reintroduction

i am currently in san francisco doing a contact improv and body mind centering workshop for 9 days. the awareness i have for my body has tripled since i started grad school and most of that occurred in the last 3 months. i completed day 2 of 9 today and my body feels equally tired and energized. i wonder why i haven't done this work sooner and really think this is why i came to grad school. to do this work.

after our partner work this afternoon, we moved from assisted head/tail work to solos. during the solo work i found myself moving in ways that were new. i created new pathways and had a hard time just experiencing the movement without thinking about it while i did it. i found length in my limbs and a really great connection between the top and base of my spine. when i chatted with my partner brad after our dance together he asked if my eyes were open or closed during my solo. for the most part they were closed, but i did peek occasionally to see where i was so i didn't hit anyone. he commented that i was doing a duet with a woman close by. we apparently were in close proximity and doing a duet of sorts. i had no idea. during our lunch break amy said that the dance was particular lovely. needless to say, i was quite pleased.

after lunch, we jumped into CI with scott. i had a little harder time with the partner work and became completely self-conscious. the dancers in this workshop are really good. not only with contact improv, but with all forms. i feel a little out of practice. so much so that i sat out of the score at the end of the evening. i had not played that way in nita's class so it was fascinating to see how the performance element happens. what scott did was create a series of rules. start with a solo dance and bring in a partner with eye contact. you can then enter with a leap in. it was interesting to watch and i am a little overwhelmed by the talent in the room. i tried not to pay attention, but it seemed like many people were shying away from working with me when we did our ensemble jumps to each other. it was a hard exercise for me to "catch" my partner and my paranoia got the better of me.

as i let my body incorporate the new information of the day, i will add in a little more love to hopefully overcome my insecurities. ah, sleep.