Rehearsal 3: exhale, jittery, un-focus(ed)

In this rehearsal we experimented with different elements placed on the same movement phrase we've been working with. I first recalled some experimentation I did on my own with the ideas of "give/get/remove/escape" where I found inhales and exhales had an interesting relationship to the associated gestures (mentioned in a previous post). At another point in rehearsal I also chose to look at words that the SAM assessment associates with the concept of "excited": stimulated, jittery, wide-awake, aroused. With these ideas of excited and exhaling as manipulations, we returned to our phrase.

Again, each dancer found her own way to interpret this as we manipulated breathing first, working with focus on the exhales. Differences in the origin of the breath (lungs or stomach) and changes like segmented breaths, pursed lips, or an open mouth were interesting variations. Then we also considered heart rate, so we ran a lap of the dance building and returned to work with the phrase some more. We found that our breathing changed significantly after running, so that deeper "HAA" exhales were easier. It was a challenge to make the movement work with the naturally segmented breath rather then the usual other way around. We also discovered an interesting shift in the sense of release when the dancers were still focused on catching their breath. It was as if they were more free because their bodies were worked up, or they were distracted by the breathing to be freer in the movement. When I introduced the SAM description of excitement, each dancer naturally tended towards a different point along the scale of valence, one positive, one neutral, and one negatively interpreting the idea of excitement. Continuing this part of rehearsal and going off of their natural valences, we also experimented with focus: the dancers described an internal focus as feeling naturally faster, and I need to look again at video in which the dancers tried to maintain a forward focus at the audience to see if any worthwhile effect is found.

You can see above the flighty paths I'm following in leading rehearsals, and I'm realizing with the difficulties of this that I'm resisting the fact that I simply don't have the time to explore in a worthwhile way even a small fraction of the possible "variables" I'd like to have the time to look at. It's just like any psychology experiment- a reasonable researcher would limit the variables and attempt to control for the rest. In this case, control is neither quite possible, nor frankly desirable. But I can still limit my manipulations to focus and have more clear understanding of what I will look at. As we go along, my dancers' patience and feedback helps me to learn ways to focus and better delve into material, and I'll keep at it until we get it right and enjoy doing it!