practiceformfunction2011

1. Spend 20 minutes (no more, no less) to write a letter to your favourite choreographer/dancer. Tell them about your experiences in this funny little class – not what we did, but what you've begun to think and do (even if only a few wee things). Tell them about why you like them. Seal it and address it to you at your most permanent address. Bring it in next week (don't worry, we won't be looking at them, or reading them out or anything naff like that).
2. Make time to meet with the most unlikely person in the class (for you)* You'll have to approach that person. Spend 5 minutes in silence together (no phones, no nothing), and then simply listen to him/her talk about their life for 10 minutes, and what is going on for them at the moment. Don't judge. Don't respond. Simply attempt to listen with an open heart. At the end of the (timed) 10 minutes, hug that person with that same open heart. After you've parted, spend just a few moments reflecting in silence on the experience (you might write a few notes), and then have a small quiet and gentle dance together (maintaing contact).

*That is, it may be one-sided! This may be for any reason, and it may be current, ongoing, permanent, temporary or whatever.

1. Work with a partner (it doesn't have to be the same person each day, but that might help)
2. Surya Namaskara A x 3 and Surya Namaskara B x 3
3. Create a new "what if" question (or score) for yourselves each day to inform your dancing, and dance it with all your attention, heart and daring. Deborah Hay says, "Ready, fire, aim". Watch each other, but don't discuss. 
4. Spend 2-3 minutes writing down your experiences (both doing and watching) – not what you did, but what you noticed, what you felt, and what was different. Write about things that are difficult to describe – just as a practice.
5. Switch roles. Repeat. Only #3 should involve talking

In light of Ma-Chan's insight into Tarkovsky's film, and into her own method of perception, those who grow impatient may simply be thinking too fast. Tarkovsky's work may prove that the television screen can in fact communicate slowness, but the accompanying slowness of thought requires in individuals either: 1) slow thought by nature, 2) slow thought by practice, meaning patience; or 3) slow though by sheer force of will, meaning courage. Most of us live in fear of slowing down our thinking, because of the possibility that if we succeed we might find that in fact nothing is happening. I guarantee that this is not the case. Something is always happening.

— Matthew Goulish (again), p. 82

I'd like you to begin to respect your practice and your dancing. To look at it, and then look again.

The experience deserves 'respect' in the sense of the word's original Latin meaning, 'to look twice'. For, as the great slow thinker Pina Basuch has said, 'We must look and look again.

— Matthew Goulish, 39 microlectures p.88

The problem with talent, though, is that in most cases the person involved can’t control its amount or quality. You might find the amount isn’t enough and you want to increase it, or you might try to be frugal and make it last longer, but in neither case do things work out that easily. Talent has a mind of its own and wells up when it wants to, and once it dries up, that’s it. Of course, certain poets and rock singers whose genius went out in a blaze of glory—people like Schubert and Mozart, whose dramatic early deaths turned them into legends—have a certain appeal, but for the vast majority of us this isn’t the model we follow.

— Haruki Murakami

Read the rest here: http://the99percent.com/articles/7068/Haruki-Murakami-Talent-Is-Nothing-Witho... – it's fine fine stuff

After yesterday's session, I met with Colin Poole to keep working on the project we are making. As you may know, Colin is an aikido black belt and he was talking about a grading ceremony that he was attending that evening. He mentioned the term Zanshin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanshin) in relation to 'tonus' of the body and also awareness – two conditions: 'commitment' and 'awareness' (or opportunity). Sound familiar?

It was purely coincidental that he and I might be discussing the same—or similar—things (I talked with you about the delicacy of total commitment paired with awarenss or noticing).

Serendipity.

The net result is the same. In your lives, in anything you do, to find out what you are capable of demands total commitment with the flexibility to adapt and remain open to what might happen.

Keep practicing every day. Keep seeking independence (or the need for others to provoke, stimulate or nourish you). What are you interested in? How can you sustain this interest?

Daily practice:

1. Surya Namaskara A x 3 and Surya Namaskara B x 3
2. Escalation in 10 minutes. Dance a continuous and even escalation of tempo and dynamic over 10 minutes (pay careful attention to the tone of your body)
3. Spend 5 minutes writing and reflecting on your experiences in this class so far

Weekly tasks:

1. Meet with your partner from today's class. Go somewhere quiet (but not at home), and where you wont be disturbed. Turn off (not to silent) your phones. Do nothing except sit with each other for 30 minutes in silence. At the end of 30 minutes have the smallest, most gentle dance together (this does not have to be in contact, but it might be). Hug, and then leave each other alone.
2. Create and make a small gift for you partner from today and give it to them. Take care with it. It should not cost any money, and give it to them by hand.