This workshop happened on the 16th May/09, and was my initial investment to begin this movement research. With this research I want to create a collective action which moves through the city. I want to investigate which changes happen in the perception of the body and the city dynamics and for that, I imagine that a large number of people would be effective.
In this first workshop I had only 5 people who worked together for a couple of hours. Although it wasn't enough to fully develop my initial proposal, it was the beginning to create a medium to organize my queries and thinking about the strategies of working to be used.
Body work : I tried to create simple physical tasks that could be accessible and could lead to the development of a bigger complexity within the group working together. The basic elements I worked on were:
- sense of gravity / body weight
- visual sensory, peripheral and direct focus
- sense of position, kinesthesia
- awareness of movement as moving as a group
- awareness of the space
I worked with these activities:
- catching and throwing a ball: warm up which progressively increases stamina, work with sense of gravity, visual sensory, awareness of space and group.
- somatic warm up: warm up which work with sense of gravity and grounding.
- rolling-sitting-standing-walking: work with sense of positioning, weight distribution, sense of gravity, use of different speeds and directions.
- group walks : awareness of the space / moving as a group / awareness of the timing of the group to stop and go.
- working with the idea of the group as a 'fish shoal'.
- working with the idea of the group to 'condensate'.
- working on creating a group vibration which initiates through stamping feet on the ground.
In this work I consider essential to have a specific activity that leads to observe the stimuli that the city informs the body, (in a de terminated road over set period of time). I didn't have the opportunity to develop this activity in this first workshop. Also, I couldn't develop activities to observe changes in awareness passing from studio to the space outside and vice-versa. We did the body work in the studio and went directly outside to perform two trajectories on the Liverpool Road, Islington, London.
Marnie, from the task you gave me, working with pedestrian body, I selected the properties: speed relation, weight distribution, density and tension. The result from this workshop is the beginning to format how I'll use these properties, so the parameters of each activity need to be more defined.
I was interested in creating 'density' and 'tension' within the group actions 'condensate' and 'vibrate'- vibrating through stamping feet on the ground. A simple action of getting all the group together to 'condensate', first of all, needs to break down people's ideal of personal space ( and this is a different experience for each individual and within different cultures). Again, the work needs to be develop over a much longer period of time and to have more precise parameters from the very beginning. I think that the idea of 'vibrate' has a good potential through the stomping feet, specially if working with a direct, focused and increasing intensity. I'd like to experiment doing this with a large group that 'condensate' to the extreme and start to 'vibrate' from there.
Many thanks to Cilas, Derek , Jane, Lauren and Romi for volunteer in this first workshop.
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Body: Rachel Sweeney, Dartmoor, Devon UK. Creator: ROCKface (Orr & Sweeney) during Mapping Project, March 2007. e.jpg)
Body state variations in focusing on the presence of wind. Movement Lab 09. Creator: Marnie Orr. Bodies (L-R):Caitlin McLouglin; Michelle Outram; Justin Morrissey. City Beach, Perth, Australia, Jan-Feb 09.
This workshop happened on the 16th May/09, and was my initial investment to begin this movement research. With this research I want to create a collective action which moves through the city. I want to investigate which changes happen in the perception of the body and the city dynamics and for that, I imagine that a large number of people would be effective.
Many thanks to Cilas, Derek , Jane, Lauren and Romi for volunteer in this first workshop.
