04/13/11: Spring Solo Training Session #2

New videocamera this time. I don't like it as much. Video-recording feels less important this quarter, but I'm not sure why. Happy to be in the studio and excited about my plans for the material development segment of training today. Is that goal-oriented part of this practice overwhelming the prior openness of it?



Contemplative Practice (10 minutes):
• Meditated in the dark in half-lotus

Warm-up (25 minutes):
• Full warm-up sequence with playlist
(free movement, tree pose, jumping jacks, body scan, slow motion cross)
• Physical Point of Focus: My lower back

Open Training (30 minutes):
• Sang "When the River Meets the Sea" focusing on communication of song to world
• Sang "When the River Meets the Sea" into the mirror, focusing on communication to self.
• Mobilized Lower Back area, spoke about that part of my body and its history
• Sang "Dona Nobis Pacem" while opening space in lower back.

Material Development (20 minutes):
• Recorded Ethel Rosenberg poem and letter to her sons
• Moved to those soundtracks

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.

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.