Writing prompt: What is the wolf at your door?

Wolf at the door. 1934. (Oskar Herrfurth 1862-1934.US public

On Sunday, I facilitated another Big If Dance Experiment.  Great group came to dance/write.  TC Kinser, Chelsea and Patti Gregory, Deb Hiers, Amy Colburn and Lynn Andrews.  Here is an outline of what we did:

We started with a Gaga-esque warm-up to get moving, for about twenty minutes.

Introduction: I shared that my latest project is part of a national project about The Economy.  One of the images I had been wanting to explore is the old expression “Keep the wolf from the door.”  As an intergenerational group, some people knew the expression, some didn’t.  Those who did associated it with Little Red Riding Hood or the Three Little Pigs.  I shared its historical roots as an expression from song and literature referring to keeping hunger, famine, starvation, debt collectors and death that come from hard times.  (Next time, I will share some visual imagery and perhaps one of the old songs as well.)

First assignment: Create a word = movement study for the words:

Wolf

At

The

Door

Create four separate movement ideas, One for each word.  Do not link together with transitions.  Be complete with each movement idea, you should should be able to be rearrange the movements.  For instance, you could perform them in the sequence: door, wolf, at, the; etc.

Work for about seven minutes to create and then share.

As watching what everyone has created, make observations about what we see.  For instance, in our session on December 17 the observations were:

-       There were many moments of movement that looked “acted upon” as if an outside force were directing the movement.

-       “It was very interesting to look at each movement study and wonder: Where are the doors? Where are the exits and entrances of those doors? Are we entering? Exiting?”

-       There were so many different interpretations of “wolf” – as character, as animal, as hungry, as howling, as bold, as stealthy, as seductive.

We reduced those observations into layers that could be used to explore our individual movement phrases. Call these: Qualities

-      -  Do your movements with a sense of them being “acted upon” by an outside force

-     -   Examine your movements and ask: Where are the doors? Is my movement an exit or entrance into these doors?

-       - Find different characterization/qualities of “wolf” to perform the movements with different qualities

Writing/Moving: Prompt: What is the wolf at your door?

Structure:

-       Timer set for 3 minutes/write for the full 3 minutes

-       When timer goes off, return to movement phrases playing with the Qualities to explore the possibilities of the movement. Edit, embellish, if so delighted.  Timer is set for 7 minutes for this dancing.

-       When timer goes off, stop within whatever you were doing.  Analyze it structurally (My right hand is cupped in front of me, my left arm tangled around my throat, my weight is in my right hip and my toes are curled under. My focus is on my knee.) Go back to writing, try and continue to “tell your story” but you must use this descriptive physical language in the body of the writing as it evolves.  Timer is set for 5 minutes.

-       When timer goes off, stop writing.  Look at the most recent written words until you come across a verb.  Use that verb as the transition action between each movement phrase.  Set a timer.  Play with this concept for 8 minutes. Using this opportunity to begin composing those four separate movement ideas into a full study. 

-       When timer goes off, again, first analyze the movement and then return to writing or dancing, or both to assemble your final study out of this exercise.  Take about 10 minutes for this part of the process.

Circle up.  Witness whatever any one would like to share – writing, movement, or both.

Closing discussion to close out the session.

This was a 2 hour session.

2 ½ hours would have given us the opportunity to talk more about our “wolves”. We talked mostly about the process and images from individual work that particularly resonated and why. 

Workshop Comments: 

Everyone seemed to have resonated with the topic question and with the process. 

- "It was therapeutic"

- "I needed to write about that wolf"

- All mentioned that the moving/writing alternating really impacted the writing in a new way. "The process got those things out of the way that tend to get in the way: worrying about right choices, frustration with body, frustration with head, using "what I know" and "what I always do"

- Finding a closer bridge/balance between Structure and Perceptual. Finding a direct route between and back and forth between the two. 

- Really having the opportunity to listen to what the body has to say, and then to act (make dance) on that

Highlight: title from Deb Hiers  "Outfoxing the Wolf"

Next steps: 

- I am working on more "wolf" questions to explore.

- Interested in the verbs of what the wolf is doing at the door: sniffing, pounding, peering, waiting, scratching, smelling the fear

- Work on my own solo that came out of the workshop