Some general growth thoughts
Things that I love that I have relearned recently:
Do the things I love
A teacher needs to teach
A choreographer needs to choreograph
A dancer needs to dance
Get to work!
Every class, every rehearsal, every small decision counts.
Be in sync with my needs. What do I really want to do right now?
The body knows, I just need to listen.
Take every opportunity in the moment. Make the most of them.
Put myself in the best position possible - it creates many opportunities.
Slay resistance! It’s just resistance, slaying it is the fun part!
Do the uncomfortable - these things bring me the most growth.
No matter how silly it is, give it a go! Give it a try and you’ll be surprised what you find!
Lack of focus is a good sign, it’s a beginning and only gets better the more I move in.
Be bold, be decisive, be wrong, be able to change.
Start with lots of ideas, quantity not quality.
Generate lots of iterations of an idea, then refine later.
Go hard in the beginning, then let creative procrastination take over, to sort through the results. Come again fresh.
Sometimes it is a step back that is needed, to take greater steps forward.
It’s not what I achieve, but the way there. Learn from the process.
Be happy with failure as a great learning experience. Plaster it on the wall and use its emotion as motivation!
Shower Essay
I love this idea: the top idea in your mind is the one that you think about when you are in the shower. There is a fantastic essay from Paul Graham that explains it in detail http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html
The premise: of all the things pay our attention to do during the day, it is in the shower that the most important ideas for us personally come to the surface! As I think about it, it has huge resonance.
I guess it’s that moment where you allow your mind to drift. A place where by drenching yourself with water and connecting through the senses to your body, you are centring in the moment physically. This act connects you with the present moment releasing control of your thoughts. It’s a space where the mind naturally flows! Enter subconscious, ambient thought, where things percolate and ideas come forward, that which is important to you is able to rise to the surface.
I must admit that until I read the essay I was less aware of the shower moments importance. Of course I have now started watching and consciously taking note of what I am thinking about in the shower. Intuitively I know that a lot of great ideas do come in the shower. There is also a lot of self talk that comes up for me. Things like sharing ideas with people and making sense of situations that I find are important. A lot of planing also rise to the surface. Future based creativity and planing for the day ahead and longer term.
And what better time is there than in the shower to let the mind do its work? It happens every morning and isn’t an extra time related option. The shower is a regular and part of my daily routine. Sure it’s usually short (I’m a cold shower fan), yet long enough to let my thoughts wander. This morning my mind drifted to thoughts about my daughter and how proud I am of her growth. She took the bus home by herself (with friends) last night and at 10 that’s a great achievement. And now I have a free weekend to spend with her and connect… obviously, after being busy the last weeks with the dance project, something that is important to me right now!
Something that Graham hits upon in his essay is how you can only indirectly influence these thoughts. They are by design drifting thoughts. If you controlled them, they wouldn’t drift. His point was to be aware of them and realise when they are less than constructive. Of course, as with everything, awareness is the first step to making lasting change.
For example the essay highlights the wasted time aspect. Wasting time thinking about what I would call “drama” or sink holes. Graham specifically talks about money and disputes. Subjects with high reactivity. I would expanded it even to things out of your control. All these things get in the way of the creativity through expended energy. They are reactive subjects rather than productive. In the shower, being aware of these thoughts, I can take a moment to recognise them and be aware of where I am.
I’m going to keep observing my shower thoughts and journal them. I’ll update you all on what comes up and its meaning for me. I’m guessing it’s going to be interesting and good for a laugh, if not a mind blowing revelation.
Presence Workshop idea
Presence describes the unique quality we bring to the world.
Your presence is the most precious gift you can give to another human being.
Marshall B. Rosenberg
Description of the workshop:
Presence
What does it mean to embody mindfulness and presence in dance? How can we enhance our movement awareness through being present?
Embark on a transformative dance workshop exploring presence in the moment — the “now” where everything flows. Through improvisational tasks, games and sensory practices, we will discover our inner world, delving into its feelings, sensations, thoughts, impulses, and preferences. Our journey continues to examine the outer world stimulus and our connection to our environment with its dynamic changes. Guided by our newfound awareness, we will question the impact of our presence on both the inner and outer worlds, crafting a new “now"— a fresh, embodied experience that resonates with the present moment.
Join us in discovering the art of being truly present through movement and self-exploration.
With thanks to Ioulia Kokkokiou
Presence Project process
I was thinking a lot about how I work through a projects theme and process it
Presence process reflection
Created a list of questions about the subject of things I don’t know and problems to solve
Researched the subject directly and indirectly (other fields)
Talked to peers about their perspectives
Worked out what I find interesting in the theme and started to shape what I want to say
Worked on a theory/perspective and its connections
Created concepts and models in my head
Tried them out in the studio in exercises and tasks
Evaluated the results and examined the ideas anew
Kept those ideas that work and threw out those that didn’t
The ideas/concepts that did work I refined and collated
The results I used to structure a piece, as the base inspiration for a choreography
Found connections between the pieces
Explored in a choreographic setting the pieces, giving them meaning and space to breathe and grow
Now comes the moment where the joy of working on the completed choreography starts.
It is a constant process between the end of the first draft and the premiere. Refining, changing, bringing in new perspectives, experimenting each time. Playing, giving it life. In each moment I try to pick out what is important to me and expand these areas.
The choreography itself:
I choose to inspire through my work, engage and provoke thought.
I offer a perspective and a vision that others can experience and evaluate.
I desire to take people on an emotional journey through my creations.
I wish for people to connect - with the work, with each other
It’s physical, it’s emotional, it’s connected.
It’s brings artists together and has them express themselves in one moment.
It’s shares the ideas as a group and soon to an audience.
It is important to reach people with my work.
To be heard.
To be seen.
Visible.
Random thoughts on playing games
I love playing. It’s so natural and fun. There is so much creativity to it too. Experimentation and expression.
There are 3 types of playing: for something, against something or with something.
2 types of games: Finite and infinite games - Games to win and games to stay in the game.
Among others, two types of players: performers and creators - illusionists vs artists - people who think they know and people with true experience.
I love the idea from Twyla Tharp who expressed as she goes into the studio and she sees it as a blank canvas - endless possibilities of what to create.
What we create is an expression of lived experience. Just taking it that one step further. Each iteration a new step, a new try. It’s expansion and growth all happening before your eyes. Also in the physical body.
So in the dance creation process, there is the time to explore. This is the creative game the one where we are here to stay in the game. To keep creating, playing, finding new ideas. Working out the possibilities, trying new versions. No goals, just exploration.
Then we come to the second game with a goal - the output. A performance or a showing. An event dictated by time and expectations. It draws energy and focus together to express the learned information.
Yet a dance piece is a constant creation where playing with the movement is part of the game. It is always alive otherwise we could just put on the video.
Perfect doesn’t exist, but better than the last one does. Keep going, there is always a new improved version to make. Small steps and then large.
Even if the new one isn’t better, I now know the difference (or what doesn’t work)!
Present moment decisions
In a follow up to the ideas on Presence, one concept that captures me at the moment is the importance of all the small decisions that we make. The idea comes from Shane Parrishs’ book Clear Thinking.
His idea paraphrased is that the small decisions we make every moment, every day are ones that really count. Big decisions, which we place so much importance on, are meaningful yet relatively clear. It is the work we do each day that adds up and makes us who we are. Whether we spend time distracted or in the present moment, whether we choose to go to bed on time or stay up late once, doesn’t seem to matter so much in the present, but over time has a large effect. Small decisions added up over time become habits, affecting who we are and how we see the world.
In connecting that to the theme of presence, the present is really the only thing we can affect. Our actions don’t happen in the past or the future, they happen now. So never underestimate the power of small decisions in each moment, like choosing to be here or offer gratitude. It is really taking part in life, choosing to interact fully with the world around us. There great things can happen!
Presence Movement Exercise
In researching and exploring for my latest dance project on the theme of Presence I’ve found an exercise that captures the moment. It’s simple and powerful in ways I am still discovering.
In a room, or with a partner:
Come into the present moment by closing your eyes and breathing. Recognise how you feel right now
Slowly open your eyes and take in the room and surroundings. What captures your attention?
Ask the question: How do I feel in relation to this external stimulus? Go with the feeling and explore how it makes your body want to move.
Continually update the moment with the questions above: What captures my attention? How do I feel/want to move?
Play with the moment, continually connecting with the external and internal worlds.
What can the stimulus be? Forms in the room, of objects, light, shade, temperature, colours, sounds, music, people - their presence, reactions and movement… really anything. Of course our eyes are often attracted to things that change.
What comes through the exercise is connection to both the world around me and myself, all in the present moment. It creates a sense of play that is curious and open. The outside world is continually changing providing new stimulus. The response in the body itself continually affects the moment in a circular form, making it unique and new. The resulting spontaneity and creativity that comes really needs to be experienced.
Presence
Presence is my next dance theme.
I try to simplify and define what it is, in the context that I am using it.
Presence is 2 things:
This moment, the here and now
How I interact with the world around me, the inner and outer world, sending and receiving
Here in the now is spontaneity and availability to the moment, focused without moving into the past or future.
How I interact with the world is 2 parts:
Receptivity to the world around me, noticing what is happening outside of me, awareness of the outer world
Awareness of how I feel, my inner world of emotions and authenticity, preference and desire. Actively expressing them
These two worlds interact or flow - in the moment.
The strength of my connection to both these worlds, in the now, determines my presence.
Thoughts?