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.