What happen’s in two minutes of focused dancing, again and again, in the same place?
For me, one of the most surprising discoveries in this work has been realizing what can happen in just a few minutes. In DDR, we check-in, arrive, for one minute. We often research for one to three minutes. Every time, I learn something new. I know this intuitively; I would like now to know it more concretely. This is what I will do here. For two minutes each day for the rest of November, I will find myself outside, in the same place, dancing. Using my phone camera I will record myself, and afterwards I will write down notes— What did I notice? What did I observe? How did I notice and observe these things? — along with whatever else comes up. To share this with others, I will edit this material into a video.
Timeframe*:
- Each day in November, dance & write
- December, begin editing
*I stopped dancing before the end of December, because I thought I would follow an interest and change my project. I danced for 11 days in the same spot.
Notes:
Dancing in movement aware of itself practiced with intent. Everyday, I was dancing.
Day 1: Taking the time to go and sit for 2 minutes felt like a monumental feat this morning. BUT. I did it. I noticed the birds against the grey, blue cold sky. Cars passed by. I sat ( yeah, just sat today ) and noticed the world moving.
Day 2: I hopped out of bed this morning, grabbed my jacket and scooted on over to the milkweed sculpture. I began, like we did in class out at CERA, following the movement of grass. That drew my attention to the smoke ( ? ) coming from the bowling alley building. I began dancing with it.
Day 3: The air is cold, but the sky is blue and the sun is bright. It was quiet this morning. Just lie down and watch the sky came to me. I didn’t feel much like dancing but I was happy to be there again. I followed the sculpture with my elbow and found myself doing the same with shadows cast on the frozen ground.
Day 4: Andrea Olsen had us do a lot of somatic work. Dancing while standing still—graining towards the sun.
Day 5: Today I made a dance with the stairs.
Day 6: I walked the most inviting path through the grasses and found the sun.
Day 7: I lied down, looked up and danced with the grasses.
Day 8: I danced with the sculpture.
Day 9: Today, I would have liked to stay for more than two minutes.
Day 10: What was Zoe’s improvisation score?
Day 11: That damn noisy garbage truck.
