Recovery

Was thinking about what you said about petri dishes today - in relation to the binoculars. And, of course, agar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar). Might be worth playing with some kind of score that has to do with resin, or being slightly trapped to the floor, peeling away from a spider web or sticky substance ... generating tension between you and floor. Might be tacky as all hell (ahem), but worth a shot?

I am also curious about what you've discussed with Ben et al re set design. Any images/drawings?

Lastly, it might be worth looking at obscuring parts of the physical actions whilst you are working in the studio - either with physical objects, or using this as a provocation in the improvisations (the imagined world of 'being obscured'). I think this relates to my interest in scale .. (not sure how). You could also use the camera to frame materials in an obscuring way - either through zoomed framing, or by placing the other person between the mover and the camera.

ske
 

It was quite a remarkable difference spending the day dancing in a studio that was orange, with a skylight allowing the light from outside to shine through and a studio with high ceilings and shaped differently to a square. It couldn't be more different to the small white studio/gallery room we existed in for two months that had no natural light. It's impact on the size and scale of the movement we created through this time reflected this.
 
Back at it:
 
We danced. Solos and Duets. Watching each other, dancing together and writing about what we saw. Dancing with no particular framing other then what has come before and what we know of the project and allowing that to just 'be' there without pushing it in any particular direction. I noticed the impulse to respond to what I saw with an urge to 'capture' the moments to be used an initiations for further exploration for 'recovery' but denied this impulse and allowed the watching to be more open. At times it provided at relief and was definately an enjoyable experience.
 
 
Hands that want for nothing!
 
Nats hands on me:
 
Moving in symmetry for half an hour was not en easy task. It became apparent to me that so much enjoyment and investigation when moving occurs through the options of moving without both sides of the body mirroring each other. The symmetry was challenging. I continuely stoped the impulse to change this and to 'break' the rules that had been set originally. In deciding to stay with symmetry it felt like it required further 'endurance'.
 
At first Nat's touch felt peripheral. As I became more familiar with the 'world' of the improv her touch moved into a sharper focus. Her touch offered me a relief. My experience of her touch was like being 'held' in places. Her touch 'held' me in places i wanted to leave. Guiding me to stay with it. Her touch offered an experience of moving asymmetrically whilst moving symmetrically (if this makes sense!). Even though the 'hands wanted nothing' i would read into them. Were they guiding or being a witness to the rhythm, the frustration, the boredom, the occassional moments of pleasure, the enquiry, the endurance.
 
My hands on Nat:
 
Discovering the small places. At first I was drawn to her joints then the crevices of the body and then her skin. In moments it felt as though my touch merged - camouflaged with her body and other times it felt imposing, awkward. To connect without making the presence of my hands large was difficult. I was aware of Nat 'enduring' the impact of the material on her body, her discomfort physically and i did not want to impact or enhance this further. I had questions around the 'quality' of the touch. This is something i would like to discuss further with Simon.
 
I was aware of staying present, caring, being careful, considerate, but not wanting for anything. Is the want to not impose wanting for something??
 
Nat's moving fascinated me and i felt the pull to want to watch her from a more distant perspective. She became smaller. I felt like i was looking through a magnifying glass at the tiny details - this i really enjoyed. She would take places of rest and then launch back into the movement with energy that appeared to still have an element of conserving. As if knowing she would had further to go. I was interested in this. The presence of time in her body dictated by duration. Adapting to the effort it required to continue and as time passed and the movement shifted, changed, decayed there was reminence of what had come before and a returning to the familiar as a place of rest.
 
Notes from other improves:
 
Jolt through the shoulder blades. Pulse through the scapular, clavical, elbows. Moving from the center of the body outwards and back again.
 
Resting whilst in motion.
 
Loose limbs, eyes guiding.
 
On the edge, piece by piece, falling, catching, swiping and pushing.
 
Drilling for something.... excavating.... rummouging.....
 
Catching and placing pieces of the body. Holding yourself together.
 
Flashes of Rest, contemplation, recouperation.

I suspect you guys have already thought of so many of these things, so apologies (in advance) for the repetition).

This morning I was reading about repair, and about fragility. It is clear that to consider recovery is also to consider repair, and processes of repair ... from many perspectives: microscopic, biochemical, anatomical, physiological, psychological.

I am interested also in the relative fragility of the body. At what stage do processes of recovery/repair commence? I am thinking here of elite endurance athletes whose bodies are strong, but are also able to recover/repair more quickly when stressed. It is as if their fragility is hidden, or avoided.

when you've got time guys, there's some interesting stuff in here.