#small dance

17/02/2021 Session proposed by Annie.

... that possibility of quietness and some sort of silence of the bodies as well - doing another encounter like the former one ...

5 min. just being together, small talk Set alarm on 23 min. We will all sit and have earphones We will watch together the 1:30 sec long video Small Dance where you can see Steve Paxton practicing outside.

Then we listen to an mp3 (6 min long) ENG http://lolm.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/paxton-smalldance-contredanse.mp3 FR http://drive.google.com/file/d/1BqDhiNJq4awkwL8vl8ThjDmkpELyN0iZ/view When the sound stops we close our eyes and stay with the small dance until the alarm rings.

Reactions:

Daniel: Thoughts disconnected. Uneasy to be in the same position. Being alone with others. Spasms of the body. What can be the conditions which are perfect for this? The software adapts to the needs, we adapt to the software.  The environment meets the needs, we adapt to the environment. Need to do it again.

Annie: it was long it was difficult if there hadn't been Muriel's/Daniel’s sound, I don't know what would have happened, the outside sound was my music if there hadn't been the idea of "dance" I would have lost concentration, now I felt the tension in my neck, my neck was dancing I have never been more aware of my diaphragm, it was my "motor" I wanted to walk to you, for a short time I imagined walking to you both almost invited you to do the same

Muriel : Steve Paxton, debout, un film, des images qui s'enchainent et me parlent de durée : un homme immobile les yeux ouverts. Une "guidance orale" de Steve Paxton, traduite et dite en Français par Patricia Kuypers, parle de tous les micros mouvements de la posture debout, du point de vue de l'attraction terrestre, notre organisation gravitaire personnelle. Nous sommes assis en l'écoutant, comme nous étions assis en regardant les images juste avant. Derniers mots entendus "Que se passe-t-il quand vous ne faites rien ?" Nous fermons les yeux. Le temps s'écoule à nouveau. Différemment. Paradoxalement plus connectée à vous qu'à moi. Le voyage intérieur commence : couleurs derrière mes paupières ; colonne vertébrale adossée à mon siège ; parcours sensoriel en surface, la peau, l'air, le flux de la chaleur/vibration véhiculée par l'attention ; le mouvement de la respiration m'entraine à l'intérieur du corps ; des images commencent à se former dans mon imaginaires ; je crois très bien vous entendre, un ronronnement de machine persiste, commun bruit sourd qui me dit que je suis reliée à un ailleurs à travers la machine ; je penses à la sensation, à la sensation que j'aurais si j'étais debout ; en équilibre instable sur mes 2 pieds ; je déploie ma colonne vertébrale, je viens me placer en équilibre sur mon bassin ; j'aligne chaque vertèbre l'une au-dessus de l'autre en appui sur mes ischions... A partir de là, j'entre dans le présent de l'équilibre et de la sensation... Je n'attends plus, je n'imagine plus, je suis là, dans le poids, sans lourdeur.

Eight times acccelerated our session gave this ...

07/01/2021 Durational experiment of Distant Movements - 1 hour. Session proposed by Daniel.

Inspired by Steve Paxton's practice and research on Small Dance (1967):

What happens when my movements are inhibited, the Small Dance asks? What happens when I suspend volitional movement? Which symphonies of adjusting emerge from non-doing?*

The session unfolds, during 60 minutes, after a short attunement (see preparations proposed by Muriel) we close our eyes, sitting on a chair in front of the computer, we let movement happen. We don’t impose an attitude towards the connexion we might create with oneself or the others. There is no specific score or guidance. We count on the recording, the archive, to identify connexion of bodies in connected spaces, or not. Do the bodies communicate through a possible shared sense of energy, rhythm, flow and coherence** ?

* https://cargocollective.com/sharingmovement/the-small-dance

** https://www.periodicos.ufrn.br/artresearchjournal/article/view/10755

It was a nice an interesting experience but somehow we didn’t understand "small dance” the “same way.

Daniel: Watching the archive I realize that in relation to both of you I don't move that much and I would like to investigate more that possibility of quietness and some sort of silence of the bodies as well - perhaps doing another encounter like this one where we explore still ness and look at the archive to see where the