Collaborations

A vocalist, a guitarist, and a dancer enter an empty studio. It's a chilly Friday morning. The guitarist's fingers and hands are cold. The vocalist's throat, voice, and lungs are cold. The dancer's core, legs, feet, arms, spine are cold. Each has a sense of the work they're bringing, but not of the collision that will occur. The anticipation of how we'll spend the next few hours and the small universe that will evolve and erupt is as exhilarating as the chill.

So... how do you want to work?"
Should we sit?
Stand? 
How is the space delegated? 
What do you need for movement?

Our concern for each other is as delicate as our concern for the work.

Jess and Carl and I almost simultaneously begin warming up, turning to the patterns and practices that we know best. Jess vocalizes and walks around the space, swinging her arms, rocking her weight between her feet. Carl sits, then stands, then also begins walking, somewhat meditatively, as if the walking is part of the practice but the focus is centered on his relationship with the guitar. I curl and flex my spine and my core, articulate and paw through my feet and hands, fold and unwind my limbs. Listening to Jess and Carl and their interaction, I begin responding with and through movement that I had prepared for our rehearsal. Slowly, we begin shifting the space together, moving around the studio, improvising with our own techniques, but listening to each other and responding.

What if you...?
I thought about that but thought....
Let's try it.
Ready?

Pause.

What did you think? Feel? 
What worked?
Could you sense...?

Video - is this thing on? 

Again, as Carl begins, I have a sense of anticipation. We're crafting in the moment. Playing with the process and changing the experiments with the tools we each bring to the table. Jess enters the space. I follow, listening to her movements, allowing my body to be open to her space and how she's defining it.

We have something... !! Until our next rehearsal, we'll continue to process and refine on our own. Stay tuned...

Come and check it out on Saturday, December 14th! Click here for tickets: Grains of Sand in the Mandala tickets