Facilitator: Bernd Knappe Notes: Tuğçe Uğurlu
OBSERVATION OF WARMING UP BEFORE THE JAM
Condensing – folding – extending – focus on your belly, CENTRE!
Relaxing muscles and bones. First the centre is you, you on the floor. Relax there, move your body gently. Then the focus is the space, head is coming up slowly, moving through the space, looking around, looking upside down, using your eyes. You move with your centre, it is the motivation of the movement.
Centre is powerful and light. Try to get up, and your centre is moving up. Half stand, sit, then stand up. Play with your centre. When you first stand, balance your head on your spine. Balance your skeleton. Shift from one leg to another, your weight is shifting from left to right and vice versa. You are resisting against falling, against the gravity. Your legs are flexible and soft, you go up and down with your centre.
IMAGINE: You are walking. Imagine that your feet are 2 cm thicker / bigger than they actually are. You step on the floor before you really step on it. Does it make a difference? You start walking faster, soft speed, like cats.
IMAGINE: Extend your hands, and imagine there is a balloon around yourself. You play and touch other bubbles in the space. You touch them even before you touch them.
IMAGINE: Your hands are 2 cm bigger than they actually are. You touch other bodies before you really touch them. Does it feel different?
DETECTIVE: You are a detective now. Walking around and observing another person. He/she should not know that you are observing him/her. Keep a distance, you don’t want to be seen. Start copying or interpreting his/her movements.
LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP: No touch. You stay far from each other, are you talking or listening? No touch. Can you feel related when you are in silence and the other is talking?
CLOSER: Become as close as possible. Still no touch. Dance with the negative space. The image can be WIND. Follow your partner silently. Feel the air. Do what you want to do. YOU ARE NOT A PRISONER OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP!
HELLO! Skin – touch – hello! Soft touch. You decide whether to be on the skin like WATER or go to negative space like the WIND or you prefer a long distance relationship, a lot of space between you and him/her.
FAMILY: Relate to another couple. Describe your relationship to the other couple. Look from outside and make an appointment. Are you close or distant to the family? Is it a family? Ensemble? Do they have a story? Are they together? Touch. Ask: am I allowed to give weight? The other responds with his/her body: yes/no? Do you feel FORCED by the family? No one can force you to stay in, stay close.
JAM! Remember your first partner. Continue with the JAM, it is OPEN.
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON THE JAM
ROLE PLAYING: She feels heavy. He insists on lifting her. She feels heavier. Then she wants to carry him. Because she is the stone now. That’s her perception. And we have the ROLE PLAYING now. He is the wind; she is the stone. She laughs. He is heavy, she feels that but she pushes herself to carry him anyway (she acts like a stone). Role-playing continues. She is looking at other couples. Looking at what they are doing, are they also heavy? Can she be lighter? Ohh, she fell hard on the floor.
RECOGNITION – MEMORIES – FREEDOM: She sees her old partner. Recognizes him immediately. Recognizes the skin. She feels more comfortable with him, feels lighter. Their memories are flowing so are their bodies. Movement gets softer. Oh yes, she remembers, she does not have to carry anymore. She can be as she wants to be. Even being HEAVY feels NORMAL now and SAFE.
CIRCULATION – THIRD EYE: He is observing. He is new in the neighborhood. He talks to show his presence. May be he wants attraction? He wants to feel “new”? She is laughing, enjoying her moment. Then stops. She is tired. She is resting on the wall, observing. Looking at him. He is dancing with a girl now. He is not that connected to the new girl. At least, looks like so. So she is resting but actually she is WAITING. Looking at the new girl, she moves fast. Now looking at me and thinking “what does this girl writing’? I feel like a detective, want to cover myself not to be seen. I wish I had a magic cloak!
ENSEMBLE: He has a new dancing partner. A third one. They share weight, discovering new skin, new touch. She is adapting. Two boys, two girls. She stops observing and joins them; she is sliding over them. They are playing joyfully. A natural ensemble!
STARTING POINT – TWO BODIES: Does she join the ensemble to get together with him and dance again? The original girl and the boy. Colors match. Skins match. They are slower, digesting what they have been through since the FIRST CONTACT. And they leave the scene; they leave the space to other contact-ers. That’s where my STORY BEGINS! Creative writing!
RTHYME AND DANCE: Dance on the floor, dance in the space. Dance through the space and become drops and rain to the space. Then, you will rise back from the floor again.
LIGHT AND MUSIC: How does light and music affect space and contact? Do we have to see to contact? Do we have to see to recognize? The moment I am thinking about this Bernd comes with the blue straps and he covers his eyes. No light for him, it is all dark.
DARKNESS AND CONTACT: He touches her and they go for a walk. Does he recognize her? Does it matter? He lifts her. He trusts his body and strength. She is joyful and playing. Does she feel responsible for him? Does she act the way she does because they are not “EQUAL”? Can contact help get over this HIERARCHY? If her eyes were also closed, would their dance be different? She follows him. She watches him. She protects him from the ensemble. She guides him through the space. The ROLE PLAYING is there again! She wants to be FREE though. He opens his eyes. Both want to feel INDEPENDENT and go to different directions.
CENTRE – SOFTNESS – CORRELATION: If you don’t use your centre effectively, you fall hard on the floor. The stronger your centre becomes, the softer you be-come.
ENSEMBLE: Ensemble is like an organism. Moving together in the space like one, getting smaller, getting bigger, hitting the walls, reaching boundaries, extend, re-shape naturally and continue moving.
SOUND AND BLINDNESS: What’s the relation between the two? When it is dark, do you move towards the sound or move in the opposite direction? When you don’t see but hear, do you picture images? She starts turning around herself after she hears the sound, she does not see. Is the sound her motivation to move? Does she need a MOTIVATION to MOVE?