Sunday 23 December 2012

5. Other things that enable us to take a leap of faith



Other kinds of things that enable us to jump off the cliff, make the extraordinary leap, to find flow?
-          Decide to enjoy it more
-          Practicing pushing forward through the point of indecision rather than retreating from that point, therefore practicing single-mindedness and not allowing ourselves to be distracted
-          General practice/rehearsal, or preparation: the dancers described that knowing in advance that they were going to jump off the edge of the cliff dictated the shape of their journey getting there and contributed to enabling them to take the leap. Because of this, I think it could be important to document the preparatory acts described in the short story Fly, such as the main character making his/her wings, in the final film. We worked a little with the idea of wing-span in the final workshop, and specifically the connection of the hands to the head, although there’s more to be done on this, and on finding ways to embody the through-line from the act of making wings to the act of using those wings.
-          Similarly, practice can be very important in overpowering the worry, fear or the anticipation of failure that the dancers described feeling before responding to a task rather than during or after that task. I think this practice can include physical rehearsal, but also ongoing practicing of a clear, positive, enabling feedback process, through which the dancers are able to come to their own (intrinsic, authentic) understanding of what they are doing and why.

Once again, thanks to Caroline Salem for having us in the studio at Clarence Mews, plus Dr Kate Hefferon, Siri Steinmo, Elsa Urmston and the dancers who have given their time to the research so far: Tim Casson, Marie Chabert, Morgan Cloud, Thomas Hands, Hamish MacPherson, Samantha McCormick and Jess Williams.

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