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N e w s l e t t e r

September 2001 Newsletter.

The Dance of Sound weekend workshop held at Trevor House, Glynde, East Sussex, August 2001.

A colourful group of eleven participants gathered with myself, Carol Grimes and Sophie Ferman on the Friday evening under a big oak tree in the garden of Trevor House, a Georgian pile on the Glynde Estate in the beautiful Sussex countryside. It was a glorious late August evening and as we went round the circle of fourteen, each person spoke about their experience of performance and their hopes for what the weekend might bring: A violinist from a prestigious London orchestra expressed her absolute commitment to finally moving through her stage fright and being able to celebrate the passion for music she felt so deeply in her bones. One woman had come from a pressurized family of classical musicians and, having rebelliously given up the fiddle early on, had run a well funded theatre company. Exasperated by the constant demand to produce in the outside world, she had decided to move inwards, becoming a dynamic and successful yoga teacher in London. She was here, she said, to rediscover her connection to performance. Another woman had graduated from an expressive arts course in university and, though burning to perform, she found herself absoloutly lacking in tools because the course had been so free.

As we sat, we discussed our basic human need to work creatively, to transform our feelings through form, and to get over our selves to reach our audience. As did the three facilitators, each participant came from a different background and discipline, some whose expression was crippled by form and others not primed to express themselves through lack of it. This was not to be a new age weekend which ended in formless expression of the self, but a mutual exploration of the space between our selves and our breath, our voices, our instruments and ultimately our audience, a commitment to artistic discipline and a reawakening of our desire to perform as an act of generosity and healing. We ended the day with short sessions in the 5 Rhythms led by Sophie and a circle of song led by Carol

On Saturday morning we worked entirely as a group, with Carol, and Sophie taking sessions in voice and movement in which breath, stillness and silence were the focus. After thus establishing our connection with each of our authentic selves we began to move in couples, and then to dialogue with one-another in different voices such as the projected whisper, and the 'calling voice'. Through these dialogues we began, whilst maintaining our listening in, to listen out to the voices and movements of our colleagues.

After a spectacular lunch of barbecued mackerel and a host of vibrant salads prepared by Julian, our chef, and consumed on the lawn, we started to explore the relationship to an instrument. Not everyone considered themselves to be an instrumentalist, but drums were up for grabs and one person brought maracas which had been in the family for three generations and had only ever sat as mute ornaments. Starting in silence away from the instrument each person began a dance with their instrument which led naturally into touch and then sound. It was marvellous to see, especially the new connections some were making with old tools. Violins that had only been removed from cases with fear and a sense of duty were being caressed - the shape, texture and sound of each surface being explored as a live body with its own voice. Feelings of powerlessness, separation and trepidation were transforming into those of respect, relationship and indeed love.

The last process of the day took place in the garden and was centered around stylizing habitual movements - our own gloriously imperfect dances. The process moved very swiftly into the ridiculous and there was a sense of confusion and chaos. In the ensuing discussion one of the men (a sculptor) was the first to speak of his anxiety about the performance planned for the following day. His feelings were echoed by the rest of the group. We closed requesting that each participant mull over what they would like to present in terms of performance, and how they would like members of the group to support them.

As we three facilitators discussed our feelings about what was happening in the group dynamic, it became clear that we had reached what in the 5 Rhythms is called 'chaos' and what in creative work of any kind can be the crucial (and often frightening) moment of letting go control. This was the moment which can be the richest starting point for creative expression - moving out of the self and into the relationship between form and freedom; into performance. As facilitators we had moved from feeling confused and anxious to feeling excited about the next day's work, and, with the exception of the sculptor who had left the night before, the group seemed to catch the bug!

Sunday brought with it a natural cleansing of the air in the form of an electric storm. The lamas in the next field got drenched, the grass drank thankfully, rewarding us with its smell, and we started the day feeling cool and fresh. Sophie, Carol and I each spoke about how we had experienced the 'chaos' of the group and the possibility of giving form to it in terms of a sense of freedom in the performances. Sophie gave the idea of breath as a theme for all the performances.

We started the days work with Sophie leading an exercise taking thirteen deep abdominal breaths and moving on the fourteenth. Our yoga queen was only on breath number nine by the time the rest of us had moved into and out of a beautiful slow dance and had come to rest! After Carol had taken us through the different breathing places ( abdominal,thoracic, clavicular and the 'complete' breath) and their corresponding vocal sounds she moved into working with the first song received from another - the lullaby. A series of touching improvisations on this theme followed in trios. Everyone's lullaby was different and for some it was a song they had simply sung to themselves for comfort in childhood. La Vie en Rose took on new meaning for many of us as it wove it's innocent way through Twinke Twinkle Little Star.

Before lunch I led two open rehearsals for the trios and duos that were to follow. In this the small group enclosed by the circle created an improvisation using one theme expressed through text, movement, instrument and voice, with each person teaching their phrase to the their co-performers as a way to convey non-verbally how they experienced it. It was at this point that the group took on a creative drive of their own, sowing the first magical seeds that were to keep us all enthralled until the late evening.

Our Mediterranean chef then produced another magnificent display of tastes and smells from a glistening spanish omelette to a char grilled vegetable salad which we ate in the big farmhouse kitchen.

At the start of the afternoon session we encouraged the group to abandon their desire to fix their place in the running order of the chamber and solo pieces they were to present in favour of an improvised flow. This meant first feeling and then following the impulse to create when it arose. Despite some initial nervousness about the idea, one piece flowed seamlessly and organically into the next creating what was undoutably one of the best pieces of theatre I have ever seen. The three of us, craving to join in, even succumbed to a request to do our own improvised performance. This was a first for all three of us and marked the beginning of a new aspect of our work!

From the anatomy of a meditation as seen from the back; through an abstract performance piece - 'Breath, Body and Bowl' ; to a piece of text about Foot and Mouth disease from a farmer's point of view; to a song about opening one's eyes and heart to the audience in performance; the joyful strummings of a violin troubadour; and a Country and Western romp.........each person brought their authenticity, their strength and their vulnerability and crafted it into an artwork using the forms they knew and new ones they had learned over the weekend, grounding it in the breath and the body and daring to go where they had never been before. As a witness I can simply say that my heart opened and I was moved in a way I have rarely been.

On day three our time was very limited as there was bed linen to strip, floors and surfaces to clean before the house reverted to a family home and we turned into pumpkins. However, Sophie managed to find minutes from somewhere to lead us through the various energy centres and muscle groups of the body needed to support us in dance from the pelvic floor to the third eye which, in turn, led into a last movement and vocal group improvisation accompanied by myself on cello and Carol on vocals (Carol has many voices!) and drums (and percussion skills!). We closed with each of the three of us giving feedback to each participant about their performance. There was frustratingly little time for others to feed back to each other, or, as we had wished, to close with a group sing. However, it had to end some time and I hear there was some such closure in the pub! There will always be lots to learn for us and one of the things we learned this time is the importance of this feedback session and that it must not be curtailed.

Here are some extracts from the participants feedback....

'Like many of the performers I know, I have many differing reactions to performing - fear, love, hate, excitement etc. I found the weekend workshop life-changing, - like a birth of a new facet of performance which I am very excited about exploring. The diversity of each of the teachers' background and therefore the width of their knowledge coming together was very exciting.'

Magdalena-singer/songwriter

'For me the whole thing was magical, even with my two chords and very limited repertoire I was able to produce something unique. The workshop gave me confidence and I was inspired by the talented people that participated. Despite feeling under the weather for me it was the best workshop I've participated in ever.'

Alan - antiques dealer,

'Your workshop changed my life. It encompassed freedom of movement and breath and the beauty of creativity from each person without the judgement I was so used to in my training. I enjoyed the performing side in a way I knew deep down that I could, but had never allowed myself. I felt, not stage fright as I've known it before, but anticipation and positive adrenalin. '

Rosemary - self employed violinist

If you or anyone you know is interested in the next Dance of Sound workshop, please get in touch with us. We plan to hold at least one early in 2002.

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