I'm in the middle of creating and rehearsing a movement piece about reintegration. It's so far proved to be a really fascinating experience. Having studied reintegration for 2+ years, directed 3 shows about it, and presented papers on it, I am now experimenting with moving through the process with another performer.
When I finally found a song-Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd--we began to discuss it in three stages, pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment. We listened to the song a few times and talked through the problems of reintegration and what parts were going to go in our story. Then we began to move.
We started on the floor, thinking about the day that any couple goes through and how in sync two people can be together. The day gains a kind of routine that, while deviated from now and again, is comfortable and smooth. Without words, two people may rise and go about morning activities (especially in my case) and still be working together to prepare for the day. So the task became: how can we rise together? what else do we need to do? breakfast? dishes? reading? getting dressed?
Sometimes Adriel suggested movements and sometimes I did. We worked back and forth trying to solve the problem of getting from point A to point B to point C. The first section of the song is all about being in sync. In some ways, it's really the most challenging because the level of familiarity and intimacy that we are building is deep and this is the first time we have collaborated on a performance together. So when we have a weight sharing hold I have to trust that he won't let me fall and keep all of my energy and muscle work in a straight line. I also have to trust that I will be able to do that.
This is one of the really cool things about this piece: we're not just dancing, we're doing physical theatre. We're not limited to one style of movement so we're using piece of mime, acrobatics, weight sharing, and dance. The weight sharing is important to the piece because it reflects the way that relationships work. If one person is holding back, the position can't be accomplished. Not being in the correct position or placement could really hurt yourself or your partner, so you have to be constantly conversing while you work through the poses. Same with acrobatics. These techniques are really useful for the subject. Especially as we move through the 2nd and 3rd sections.
In the second section, Adriel receives his deployment and leaves. This is the first time that we don't work as a unit. For the whole middle section, he has his own war zone experiences and I have my own experiences, using a chair to try to accomplish what we did together in section 1. Without both of us, this has been hard for me to figure out. Adriel gets to make up new things, but I have to figure out how to do the old ones by myself, in the time that he is doing his choreography. I have not yet figured out exactly what to do. I feel lost and bereft and have several times just wandered around the central playing space moving the chair. The chair can't weight share with me--I have tried. I can't sit in it because it's kind of standing in for him. All of our initial actions are so based on the two of us moving together that I feel hollow with the chair. I will make it work, but damn!
So part 3, Adriel comes back from the war after having killed someone and dodged several explosions. I run and jump into his arms and we spin, then coming down he drops while my arm is still around his neck and panics, fleeing from me to the chair. Next comes several attempts at recreating/creating balances and weight sharing again. These ones are more difficult because we've both been doing things apart. We have to rediscover/recreate a new way of being together. So we try a table then I fall and he pitches forward into a candlestick stand in my hands and over into a backbend. Then I pull myself up around him and remove his soldier coat. He leans forward and almost falls but I pull him back and we fall into a weight sharing plank position then lower into the chair where he melts into the floor on the other side of both chair and military coat. I melt to the other and we mirror our initial pose intertwined around the chair on the floor.
We're in the process of setting and polishing the movements. Adding stylization to our opening daily routine and to our balances and poses. The mime stylization and the energy that goes into each one is enormous. Though I think it will really make the story telling clear. At least hopefully clearer. I can't see it because I'm in it and that makes me a little nervous, but the problem solving to put together the story has been really rewarding--in terms of thinking it through with the body and collaborating with both Adriel and Todd. Some of the symbols really hit me--like that last one with both chair and jacket between us, we still reach for each other.
Does this couple stay together? I don't know but they're certainly trying. I think that knowledge is more important to this piece than the yes or no answer.
When I finally found a song-Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd--we began to discuss it in three stages, pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment. We listened to the song a few times and talked through the problems of reintegration and what parts were going to go in our story. Then we began to move.
We started on the floor, thinking about the day that any couple goes through and how in sync two people can be together. The day gains a kind of routine that, while deviated from now and again, is comfortable and smooth. Without words, two people may rise and go about morning activities (especially in my case) and still be working together to prepare for the day. So the task became: how can we rise together? what else do we need to do? breakfast? dishes? reading? getting dressed?
Sometimes Adriel suggested movements and sometimes I did. We worked back and forth trying to solve the problem of getting from point A to point B to point C. The first section of the song is all about being in sync. In some ways, it's really the most challenging because the level of familiarity and intimacy that we are building is deep and this is the first time we have collaborated on a performance together. So when we have a weight sharing hold I have to trust that he won't let me fall and keep all of my energy and muscle work in a straight line. I also have to trust that I will be able to do that.
This is one of the really cool things about this piece: we're not just dancing, we're doing physical theatre. We're not limited to one style of movement so we're using piece of mime, acrobatics, weight sharing, and dance. The weight sharing is important to the piece because it reflects the way that relationships work. If one person is holding back, the position can't be accomplished. Not being in the correct position or placement could really hurt yourself or your partner, so you have to be constantly conversing while you work through the poses. Same with acrobatics. These techniques are really useful for the subject. Especially as we move through the 2nd and 3rd sections.
In the second section, Adriel receives his deployment and leaves. This is the first time that we don't work as a unit. For the whole middle section, he has his own war zone experiences and I have my own experiences, using a chair to try to accomplish what we did together in section 1. Without both of us, this has been hard for me to figure out. Adriel gets to make up new things, but I have to figure out how to do the old ones by myself, in the time that he is doing his choreography. I have not yet figured out exactly what to do. I feel lost and bereft and have several times just wandered around the central playing space moving the chair. The chair can't weight share with me--I have tried. I can't sit in it because it's kind of standing in for him. All of our initial actions are so based on the two of us moving together that I feel hollow with the chair. I will make it work, but damn!
So part 3, Adriel comes back from the war after having killed someone and dodged several explosions. I run and jump into his arms and we spin, then coming down he drops while my arm is still around his neck and panics, fleeing from me to the chair. Next comes several attempts at recreating/creating balances and weight sharing again. These ones are more difficult because we've both been doing things apart. We have to rediscover/recreate a new way of being together. So we try a table then I fall and he pitches forward into a candlestick stand in my hands and over into a backbend. Then I pull myself up around him and remove his soldier coat. He leans forward and almost falls but I pull him back and we fall into a weight sharing plank position then lower into the chair where he melts into the floor on the other side of both chair and military coat. I melt to the other and we mirror our initial pose intertwined around the chair on the floor.
We're in the process of setting and polishing the movements. Adding stylization to our opening daily routine and to our balances and poses. The mime stylization and the energy that goes into each one is enormous. Though I think it will really make the story telling clear. At least hopefully clearer. I can't see it because I'm in it and that makes me a little nervous, but the problem solving to put together the story has been really rewarding--in terms of thinking it through with the body and collaborating with both Adriel and Todd. Some of the symbols really hit me--like that last one with both chair and jacket between us, we still reach for each other.
Does this couple stay together? I don't know but they're certainly trying. I think that knowledge is more important to this piece than the yes or no answer.
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