Every morning includes a two-hour Exploratory session of practical investigation with someone who may or may not be conducting a Laboratory. This allows small groups of participants the chance to encounter and sample different and diverse approaches and aesthetics from the more intensive Laboratory sessions they are attending.
“There are no mistakes”, said Julian, before he threw the participants of his exploratory into encounters with each other through normal actions slightly deformed. His opening words remained true nevertheless, as these encounters took place in space of two hours Friday morning. Part of Station House Opera's work is about the everyday – an idea embodied in this exploratory through its juxtaposition of normal and abnormal elements.
To begin with, the walls were marked off as high/low and fast/slow, creating a square with four extremes and an endless variation of in-betweens. The participants were asked to pick a place to start, and from there, we all moved, ran, crawled, climbed and tip-toed across the space in different constellations and rhythms, experimenting with the possibilities and discovering new ways of interacting with others. From climbing the windowsill to hiding under a table, people explored and met each other in unfamiliar poses and movements. The transition from slow to fast, forwards and backwards provided many possibilities, and when voice was added, different pitches and paces were tested instead. Suddenly people were talking about life, using the voice in various ways, from the “normal” centre to the various extremes. But, asked one of the participants, what is really the normal voice? As distance and spatial position distorted the everyday, no one really knew what this “normal” was anymore.
This question was carried on into the next set of exercises, where a sequence was created one step at the time, always reversing back to the starting point before moving forwards and creating a new element in the following pattern:
1 1
12 21
123 321
1234 4321
As we moved forwards, there was no time to think about what to do – you just had to do something. This something then had to stay as your element whether you were happy with it or not, as the sequence moved on and the other participants moved on in a flow that was first guided by Julian, and later done as a wordless attempt to synchronize the people in the room. Despite the confusion, it evoked some interesting encounters and movements, which were heavily debated in the tea break.
What then, about our thoughts, and the relation between mind and body? We were told to walk around the space and speak our thoughts out loud, instructing our bodies on what to do. Bodies were commanded to take off shoes, stand on chairs, and observe the actions of others, giving away what they thought about them as they walked by. Doing this sort of exercise with complete strangers can throw the best person, as you find yourself saying precisely what is in your head without being able to moderate it.
Advancing, we became the thoughts of other people. Standing as a limp body in space waiting for someone else's call can be a terrifying experience, but gives you a unique insight into a variation of the everyday. Any normal action command comes from somewhere which normally is your brain, and it is so automatic that when the impulse is spoken by someone else, it stops feeling like your body, even though it performs the action. Had the exercise developed and grown in pace and magnitude, this mind/body split could have been explored even more, and certainly leaves possibilities for later work.
This returns us again to the sequence of backwards and forwards, and the bizarre notion of doing movements and speaking to others, before reversing and recreating, recreating and reversing what has just taken place. An addictive exercise, Julian says, and I have no trouble believing him. Once you get into the rhythm, you go forwards in small fragments that flow into each other and become part of a web of a whole where you can never have the full overview, and where you have no time to think, save focusing on what comes next (or was it before?). A highly interesting and challenging morning that left its participants full of inspiration and questions to ask themselves and others in future work.
- Ragnhild Dale
In the exploratory with Julian we did two exercises. For the first of which the four walls where named or given a purpose; fast, slow, high and low. We moved about the space using these as rules, adjusting our bodies to deal with them. We repeated this using the voice.
ReplyDeleteThe second exercise consisted of moving and interacting in sequences. Starting with 5 seconds forward and then repeating it in reverse. Continuing with the first 5seconds, adding a second 5 seconds and then repeating them both in reverse. This series continued, where on a third attempt we reached 7ish sequences and their reverses. Precision in repetition and rhythm proved to be both difficult and integral.