still live process blog

today began with Paea leading a contemporary class for Strut. i had a good time. really. despite being the unco dancer at the back of the class.

then simon led an improv class looking at the work he started with Alexandra MacDonald earlier this year. in one part of the investigation/exploration simon mentioned one person engaging in resistance, assistance or t-boning (fuck it all up)

hang on – got to go and do some body work… will continue this in a moment

will come back tomorrow now… blah

ok, so a couple of days later i return to finish off my train of thought. and, of course, in the time between i have read the other posts by simon and paea, had a few conversations about the classes, been swimming in the ocean, enjoyed some preservative free wine, helped put in the floor of a tent in Forrest Place and done a couple of loads of washing, all of which mean my original thoughts have been somewhat influenced and diluted by other information.

in fact, one of the thoughts i was having about the classes was to do with information and processing. in paea’s class the information came incrementally and was explicitly directed. it also came at a particular pace, which, to my un-contemporary/un-institutionally trained body, was at a considerable speed. to make a dodgy tech analogy, my CPU had to work at capacity for most of the class to keep on top of the information. towards the end of the class i noticed that i was not taking any new information in – i had reached a level of saturation. and with it the ability to process information? mental fatigue? overheated CPU? i enjoyed working at that capacity. and also of remembering the practice of allowing – that it is possible to let information in without making a conscious decision about the information.

in contrast, simon’s class began with a packet of information that was setting up an exploration. the information was presented to the class without being overly prescriptive. as the class progressed smaller pieces of information were transmitted, which acted like triggers or reminders of the exploration. as we were working in duets, the processing of this information was necessarily handled differently by each person. as a unit, the processing and creation of data were indivisible – is this a recursive system? acting independently but implicitly linked – reminds me of the uncertainty arguement – mutually exclusive, yet jointly essential for a complete description of quantum events.

The day begins with me noticing that Simon has excellent extension in his foot but not great flexion. And also, this flexibility of ankle, means his sickle is guaranteed to be great and convincing.

Secondly, dancing with, being shifted, moved, thrown and caught by Simon and David is a superb experience of the senses. It is an experience of safety. Paradoxically one that could be harmful.

I stopped looking with my eyes – an important observation.

computer purchase occupying too much of my brain space.

this morning i led a little contact exploration – a trio of investigating the physiology of eachother’s bodies as a preparation for moving with increasing responsiveness (to tactile information) through considering our roles and the intention behind the movement.

the information i gave was sparse – enough to act as triggers but not overly prescriptive. i think one of the reasons i often try to offer less prescriptive task or thoughts is to do with allowing ownership and agency.

i think now i’m going to go and start building something. i want to look at replication and degradation – the simple idea is to build a little web app in php that uses GD to recompress the images that are uploaded. the image that is created will then be compressed again. this is a recursive action. need to find some info about jpg compression and how it anaylses and then reduces information.

off to work.

David leading listening/agency task. Moving with and about others. From released to resistant. Experienced range of sensations from the ultra-clear, to more “slushy”. I questioned my response to this feeling of blurring  (or slushiness) – to be led to more “known” pathways/experiences, OR to feel my body perturbed and extended. The relationship with a beginning (or baseline) state and the subsequent extensions feels critical in my experience. To keep checking in the with the point of entry (and its associated clarity) as a means of organising (and allowing?) the bodymind to venture into newness.

The doing (initially – before I began to acquire an increasing amount of agenecy) felt light, absorbing, and surprising. Corporeal surprise – sounds like a cocktail. But it is those moments that propel me – or are nurturing.

From Fritjof Capra, “Hidden Connections” (pp.32-33).

“Living systems, then, respond autonomously to disturbances from the environment with structural changes, i.e. by rearranging their pattern of connectivity. According to Maturana and Varela, you can never direct a living system; you can only disturb it. More than that, the living system not only specifies its structural changes; it also specifics which disturbances from the environment trigger them. In other words, a living system maintains the freedom to decide what to notice and what will disturb it.”

I was thinking about this in terms of seeking newness – in directing/choreographing/scribing the body in (or with) the unknown. To what extent am I aware of possible disturbances? To which practices/questions might I turn in order to be disturbed?

I am not sure what this is. will be.

I am in good company though. This makes me feel assured that some progress will be made.

Workstation – serious business.

What of sustaining/nurturing individual practices within context of a shared residency?
Paea talked of the “extreme”.

Of asking “to just be a little bit more”.

Seeking “an aliveness outside of what is considered to be normal”.

A “state of friction” in the body – internal/external.

“I found a bit of voice lately”.

I wondered about notions of the avant-garde, and of (particularly) trance.

PICA