I had two rehearsals with the cast this week.

They are a fabulous bunch of young people and I was touched by their willingness to give themselves to this process. They worked very hard and have a strong sense of family already that made my job pleasant. We had a good time together.

I watched them fly by, their flight path so dense, and yet none of them colliding or even seeming to adjust their routes to avoid each other, living at busy cross-purposes but convivially. I thought of each towing a thread behind it and the waft they would make with their looming.                                                             

The Old Ways…. Robert Macfarlane

Jen’s solo:

small gestures growing

head thrown back / frightened

animal

circling

running circle with

possible head gesture

thrown arms up

slow zig-zag descent

stepping on to tip toeing forward in helpless teeter

balance

slow descent back to earth

Group movement:

3 groups moving in a spiral – chaos and sound

meeting in the center of the space – bird like chatter on four paws

startled ascent

into stillness

twitching

concentration on hands – turning 90 degrees

reaching

retreating

startled

Having just two rehearsals was in some way frustrating because of so little time. In another way it worked well to have to produce something in this tight time frame, and to be forced to leave it in a raw state.

I like the rawness and feel we should keep it as an essential quality in the event. So saying I would like to come back to my section if it still exist further along the process and work some specificity into parts of it.

This first 10 minutes of material (combination of Cynthia Oliver’s and my own) has a sense of being textural, and I could see how the movement / projections / lighting / sound could overlap and work to produce something that is multilayered, without the need to make it into a finished piece or product. Rather leaving it as a sampling of material, texture, movement, color, projection, rhythm, sound, space and breath.

Note: We should keep an eye on the energy level of the dancers as they are unused to sustaining pieces of 50 – 60 mins in length (max 20 is the norm in concerts).