Movement & Space, collaborative movement workshop with hospice patients

The third workshop (3/3) focused on movement in space in relation to the architectural space and furniture within it. The intention was to explore whether by moving through space with a different intention we experienced the room differently?

We each took turns to make three shapes within the room and repeated this three times. We took turns to re-enact each other's sequence of actions, through a process of remembering and improvising what wasn't remembered. We then returned to our own sequence and simultaneously 'performed' this together, negotiating the points where our paths crossed as they occurred. We experimented using a metronome to unify our movements. It was a really enjoyable and playful session with lots of laughter.

At the end we had a quick look at Trio A by Yvonne Rainer as this resonated closely with the simple range of repeated movements we had been working with during the session.

Trio A, Yvonne Rainer

There's a lot of potential to develop the range of movements we came up with, particularly at the points where our paths crossed, to consider structures for unifying the floor space as a compositional tool and with regards to tempo. 

We came across a choreographic toolkit D-Lab: a Virtual Commons for Choreography and Collaboration by Dance Exchange in association with Liz Lerman. This is a really useful toolkit.

collaborative movement workshop with hospice patients

A collaborative performance making process with patients attending day services at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, led by Kirsty and Steven. 3 workshops will take place in January 2016.

Patients are invited to explore and develop simple movement in relation to another person, to objects and to architectural space. Video is used to mediate people's perception of their own body and to encourage experimentation. It is also used as a reflective tool to support awareness of the body as an expressive medium, as well as a sensing being. 

Yvonne Rainer's Hand Movie (1966) is used to demonstrate how small everyday movement can be choreographed to create a 'dance'.

Rainer's first film, Hand Movie, was shot by fellow dancer William Davis when Rainer was confined to a hospital bed, recovering from major surgery and unable to dance. 

breath, voice & text with Nadine George, Voice Studio International,

 
Since 2008 Steven and Kirsty have been regular participants of Nadine George's professional development training for senior arts and health practitioners with her company Voice Studio International.

In November 2015 both took part in a 3 day workshop exploring breath, voice and text, using a scene from Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.

This was a hugely valuable experience, once again, and provided new insights into how the body speaks of so much more than what is said.

Arts activities recommended for hospice staff | London Arts in Health Forum

Arts activities recommended for hospice staff | London Arts in Health Forum

Art as a tool in clinician education | London Arts in Health Forum

Art as a tool in clinician education | London Arts in Health Forum

introduction, Arts & Medicine Module, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

We designed and delivered an "Arts & Medicine", Experimental Practice, Choice Module in Feb - Mar 2014. This involved working with 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students from Contemporary Performance Practice, Acting, Musical Performance and Ballet, alongside patients attending day services at a hospice in Glasgow. We shared some of the methods we developed while working in various healthcare settings, and guided students to devise their own creative exchanges with patients at the hospice.

We used performance-based exercises, techniques adapted from Anne Bogart and Tina Landau's Viewpoints technique, group reflection and feedback, and general discussion to explore the issues, ethics and practice of working as an artist in this field.

student's workshop plan for working with patients, Arts & Medicine Module, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Students prepared scores in advance of working with patients at the hospice.

The score below involved patients generating text, improvising hand movements with string, and playing improvised notes on the piano accompanied by one of the students.