Day I 

​

Task: Close-Eyed Tuning In 

​

Hala explored the inner and outer space with her eyes closed. How do I react when I met with an object or a subject? Do I react to it, move with it, go away from it? Activate curiosity. Hala: “I noticed the change of air, temperature, texture when close to the window. I enjoyed relaxing my body and yielding to gravity in going to the floor. I found it hard to tune in and out of the sound of construction. I imagined what happened in the studio before, the history that came before me in this space, the events, the stories of the people, the performances. I would like to try this outdoors.” Mona “I am interested in the way with which you go to the floor and go from supine to seated. Click here for video

​

Task: How do I occupy space? How can I use different body parts to guide me in a certain direction, how do I interrupt that and go in an opposite direction with a different body part? 

 

Task: Pick a diagram or drawing from Biology and draw it on paper. 

Hala drew the cardiac cycle, the heart and how the blood flows in and out of it. 

We then walked the pathway of the cardiac cycle in the studio. We stopped at landmarks and named them. We played with pace, silence moments, going in reverse, adding gestures to the landmarks. Hala: “I imagined the flow of blood in my body, inspired to teach that to my students, through this pathway walk. It was a manifestation of the inner, outer connection, as we went into the heart but we were also using it to walk.” How can we abstract the literal gestures created? Click here for video. 

 

Task: Keep the gestures and eliminate the path.

We developed a nice phrase inspired by Hala’s gestured then we improvised the gestured, developed them and see where they took us. Played with repetition to find new movements and transitions. 

 

Task: You may do everything with that stool except sit on it. 

Very nice images and moments. Hala: “the shape of the stool gave me ideas to use it in different ways. I assigned it different roles. Occupying the empty space in the stool made me feel protected in that nook. The wall behind me gave me support and freedom to play more with the stool. Enjoyed pretending the stool was a drum. The different geometrical patterns of the stool inspired me to move in the vertical, horizontal, and circular planes. 

 

Task: Pretend this fan is a third person, move as if it in a trio. 

Interesting to find different choices of moving with, against, breaking the rhythm of the fan, using it as a metronome, arguing with it (Hala).