19B. Body Parts/Shifts

• Everyone, find a place on the floor and stand in a neutral posture.

• We're going to practice shifts, but with a little twist. I'm going to call out different parts of your body. When you hear the first body part, begin a series of shifts with that body part being the central physical focus of each shift. As you hear each subsequent cue, change focus so that your next series of shifts is physically centered on the next body part.

• Have your shifts alternate between:

movement,

sound and movement,

sound only,

language and movement and

language only.

• If you're sounding, or talking, from stillness, continue to focus upon the appropriate body part.

• Relax. Take time to totally involve yourself with each moment of experience.

Do this. Twist your head down and to the right as far as you can. The rest of your body remains limp. Continue putting energy into the twisting action. Sound from there. Stop. Change your mind and talk from there. Stay with the twisting energy. Stop. Sound from there again. And again talk. Let the twisting energy effect your voice and your feelings. What does that voice, those feelings have to say?

Wobble your knees and walk. Wobble and walk. Wobble and walk. You're a wobbly knee walker. Believe it. How does this make you feel? Continue to pay detailed attention to the wobbles, every one of them, and the walk, every step. Change your mind. Sound. Stop. Talk.

Hold up your right hand. Rotate it extremely slowly to the right and then to the left. As slowly as you can. Look straight ahead. What mood does that action put you in? Talk. Stop. Change your mind. Talk again.

This exercise leads to the experiencing of language as a felt action cradled by the body. We discover that we always talk with our body while we use language, whether consciously or unconsciously. Becoming conscious of the body's dynamics within the voice widens our options. The body and language simultaneously offer complementary, or juxtaposing, aspects to the completed image that speaks personally from the performers idiosyncratic perceptions.

Slow Starts

Often improvisations get off to a slow start. Fidgets, glances, shifting weight from foot to foot predominate. A slow start can be the manifestation of an unwillingness to dive in, assert oneself, or be clear and forthright about whatever is going on at the time. If the imagination isn't actively illiciting images, there are other things going on. Something always is. The breath, for instance, or current feelings, emotions or thoughts. Fidgets can be excellent choices to start off with if the performer is dedicated and committed to their presence.

The mind and body are rarely quiet. If they are, that's certainly a fine place to begin, too.

We're going to practice beginnings.

19C. Beginnings

• Everyone, partner up. You'll do a series of one minute solos. Switch back and forth. Time each other. Give each other a word cue before each solo. The words can refer to form or content, for example, fast time, blood, blind, blonde, sharp, soft, crescendo, stop/go, Mississippi, etc.

• Have each solo be a mix of movement, sounds and language.

• Dive in. Start strong.

Strong doesn't necessarily mean big or forceful. It means committed. Whatever the impulse is, fill it up to the very top. Feel it. Sense all of its parts. Care for your action as you would a newborn, with fierce, protective love.

Any action, thoroughly sensed and felt, lifts out of and beyond ordinariness. It carves through space and time, leaves no shadow of doubt, and needs nothing in front of or behind it to verify its existence. A sensed and felt action is complete.

Handling objects is another pathway into presence.