03/30/11: Intertext - Spring Training Plan

For the Spring, I plan to continue several elements of my Winter training practice that were working well:

• Weekly sessions (video-recorded and blogged)
• Overall structure (Contemplative Practice, Warm-up and Open Training)
• Working with a physical point of focus
• Working with songs

In addition, I’m adding several new elements to the work:

1) Warm-up Sequence Formalization: In hopes of an increased sense of regularity and rigor, my warm-up will now be a specific series of actions (or modes of action) accompanied by a music playlist. This is the order of actions and their approximate length:
---> Free movement (9 minutes)
---> Balanced stillness in tree pose (7 minutes)
---> 50 Jumping Jacks (3 minutes)
---> Body Scan (1 minute)
---> Slow motion Cross of Space (6 minutes)

2) Material Development Time: Rather than writing a “Tiny Imaginary Play” at the end of each session, I’m adding another segment in which I’ll work on specific material for a performance piece. Unlike the free-form, non-goal-oriented space of Open Training, I'll have a provisional plan for how to use this time each week, but also remain open to what arises in the studio.

3) Additional Training: I plan to seek out group training opportunities over the course of the spring. In the interest of consolidation, I’ll record some details of those sessions in this blog as well.

03/20/11: Intertext - The Seasons Change

In my academic institution, the calendar divisions follow approximately the turning of the seasons. Thus with the Spring Equinox I conclude my first season of training, which lasted only eight short weeks.

This quarter I experimented with several modes of documenting this highly experiential research, and have ended up with three separate archives:

1) This blog, which records simply, if not objectively, what transpired
2) A video recording of each training session, thus far not shared online.
3) A series of “Tiny Imaginary Plays” written immediately after each training session, in which I attempted to capture at least a few drops of the unconscious material that arose during the session. You can find those plays on my other blog, Parapraxis.

I shared some of these materials with colleagues at Stanford last Friday at an open studio showing. The blog was made available, one of the six videos was projected on a large wall, and I asked attendees to read several of the Tiny Imaginary Plays out loud. I enjoyed sharing the work itself and appreciated the opportunity to discuss the significance and urgency of theatrical practice as research.

My weekly practice will continue in the spring quarter after a short break.

03/04/11: Solo Training Session #8

Horrible awful no-good mood. Don't want to do this or anything else. Don't want to be vulnerable to anyone, including myself. And also secretly I know I want to do this.








Contemplative Practice (10 minutes):

Meditated in half lotus in the one shaft of sunlight in the room.


Warm-up (15 minutes):

Did cat/cow stretch and child's pose.

Decided to work with intercostal muscles today

Rolled around on floor as felt pleasurable.

Spoke stream of thoughts: "I'm never a good enough..."

Sang stream of thoughts: "I'm never a good enough..."


Training (35 minutes):

Did pseudo-tai-chi while singing "When the river meets the sea."

Stretched and stroked intercostals while singing "When the river meets the sea."

Did 100 jumping jacks then did body scan, focusing on intercostal muscles

Worked in silence and slow motion, trying to breathe from stomach without using shoulders, playing with hard and soft edges, fluid and angular motion.

Created hand/arm choreography with fists and clasped hands.

Sang Dona Nobis Pacem

Sang Dona Nobis Pacem with hand/arm choreography.

Note-taking (5 minutes):

Sat in studio, drank cold coffee, wrote Tiny Imaginary Play #8

02/27/11: Group Training with Dandelion DanceTheater

Today I attended an open training session with Dandelion DanceTheater at CELLSpace in San Francisco. The training consisted of:

• 50 minutes – Ballet
• Short Break
• 50 minutes – Balkan Singing

There were 8 – 10 people there over the two hours, half of whom were company members and the other half were either friends of the company or folks like me, who had learned of the open training session online. Both trainings were geared towards those without experience in the specific performance modes, but the leaders encouraged and expected a high level of focus and achievement. After so much time working in the studio alone, it was a pleasure to train with other people.

Intertext: Video Documentation and its Discontents

Over the last two training sessions (#6 and #7) I finally feel like I've moved past my constant hyper-awareness of the eye of the camera in the corner of the room. I'm no longer trying to aggressively ignore it or pretend like I've forgotten it's there. It now feels more like a supportive collaborator than an invading force. I've only reviewed the footage of one session so far (#6), but I feel pleased to have a record of what these trainings look like from the outside, and I'm considering sharing clips of my work on this site.

Unsurprisingly, this comfort with video documentation of my work seems to have developed contemporaneously with a new relationship to my image of myself in training. I've been feeling greater ease working with my reflection in the mirror as a training tool, and also been less concerned about the potential narcissism of this kind of individual practice in general.

Oddly timed with my newfound appreciation of video documentation is the loss of the footage from my last training session (#7). There was an error with the video card and the data seems irretrievable. Alas! I'll press forward and try not to cry over lost documentation.

02/25/11: Solo Training Session #7

Embarrassed about the amount of procrastination involved in actually getting to the studio today. Relieved the room is available. Looking forward to exploring some of my new internal sensations of what this training is about. Pleased to be here. Pleased to be documenting myself being here. Feeling confident and happy.


CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE (7 minutes):

Meditated in half-lotus against the wall, room dark, eyes open, facing the mirror.

WARM-UP (20 minutes):

Long-form sun salutations, breathing deeply.

Sang "When the River Meets the Sea" a capella in front of the mirror while doing "infinity arm circles."

100 jumping jacks followed by body scan to find body part to work with today. Found my xiphoid process (aka metasternum, the cartilaginous end of the sternum which attaches to the diaphragm muscles and is related to breathing).

TRAINING (35 minutes):

Almost no speaking for the entire time.

Yoga poses to stretch region around xiphoid process.

Extensive work with mirror.

Explored shoulder and arm choreography. Right angles.

Drew blue dot on xiphoid process to isolate it more clearly.

Worked shirtless for a time in order to have access to xiphoid process, was slightly uncomfortable and switched to a small scarf around my breasts.

Mime-type exercises including pulling an invisible rope through my body.

Explored grotesque faces and body positions, particularly invoking archetypes of old men and women (like Pantalone character in commedia)

Explored soft and hard facial gestures, which led to a few words about gender and embodiment.

Camera ran out of memory, last 5 minutes unrecorded.

Short, extreme emotional experiences characterized the (unrecoreded) end of the session - confusion and anger. They subsided as soon as the alarm sounded for the training's end.

NOTE-TAKING (5 minutes):

Sat in studio. Took brief notes about session and found I could not remember very precisely what had transpired. Decided to watch session video to recreate notes (this plan was later foiled as an error occurred and the footage was lost). Wrote Tiny Imaginary Play #7.

02/17/11: Solo Training Session #6

Embarrassed that today's session is cut so short. Happy to be in the room. Happy to be documenting myself training. Happy to have a new song to learn and some preliminary systems for working. It's a sunny day.





Contemplative Practice (7 min):
Meditated in corner of room, half-lotus, eyes open. Deep breathing.

Warm-up (15 min):
Deep breathing, musical sighs and sirens. Arm circles. Yoga stretches (cat, cow, bow).

100 jumping jacks. Did body scan to find place to focus on for the day: found lungs.

Sang "Do you Realize?"along with mp3 player while swinging arms, doing wall-pushups, thinking about lungs transmitting air.

Training (40 minutes):
Sang "Do you Realize?" a capella, while moving.

Stood in tree pose, deep breathing, swaying. Experiencing awareness of all the unused space in the lungs. Comparing the expansiveness of the lungs to the static pulsing of the heart.

Moved like a sighing bird, in slow motion

Sang "Do you Realize?" in slow time.

Sang and chanted the phrase "Ladies and Gentleman We are Floating in Space" and the song of the same title.

Talked to the camera directly (for the first time) about breathing.

Ran laps in the room while talking, free associating about my desires for this training. "I'm trying to develop a somatic listening system that helps me become more aware of my desires"

Stretched on the floor. Touched toes to hands in rocking motion. Practiced attaching/detaching desire to action.

Note-taking (1 minute):
Ran out of time to take notes! Made very rushed scribbles about the day's actions and didn't write my Tiny Imaginary Play!

A few days later I force myself to watch the entire video documentation of Training Session #6, after which I write Tiny Imaginary Play #6