WORKSHOP REPORT – Wednesday, November 5 2014
10am – 1pm
Asheville Butoh Studio
475 Fletcher Road, Alexander NC
Participating in the workshop were: Sara Baird (Artistic
Director – Anemone Dance Theater), Julie Becton Gillum (Artistic Director –
Legacy Butoh), Jenni Cockrell (dancer), Diana Brewster (graphic designer).
Note – Julie had to leave early, so is not on video
documentation of this workshop.
Physical Exercises:
Vibrations
Joint Spirals
Floor Massage / Cat Stretch
Journaling and feedback plus video documentation of these
three Physical Exercises.
Video Link:
Originally, I had been working consistently with Asheville
Contemporary Dance Theatre members on these particular exercises and was
planning to video document and gather feedback from them after gaining familiarity
with the process over a period of weeks.
However, I decided to use this whole workshop session at the
Asheville Butoh Studio to instruct an intensive “crash course” on these
exercises, followed immediately by documenting an abbreviated example and
receiving feedback.
As you can tell by the attire, it was rather chilly in the
studio that morning!
Full descriptions and demonstrations of these three
exercises can be found in my PHYSICAL EXERCISES – SoloSketches blog page.
Discussion & Feedback:
Sara:
Vibrations – enjoyed the “micro to macro” aspect of
beginning very small & internal in the marrow of the bones &
progressively expanding out through the layers of the body & into the
surrounding space. Made her think about finding the source of the vibration –
where does it originate? Felt freedom in having no deliberate outer form (only
a motion concept) & that creates vast movement potential.
She was resistant to the length of time spent (at first) but
then realized that duration was the only way to fully have the experience.
Spirals – felt that the imagery of eddies & whirlpools assisted
a fluidity of motion & a connection with the spiral action almost as if
elemental forces were causing the motion. She would like to spend more time
exploring the size & speed of spirals in different parts of the body. Felt the imagery (of spaciousness,
openness, inflating balloons etc) opened up a lot of potential for freedom of
motion.
Floor Massage / Cat Stretch – felt this as a exercise of
“surrender” – to weight, gravity & release – found her body initially
resistant but then was able to let go. Had a sense of full connection with
surface (ground). Cat stretches
felt very satisfying & were more fully effective due to coming out of
complete release of body-weight to gravity.
Jenni:
Felt some resistance becoming completely present mentally at
first, also was aware of protecting injury areas & had a process of
bringing herself into focus.
Felt the movement was very organic with a
body-mind-centering aspect to it. She found connections with other movement
practices such as Release Technique, Chi Gong, Chakra work & Laban /
Bartenieff methods. Felt the imagery connected her with the elements – air,
water, earth, fire – with images of red sparks coming from the vibrations into
space.
Diana:
Was conscious of not having had dance training like the
other participants – however, felt that her knowledge of martial arts, Pilates
& massage served her well during these exercises.
Vibrations – felt a connection with Afro-Caribbean dance &
sensed an understanding of the origins of motion for that movement.
Spirals – felt good for mobility. She took the spirals at a
slow, controlled rate – influenced by the music (which had no rhythm). Felt she
called on Pilates experience for the floor work when the legs are suspended in
the air for some time & had to be careful not to over-stretch.
Floor Massage / Cat Stretch – felt a little uncertain &
that she had a limited range of motion & needed to protect her lower back.
But enjoyed the sense of massage & stretch.
She commented that people who have no previous movement
training of any kind could be at risk of injury if they don’t know how to take
care of their bodies.
She also questioned what relationship these exercises have
to Performance Art - that she is familiar with the work of certain Performance
Artists, such as Marina Abramovich, but does not know how this movement work we
are doing connects with that.
Additional comments from Julie via e-mail:
Additional comments from Julie via e-mail:
i was struck by the "shaking" exercise's similarities to Noguchi gymnastics practice related to "water bag" body.
you
spoke of vibration from inside the bones, energy generated by the body
and traveling outward into the universe. Asian practices of Noguchi and
butoh speak of gathering energy from the earth through the feet and
allowing the vibrational waves to energize up through the body and out
into the world. i enjoyed the personal power i experienced from
generating my own energetic vibration and following its idiosyncratic
path outward.
The reminder that my feet have connections to both earth and sky was a great insight for me. thank you.
Summary:
It is interesting for me to note that, on the one hand –
most trained dancers will feel that they are having to let go of much of their
dance technique when doing this work, while on the other hand – those without
dance training might feel ill-equipped. (Although I think this probably depends
on the individual, as I have taught workshops to non-dancers who feel very free
to explore this kind of organic movement.)
Also note-worthy are comments regarding the length of the
exercises. As each exercise builds on in progression, one has to immerse
oneself in an almost meditational sense in order to gain the experience that
the exercise has to offer. This requires a certain amount of commitment. I
myself usually feel that we are only just getting somewhere by the time it has
ended - & that I would like another hour to truly explore & let
movement unfold & develop into fruition.
This particular workshop was very intensive, as I needed to
cover a lot in a short time. Ideally, I would want to spend several sessions
building the exercises up more gradually. (I think Diana might have felt more
comfortable had it been taken at a more gradual pace over several sessions.)
However, I felt that they all grasped the concepts of each exercise &
manifested them physically in a very clear way.
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