大家好，我是Sky

上次的聚會中，其中一個遊戲，是跟你的夥伴站在線的對面，一直互相看著對方的眼睛，然後前近或後退，依你內心所想。

我覺得這個遊戲好像是我日常生活的印像，當然我不會無時無刻都看著對方的眼，但總是有時後你會放心思在某個人身上，介由言語的內容跟聲音還有距離，沒有很大的肢體的接觸，這些訊息不斷的影響我對那個人的言語內容跟聲音還有距離，可能他的疏遠並不會也立刻也跟著疏遠，也不是刻意要顯得自己不在意，但不知不覺就會那樣做，有時後是會立即也疏遠，但我發覺我很少去強烈的拉近彼此的距離，在現實裡。

我喜歡這個遊戲的寧靜，一直看著對方的眼，平常似乎不會那麼自然的看著別人的眼睛加不講話，可是玩這個遊戲感覺很寧靜自然。

用感覺驅動肢體

很高興與大家度過了難忘的星期六下午
得到很多感受 也認識了新朋友
工作坊結束後內心感到滿滿的充實。


有幾個讓我印象特別深刻的活動

(1)
<一開始 我與地板之間的相處>

其實平常工作時刻
常常會忘了自己的身體在幹麻
因為腦筋裡裝的都是工作的內容
而身體好像只是未了去幫大腦完成這些工作內容而運作
被大腦支配著
比如 打電腦 比如 坐捷運

而當欣如說把身體的重量交給地板時
身體的自主權頓時產生
肌肉的敏感度瞬間擴張
感官跟毛細孔都突然變得敏銳起來


(2)

<兩個人站在兩端 只以眼神以及感受去感覺彼此的前進後退>

在去掉語言的溝通後
彷彿可以從對方的表情 肢體去察覺對方的思緒
那種頻率的感受對我而言比語言更加強烈

不過當對方無法理解我的感受
違背某種默契時
這時負面情緒就會出現

這也反映到現實生活中
人與人之間
若失去了共鳴 以及無法互相理解時
便會產生不安 憤怒等種種心情


(3)

因為欣如的背景關西
剛好可以接觸到另個不熟西的語言

有幾次因為我處在教室靠角落的地方
所以聽不太到翻譯的中文

這時候便會產生某種被孤立的 不安的感覺
因為唯一仰賴的安全感被切斷了

那種感觸好像溺水一樣

但隨即 我會看到身邊的夥伴 他們依舊與這空間和平共處

此時也就會慢慢又找回合諧感覺


但我也因而思索著
如果去掉了語言
只剩下我們的肢體 眼神
那會變成什麼樣的世界?


(4)
謝謝行政人員以及欣如
辛苦了，
這是個很棒的工作坊


佩穎 Ziva

大家好!

It was great seeing and playing with you all 10 days ago. I am looking forward to more inspiring group work this Saturday.

I wanted to write something interesting about a very powerful exercise we did in the last session, the Crossing exercise (which is usually referred to as First Crossing because there's a "second" one, too), but I am at work, stuck on my computer, and can't really think too straight...

The Crossing is a very powerful exercise, and one that can be very useful in putting us in touch with our physical sensations and emotions (which, one could argue, are both made of the same stuff, vibrations). We'll have a chance to explore it more in the next sessions. It can be very useful to creating choreography and movement that is meaningful and authentic/real, as opposed to simply arbitrary.

For now I'll just share with you another quote, taken by one of Jerzy Grotowski's (the great Polish director) writings. He is talking about theater and acting here, but I feel this all still applies to what we're attempting to do.

The rhythm of life in modern civilization is characterized by pace, tension, a feeling of doom, the wish to hide our personal motives and the assumption of a variety of roles and masks in life (different ones with our family, at work, amongst friends or in community life, etc.-). We like to be “scientific”, by which we mean discursive and cerebral, since this attitude is dictated by the course of civilization. But we also want to pay tribute to our biological selves, to what we might call physiological pleasures. We do not want to be restricted in this sphere. Therefore we play a double game of intellect and instinct, thought and emotion; we try to divide ourselves artificially into body and soul. When we try to liberate ourselves from it all we start to shout and stamp, we convulse to the rhythm of music. In our search for liberation we reach biological chaos. We suffer most from a lack of totality, throwing ourselves away, squandering ourselves.


Theatre—through the actor’s technique, his art in which the living organism strives for higher motives—provides an opportunity for what could be called integration, the discarding of masks, the revealing of the real substance: a totality of physical and mental reactions. This opportunity must be treated in a disciplined manner, with a full awareness of the responsibilities it involves. Here we can see the theatre’s therapeutic function for people in our present day civilization.

Thank you all, and thank you SheenRu, for giving us a place (literal and figurative) to explore this opportunity for integration.

Love you all.

Meeting on the MRT

The workshop was great yesterday with some very intense moments and some really funny ones:), but I want to write about my ride in the MRT after the workshop...

Five of us actually ended up taking the same train, heading towards Taipei Main Station...and we were talking the whole way through- some English some Chinese sometimes a hybrid language and sometimes translations...and it was so fun...I really didnt notice how the 15 stations just flew by...and it was happy natural fun conversation...

Sometimes you ride the MRT and there is someone you know and you feel like you have to say something because otherwise its impolite. But yesterday, really it was so cool, no social obligation...I was able to just chat with people I have literally seen just twice, and yet feel so free and open to talk to...

Also I think what a contrast this scene was to what often happens...so many classmates or school friends, or people I know from technique class, we have taken class so many times together, also moved together...and yet our MRT rides are so different...If we do acknowledge each other it is at most a smile or a hello, and probably we end up at different ends of the train...

I liked yesterday how my new friends all waited for me to join them, and around one of the centre poles we stood, this animated group, smiling and talking and sharing experiences... It was wonderful!

當看得見時

暖身的時候，因為閉著眼睛我很緊張
擔心自己沒聽清楚指示，跟不上大家的動作
怕大家都躺下了，卻發生我一個人還站著的窘境
於是，我總會偷偷張開眼睛觀察自己是否和跟上大家的動作
如果一樣，我就會非常安心

然而，在鏡子遊戲互相帶領時輪到自己當leader的角色，
因為自己對肢體貧乏的想像力，不會美麗的動作、也無法掌握適當的節奏
怕自己的帶領，會讓follower覺得無聊
總會偷偷參考別人的動作，或者模仿一點或者改變一些
這時候，反而很擔心自己和別人一樣

我覺的很有趣的是看不到世界時，
害怕自己和他人的不同
然而當我重新看見世界
發現大家都努力展現最特別的動作時
卻又害怕與他人一樣

我很喜歡在暖身時的一句話：
動作沒有對錯，就照自己的想像去做就是

總之第一次的工作坊很開心
謝謝所有的工作人員 辛苦了喔:)

大家好!

(My Chinese is really bad...) ;)

I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday and sharing this wonderful exploration of our bodies and movement again.

I wish I had something really smart to say, but I am at work and can't think right now... So I'll just leave you with what I think is a very powerful (and fitting) quote:

"Memories are always physical reactions. It is our skin which has not forgotten, our eyes which have not forgotten."

謝謝大家.

感謝

那我來說說印象最深的感受: 矇著眼睛的那一段，我要感謝帶領我的夥伴(火寶)，真的功力很深厚，有一度感覺像是被兩個人帶領，做了一些比較困難的動作但卻感到很安全，走著走著彷彿被牽引至另一個空間(森林)似的.....

嘗試

這是我第一次參加活動性質的工作坊。
當聽到大家自我介紹，都是因為對舞蹈有番熱忱所以加入時，
這對因為不滿意自己身體語言表達而報名的我而言，
真是晴天霹靂，霎時感覺自己像是誤闖叢林的小白兔=.="
光看大家在暖身時的專業就讓我目瞪口呆了，

之後的活動一開始其實我還蠻擔心的，不知道該怎麼辦，
想知道別人是怎麼在"動"的，
而且還有攝影機，
覺得自己整個愚蠢笨拙的樣子都被錄下來了。
但後來我本著豁出去的精神，
在大家營造的空間環境下，我展開了一段對身體經驗的探索。
夾雜著對未知的恐懼、緊張以及勇於探索的興奮、好奇等複雜的情緒，
活動的過程中一下子湧入太多的感受，我來不及一一消化。

我很幸運那天有遇到一個很好的伙伴帶領我，
並在鏡子模仿活動最後大家一起快樂的互動，我卻慌張到處跳之後，
忽然有一種哇～原來可以這麼開心～的感覺。
到底是什麼綁著我，讓我無法自在的搖擺的呢？
我要突破魔障!!

PS：我英文不太好，所以給我一點時間，
我再找機會學著把這我的感受翻成英文。

:D

我最喜歡大家圍圈圈邊走邊亂跳
好像一個遊行
也不知道會往哪個未知去
可是路上我們有對面的漂亮風景可以看
自己也可以很放鬆
沒有那種記動作跳舞的拘謹

我也喜歡隨喜的自我介紹

在平常的人際交往中
可能我們自以為彼此都懂得如何駕馭語言
所以反而使用語言溝通時
不會花心思在建立默契上

但是在工作坊中
人和人以身體互相探索彼此
進而熟識
信任由此而生
彷彿是這個群體有默契的無言協定
身體比我們的語言更質樸
更不懂得拐彎抹角或者撒謊

謝謝大家
欣如加油

(我英文不是太好，有人可以幫我翻譯嗎。嗚)

Emma

... that game we played outdoors on the lawn to resolve the knot into a circle

Old habits die hard. I used to study computer related science, the underlining theoretical basis of which is math, topological math, to be specific, which applies perfectly to this game. It was sensational when we resolved the 1st try with a smaller group but when two groups were combined into a larger one, we gave up eventually. I wondered whether we would actually resolve it if we had insisted on or perhaps the knot we initially formed was unresolvable at all. It's very well a mathematical question.
(source: Wikipedia)
Trefoil knot (三葉結) can never be resolved into a circle without breaking and reconnecting it. A formal process would involve reducing the knot we formed into a trefoil knot to prove whether it's resolvable which I won't bother but yes, having given it up could be the wise choice.

This is the drier part, what I am even more thrilled to share is the following.

當我們在玩解開握著手的圈圈時，我聽到了兩位同學的對話，覺得相當有哲思，忍不住想分享一下：一位同學說，如同許多複雜的人際關係一樣，如果有一個人放手，事情就好解決些；另一位同學回應說，是沒錯，不過既然這是一個遊戲，就好好地把它玩完吧。雖然它們呈現的形式是對話，卻不見得必須是對立的，我想。如果把它們分別應用在各自適當的情況，豈不都是金玉良言嗎？而我們有幸從這好玩的小遊戲中體會。

While we were playing the game, I heard an interesting dialogue which I am tempted to share. A classmate said: just as in many complex inter-personal relationships, it gets easier if someone lets go of a hand. Another classmate then responded: well yes but it's meant to be a game so let's finish it the way it's meant to. Though in the form they were uttered, they don't mean to be contradictory, I believe. Don't they both sound just like apples of gold in settings of silver if applied to respective situation appropriately? And we get to be so enlightened from this interesting harmless little game.