dance #64, object lesson I

Object Lesson I

On assignment from Debra: Dance with an object. Any object. Observe the dance that develops.

9:30 p.m. An 8 minute dance in the study with Alice’s multi-coloured ball and string toy. Getting a feel for how this object wants to move. Feeling a little stuck in the space–the space also has a say in what the object gets to do. Feeling like my dance is overdetermined. Alice jumps in an out of the dance, lunging for the ball when I engage her with it. The ball is light and wants to make circles. Spinning at different lengths of string. Spinning back on itself. Winding. Twisting. Twirling. The ball likes to be thrown and pulled back fast. It likes to coil around objects: chair legs, Alice’s tail, the legs of the desk. I can stay almost still and it can still have a life.  Through the dance I tend to forget about my own movement as my eyes and attention are fixed on the object.

It was a cold day. I just peeked out now and it’s crisp and the sky is full of faint stars. Alice rubs herself up against the sketchbook while I try to draw and write. She tries to chew the pencil and sit on the book.

~ by nmyers on February 23, 2009.