Workshop with Cecelia Macfarlane 22/01

Our workshop with Cecelia Macfarlane began with an improvisational score exploring moving where I feel energy. The photo of my journal above shows where I felt my energy. This was interesting as when I compared my image to others I found that we all opted for parts of the body that are close to the solar plexus. I realised this is where maybe we feel most stable and strong as the centre holds each limbs together. Therefore we can control our appendage skeleton from the centre. Another point of interest in this exploration was that because I had a starting point and an area that I was constantly aware of I found that my body began to take over the movement rather than thinking and using my head. This was very strong in my moving and unlike most classes I was able to do this quite easily. I perhaps think this is because Cecelia used a lot of imagery which I seemed to translate comfortably in my moving.

However when another layer of the exploration was added (music) I found that on this occasion there was too much information for both my body and mind could take on. Therefore the clarity in my moving became lost a little as I was beginning to use my other senses. This made my moving much more conscious and I lost the flow.

One key theme/idea that Cecelia introduced that stayed with me was SPEAKING TO OUR PARTENR ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THEM LISTENING IS A FORM OF THERAPY.
This made me think of my anatomy lessons where we have been speaking about dance movement therapy and dance artists working in a therapeutic manor. It made me realise that as artists we are not qualified to practice DMP however by talking to each other I found that I was practicing a therapeutic aspect that I found helpful. To begin with I wasn't too sure that I wanted to express my thoughts on my experience but I found that by talking to someone it made me realise that each person experiences something different. Therefore I didn't feel conscious in what I wanted to share.