We begin with various quick, light exercises to gather attention to each other, following a gesture, a rhythm, staying attentive to offer a response. The main aim is to awaken attentiveness to others, exchanging energies and importantly, understanding how to create a shared state of 'tension', a shared state of 'being' as a group. Inevitably, working with others, having to achieve mutual goals begins to open up the possibility of 'failure' and therefore 'risk'. John-Paul begins to introduce his concept of 'an impossible task' (that means impossible to be fulfilled) as a means to examine the process of refining and layering a 'situation' to generate a process (and of course to generate material). When is the 'rule' broken, when do we need to introduce the next task? How do we examine what is the 'correct movement' (or tactic) to add to the evolving situation? How do we examine the cause of a task to 'fail'? How do we respond to the real situation without changing the intention of the process? The various exercises lead to the loss of control that forces one to confront the habits that block creativity. Exercises begin from what John-Paul called the 'social condition' of the movement, through the tasks, the group is asked to pare down to the essence of the gesture, the nature of the physical act (not a representation of 'emotion').
There is homework for Thursday:
task 1: Try to generate your own impossible task. Think of the layers of the task, it is not meant to 'represent' impossibility put to put you in a place of constant exploration. Devise it through to its 'collapse'. In thinking about this, take time to reflect on 'what do you leave behind in order for 'your dance' to happen', meaning what external thoughts imposed 'from the outside' need to be left behind to begin to engage with notions of authenticity?
task 2: How do you deal with the 'limits' of the task?
task 3: How can you add levels of 'difficulty' to the task (and succeed) as a way to extend creatively?
task 4: How can difficulty also 'prevent' you from achieving your goal?
Read John_Paul's reflections published in his 'Page', follow link above
