You / Your City Talking your walk. PART TWO A workshop exploring the city through Movement, writing, photography and drawing To explore what place and space means to you. The Playhouse Theatre 5-7 Artillery St Derry / Londonderry BT48 6RG Sunday 15th April: 1400hr to 1700hr Run by Beatrice Jarvis
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Continuing from our exciting first session; on the 28th of April we will meet again! I will bring all the images produced from session one and we will make a reflection as to our journeys in the form of a live installation. We will explore a series of movement exercises, which will allow us to experiment with the body as an archive and container of our experiences of the city and the experience of daily life. Exploring some ideas around improvisation and embodiment; this session will explore how the act of being in the city can become rich and stimulating experience. This workshop will allow us to explore the following questions How can choreography be a mode of spatial reflection in its own right? How far can choreography enable reflection of relationship to place in a sustained and viable framework? This workshop will start with a somatic based movement warm up, moving then to explore specific choreographic methods of embodiment of landscape. The workshop will move at a gentle and adaptive pace allowing participants to explore through movement their own perspectives of the city, incorporating their current movement vocabulary and using the workshop as a springboard to develop new approaches to the creation of movement vocabulary relevant to daily life and daily use of the body. This choreographic process explores the role of improvisation as a tool of heightened urban and personal spatial awareness; allowing through each exercises an improvisation to form which enables exchange of urban social form.
This workshop will explore the images you collected on our last walk: situated along the walls in an embodied narrative context. The images will form a large part of the stimulus for this workshop journey; as will your memory; imagination and daily experience of the city. ARRIVE TO PLAYHOUSE: What are your expectations? What do you want to gain from the session today? How do you feel about the last session? Did you repeat any of the exercises in your own time? Arriving to the studio: we will take a series of warm up exercises which will seek to allow the body to arrive to the studio in an active and ready way: a large part of feeling ready to work in sensitive and calm way is the ability to consider the inside function and processes of the body: we will start with some simple walking exercises and consider how the body is existing within the space we are occupying. If our bodies are reflections of our lives; it is important to become mindful as to how we are carrying our skeleton; how our muscles are attached to the skeleton; what sensations out skin experiences when it comes into contact with the air; how we are holding our selves; where we feel tension. Through the simple act of internal visualization process; we will map and encounter the insides of ourselves in such a way that allows us to become more finely attuned to our surroundings: Exploring; stillness, breath; rolling, yawning, resting waiting, holding, walking, running; in succession, the body will slowly arrive to the space. We will explore a few exercises about trust, support and sharing with a partner which will further allow us to arrive to the space: these will be explained to you one by one: arrive to each exercise expectant of an exchange; each touch is a dialog, allow each sensation to feed you, and allow each movement to give you energy and stimulus.
Working with a partner: Support and Dialog One partner will lead; the other will follow: However they are moving: Take one of the following instructions and play with what they are doing: (swap at each chime) -‐ Mimic (the same) -‐ React in harmony -‐ Alternate their activity (in their pauses you find motion) -‐ Contrast -‐ Help -‐ Obstruct -‐ Change their pattern -‐ Exist separately. Focus on collaboration and conflict; work simply with walking, running, rolling, sitting and pause. Allow space for reflection. When you are working with a partner; consider how you are LISTENING: what do you want the situation between you to develop as; how do you want to position yourself in the relationship; can you take turns in being louder or quieter; can you allow yourself to be active and passive; relate this to your experience of the city also; can you consider the city in this format? How do you collaborate with the city? How do you fight with the city: exchange views with your partner on this
WE WILL NOW LOOK AT EACH SET OF IMAGES: CONSIDER HOWEVER FIRST: -‐ -‐ -‐
What do you remember of the walk? Were you looking at specific things on the walk? Can you remember any detail of narrative?
Going round the room we will stop each chime and tell a partner what a memory, detail or story; and perform a small movement which will summaries how we feel about that that detail. Consider: -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐
Light Texture Character Form Association
The Studio as Urban Canvas Each person will locate on the map where there images are taken from and then we will use the walls to make a visual collective impression of all the details we saw on the walk; using both the images and the memories and stories to create a living archive of our experience. All the images will be mixed up and the focus is the collective impression of the walk. When placing and describing the images; keep focused on the idea of the voice and image of memory; How are you placing yourself in the image and the scenario? How are you placed within this scene? Don’t allow yourself to get lost in words.
THE CITY AS FORM When the map is in place and all the images are positioned: we will then divide into smaller groups of three; try to mix with people who walked on the other side of the walls to you; allowing yourself to decide who will take the first guided tour. You will use the whole map: alternate between fiction and reality to make a whole tour, fill in the spaces you did not experience with memory. Collate all three tours together; making a semi fictional tour. Next we will divide into twos; pick a spot on the walls which is most memorable to you. Take them there and tell them why you have chosen that spot. They will take you to a spot also. Pick the location you want to work in; this can be one of the spots, both, or a different place. Pick a spot, which is most poignant; and be clear as to why you want to use this spot. Decide then what you want to do in the spot to mark it. We are making micro performances: Perhaps you both want to speak your memories (real or false) about the spot/ view/ space in the city Perhaps you can bring some of the earlier exercises into the space; walking with eyes closed. Try to move in the space; sitting; walking, running, even lying for 5 minutes. Consolidate a small-‐embodied movement reflection of the space and you collaborative reflection of the space. We will meet at agreed time and walk the walls to each space; to watch each reflection. We will then all return to the studio and repeat the exercise to consolidate the material as a whole.
Place specific Events; Spend time in a chosen setting.
Discover what part of it draws your attention. Occupy this part. Watch, listen, Become receptive to chance encounters. Gradually.. Add things to this place. To enchance or make visable the qualities. Found objects might affect the scene. Add yourself. Make visable aspects of the scene that may be invisible? ( very slow processes of growth and change) Momentary event ( as caught in photograph) Project memories into space. Take this experience; and move it. Â
Sight lines of place; space; moments of entanglement and performance; collisions and modes of encounter:
This practice-‐based, choreographic, devising workshop will enable participants to develop and expand the following areas of performance knowledge; -‐ Site-‐specific devising methodology -‐ Widening potential stimulus base for choreographic material -‐ Exploring the use of choreography as a social/cultural tool through the use of movement memory -‐ Performance boundaries and explorations of dance in public space -‐ Explorations of the relationship between site and studio -‐ Adaptation of choreographic material to multiple sites. -‐ Experimentation with the use of choreographic scores for performance stimulus This workshop offers a unique opportunity to experiment, explore and reflect upon dance and choreography as a method of spatial encounter. Through a series of carefully crafted score-‐based activities, participants will have the opportunity to move, create, discuss, reflect and perform; from studio, to city, to performance, to film, this is a unique approach to multi-‐disciplinary choreographic practice. Beatrice Jarvis is making a choreography exploring daily life in the City of Derry. Working with local residents, this process will explore how life in the city can be explored through dance and movement. This project aims to work with people of all ages and abilities to explore choreography as social process, creating a space for local exchange and interaction. This workshop will provide a brief introduction to the project and will give participants further opportunities to take part in a series of collaborative workshops and local based performance as a means of creating a social platform in which to talk about their experience of daily life in Derry. This work explores the social position of dance and movement in Derry/Londonderry. This will be explored both through verbal interviews, an overview of existing movement activities in the city and the instigation of a choreographic intervention in a local venue working with people from the city. This project investigates the capacity of movement to function as a social dialogue, creating channels of collaboration and exchange between people all over the city. Participants are not required to have any specific previous movement experience; this is a unique activity to take part in an open, creative and exciting challenge. If you wish to take part in the workshop or are interested to hear more about this project please contact Beatrice on 07790149647 or email jarvis-‐ b@email.ulster.ac.uk see website for further details of practice http://beatricejarvis.com/