Potential. Darkness of the body

Programme

   

‘Potential; Darkness of the body’

(part 1)

By Greta Jokubauskaite in collaboration with Ian Fisher and Tony Agar

Have you ever been frustrated? Have you ever been lost? Have you ever been stuck?

This project is about finding a way to venture beyond the obstacles and to find the potential within the body through the darkness of the body, using the power of imagination. Refining the imagination and having the ability to form a mental image of something that is not perceived through the five senses, and considering the creative power of imagination as an important role in the achievement of success in any field, the image of the darkness of the body is chosen in order to make space within the body and mind for potential to arrive - the darkness of the body, refined as dimensionless, objectless, limitless and endless, clears out the mind and becomes a space of potential.

The work is made collaborating with musicians, incorporating dance and music, developing the idea these two disciplines being completely dependent of each other.

The power of imagination is more important than knowledge. A. Einshtein

The strongest influence on this work and the main idea is taken from Antony Gormley, the sculpture. His approach to ‘the darkness of the body’ was not only inspirational in this work, but widely explored and developed. Pina Bausch’s work was also an influence in giving a desire to concentrate on the emotional aspects, the expressiveness of the darkness of the body, and also giving the desire to explore what moves the body. Miranda Tufnell’s and Chris Crickmay’s ideas and scores for traveling through imagination were extremely useful and made a massive difference in the process of work. Meredith Monk’s work served the project by inspiring the different ways of making music, and involving music in the project in general. Her ways of expressiveness, pushing the boundaries and variations in music and voice gave different quality of music, inviting more openness to variations, affecting the movement quality. And me, with a telling interest in expressiveness of the emotions through the body, interest and experience in SRT and desire to cross-discipline my artistic work as well as improve as a person.

Creative Process

The work has been process-orientated. It began from an idea arising through a interest in Antony Gormley’s work and the desire to explore it in a slightly different way compared to previous explorations made during Performance Projects. Then more research was made in relation to the idea, as well as performance notion in general and somatic practices, mainly SRT. The following actions were taken making and doing the scores relevant to the idea, including performing scores with other people as well as my independent explorations. It also involved drawing and the use of lighting, which detoured and disappeared along the progression of process as a matter in performance, though remained as a way of expressiveness whilst documenting the work and as an inspirational palpable evidence of work. As more research was made, along research of Meredith Monk’s work, music became increasingly integral to the project. The intensive practical work with musicians took place using different scores, which developed from independent explorations of the idea to responsiveness to each other, and, finally, to absolute interflow and interaction of all the participants. There was lots of reflecting, whether verbal or writing/drawing based, evaluating and decision making towards the current rendition of the piece, which helped to define the progression and make discoveries stay and be transferred into a potential performance, as well as stimulate to further development. It is important to mention, the work was process-orientated rather than product-orientated, which was clearly stated and remained that way at all times, even if found challenging. I constantly referred back to the original idea and artists of interest remained during the whole process in order to stay with the idea and notice the differences of perception. Daydreaming was also a big part of the process as not only being reasonable for containing the interest, but, most importantly, because of selecting essential material and managing the process, as a number of ideas came up during the process that had to be bypassed in order to achieve more depth and  keep the most relevant material. The final touch till the moment, was evaluating the whole work, and setting up some material by making a score for performance and set the cues, as, even remaining previous discoveries, the performance is improvised.

Enjoy witnessing this part of the exploration, and finding the potential through darkness of the body.

What potential does the journey through darkness of the body bring to you?

I would like to thank Amy Voris and Dance/Theatre students, for the support during the whole process, and mostly, for Ian Fisher and Tony Agar, I would be nowhere without them!

The sketch of this work can be seen at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZVJU728zGA 

An experience in Functional Integration

A 1 to 1 session with Jenny Coogan

I was so lucky to have a chance to have a 1 to 1 Feldenkrais Functional Integration session with Jenny Coogan. As a big part of my dissertation was investigating the Feldenkrais method and its forms, it was very beneficial for me to physically experience this particular form of the method. The main focuses were on the release of my lower back and the back of my neck. After a short discussion about the specificity of the tensions I held, a completely silent hands on work followed. This way I had a chance to experience the power of letting go and giving in into somebody else's hands as well as enhance my senses in order to achieve the release of the held pain in order to improve my movement performance by allowing me to move just a little bit easier. I had a chance to process and notice the changes happening without any verbal instructions given. It was absolutely amazing, after an hour's session, I felt so lengthened and such a release in my neck, it felt like there was so much space made within my spine, and between the neck and shoulders, it almost felt like it's never going back. In this way I had a chance to re-evaluate my knowledge about the Method. If this can make such a difference after one session, I would absolutely recommend this Method and this particular form to people who suffer from pains which causes restriction of movements because it is effective for human performance in everyday life just as much as it is for dancing bodies.

Many Thanks to Jenny Coogan for her time and the experience given ;]

Peer Teaching session


One of the tasks we had for Movement Studies, was planning a short session and delivering it to your peers. As my interest this year has been accessing the nervous system, the material I delivered was based on this experiential experience. This was following the interest in integrating the interaction between inner functioning and outer world, two things of which somatic nervous system (receiving, interpreting and responding to the information) and autonomic nervous system (responsible for involuntary, surviving processes) are responsible for. Therefore my intention was experiencing the nervous system as nerve cells, how it fires, and how quickly it travels through the body in order to notice how quickly the information is proceeded and even registered.  Hence I have started from showing short video about the nervous system and neurons, then followed with Body Scanning imagery exercise to bring the focus to the body, then the hands on work followed of cellular touch and finally moved towards a hands on partner graphic of travelling fingers, that I experienced myself before in SRT class 11 and that I found very relevant for this exploration. If I had more time, my further instructions would have lead to slightly more detailed explorations as well as towards little solo dance, involving some music/sound, and even contact improvisation.

It was very beneficial to be able to deliver such material, because I could make evaluations about myself as a teacher. Although it required some research in books (took me quite a few to look at to find the most relevant and beneficial material) and online, it was not too difficult to plan this class, as it was my own interest this whole year, especially second term. Actually, it drew my interest in ways of teaching even more! Even though a number of aspects of teaching had to be considered for this particular session. However, in time of delivery, the time limitation appeared to be tricky, as the material I had is demanding for quite longer amount of time. Therefore the lack of information/details for imagery was noticed. However, details like the correct use of voice, clarity of instructions given, the layout of the material given was complimented by my colleagues. The connection between visual material and practical material was acknowledged working well together, helping to move through material quite swiftly.

Being a participant of other people's 'little classes' helped me not only notice the aspects of given material but critically look at delivering itself, to notice what methods of delivery works better than the others. This included the feedback discussion, as the ethics of feedback is a very important part of teaching skills too.

I think this session was a really good chance to experiment teaching abilities. I hope to be able to deliver this material to another group of people in the future!

March Entry

My lovely experience in SRT

This term, I had an amazing opportunity to do a series of 15 Skinner Releasing Technique introductory classes. 3 times a week, 5 weeks in a row, was an intensive practice of this particular technique, in comparison to my previous experience doing first 10 classes in 10 weeks period.
First of all, evaluating this practice, it was really beneficial for me considering the investigation and research I did on SRT for my dissertation, so starting this series I already had a different level of understanding, hence different approach to a given material. I could really connect to the imagery scores much quicker than I used to, and because of the intensity it felt like really layering up, because my body could easily remember and connect to the material that has been done in previous classes. Even the material from 1st term and from the few weeks of the start of second term was still present. This even appeared in my journal writing, where I mention the connections to some phrase work, and movement patterns' exploration.
Something that particularly interested me in SRT this time, was some kind of connection to my nervous system, and a very different experience of consciousness and unconsciousness. I was actually exploring the difference of it and noticing the moments when it shifts and switches. Therefore, very interestingly, I have started to learn to use conscious and subconscious once I get dancing, and letting myself be...letting myself being danced by what is awakened there at that very moment by the imagery and partner graphics, or sometimes just letting go...When you experience that subconsciouss state of mind where you are not asleep, but you are not conscious, and you know you've been hearing everything that Polly said, but can not actually remember it yourself until it is said to you again after you finish the class, makes you wonder about the ways your mind is processing the information beyond your own conscious choice..
Technically I improved in 'seeing and being seen' as well as improved my tone, presence and fuller embodiment of the movement. I also noticed an improvement in my flexibility, especially in my hip socket.
There is a little quote from my notes from one of the classes:

'I was dancing, not danced today...However, the calm in the body is just incredible in these classes. Supple feet, quietened vibrations of energy that's put into the space. That's how it takes me into a peaceful dance today...'

' You just let your inner energy come into play, let it flow with no restrictions and take you somewhere unexpected, but keep that suspension of the torso with you, making those legs so light, your whole body supported..as if you're flying just above the floor and glide around the space...and there you taken somewhere before you even know...'

The reverberations of this practice was very present in the afternoon Improvisation classes too. The group work/working with more than one partner was most significant for me in these classes, because I could really feel the differences between individuals, which made me aware of more possibilities within dance practice and performance making practice, as well as being useful for future teaching.

February Entry

Mid term challenges of the last year at university

So even though this month was probably the most stressful, it was also the month when some things seem to fall into places. The little pieces take its place in a bigger image of our practice. As we finally got to controlateral pattern exploration (opposition), the previously explored patterns really seem to make sense understanding the process of movement pattern development within the body. Now that we can recognize those patterns, it does not only help to find what needs more attention in personal practice and movement development, but also highly supports teaching abilities, as we now can recognize and verbally articulate what the intentions of certain movements are, by using a number of learning tools, which we are about to experiment in the coming weeks.

Coming back to the exploration of controlateral pattern, the most significant thing for me was to find a way to incorporate previously explored qualities of movement in a very gentle way of transitioning from one to the other / combining different patterns, which I was struggling with before because of its complexity. Again, I found that the problem I had was over-thinking and focusing to the details too much; the resolution was hid in lighter attention to the detail and just trusting the unconscious to do the best job.
Although, bringing awareness to the details of patterns was needed to remind the body the better qualities of movement, which is a birthright. For example, noticing of the crawling qualities was a very fun experience, which also highly informed my practice in finding the relationship of movement, hearing and seeing. As my interest in the ability to see and be seen was present for the last few months, this new information almost felt like finding a treasure, a magic tool to work with in order to improve.
These new qualities were apparent in all the classes recently. Such an obvious changes appeared, like dynamics of my movements,increased general presence, higher tone, more interaction with the external rather than just internal relationships that I was so used to. Consequently, this gave me the opportunity for a greater exploration and connection to the nervous system, helping me notice the transitions and even recognize the conscious and unconscious choices of my movement and its effects. Even though I still catch myself on moments when I lose my presence and start to block out the information given or some potential unfolds, I think this recognition and critical but not judgmental evaluation of it is a good point for improvement.
I think every single class we had recently had it's impact in it's own way. Makes you wonder, how such different material refer to one another, and how intellectual understanding can actually make a difference on the technical side of movement and vice versa....Few years ago nobody would have made me believe that dance art form would be so intelligent ;]]]]]]

Some more unfolds...

As my MS3 studies consist of morning classes on Mondays and Tuesdays as well, I would like to shortly  comment on them. Untypically for me, I really enjoy contact improvisation, when this gets involved. Recently I had an opportunity to dance in very different contexts and scores with few different people - some of them are well known in this kind of work for me already, with others I have been doing contact work for the first time. Even though I always felt really comfortable with giving weight and taking weight, etc, now I am much more interested in exploring different qualities and really noticing the difference in them, and recognize which of them are more preferred for me and informing more than the others. However, the most important thing I notably become better is ability to listen and find greater connection with my partner. Ability to follow it is the most beautiful thing I have explored in 3years of developing my contact improvisation skills at University. 

Phrase work mainly informs my practice technically, but it is interesting to notice, how much of imagery is used when teaching and clarifying the movement intentions, which is an interest of mine as a possible future teacher and practitioner. 

Though Improvisation classes mainly feed me as an artist. It develops my perceptiveness, as I learn how to listen, interpret, tune for artistic processes anywhere, anytime, which teaches how to be an artist and feed the process of work even when I am not in the studio. Writing more poetically is also something that unfolds through this practice, which I really appreciate, being so much of a realist !

January Entry

In January we have explored Homologous pattern, homolateral pattern and touched contralateral pattern of the movement as well. Through hands-on work and solo explorations, working with sensing, moving and imagining, we had an opportunity to go back to basics, to where our abilities to do certain movements underlie. In a first place, the transition itself from exploring the patterns through animal species, to actual human beings, felt quite a big change for me. For example, at first, when I started my exploration of homologous pattern, I found it very uncomfortable and unnatural.  excerpt from my notes: 'Frog- felt quite intimate and uncomfortable, very difficult to rock being on the front, because of adult body structure. Quite unfamiliar - felt like split in half! I fount it really demanding and athletic.'

As if 'split in half' was not explored enough, later explorations, starting in Feldenkrais, and continuing by going towards contralateral pattern explorations, made the sense of being split in half , like the blue line shows.

This also felt quite unnatural at the beginning, though much less demanding than homologous pattern. However, the more I was doing it, the more clear and familiar it became, or at least did not feel uncomfortable anymore, even though restricted. This also made me aware of the detail and clarity of the movement, especially when explorations involved teaching aspects. 

In solos, I noticed how much information gained through MS3 classes have already instilled within my body and intellectual understanding. This mainly happened, when at several points during the class, I tried to think about all the qualities of movement that we have been exploring, and tried to integrate them all. which was pretty impossible to do consciously - just too much information at a time. It felt like too much complexity to be thinking of every single one at the same time. 

Generally, I can tell January was great month for my dance practice, even though it was difficult to keep fully engaged, because of all the stress caused by dissertation writing, which was extremely tiring, even though it broadened my understanding of what we were doing as being subject-related. I think my previous 'new' approach of not caring too much, letting things be and reveal itself without too much thinking really worked in my favor. it did not only let me find the momentum, it did actually take me off the floor! i noticed myself much more energetic and open, much less rejecting,, and it also even gave me greater connection with the nervous system, which was and still is my high interest- the stress management, loss of pre-conceptions, ideas of letting go etc. let much more potential to unfold, which I wasn't aware of before. I have let myself dance as my body knows and wants rather than do what I was expected, or what I thought I was expected. I think that just made me much more present in classes and my own practice. So continuing finding the ways to tune up, fully inhabit movements that I do, trying to explore nervous system even further are my current aspirations. oh yeah, and letting things just be. Enjoy the dance, dancer !