Theme: Play and Body
Context:
This week I collaborated with two of my peers, Monique and Maggie. Our early ideas revolved around sharing actions outside of their original context. One such idea had one person dictate the actions of other participants, regardless of their differing context. For example, if the chosen person decided to lie down on their bed all the other participants, regardless of their current surroundings, would also have to lie down. This idea seemed a bit difficult to manage but we liked the idea of sharing body movements. Maggie suggested we could share movements based on a theme such as memories. This reminded me of A Mile in My Shoes by the Empathy Museum that used physical embodiment in conjunction with storytelling to create a more resonant experience.
With this in mind, we thought about how we could evoke the emotional resonance of memories through our movements. We concluded that teaching would be a large part of the process. It had to be slow, thoughtful and contemplative. We decided we ought to create choreographies for our memories in our own time, so that we could present a polished routine that would not detract from the emotion or intentionality of our movements. It was also important that we did not share the context behind the memories beforehand. This would encourage contemplation during the teaching process as we try to understand what the various movements might mean. We also wanted the teaching process to feel intimate so we’d have this deeper connection to the movements before we enacted the final performance. We hoped to achieve this through repetition and through the intentionality and nuance of movements.
The final performance would then be done without our instructor, who would instead tell the story of their memory in time with our re-enactment. This would imbue our movements with new context and hopefully influence our embodiment as we come to understand what it all means.
Method:
I spent some time reflecting on my most cherished memories, trying to find one that had interesting movements. Once I had a memory selected, I created a minute-long choreography to teach to Monique and Maggie. I also created a short script describing the memory that would match the choreography. I then met up with Monique and Maggie who had also created their own choreographies. We took turns to teach each other the choreography of our respective memories. This was a slow-paced, intimate and contemplative process as we ran through the movements again and again. Crucially, this process was done without revealing what the memory was. This meant we could start to form our own ideas around what may have been happening in the memory. Once we felt confident with the routine, we then performed the choreography one last time without our instructor. During this final performance, the instructor detailed what the memory was about and added the context to our performance in real time.
Response:
We created a series of videos that capture the teaching and final performances of our Membodies.
Video Showcase 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkTLJPqsamQ
Video Showcase 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTKicubcY1o
Video Showcase 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0QWEFnt2VI
Reflection:
When trying to select a memory it became increasingly more apparent how little body movements actually factored into my recollections. My memories are more so a collection of images and feelings. This made me worry that body movements were not going to be an effective method of evoking the sort of contemplative engagement we were hoping to achieve during the teaching segments. I still feel the movements weren’t that evocative but I think the conceit of the teaching sessions led to deep thought regardless. The movements had other advantages though and were necessary for us to teach our memories without the full context. As I started to formulate my own impressions of the memories I found that I would embody these emotions in my actions. I would add drama or flair to particular actions to express what I felt was being experienced in that moment. In the final performance, where we received the full context of the memory, I found myself embodying the thoughts and feelings through the movements. For about 10 minutes after each performance, we’d stand around and discuss our respective memories in greater depth. I felt a greater attachment or connection to the memory now having performed it so it felt natural to want a deeper explanation. I could see this work being effective between strangers too, leading to contemplative and thoughtful discussions.