was able to tap into listening a little bit to what I felt my body was telling me. I ended up moving very much in a crouched, fetal position, with most of my movements generating from my core. I'd like to try more of this kind of exercise on my own.

In the second exercise, we again worked in pairs, and this time one person was supposed to be the scientist and the other the organism- or some sort of phenomenon that could be studied. A person could be a tree, or a cell, or a rock, or something like that. I started out being smoke, dissipating at first, and then entering the lungs, scraping at the blood vessels. This turned into me being a person dying of emphysema. I found it a lot more difficult to portray the scientist, because I wasn't very good at guessing what the other person was supposed to be. In the end, though I decided it was okay not to know, and to just be open to the other person and play. It was a lot more fun that way, anyway.

Then Bryce Beverlin gave a lecture on physics, and explained how hydrogen in the sun gets sucked toward the center via gravity and turns into helium. He also discussed black holes. We got into groups and were supposed to come up with a phrase based on Bryce's lecture. Our group decided to enact the hydrogen traveling toward the center of the sun via a folk-like dance, followed by dissipation. We joined hands, and made our way closer together, becoming more dense as we traveled, and then when we reached the center, transformed into helium, which was a much more peaceful, groovy state.

After the workshop, I've been thinking more and more about black holes. It might be kind of fun to use that as a starting point for a piece- either a poem or a play perhaps. I'll have to think about it a little more.