Fifty-Fifty: Rate of Exchange: Workshop/Movement Generation

A poem by Michigan poet, Patricia Clark, "Fifty-Fifty", set this particular chain in motion.

I had been thinking about what we hold of as "value" in our lives, beyond monetary value. And if something is of value, and we exchange this with others - what is our currency?


Clark's poem came up. It was when I was starting to work on ideas for the dance I would create for the students at Palm Beach Atlantic University. The evolution continues. But here is a first workshop/movement generation triggered by Clark's poem (which can be found here) http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/245682

The following describes the process that led to movement generation for the piece, but could as easily be a stand alone workshop to reflect on the themes in the poem and the notion of fifty-fifty exchanges.

All workshops begin in a circle, and with everyone introducing themselves.

After introductions, introduce the prompt:
"Something you have that means something to you.  An object that someone gave you.  That you have taken with you when you have moved - like to college.  Or something that you have given to someone else, that has served the same purpose in their life."

 Going around the circle (each person follows the next), everyone responds to the prompt.  "A beach stone I gave to my father that he kept in his pocket.  I didn't know that he kept it for so long.  When he died, and my mother went through his pockets, there it was."  "I was in New York and had very little money.  I went into a bookstore and saw this little book of poetry.  It was the book or lunch.  I bought the book of poetry.  I always keep it with me."

After everyone has had a turn, we create a gesture symbol for each of the objects, or part of the story.  Sometimes people come up with their own.  Sometimes the group helps.  Sometime the facilitator helps so that the gestures have some sort of unique, detailed, movement quality and design to them.   All the gestures are strung together to create one long phrase.

Note: If there are more than ten people in the circle, and the people are not experienced in dance or theatre we select fewer gestures.  To do this, after the circle go around ask the group for five that stuck out to them for some reason.  Create the gesture phrase based on just the five.

As a group, refine the gestures and add effort qualities to build a satisfying movement phrase - where does it speed up, slow down?  Variations between smooth and sharp, light and heavy.  Clear articulation of the movement design through space, and with articulated joints, etc. Done to music. Interpreting how the movement will fit with music.  Try with different kinds of music.

From here:  Three different paths. Each path is described below.  They all come back together at the end.

Path One: As movement generator for Palm Beach Atlantic Dance Ensemble: 
Broke into groups of five.  Each group was to take the movement phrase and figure out a way that it could be done as a group movement study.  All movements needed to be used, though the order could be changed.  The phrase did not have to be in unison, one person might do gesture #1, while the rest of the group used gesture #3 to move around the central figure.  Also - the gestures could now become full-bodied and also move through space.  All compositional tools open for play: canon, solo/ensemble, entrances and exits, theme & variation, motif, repetition, isolated body parts, changes of levels, spatial design, etc etc etc.

Path Two: As movement generator for Grinnell Dance Ensemble/Activate:
Solos.  With Dance Ensemble/Activate we created a gesture for everyone's contribution.  Which meant a phrase with fifteen gestures.  Each dancer elaborated the fifteen into a full-bodied solo.  Again - compositional tools open for play.

Path Three: As a community-dance workshop (not yet tested):
Same as path one, except scaffold the experience so that participants are guided through more exploration of how a movement phrase can be manipulated, expanded, elongated, detailed, decorated, etc.  Then break out into small groups 3-4 people per group and give them the same assignment as Path One.

SHARING
After the dances have been created (solos or group), view them.  Fellow participants respond with "highlighters" what was rich, delightful, surprising, evocative, dynamic, etc.

INTRODUCE THE POEM
Return to the circle.  Introduce the idea of an exchange that takes place between people.  Remind them of the prompt, something you were given that you value and take with you.  (Even if it was something you gave to yourself as in the poetry book story.)  Pass out copies of the poem, and let the group divide into groups of two (three if there is an odd number).  They are to read the poem and share ideas with each other.  Focusing on the questions (but not limited to):  Who is the "I" and who is the other person in the poem?  Is it a fifty-fifty exchange?  After about five minutes of discussion, open up to group discussion.

NEXT STEPS: 

Path One and Two: Movement generation with dancers familiar with dance/text work
Have everyone dance again. While facilitator reads the poem aloud as text to accompany the dances.  As you dance, find those serendipitous correlations when the words and the movement seem to somehow speak together - whether as if redundant, subtext, challenge, mirror, etc.   Try to remember those moments as we will return to them. 

Conclude the rehearsal by discussing individual (group) serendipitous moments.  Ask dancers to make a note of those so we can work on them in the next rehearsal. 

Path Three: Community-dance workshop
Introduce the idea of text layered with movement, how to discover serendipitous correlations.  Invite them to experiment with finding those correlations.  Have one group perform at a time, while the poem is read.  Observers make observations of the serendipitous correlations.  Use these to prompt discussion on ideas about the economy.

Come back into a seated circle. Let everyone share about the kinds of fifty-fifty (or not!) exchanges in their lives.  "How do these kinds of exchanges function in the economic system we live in? What kind of value do you give these exchanges in your life?"  To conclude the workshop, go around the circle each person say one thing they are taking away with them - a gesture, a story, an idea, a new friend, a new way of thinking about dance... anything.  Then do the original dance phrase one last time, in unison (to music). 

Some videos from Dance Ensemble/Activate first movement generation rehearsals.

Geo Giovanni: solo built from core gesture phrase  

Eva's solo built from core gesture phrase

Dilan, Samah and Anya built the core gesture phrase as a trio.

All workshop material c. 2013 Celeste Miller; movement material c.2013 the dancers