Open Experiment

In the first experiment of this period, we unfolded a “state” which was introduced through a collective tune-in (see description below). A state in this context is a specific manifestation of embodied knowledge, which in-turn allows us to play with and stimulate that territory of technique. After the collective tune-in, we went straight into an open-experiment, playing with the state. Notably, the tune-in evolved into that first experiment, organically invited by the situation in the space. Then, we went for two-minutes automatic writing – reflecting and externalizing – and took a break.

Tune-In: Soundscapes from Within and Without (Variation 2)

Find a comfortable position, sitting upright.
Attend to the contact between your bodies and the floor, grounding.
Imagine your body as an empty vessel, a container. Gradually, a liquid is seeping in from the ground into your body. How does this liquid interact with gravity, as it pools and spills, filling up the body-vessel? What are the qualities of the liquid – color, consistency, opacity, temperature, and so on? Play with micro-movements, sensing this liquid through movement. Eventually, your body is full.

Attend to the sound in the space, coming from within and outside. Invite sound to resonate through your body full of liquid, engendering movement. Play a game, the sound resonating into movement, the body shifting from one position to another. Bringing heat, awareness, and availability into the body. In every position, dedicate a moment to listen, the longer you linger the more information you can get.

Continue shifting from position to position – lingering and listening.
We gain agency in interacting with the soundscape, vibrating the body full of liquid through a hearty hum. How do different pitches and volumes affect your sensation of the body? How do they inform and are informed by different positions, alignments of the skeleton, and shifts of weight? Play with shaping the mouth and larynx in different ways, generating different tonalities and qualities of vocalization.

Find joy, creativity, and expression in the in-between moments, the transitions and shifts from position to position.
This recursive, cyclical process can be supported by the metaphor of a flower. In the suspension, it roots and begins to sprout. In movement, it blooms. And eventually, withers, only to root and bloom and wither again. What is the organic momentum of the blooming, relative to the rooting and withering? What are the qualities of the flower – color, shape, texture, and so on?

Open your awareness and availability to the space and the other practitioners in it. To their processes of rooting, blooming, and withering. How can you blossom together?
If you encounter a flower you enjoy, relish in it. Sustain its bloom, tend to it. Stay with the qualities it informs and play with their nuance – unfold and saturate the image.
Eventually, find a continuity of movement. Each intention, fantasy, flower cascading into the next. The moments of suspension remain for you yourself to orientate.

Here, we can branch into different embodied roles.
Movement-making, we play freely with the games, tools, and tasks proposed thus far.
Music-making, we may pick-up our instrument, whatever it may be. We now find another way to interact with, generate, and support the soundscape. How do we maintain a state in the transition between different media? How does the multiplicity of forms enrich and transform the state?

Take a moment, as we head into the first experiment, elaborating this state.

3-1: Resounding Oscillation