Week 4 - Monday 15th October 2012

This week, we were asked to divide into smaller groups and go through the patterns of total body connectivity ourselves, we really struggled to remember which of the movements were associated with different parts of the body and even missed some of the warm ups completely such as 'horse lips'. We then came together as a complete group and worked through them fully. This was followed by the six Makko-Ho stretches.

We were then asked to get into pairs. This exercise started by sitting on the floor with our boacks to one another, but connected. Slowly, we started to move in different directions so that we could become connected to one another through the body, this was shown by our ability to perform bigger movements but still being able to stay fully connected with one another. After this, we worked on this idea further by body surfing, sitting back to back and having one of the pair falling away towards the floor, the other person had to remain connected via the back and would end up on top of the other, the person who had went underneath would then roll as the other remained relaxed through the entire body and would be rolled along the floor. To begin with, the movement was very difficult to complete, it often felt very choreographed and thought out, as well as stiff and un natural. As we became more confortable with the motion however, their would be a natural leader each time and the movement flowed very easily to the point where we were able to complete it, have one person stand up and assist the other by using the technique from week 3 of bending through the knees. This was then followed by standing back to back and again, using another technique from week 3, we were able to bend through the knees to lower ourselves to the floor and complete the action once again.

I was then asked to find a space against the wall.

I was then asked to remain still in a position which connected me to the wall and observe all of the surroundings for a few minutes, things I could see, things I could hear, things I could feel.

In this space, I was then asked to experiment with all of the different positions avaiable to me, this included using a variety of levels, but always had to involve me being connected to the wall. We were all then asked to choose three of the
positions, repeat them over and over and find ways of linking these with one another. As a whole group, we then started with three people in their spaces, they performed their positions as many or as few times as they wished, and as one left, the next next person in the group would enter their space and continue. As the performance travelled around the room, the pace and energy changed at different points, I feel that this was sometimes influenced by a particular person's movements as some had more power and action associated with them. A few people noticed that throughout this, some of the people had begun to develop characteristics from their body language and this began to create a performance for an audience.

A task for the week ahead was to find a space where we could remain still for approximately fifteen minutes, we were then to observe our surroundings the same way we had in our space against the wall. I chose to complete mine in the bus station as my bus was running late.