Landing in Kentville

The actual physicality of transporting me/my body from the ground to thousands of miles up in the air. To crossing thousands of miles over land, water, clouds, ice! Plus going back in time 8 hours and having the chance to have a second Boxing Day, has really thrown me.

Following that, "me" got in a car with the steering wheel on the left. Everyone driving on the right, I drove over a really famous big red bridge and was lost and I really was petrified. I breathed and talked to myself a lot! Everyone honking me and me thinking what the hell have I done? Disorientation really is a reminder of how I am my body my body is me or I live in it? There is no escape. I had to attend to it and the surroundings. I was part of making decisions to keep me safe navigating my way through so many unknown instances. I felt so out of sinc. 

I am in San Francisco as part of Anna Halprin's Winter Workshop. 

Two years ago I mentioned (in a pre Module 1 hand in blog) dancing on Anna Haprin's Dance deck not really thinking I would, not knowing how I would? so many obstacles. 

So the fact I am here, has been a piecing together of small stepping stones connected with a common thread.
The motivation and belief in what she practices.

Day 1. 

As I arrived at Ravine Way, Kentfield, participants were escorted by an assistant to the top of some winding wooden curved steps that trailed down the side of the mountain to the Mountain Home Studio. Lawrence Halprin (Anna's husband) chose to work with curves not straight lines as to reflect nature in his work as an architect.
Lawrence was very involved in Anna's work and built her this deck so she could have a place to create.

The "Entry Score" greeted me at the the top of these weathered steps.  

WALK SLOWLY

PAUSE PERIODICALLY

LOOK

LISTEN

BREATH

SMELL TOUCH

This was quite an emotional moment for me, what with the long journey in all senses of the word.

We then de-baggaged so to say, taking off coats, shoes, socks leaving them at the door. We just took journals and water bottles into the room.

Anna appeared "Howdy" she said...she is a funny lady...and went on to say how she was impressed reading the biogs of the attendees all with this and that PHD and joked she had five but only two were real? It was funny. She also joked how she was Famous "now" and where was it when she needed it back then. Then to a more serious note she moved round the room and took time to engage in conversation with each of us separately and naturally.

Most interesting was the stories of the Pomo Indians native to the area and Mount Tamalpais  and and how the story of the mountains evolve constantly. The redwood trees died which made the blue jays disappear and the Oak trees found their way to the mountains that brought the Hawks.

She talked of the body as instrument how it could  liberate you or inhibit the you. That she prepares the body/instrument in her class and has a strong attitude on how to prepare that body, so it does not support imitated ways of creating art. She said everyone is a choreographer and that we would learn how to score. Anna wanted to empathise with us not on a decorative level. 

Also understanding how our bodies move, mentioning she studied human dissection for a year. A strong element of the day was internalising not externalising. Feeling the universality of the muscular and skeletal systems.

There were three parts to the day 

We worked with a Scores. The first being.

Principals of Creative process

Firstly

Where am I?

Who are you with?

What am I doing?

Always ask, why am I doing this? What is my intention?

We drew self portraits and worked systematically sharing and dancing them with a partner.  This extended to journal (free writing) and into a Haiku which is a Japanese poem. To the structure of 5,7,5 syllables in each line.  Dancing and speaking our own dances then our partner speaking and us interpreting through immediate movement. Finally Valuaction sharing our experience. I could see how this scoring was stemming from using the R.S.V.P cycles. 

The RSVP Cycles: Creative Processes in the Human Environment (Halprin, L. 1970)

In the afternoon it was performance time. We formed support groups of five dancers in each. We worked with our names, movement and sound, then through several stages we ended up in a group improvisation performing to the larger complete group and Anna and her assistants Wow did I have fun. Also I think we found out more about each other. Looking forward to tomorrow.