Improvisation Laboratory

It's been a week now since the end of the intensive impro lab. I am still thinking about what happened and will be updating the linked blog with more as I go. For now, a video still.
This is me in scaffolding being used in the daytimes to re-tuck-point the Fremantle Arts Centre - a convict built ex-asylum.
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adaptation

Marnie Orr and Rachel Sweeney


body | land | relation

Immersive Physical Laboratory for dance and visual artists

Adaptation took place in Dartmoor National Park between 6-11 April 2010. Adaptation was a residential intensive for professional dance and visual artists, exploring immersive approaches to site based movement and visual performance practices.

Facilitated by ROCKface interdisciplinary performance research collective, Marnie Orr and Rachel Sweeney. Using body mapping | micro and macro site exploration | topographic movement training, and durational inhabitation processes, they steer an interdisciplinary performance investigation into perception, proprioception and perspective, exploring the relationship of body and land.

Morning research in the studio


Guided walk with Dartmoor Geographer Willem Montagne
Photo Carla Vendramin


Performer Llewyn Maire / Photo Carla Vendramin


Performer Carla Vendramin / Photo Rachel Sweeney


Performer Rachel Sweeney/ Photo Marnie Orr


Performers Lisa Newman and Manuel Vason
Photo Llewyn Maire


Performer Lisa Newman / Photo Llewyn Maire



Performer Katie Etheridge / Photo Carla Vendramin



Performer Marnie Orr / Photo Carla Vendramin


Performer Marnie Orr / Photo Michelle Outram


Performer Carla Vendramin / Photo Manuel Vason



Performer Michelle Outram / Photo Manuel Vason
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SL Warm-Up: Stretching the Iliopsoas and Piriformis muscles


The piriformis and iliopsoas are two muscles often hard to access by basic stretching and exercise. When tight, both muscles independently have been known to exacerbate or be responsible for sciatic pain and/or lower back pain.


The standing stretches outlined below enable deep access into the pelvis and free up the spine, making the series an ideal lead-in for Bodyweather MB training. Although this standing stretches series can be exercised on their own, they are most effective as the final of a number of series that make up the full 'SL Warm-Up'.

The SL Warm-Up was developed by Stuart Lynch (hence, 'SL'). Stuart Lynch is a Bodyweather practitioner and theatre director in Copenhagen. I trained and performed under Stuart in Sydney 1999 alongside Tess de Quincey, as well as on a couple of short intensives in Europe.

The standing stretches directly engage the iliopsoas (major psoas) and piriformis muscles, and with regular application enable a deep opening of the hip joints. Working these muscles in an MB preparation situates the body as extremely available, enabling the individual to work strongly but safely in the MB.

Standing stretches series:
the front and back thigh muscle stretches, are stretched with the following poses:
1. Bring the right knee toward the chest to take the ankle in the right hand. Working in alignment as much as comfortable, swing the tightly bent knee to the back of the body. Draw the calf in toward the back of the thigh by gripping the left hand
over the top of the right hand's grip on the top of the foot. Keep the knees together. Draw the shoulder blades toward each other, but keep the sternum soft (receding). Breathe.
2. Swing the right knee to infron of the body, and draw it toward the centre of the chest, cradled in the right arm’s inner elbow. With the left hand on the shin, further draw the leg across the chest and increase the stretch. Hold and breathe. Make sure the pelvis stays level and aligned.
3. Water Skier – Draw the pelvis forward as you move the right arm around the knee to grip the shin from above. This will release the right knee away from the body somewhat, until the shin sits horizontally. Hold with shoulders down, chest open. Gaze is 45degrees above horizon.
4. Slide the right hand grip down the leg to take the left ankle with the left hand from underneath. Turn the foot out to expose the underside of the foot as much as possible. The foot is sitting high on the thigh of the standing leg. Release the right leg. Hold and breathe.
5. Use your right thumb and finger tips to give a dynamic pressure to each toe individually (on the inhalation only). Start on the upside and work through the toes, then continue on the underside. Release the toe stretch on the exhalation before starting on the next toe.
6. As you bend your standing knee, slide the right foot down the standing thigh to sit above the left knee. Give a dynamic pressure (on the inhalation only) by placing the right hand on the seat of the inner knee. You may wish to increase the stretch by bending forward closer to the knee and using the right elbow on the right knee instead. Release and swap legs.
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