A classmate was out of the country at a conference last week, so I sent them daily updates about what we did in class. I thought you might enjoy this insider view the first week of the Poetic Embodiment module.
MONDAY
Today Instructor M brought in a bunch of different objects for us to play with – butcher paper, tin foil, plastic bags, string, balloons, little wooden blocks, little plastic toys, sugar and tea bags for putting in hot water, rubber bands, smoke from incense, bouncy balls . . . And we spent maybe an hour just playing with them individually and doing a little bit of embodiment, but mostly we just played. As you can imagine, Z wound up with a web of yarn around her head and little toy soldiers tied into her hair, and R had wrapped a bouncy ball in tinfoil and tied a leash around it. S and JP rubbed each other down with sponges. J stood perfectly still. F jumped to the ceiling.
Instructor J had us all embody the primary colors, first individually, then collectively.
Instructor P did Instructor P stuff with us, and we made up songs inspired by the primary colors the way we did with the elements.
TUESDAY
Dispatch from Eden:
Today Instructor P2 asked us whether we remember “Breaking the Foot.”
. . .
[We did quite a lot of “breaking the foot” with Instructor P2. We remembered.]
Then we learned how to balance sticks the Meyerholt way. (It actually was very helpful – thinking of the stick as your partner and the balance as coming from your center, not your arm or your feet.)
During class it snowed. (But it didn’t stick.) Instructor P2 kept us informed about the snow throughout class.
Instructor J had us go outside and observe autumn (by then the snow was rain). Then we wrote a sentence about what each sense observed/experienced. Then we picked three words about our experience (today’s lesson was about making choices) and made an action for each word. Then we got into two groups and taught each other our actions. Now we have the homework to watch the video of our choreography and create something in response, to be shared on Monday. J put ours in the group chat, so you could do that if you want.
Then we had Instructor V, and she tried to have us doing lifts while we leapt. I failed to lift S. M failed to put me down after hoisting me in the air. JP and F looked beautiful together.
WEDNESDAY
Ok it was a big, double-Instructor R day.
We started the day with partner massage (so maybe you’re glad you weren’t there?).
Then we did some fun Grotowski exercises that involved poking each other in the chest with our feet and doing somersaults over each others’ backs.
Then we watched sugar cubes melting. Then in groups we embodied sugar cubes melting. Then in those same groups we got our devising assignment, which is to embody two materials meeting.
In the second section – and this is the part I’m really sad you missed – we each got to (temporarily) choose a rock from Instructor R’s son’s rock collection (too many tumbled stones for my taste, but also some really quality rocks—I had a hard time choosing), then Instructor R led us through a beautiful guided meditation with our rocks that I found very beautiful spiritually rich.
Then she told us to check our emails for a homework assignment. Then she told us to buy a fruit or fruits, or a vegetable or vegetables, place it somewhere in our home, and observe it every day – perhaps recording it with photo or video – until she says to stop. Aka my favorite homework assignment ever: buy a fruit and watch it rot . . . for art.
Then we devised. F, G, and I burned some stuff.
Then L and I went to the show that G recommended, which I liked a lot, mostly because of the aerial rope bits, but also the bits when she made fun of Elon Musk.
I woke up this morning from a dream that you and I were at some coffee shop/bar and there was a woman singing and playing guitar. She started singing a song about how she didn’t need to show men her vagina, and in the world of the dream this was apparently some classic folk song from childhood, because I turned to look at you and we were both singing along with tears of nostalgia in our eyes.
THURSDAY
We devised in the morning.
We had Instructor K at midday. We had to pick a color we love and a color we hate, in four different mediums, and play with them, and also move. Also she said profound shit like always, about poetry and the poetic versus the prosaic. She also gave us homework (suddenly we have homework!) which is to find a painting that you like and email it to her before our next class with her – and it should be colorful, I think.
Then we had Instructor V. We jumped some more, and she gave us some steps for each element which we took across the floor.
Also C got a visa, making them I think the first one of us to get one, so now everyone is jealous, by which I mean I am jealous, because I want my visa before winter break so I can leave Germany.
FRIDAY
Today was a weird day. Like an absolute hero, I arrived at 8:40, determined to warm up so I could (try to) keep up with F during our devising session. By 9:05, we proud few who’d been standing outside the door decided to go to the cafe. Due to a miscommunication not worth going into right now, we discerned that no keyholders were coming, so around 10 we Mike Shepherded* our way into an empty studio to work. Eventually, Instructor M arrived to rescue us.
[*Mike Shepherd is a British director, actor, and theatremaker, and was for 40 years the artistic director of the legendary Kneehigh Theatre Co. He came for a weekend intensive, which I took, and then spent some time with the whole class. A lot of his stories involved squatting in abandoned buildings, performing with live fire in public places, getting arrested a couple of times, and generally asking for forgiveness instead of permission around trivialities like licenses and zoning and property law. I have taken his advice very much to heart.]
In Instructor M’s class, we practiced going with the music as a group. Then, individually, we wrote letters, matching our actions to music. Then in small groups/pairs we created a scene of cooking a meal together, to music. It was very fun. JP, L, and I were witches who cooked a cursed bolognese – from *scratch.*
Our devising presentations basically had more instructors than students (Instructor R, Instructor M, Instructor J, and Instructor P, who didn’t offer feedback). G, L, and Z were absent, leaving only one group with its full complement. Next week’s assignment is to go deeper. Think about whether you want to be flame meeting a stick, flame meeting an envelope, or ink meeting paper.