What a rewarding day.  Being gifted time to work on energy and see the effect of energy on movement in the body really was incredible.  Many, many thanks to Ximena, Shige, Tamira, and Raul for all of their hardwork.

The Egg + Balance

           What.  I couldn't balance it without first finding my own balance.  At first my hands were shaking, mainly from nervous energy, making me unable to find a way to place the egg down.  Once I found my own groove with the floor and the egg, the means by which I put the egg down were irrelevant - I was just going to do it.  

            Balancing on the wood was no different.  Although I may have known exactly where I am putting my weight in all moments, no one else could see or feel my internal and physical process to finding stillness on one leg - just like the egg.  Sure, a spectator can see it, but as long as I can do it comfortably for myself and for the group while making it aesthetically pleasing for the spectator, isn't that all that matters?

Slow/Fast/Slow Body

         - Slowness within body while moving fast externally is specificity

         - Release the ribs; release everything to make body 'neutral' (readiness)

         - The fast and instant switch from

           Slow to Fast to Slow

           creates the movement

           the emotional behavior

           the behavior of the exterior body

           is dependent on our moment's

           of individual specific rapid

           movement, transposed into the

           mind of the spectator

Thinking/Unthinking Body

    Thinking

         - Basic Ballet Positions, Technique, making each movement as specific as possible

    Unthinking

         - completely wild, unspecific, body moves faster than the mind

Dancing/Moving needs to be an instant combination of the two together at all times.

You must know exactly what you are going to do without knowing the technical work is coming at all - that is improvisation.

Thinking dance was movement away from the habitual body, whereas unthinking movement and dance habits so easily crept into the improvisation.  (Plastiqué River, motion in spine, laying on floor &rolling into fetal)

Interesting piece could be made from going completely unthinking to thinking and back and forth and back and forth... Watching solo performances of this excercise made me realize how it is a kind of play on chaos into melancholy, or a tornado/earthquake into quiet, overcast meadow.  I do not use completely contrasting images to those of the unthinking body because thinking, in its own way, get you on yourself, and a lot of the images I had were of stormy weather, or semi-nice days, rather than "beautiful, sunny day at the beach."  This could be cool to explore as well.