ASOU progress notes - day four

A Series of Unexpectations

Thursday April 2nd 

Zoom rehearsal 

Ode to the Subconscious improvisation task:

Feel the heels digging in the floor / feel the outside edges of your feet / feel the inside edges of your feet / feel the toes into the ground 

Webbed toes

Loosen the neck

Tailbone is heavy

Knees are swords

Belly button is an elevator button that keeps getting pressed

There are people residing in your collarbones

Back of the skull falls out 

Look where you want to go, then go there

Look where you want to go, then go somewhere else

Go where you don't want to go 

Let everything fall 

Your back is performing 

Who is it performing to? 

Feel your entire backspace performing and expanding

Dodge

Comfortable

Uncomfortable 

This is your nothing dance - who is it for? what is it saying? 

Think it, don't do it, do it

Think it, don't do it. Think it, don't do it. Think it, don't do it. Now, do all three

Gesture

Pause

Representative gesture

Trust yourself

Vessel with no front - no front body, no back body, no side body 

Never arriving - everything is transition

Lines of energy - see the colour get left behind

Don't step where you're going to step

Rude elbows

Your body is emotional 

Have a conversation with one of your body parts and someone else's body parts 

It's an argument 

Cast a spell for someone

Tap dance - with webbed toes
Nose lovingly moving towards the aroma

Fulfill your desire for someone else

Spine always moving

Once you name something, move on 

Command the limelight 

Surprised hands

Nailpolish isn't drying

Go for a walk 

3 deep breaths 

5 metre long arms

Slowly melting

Still head, moving body

Lay your shadow down 

Kneecaps circling proudly - this is exactly that they were made for 

Suspended playfully 

Shoulder teases the throat

Settle like a feather

Object task:

Take a walk around your room, grab an object as you pass, bring it back to the camera. 

Explain the object/the purpose of the object to us without revealing the objects real identity/purpose:

''remnants of a dead tree''. ''raft''. ''shiny - could get the attention of a nearby helicopter''

''smells like sunscreen. it's denim, it can hold things.''

''it's a fan. it's got strings so you can tie it onto yourself.''

''two circular holes that lead somewhere''

Improvisation & object reveal writing response: 

''over-stimulated'' / ''I enjoyed when senses came in'' / ''claim the limelight'' / ''situations you can imagine yourself doing'' / ''layering of prompts e.g. Think Something, Don't Do It, Think Something Else, Don't Do It, Think Another Thing, Don't Do It...Now, Do All Three'' 

''it made me prioritize certain things'' / ''I was enjoying being on the wall'' / ''Paralysis of choice'' / ''Different decisions were made in my own space - smaller, more inwards etc.''

''The quick giving of tasks made me refrain from overindulging and overthinking one prompt'' / there is a narrative with the camera as an aspect: how does this change things?''

''I like the concept of visible vs. invisible with the camera'' / ''How does this differ?'' / ''It triggers imagination and curiosity of what that person is doing if they're invisible'' / Observing composition on screen''

''Red curtains'' / ''being in the living room - everyone else is in their own room of choice making decisions'' / ''subdued'' 

''Debate of how literally I should do something'' / ''what happens when prompts are things you physically cannot experience e.g. back of the skull falls out'' / ''Do I pretend?'' 

Thoughts/ideas/questions:
We are trying to replicate what we had in the studio online. Can we replicate what we have online in the same space, altogether? e.g. everyone behind a curtain on their devices in their own 'living rooms' but all on one stage?
Can it be more of a performance score that each person is given and then ''performed'' as an Ode To The Subconscious? / anonymous instructions? Pick some that really work/are really interesting to engage with. Is this cheating? Can we still unleash/access the subconscious if these prompts are known in advance or at least practiced before?
Would this then be too similar to the proposed redeveloped Chance Dance, with anonymous instructions? Could it be a lucky dip? A ritual to express our undying appreciation for the subconscious?
What is our intention when given 'impossible' instructions? This has come up quite a bit.
Could the object task be without showing the object?
Are there any other access points to the subconscious without being overstimulated/overloaded?
The purposeful layering of tasks might be a way in.

Exquisite Corpse illusion task: screenshot mid-process on Amber's screen. 

Live-collage....
Can this be achieved in person? How can illusion be accessed in different ways? - costume e.g. long winter coat. 
Is this interesting?
Can this be achieved via video in post-production?