Deborah

DEBORAH MAY is a film maker and producer based in London, specialising in arts and cultural content. Deborah studied Fine Art, in South Africa and at St Martin’s School of Art, London, and worked in the theatre, a museum, a university art school, the United Nations film department, an animation studio, a film production company, the BBC and is currently a freelance producer/director and a director of Xenoki Production which specialises in dance and the performing arts.

The beginning of a journey

1st Day, Claire, Claire Cunningham No Responses »

Feb 222016

Glasgow-based performer and choreographer Claire Cunningham is Artist in Residence at PIAF 2016.

Questions to self

What do I want the participants to get from the time?
Connection – to each other. Friendships. Trust. Possible collaborations and allies for the future. Realization they are not alone. New ideas to try, ways of thinking about performing, noticing and language.

What do I bring?
Time. Taking time. Permission to take time. Permission to look and be looked at.
Permission to be listened to. Giving them permission to speak, to give voice, to say ‘that’s enough’, to communicate.
Permission to do less.
Permission to ask.
Permission to try things

What is my offering to the group?
A space to share knowledge and experience, to learn about each other and each others work.
To share the things I love, the tasks that have made me think, made me squirm, made me know that I needed to do them again because they made me uncomfortable. The exercises that made me notice – my habits, the way I move, the way I think about moving, the way I think about my body, the language I use, the importance of language.
Connections to others who have shaped me
Bill Shannon/ Jess Curtis/Sara Shelton Mann/ Gail Sneddon/Richard Layzell, Meg Stuart/Luke Pell
Tools they have given me

What are they looking for? (based on their cover letters)
New methods/tools/concepts for creating and devising
Different ways to work. To work with difference
Connection to other artists/time with each other
Conversations and questioning of what it is to perform
Ways to investigate own and others individuality

Identity Game

1st Day, Claire, Claire Cunningham No Responses »

Feb 232016

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Identity Game
Take a space in the room and make a statement. If you can relate to that statement then go stand with the person. Take a moment to look at the group you are in/not in. the constellations….the differences…the similarities. The unexpected allies….

Examples today:

I am not from Perth
I have one brother
I don’t know what else to do
I feel lost
Somedays I feel more like a boy than a girl
I’m hungry
I have a twin
I am disabled
I am single
I worry about my sister
I overthink things

Tell me something you love

1st Day, Claire Cunningham No Responses »

Feb 232016

From Jess Curtis, after Sara Shelton-Mann

Lunch!

1st Day, Claire Cunningham, Photos No Responses »

Feb 232016

in the gorgeous inner courtyard, with delicious food provided by Claire Cranny and team.

Peripheral fluctuation

1st Day, Claire, Claire Cunningham No Responses »

Feb 232016

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Peripheral Fluctuation. To notice how we see/ what we notice – hierarchy of sight, range of periphery and of movement. Pick a person in the room and try to keep them only in your peripheral vision and not in your fauvial vision (central).

(Score explored by Claire and Jess Curtis, from term created by Bill Shannon relating to the fluctuation of attention/staring from people on his visual periphery)

Cinzia: Reflections on Day One

1st Day, Cinzia, Claire Cunningham No Responses »

Feb 232016

Is identity forever? Can I identify with something one moment and let it go the other? Am I ok with others potentially judging that association?

360° vision. Perspective.
360° offers a whole possibility of coming out and going in. It creates space.

Repetition, repetition, exhaustion, find the limit.. that is where the stuff is.

That’s enough.

Day Two: Language and Awareness

2nd Day, Claire, Claire Cunningham No Responses »

Feb 242016

Say What You Do/Do What you Say
(exercises learned from Jess Curtis)

Describe the movement your body does. (Out loud if speech is your means of communicating. Use your mother tongue)
Travel across the space. No movement is without description. Minimize your movement as necessary.
Explore range/scale of language – from micro to macro. Detail to immense

I stand/I stand on my feet/ I stand on the floor/ I stand on a wooden floor/ I stand in the Town Hall/ I stand in Freemantle/ I stand in Western Australia/ I stand in Australia/ I stand on the Earth…..all are valid interpretations of the same act.

I lift my foot/I step forward/ I walk…

Say what you sense/Sense what you say

I feel air on the palm of my hands
I feel my t-shirt against my back
I hear a police car passing
I feel the light on my eyelids…
I smell the wooden floor…
I feel my ankle bone grind against the floor
I feel Amy’s skin against my arm…etc

Breathe what you do/Do what you breathe
Every movement has the sound of breath, every breath has movement
Play with rhythm, expanding movement right to ends of breath

Sound What you Do/Do What You Sound
Remember all the sounds you can make with your voice and mouth (eg consonants, lips, etc). Creating a strange soundtrack to your movment, but with more freedom and play than Say what you do.

Kellee: Connection. Time. Space.

2nd Day, Claire Cunningham, Kellee No Responses »

Feb 242016

I’m loving how safe the space is. Everyone is so open and receptive and I think that contributes to the atmosphere.

In my last journal I talked about three key words that Claire wanted to explore this week.

Connection. Time. Space

Today I really focused in on the idea of time…

Taking time to watch others be creative.

Taking time to make sure Tina understood the activities.

Taking time to make sure I was in a vulnerable place (but also safe) to complete the activity to its full capacity.

Taking time to feel every movement, to hear sounds and observe my surroundings.

Taking time to know how far I can be pushed (mentally and physically) and maybe how some of my limitations are in my head (re: ‘that’s enough’ activity).

Taking time to be creatively refreshed, recharged and empowered in my current works.

Daisy: Following the line

2nd Day, Claire Cunningham, Daisy No Responses »

Feb 242016

Day Two:
Say what you do/Do what you say/Sense what you do/Do what you sense

Day Two: That’s Enough

2nd Day, Claire, Claire Cunningham, Photos Comments Off

Feb 242016

That’s Enough (from Jess Curtis)

One partner lies on floor, the second partner applies weight to a single point of contact.. dropping weight vertically into the other body not pushing into it. Apply weight incredibly slowly, until the person on floor says “that’s enough” – when they can tolerate that weight but don’t want more. Learn to say it before it is too late. Avoid using hard language like “stop” that creates tension or fear of having done something wrong.

Intentions: to learn about another body, how it works, what weight it can take. What your projections are of that body (based on your assumptions or your associations in your own body). This is particularly important when working with non-normative bodies. To learn to take responsibility for your own body. To communicate with other dancers. To trust. To learn that we can talk to the people we work with, especially in dance.

Contact Improvisation intentions: To learn how to control giving weight. To learn how to give weight at a speed that the other person has time to read it, to stop it or adjust to it. To learn how to use your and the other persons skeleton to transfer weight through the bodies into the floor. To learn how your body is affected by weight being applied. Where it can/can’t take weight.

Day Three: Witnessing

3rd Day, Claire, Claire Cunningham Comments Off

Feb 252016

“Presence Exercise” (from Jess Curtis)

One partner is “performer” , other is “observer”. Performer can stand or sit but must remain ‘active’, only moving their eyes. Observer sits in front of performer. The score for the performer is to be ‘present’, or ‘not present’.

Add to be present with the space/with your audience/with detail/with another performer. Physical score: sit, stand or walk.

Intention: Comfort with being watched. Consideration of being watched/being ‘present’.

Witnessing

One person is “performer”, other is “witness”.

Score is for the observer to watch the performer for a long period (30mins. 1 hour…hours…) Performer can do anything they want (leave the studio etc).

The witness can choose if they want to respond to/interact with the performer. They can also choose not to.

The witness is encouraged to observe through different ‘frames’, from different distances, heights, positions.

Intention: to consider what it is to give permission to be observed.