Olga Nikitina, (Level 1) sent this little moving cartoon which she discovered recently, a fitting mirror for the Theatre of Spontaneity last Friday night. Patricia Green and Rachael Zyznikow were the leaders for the evening. The following sharing is also from Olga:
I wanted to thank you and the directors for the wonderful Theatre of Spontaneity session yesterday, what a journey a dance of life turned out to be, from the story of the Creation and Babel tower to the small piece of the Werribee land. The world hasn't changed all that much in five thousand years - people still sit by the river and weep, hope and dream and they are still working out a solution of working and living together peacefully.
I worked out for myself that I get the most benefit from the psychodrama sessions by participating as much as possible and I went through a number of motions yesterday - from juggling two balls while everyone else was absorbed in their own dance, to skipping and jumping through the flow of people in the crowded street, I was imagining myself to be a character from Isaac Azimov's book - in this book the city was highly technically advanced and there were no cars, people moved standing on the running tracks which covered the entire city, only for the teenagers of this city the speed wasn't enough and they played a game by jumping from the track to track and overtaking other passengers, there was not much meaning in my movement, pure desire of speed and the experience of lightness and energy, but also the joy that we have talked about in the sharing - the joy of moving freely and yet cooperating with the crowd and not hindering the movement of everyone else.
After this came the dance, and the sensual rhythm of the African drums and how wonderful it was to see a person transformed, her whole body flexible, flowing, alive. I've joined in, initially thinking of playing a strong African man, but I couldn't quite get into the role and changed to a more self-conscious shy African girl learning from her more experienced friend. This sensuality carried through to the next scene, although I wasn't really aware of it until I thought about it later, I was immediately attracted to the story of the small piece of indigenous land and the new brave builders who are going to look after it and I almost jumped out of my seat when the river was introduced, I knew I was the River. I loved the idea of the wild and strangled river and wanted to be the constant flow of water that changes its rhythm depending on season, rain, dams, the intrusion of people, the river takes everything in, struggles and still keeps going, flowing through, washing out the old troubles, cleansing the face of the young girl, who became thirsty thirty years ago and turning the bones of the old kangaroo that passed away hundreds of years ago whiter than white.
Somehow, I missed the connection with the land, I was the River and I was the Water, the Flow, but there was no ground, the river was shifting and turning in its bed and I forgot about the Earth and then the someone came to the role and showed me the sexuality of the River and its union with the Earth and I was dumbstruck about how I have missed it, and yet later in the sharing she said that she saw it in me, and that surprises me even more, that I could miss or ignore something that was so strongly present already, so I went back and tried to be the new river, lying now on my back, comfortably and to be sensual and open and suddenly I was aware of the people looking at me in this way and it made me a bit self-conscious again but I told myself to relax and let the energy just flow and be myself. And then the strangest thing happened - the people have gathered all around me, standing above me and singing, enclosing me in a warm circle and I could feel the love flowing from them to me, lifting me up and holding, if I truly was the river, there would be water evaporating from my surface and rainbows dancing in the little droplets. I was so moved I started to cry, I was immersed in love and I was Love.
But then the song finished and it was time to share our experiences with each other, as I hope you will share your response to my entry. I also wanted to share with everyone this cartoon about the Creation which ties in perfectly with our theatre and our dance.
Hope you enjoy it and thank you, Olya
I worked out for myself that I get the most benefit from the psychodrama sessions by participating as much as possible and I went through a number of motions yesterday - from juggling two balls while everyone else was absorbed in their own dance, to skipping and jumping through the flow of people in the crowded street, I was imagining myself to be a character from Isaac Azimov's book - in this book the city was highly technically advanced and there were no cars, people moved standing on the running tracks which covered the entire city, only for the teenagers of this city the speed wasn't enough and they played a game by jumping from the track to track and overtaking other passengers, there was not much meaning in my movement, pure desire of speed and the experience of lightness and energy, but also the joy that we have talked about in the sharing - the joy of moving freely and yet cooperating with the crowd and not hindering the movement of everyone else.
After this came the dance, and the sensual rhythm of the African drums and how wonderful it was to see a person transformed, her whole body flexible, flowing, alive. I've joined in, initially thinking of playing a strong African man, but I couldn't quite get into the role and changed to a more self-conscious shy African girl learning from her more experienced friend. This sensuality carried through to the next scene, although I wasn't really aware of it until I thought about it later, I was immediately attracted to the story of the small piece of indigenous land and the new brave builders who are going to look after it and I almost jumped out of my seat when the river was introduced, I knew I was the River. I loved the idea of the wild and strangled river and wanted to be the constant flow of water that changes its rhythm depending on season, rain, dams, the intrusion of people, the river takes everything in, struggles and still keeps going, flowing through, washing out the old troubles, cleansing the face of the young girl, who became thirsty thirty years ago and turning the bones of the old kangaroo that passed away hundreds of years ago whiter than white.
Somehow, I missed the connection with the land, I was the River and I was the Water, the Flow, but there was no ground, the river was shifting and turning in its bed and I forgot about the Earth and then the someone came to the role and showed me the sexuality of the River and its union with the Earth and I was dumbstruck about how I have missed it, and yet later in the sharing she said that she saw it in me, and that surprises me even more, that I could miss or ignore something that was so strongly present already, so I went back and tried to be the new river, lying now on my back, comfortably and to be sensual and open and suddenly I was aware of the people looking at me in this way and it made me a bit self-conscious again but I told myself to relax and let the energy just flow and be myself. And then the strangest thing happened - the people have gathered all around me, standing above me and singing, enclosing me in a warm circle and I could feel the love flowing from them to me, lifting me up and holding, if I truly was the river, there would be water evaporating from my surface and rainbows dancing in the little droplets. I was so moved I started to cry, I was immersed in love and I was Love.
But then the song finished and it was time to share our experiences with each other, as I hope you will share your response to my entry. I also wanted to share with everyone this cartoon about the Creation which ties in perfectly with our theatre and our dance.
Hope you enjoy it and thank you, Olya
3 comments:
Olga, thank you, your words and the lovely little cartoon indeed portrayed the spirit of the evening of the 1st of June. I enjoyed presenting the dance, in fact, the march of my maternal Grandfather who I never met, as he prepared to go the Western Front in 1916. A little later in another scene, for another protagonist, we were in Bourke Street, the place where my Mother remembered seeing him before he went to war. Later, as we were in "Werribee" for yet another scene, for another protagonist, it came to me that this was where my Mother was born in 1911. And so, my Grandfather was with us on Friday night, I feel delighted and astonished and much moved by the whole evening's proceedings. Sue Daniel
Kia Ora Olga, and thank you for bringing the dance to us in New Zealand via the blog! I'm up working late, with lots of 'head stuff' to do for my work. But now I've got a whole new energy. The energy of my earth - soil, water, sky, gentleness, power - all meeting each other - volcanic purity, power and shyness talking to each other, dancing cheek to cheek, then in a mighty tango - its just great. Lots of pleasure and appreciation for my tribal affiliation to PIM! And a shy hullo to you Olga, fancy meeting you here! With love, from Lethe
Olga, I wasn't at the evening but have heard about it from others as well. Seems it was a great little Theatre of Spontaneity. Your river got me thinking about underground water, springs and many rivulets feeding into a river. Then I thought about the interaction of the rock layers of different types with the water that's always drawn by gravity to flow, over or under-ground. There is a sense of a profound ordering of how things will be and maybe living things are a special case of this and spontaneity itself then too, even.
I much enjoyed the animation, I think its brilliant. Thanks for that additional gift. Best wishes from Gavin.
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