I was really excited about Kota's footwork-shapeshifting exercise. For a past performance, I worked in a similar way, but doing it in the context of the workshop clarified some things for me. I had been exploring what I thought of as popping and locking with characters, listening to a lot of hip-hop and trying to combine the dancing style with the aliases, reoccurring slang, and collage of samples and breakbeats of the songs. In the same way that a b-boy/girl's arm comes out of nowhere and takes the fore from all of his or her moving parts, I attempted to move while containing multiple personalities, shifting into one or another on the beat, leaving it or transforming it a few beats later. It has made a lot of sense to me, and helped me to work with the kind of shifting mass of characters that feels true to life. At the workshop, I realized that staying in motion with the feet, while attempting to change characters allows the transitions to be more flowing, eve when things come up suddenly. It's like everything is in motion, always changing, with consciousness and physical forms intertwined. Sometimes, the form bubbles up in the body, and then is recognized. Other times, the mind takes a turn, and the body follows. But the tranformation is constant, never dropping to rest, and also, importantly, activated, because the dancer has his or her energy up.

I was also excited about the improvisation based on putting certain charges/phrases in specific areas of the room. While watching the different dances, I was shocked by how transformed and mind-bending the white room became. I think we often see the space to be neutral, a white expanse, and treat it as such. There are walls, but we orient ourselves wherever, at most paying attention to its rectangular perimeter. But I think with this exercise, I saw how charged the space really is/can be. All of sudden, there were strong charges and weird trapdoors of perceptions everywhere.

Bits and pieces:

Savina was doing this thing during the on-our-backs-flailing-legs-dance where she would sort of throw her weight from one foot onto its hip, back and forth. I think she was supporting herself with her other leg while doing it.

Kota instructed us, on one of the walks, to dance a bit, hold tension, and then drop everything and walk forward with simple intention. I liked this moment, and especially liked envisioning many dancers dancing something disparate and loud, then dropping it and walking forward in silent synchronization.