Earth

The Spleen supplies nourishment and sustains the organism.  SUSTENANCE.

Food (and experiences) is ingested, digested, and assimilated into FUEL—called the Nutritive Essence— which is extracted and converted into Qi and Blood.

The Earth gathers and holds together. The Spleen is the constant provider, maintaining proper integrity of the body, space and relationships. The Spleen distributes Moisture by adjusting the circulation of blood and fluids “through the vascular and lymphatic systems, the density of flesh and the total mass of the body” (114, BH&E). The entire form, shape, weight, and tone of tissue results in how the Spleen disseminates Moisture and assimilates nutrients.

The “faculties of concentration, ideation, recollection, and reflection emanate from the Spleen.” (114, BH&E). Memory and the power to focus the mind come from a healthy Earth. “Intention is a means of gathering the momentum necessary to transform will, the impulse of the Kidney, into action, the drive of the Liver. Maintaining the necessary motivation necessary to sustain effort over time arises from the Spleen.” (113, BH&E).  So the Spleen is a major provider of homeostasis: it distributes nutrients, maintains balance, sustains healthy mental functioning, and creates the impetus to adapt smoothly to changes, while maintaining equilibrium.

The Spleen provides continuity of

·       Of body size

·       Mental orientation

·       Psychological perspective

·       Sense of identity in relationship to place, people and values

·       “Such constancy supports adaptability, the capacity to endure stress without harm” (115, BH&E).

·        “When the Spleen circulates fluids from tissues the flesh becomes less dense and the body becomes lighter and more mobile. “ (115, BH&E).

Breakdowns occurs when:

·       Feelings of overwhelm

·       Overburdened by excessive input

o   Either food or information

o   Creates congestion

·       When the Spleen is exhausted the mind becomes easily distracted by “scattered, superficial and elusive thoughts” (115).

·       The body feels fatigue

·       “The Spleen attempts to balance disequilibrium by slowing down or speeding up the conversion of nourishment to Blood and Qi”

·       If the Spleen thickens fluids and tissues: congestion, stagnation, movement retards the body.

o   Feeling weighed down

·       Dampness occurs

o   When tissues become saturated, the excess is experiences as

§  “Spongy tender flesh, swelling of the belly, joints, and lymph nodes, edema under the skin, painful swelling of the breast or reproductive organs, and copious or sticky discharges from the nose, throat, mouth and other mucous membranes” (115, BH&E).

·       Secretions are determined by the way Dampness interacts with Heat and Cold

o   Cold affecting the Spleen: clear and fluent discharge

o   Heat entangled with Moisture: sticky discharge

o   Accumulated Dampness: congealed phlegm, stagnant sputum/mucus.

Deficiency of Qi: Spleen forms the Blood and Qi (with nutritive essence)

Symptoms are anemia, dry skin and hair, blurry vision, pale lips and nails, dizziness, fatigue. (116)

·       If Spleen Qi descends, diarrhea, prolapse of the organs and veins occurs; hernias and hemorrhoids.

·       If Stomach Qi ascends, belching, burping hiccups, nausea, and puke.

The SPLEEN ASSISTS THE LIVER AND HEART (yin)

                  “By maintaining the integrity of the blood vessels, nourishing the Blood, and maintaining proper viscosity so that if flows fluidly” (117). Spleen Qi moves UP, bringing pure Essence to the Lung (116)

·       Relationship with Small Intestine/Heart?  (Child)

·       Relationship with Gallbladder/Liver?  (

THE STOMACH (yang)

                  Active one; rots and ripens food. Moistens and decomposes food. Stomach Qi, DESCENDS, bringing impure matter and liquid to the Intestines.

Fire

The dynamic of Fire and Water, Heart and Kidney, organizes the continuum of our reality. The Heart evokes communication and contacts with the world, while the Kidneys processes our inner impressions and establishes our root and substance of our individual and ancestral identity.

o    It is necessary to clear excessive Qi in the Heart, which can damage the Yin of the Kidney and Lung. Clearing heat and generating moisture can do this: Yin can balance the Yang. (184, BH&E)

Fire is like a Wizard. Fire seeks to imbue the mundane with the extraordinary, merging human aspirations with divine purpose*. “Just like the fire of love unites male and female to form new life, so the Wizard wields a miraculous power to overcome separation by welding divergent elements into one” (177, BH&E, Beinfield, Korngold). With excitement and enthusiasm—the catalyst—to energize, the Wizard, brings transformation with the power of light, love and awareness into the world. (177).

 "The Fire aspect represents fulfillment: the total expression and integration of our being, to the full extent of our expansion, maturation and development" (109). The emotions that unfold are of awe and joy. Love is astonishingly powerful, and with the clearest of intentions, it transforms life into fullness and beauty. Love brings happiness and a feeling of completeness. 

But what happens when one feels a sense of lack? When the liveliness of humor, affection and feeling of connection, seems to be missing from one’s momentary possession? Is it truly a lack of fire that exists in absence, or is it possible that we have been conditioned to believe that fire is contingent upon others’ responsibility to light our flames? Do we teach a man to fish, or merely provide him with the sustenance he does not know how to harvest himself?

Fire is enchanting, persuasive, and inclusive. In people, fire is expressed with a jovial outlook for life— an optimistic and generous attitude. There is genuine concern about the happiness of others, in which brings involvement with the needs and desires of friends, families and even strangers. Fire expresses a passion for contact through touch and conversation. This capacity makes reaching out and making friends easy.

Thoughts and feelings are readily available, Ready access to intuition, Fire types are often “considered by (their) friends to be a mind readers because (they) know what’s happening without being told” (178, BH&E). This beautiful trait, but it can also create disconnect when others do not respect or understand the power of intuition. “He scans his world with antenna like intelligence, receiving and integrating a plethora of information and impressions” (178, BH&E). An exhausting activity if not followed by solitude and time to process what has been observed and collected.

There may be a requirement for stimulation, contact, expression and recognition. To feel delight by making contact with those it desires, fire freely shares that delight with others. Bright and magnetic, fire pulls you closer.

Glowing, warm energy.

Sparkling dazzle.

Fire can be awesome and seductive.

Pulling you into a trance of dance and heat.

Flames have the power to inflame,

Transforming solids into ash.

The spirit looks on towards transcendence.

Take me beyond this world of forms and banality,

Focus my sights on union and oneness. 
Stimulate. 
Excitement is so alluring,
consuming the perfect Lover. 
How can I express what it is I feel, 
I see, 
and hear. I sense this world with love and pleasure. 

“Because [fire] has trouble insulating [itself] from the constant barrage of external influences… powers of discrimination and discernment can be overloaded, resulting in anxiety and confusion” (178, BH&E). Who influences you? What are you influenced by? When do you feel confused with anxiety, a lack of clarity? There is love in you. Do you know how to separate your thoughts from those who have influenced you? Which thoughts are truly yours, from your heart, and which are given to you from family and friends?

Confusion can develop into a sense of dread, if Fire feels “bombarded by unwanted and unpredictable events” (178, BH&E). Like a clear lake that becomes muddled with too much movement, confusion needs time to settle from upset, back stillness and transparency.

Under stress, Fire expresses itself as overactive, hyperactive, nervous, and distracted. Warmth and intimacy turn to isolation and melancholy. In order for Fire to generate joy and fulfillment, it must remain within bounds. Fire must maintain calmness and clarity, surprisingly by preserving boundaries, setting limits, and maintaining defenses (Lung) (181, BH&E). Senseless babbling and disjoined thoughts are the outcome of this disorientation and homelessness of the Spirit. When exaggerated or collapsed, Fire’s sense of boundaries are soft. They easily expand or shrink under emotional stress. During intense moments, the challenge is to maintain an anchored sense of self, a clear discrete identity without sacrificing intuitive sensitivity and openness. Conflicts heighten when the desire for expansion and effusion struggle with the need to preserve boundaries and mystery.

Fire’s virtue is compassion—the capacity to know, feel and understand what others are experiencing.

When the Lung cannot nurture the Kidney, the weakness shows as damaged Yin. Painful scanty urine, soreness of the back, disturbance of libido and potency; attention, expression and sensation are disturbed. A person becomes easily distracted and doubtful. The warm confidence of self-assurance dries up, becoming unreliable and overwhelmed. The stress on the integrity of Shen-Jing, Spirit and Essence, Fire and Water, shows through dehydration, unstable mental functioning and disturbed circulation of the blood. The unstable expression of Fire can be seen in “metabolic activity as well as the pace of thoughts and impressions in the mind, [they] become unpredictable with surges of energy and emotion alternating with periods of vapid dullness” (181, BH&E).

The goal for Fire is to maintain fluidity and steadiness. Gentle inhibition from extreme excitation, the body needs to maintain its juiciness through preservation of the self. Drink sufficient liquid. Create time and space for solitude and restitution, to regain the calm and clarity. Develop discipline and powers of discrimination (the Metal aspect) and the rootedness of Water through identification with family, ancestry and history will help with the steadiness.

words are like water.

 It is a funny business posting personal thoughts "publicly" to the zero people who actually read this blog. The idea behind posting to a blog instead saving "documents" on Word, is it feels somehow less robotic, less removed and more personal, albeit, if only for me. My current relationship to blogging is like a casual, noncommittal hobby. Writing only when the the mood strikes me, the act is self indulgent and secretly self gratifying. I come and go as I please. Yet, within the act, some greater good emerges. Clarity.

Clarity is like an elusive lover. When Clarity is present, the world, my thoughts, my experiences feel… well… clear. Life feels better. Music sounds better, colors seem brighter, knowing the meaning of my existence feels like it is just a reach away. But since this lover is hard to hold onto, clarity eventually leaves me for greener pastures. Or perhaps it is I who becomes distracted. Carried away with life, I lose sight of the point. The greater picture is no longer clear and translucent, palpable and understandable. Confusion, distraction, dis-ease creep over like a dark cloud obstructing the reflection of the sea, above.

 The point is, writing gives me a chance to collect myself. We call this "centering" in Buddhism. For me, it is the point of meditation. Sure there are deeper, more esoteric points in meditation, such as experiencing the void, the death of ego, Union and the dissolution of the self. But for the shallow practitioner-- the act of centering is like the practice of "returning to the breath". Writing brings me to the breath of the my mind. The thoughts that have been flowing in and out, without much awareness put onto themselves. Like focusing on the breath, writing is the simple reminder to return to the center. In this way, writing, and meditative breathing, feels astonishingly familiar, like a mother's embrace. Grounding, familiar, as if returning home from a long journey away.

I would also like to specify, the words shallow and deep often carry subjective connotations. I admit, I too use these words to convey, compare and make judgments. Above I wrote about the "shallow practitioner" but in no way I am I expressing a deficiency or shortage of meaningfulness. So in order to clarify the words for myself, I would like to invite you to imagine...

Imagine:
A shallow lake, no deeper than whatever depth instills a sense of comfort. Now, for whatever deficiency the lake has in depth it compensates for in distance. This lake is vast, it expands as far as the eye can see. Due to its lack of depth it is easily warmed by the sun, therefore a pleasure to be in, easy to enter, and fun to splash in. And since it is shallow, there is a natural clarity in it. You may even be able to see the lake floor. And since the lake is warm, and not too deep, if you wished, you could swim for miles without tiring for you know you could always stand on the bottom. This feeling of constant security can bring a great sense of confidence and trust to a swimmer. Now, the swimmer may very well swim that mile and find enjoyment in the repetitive, meditative, and nourishing practice of coordinated movement and rhythmic breathing. There is something very natural to such activity. Expansively shallow.

Now, imagine the depths of the sea. Deep down, there is darkness where the sun cannot reach. There is much less clarity for the light cannot illuminate what we wish to perceive. For any lack of perception, we may feel a sense of mystery in the unknown.  A certain curiosity stirs within. What happens in the depths-- the unknown reaches of the sea, the earth, our minds. There is fear as well. For it is cold down in the dark, depths of the sea. This is not a place to splash around and float about. For most, this depth is impenetrable, untouchable and unknowable. Furthermore, it is dangerous. Deep sea diving has its practical dangers-- the bends, panic, extreme pressure and drowning. It takes time, effort, deep determination and certain level of "technology" to travel into the depths.

One image is not better or worse than the other. Yes, perhaps you may have a preference, a gravitation towards one more than the other, but that just shows our subjectiveness. Shallowness and depth are merely different measures of natural phenomena. The words express and convey substances, objectively, but it is the human mind that decides the interpretations and therefore the connotations. Those who are comfortable in shallow bathwater differ to those who seek the mysterious, darkness of the ocean depths, merely because we are comparing the subjects. But without comparison, there is much more and much less, all at once.

https://soundcloud.com/alanwatts/philosophy-of-nature

Words are like chameleons. They are shape shifters. Words are like water, they take on the shape of their container, they can penetrate and are permeable. They can be felt, and like water, words can be manipulated: cooled heated and damed, dependent on the speaker's intention. Yet, water has a natural course as well. And so do words-- without the judgment of "good or bad", without subjective misuse,  words have carry particular existence. Words, like water, have unique expressions, unique meanings, and with enough force, they have a unique flow. Same with water. Water gives birth to the earth-- by rain, rivers, creeks and streams, water flows and restores. Giving life a chance to express itself and to enjoy its pleasures. Same with words. Yet, water can also carry destructive forces that erode beaches, tear down trees and drown life. Same with words.

≈≈≈≈ the beginning ≈≈≈≈ Art, in process. In progress.

It has been a while since I stopped blogging. A few years ago, I used this medium as a vehicle to document and record what was happening in my life. What I was reading on, what I studied in class, what I watched, and where my thoughts found revolution-- in both uses of the word.

I am a visual artist. I am a visual learner, and I am an artist. I use and express my art in a 3-D world. Art is kinesthetic, experimental, and often beyond the norm. Art is also, subtle, indirect, and mysterious. Art can be felt, touched, loved and discarded. Art is life experienced consciously.

For me, Art is about living life fully, happily, and realistically. Art in this way, is beyond the accepted version of Art that is called "art". Art is thinking outside the box; outside the boundary; outside the limits; beyond what is typically considered.

Just think of the word revolution.

What do you imagine?

Do you imagine unrest? A band of humans coming together, aimed to overthrow an establishment?
Or perhaps particles spinning around a center-- revolving.

Now imagine words with the same essence and power. Thoughts, clustering in spheres of coherence; where-in topics emerge, sentences fall in line, like soldiers commanded into battle.

The revolution of words, moves along a polar axis.
As they revolve, they can serve to train the mind-- looped and repeated over and over again for good; Repetition conditions both the mind and body. As any trainer will tell you, repletion creates familiar pathways.
As words form into thoughts, these thoughts may eventually find a need to revolt. To break the established flow and pace of revolution (of spinning) and go against the very momentum it created. This is where the effort of revolt is necessary. In order to break a habituated pattern, concentrated, precise change must be created.

Words are beautiful and descriptive. They have power to inspire and frighten. The ego, the mind, the body and spirit can all speak with words, and that is something unique. Unique, in meanings and messages are uniquely configured, yet the function is universal. Communication is an Earthly matter. Animals, plants, humans, and smaller earthly creatures all communicate. Sound travels, whereby passing along meaning through wave particles.

As I begin on one tangent, I follow through and come to a finish. This is called the beginning and the end. These moments are grounded in something-- in time, space, or imagination. Time-moments like mile markers. We remember moments of elevation, elation, dissension and descension. The moments-- the every now-moment-- woven together, have the power to be the somewhere within the beginning, middle, and end, as well as the very beginning and end in their wholeness.

It is the way we configure our lives that determines, how we relate to the now-moment, which is ever changing, shifting, dying and rebuilding.

Barbara Dilley, a modern dancer in the late 60's, 70's and 80's highlighted these time markers in her approach to performative dance. The "beginning, middle, and end" became both a theme and an approach to studio time dance as well as creating performances. The approach is very simple. You have ten minutes. The markers are very honest. Begin when the time starts and end when ten minutes have passed. But what about the middle? Does the middle begin two seconds in? Or is it at the five minute mark? Does the middle fill all the gaps within the framed time-- the time window, or does it own its own clear boundary?

These are but a few of the questions that one may consider in Contemplative Dance, an Art form and dance practice developed by Ms. Dilley herself. Contemplative Dance has a history-- an origin and a lineage. It is an approach to dancing, as well as a performative form of Art. Contemplative Dance (C.D. for short) urges the participant to take what is rightfully theirs. Time and Space. There is no need to force the production of art, because the Art is revolving in its own spectrum of revolution.

Art in this way, is righteous, from origin to expression. Art in this way, is alive and therefore relevant.   As all living things have the inevitable fate of death, Art in this way, is susceptible to the same moment-- death. But it is not always the case, and that is what is amazing. Art that is honest and real, has the power to live for thousands of years. Art has the power to flow through decades, centuries, eras, and the winds and the waves of the sea.

But Art is not always eternal. When exposed to dangers, Art can weaken, thereby becoming vulnerable to destruction and death. And that is where the ego slides in. Where the space that contemplation creates fills up with the need to survive, the ego begins to thrive. Protection is ego's agenda. The mission is to preserve the sense of a "separate-self". The "identity" of the artist, if permitted to spiral into unawareness, loses some or all of the true graces Art bestows. For the grace of true Art, is that it is focused, disciplined and aware. Art is life awareness.

to be continued….

post-modern buddha

RATNA

http://youtu.be/F0OmQaLaj6c

CONTACT IMPROV, modern dance: buddha and padma

Joerg Hassmann & Jenny Haack performing 'paarmitsessel' 2005

LINDY HOP; KARMA IN ACTION

KARMA IN ACTION

TANGO, PADMA; VAJRA, KARMA, BUDDHA

PADMA

BUDDHA, VAJRA, KARMA

Karma humor.

HIP HOP: BUDDHA, PADMA, VAJRA

HIP HOP; FULL SPECTRUM OF ENERGIES

FULL MAITRI MANDALA
all energies displayed

Food

Sandwich:
Ketchup
Sierra Nevada's stout mustard
Red onion
avocado
Nutritional yeast
Arugula
German rye bread
Ht sauce optional

The first section I am going to discuss is about "Chance Encounters", where Buckwalter describes Katie Duck's "time art" (60). Buckwalter paraphrase Duck beautifully, when she said "time art" is "a performing art, or an art form that unfolds in time"; the idea that improvisation is dependent on time for its creation of art. I like that. The enfolding of art out of dancing, Buckwalter points out, is different depending on if it is performance or choreography. This is obvious. What we choose to do in improvised performance is not always accepted or encouraged in choreographed movement. With the later, time and movement are constructed around a structured idea, usually “in time” to music or counts; so personal creativity is funneled into a particular form. In improvisation, we have a choice in deciding when, where, why and how we will move to create a dance. Those series of choices create the art. Buckwalter says, choice "drives the dance initially" and it multiplies from the very beginning (61).
I am interested in producing a particular type of art, with the freedom of time and space to experiment. I am interested in aesthetic complexity (either through the construction of complicated or simple shapes and movements) and the meaning tied with such expressions. There are multiple components that add to complexity. One, is knowing and using an eye practice.
What does it mean to return to a natural pattern of an eye practice? Katie Duck offers three modes of seeing, short-range gaze such as for internal types of movement, mid-range gaze for interaction with others and a long-range gaze incorporating the entirety of the space, often coupled with large movements. In any of these, to stay relaxed in the gaze is crucial, says Duck (120). The part that I found interesting in this section was that Duck is pulled to not only experiment, but notice what kind of patterns come naturally, and if they "jibe" or not with dance movement" (121). This brings our personal mentality back into the ensemble. The idea of bringing our eyes into the dance, rather than glazed over some horizon somewhere, suggest that we get involved with others, while being open to read the space and energy. What Duck calls "eyeballing" (120). I think eyeballing our environment gives us the choice to engage or disengage with it, two options we have.
Duck's aesthetic come from the "aesthetic of chance"; when “choice and chance” play as the “composers in improvisation” (61). "Duck asks dancers to make choices that "create space" (or possibilities) for the dance to happen amid", such as the space that creates a mood or relationship (61). I don't know if we need to hold onto those creations, especially to the effect that Buckwalter suggests: "there is less freedom for individual choice -- suddenly a dancer can't do just anything (61). Could it be possible to hold onto our personal choices and freedoms while also co-creating a composition? I think it is possible to get touched into that level of creation where I can get synched to myself as well as the "others". Like when we played with taking on the flocks of birds, or the group of frogs. What I am getting from Duck's perspective is that she is interested in creating aesthetically interesting works that come out of a series of chances and choices, essentially the framework for Life.
Its only now, that we have deeply en-cultured ourselves, that we “believe” we cannot understand, yet alone embrace, choice and chance. As if they were elements we have to control or dominate. Buckwalter puts it best when she says, "after all, excitement of improvisation is in chance happenings; what need to be created are the conditions for those chance encounters to occur" (62). Precisely! To create the conditions for the causes (all out of chance), while simultaneously allowing ourselves to let go of the impulse to do the happening through force. Realizing that what is, is. To change that, Duck offers that we can only create space for the possibility, the chance that something manifests itself.
The other important eye practice Duck focuses on is with our potential to create relationship with the audience. Buckwalter writes, "eyeballing creates an excitement by evoking "biology", an interpersonal chemistry between dancers, that pull the audience in and gets them involved in the exchange emphatically, or she [Duck] suggests, even hormonally" (120). Yes, bring biology back into our scope of awareness. Our body's biology, the crowd's biology, the environment's biology -- the the organic component that make us alive. Why not incorporate biology's presence into our awareness?
According to Melinda Buckwalter, Katie Duck says "improvising isn't about generating new movement" nor is it about the "specifics of how a dancer arrives at his or her movement"; it is the spatial skills, such as " remembering to exit, and using 'biology” that create improvisation (Buckwalter 19). Essentially, it sounds like Katie Duck is more interested in the content when it is composed with and in relationship to others, staying aware to the subtlties of energy and timing. She's not as interested in the movements themselves, as much as the “art” that it create in the present moment, however fleeting it is.
As Melinda says, Duck is concerned with presence (Buckwalter 19). This is interesting for me. I have noticed there can be an exaggerated emphasis on process and and going into our comfortable place, but can kinesthetic delight be taken to the edge. How can we bring our presence to the edge? The edge of movement, as when we are pushing our bodies to their "limits", experimenting with our preconceived limitations to see where else we can take ourselves. To grow and expand in our bodies, just as much as we nurture them, and bring in the small dances. I agree with Duck, who supposedly believes that technique blended with our personal understanding of our "limitations', can bring us deeper into dance, through improvised expression.
I'd like to see kinesthetic delight coupled with kinesthetic technique (the development of the body-mind into its full potential), the bridge between meaning and form. So that we can take the time to go into our psyches, our soma, our primordial brains, indulging in the exploratory processes; while also staying aware of what our form implies; what it communicates. "To that purpose, [Duck's] dance technique class combines elements from ballet, modern dance, and Contact Improvisation and includes postmodern techniques” – especially release technique (a way of freeing the body from tension, opening the body up to greater possibilities) (Buckwalter 19).
I looked at Duck's website, katieduck.com and I found some interesting things. For one, Duck offers a summer workshop along with a guy named Alfredo Genovessi, who say "They do not approach improvisation as a subject on its own in arts practices but rather take a microscopic view on the role improvisation plays in the creation process". If life is one big creation process, evolution of species and form, than we are a part of that process, naturally. On the website they say, "Duck values technical training, and her dancers are often highly trained. But in improvisation choosing and editing are also key skills." I would like to be highly trained. I would like to develop my coherence in movement expression and work with others in this way.

Katie Duck says, in a conference with Dr. Lee Kyuag, “Awareness is easy. Awake is something else. It has more to do with how we are able to perceive time moving. Even someone in a coma is moving. They are thinking or dreaming and therefore they are moving.” (website)

In 1996, Duck formed Magpie Music Dance Company, where "improvising musicians are featured equally with dance as the company suggests," (112). The set was set up that both dancers and musicians were part of the stage, including all movement into the performance. What I liked most from reading this section about the possibilities with music was that "Magpie encourages practical dialogue" between both parties. I think by doing this, both input and multiple perspectives bring an extra layer into improvisation. If the dancers and musicians can create discussion, I am interested to see what can happen. I have experienced that the these kinds of play create interrelationship that develop organic and interactive events.
One such memory comes from my time spent in Sydney, Australia during summer 2009. On a Saturday afternoon, during a Contact Improvisation Jam, we has some very special guests visiting. Two guys created music -- symphonies as well as a range of other sounds from car horns to bird calls, solely through their mouths. One of the guys also sang beautifully, and they synthesized beauty completely from their voice boxes. It was extremely interesting having the chance to listen to their improvisations while we danced ours. In closing circle, we all had a chance to discuss what came out during our time together, which was eye opening for me. The musician commented on their experiences, what it was like to watch and be influenced by dancers, and that they haven't had many situations like that. That they could think of a sound by a dancer's movement all on the spot.
It was also interesting that there was a space to not be influenced by each other. We had the power to choose whether to directly engage with one and another, shows the potential of possibilities in these kinds of interactions.
I would personally like to explore this type of play with musicians and dancers during my time at Naropa. I have already engaged in dialogue with a couple of students studying music, and we have all shown interest in working together. They have expressed the challenge they foresee in doing everything improvised, and we have discussed alternative possibilities, like playing something on loop, while improvising. Or having something recorded and creating new sounds on top of the recordings. During one Contact Improvisation student group gathering a couple of weekends ago, we had a drummer come improvise while I facilitated a class. It was the drummer's and the other students' first time improvising to each other's form. We all loved what came from this kind of experience, especially the part about feeling deeper connection with each other. Music facilitates that. The spontaneity and presence offer a rich environment to understand one another.