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How Karl
no nancy lately, though this past summer had an odd serendipity as we encountered each other in 4 different locals across the continent.
I've assuaged my desires for Contact by teaching it myself (and to myself) here in miami. Coincidentally other local dance and performance improvisers have been providing opportunities to gather too, ya ya ya!
One of them- Becky Flowers is seeking to create an ensemble of Interventionist performers.
She seemed quite intrigued with an old idea i had for a kind of 'cirque of communication'. Audience would choose various booths or areas to engage in a particular form of intentional communication e.g. verbal mirroring et al, witnessing, tactile mirroring... she introduced us to material from "theater of the oppressed", that would totally work.
Also using recording technology, like other projects you may know to get peoples stories or views captured. Yet with an emphasis on reviewing the recording as self observation or from a second and third person perspective.
I probably wont go on this cirque concept but like the idea.
Epistemology in how people relate seems to hold an endless fascination for me. In CI for instance ive been impressed that within this sensation based form people can still seem to be oblivious to what they or the other are doing. Ive posed the question to teachers, like nancy, 'how do we know what we are actually doing?'' "Practice" is the response i usually hear. Of course, but apparently this may not be enough to deliver oneself from habits or ignorance. I imagine that an epistemological practice is relevant to evolve from the mere feeling of knowing, to the completely different form of knowing based upon astute observations, that are yet still questionable.
The exercise of observational skills i imagine provides far greater potential, for modulating perception, or to reinterpret the understanding of sensation. As in still life painting to abstract painting, from capturing what the eye actually sees to conveying what the mind imagines of it.
Ive been wondering Karl, in practicing CI with its emphasis on observation of sensation and how we choose to respond, where does it affect the way we relate.
Does movement or our choice of movement utterly reveal are inner character. How does awareness of sensation and responses translate to other forms of communication and perception of others.
Example- some one leaning their weight or comfortably manipulating an object yet is at a loss to do the same with a person.
Indeed im wondering, with the rest of you, about CI technique and how its practice may or not translate into the social manifestations of the CI community and individual psychology.
Dont let the academic language fool you as this was a cool conference-
www.fau.edu/bodymindcult...in_Motion.php
I enquired about other such events and i was told that France and Poland seem to have them more frequently than in the USA.
Seen paxtons new dvd, cooool ya ya!
on up sp!ral
From: Karl Frost
To: collin
Sent: Monday, February 2, 2009 6:19:11 PM
Subject: Nancy?
Hey Collin
how was Nancy's workhsop? hope it was fabulous... knew some great people
going there.
fun projects lined up for the next months... starting to think again about
doing a new performance work. Will be redoing an old piece in St
Petersberg in May (Place) and will be doing a laboratory towards a new work
in Kharkov in early June... a bit of a lighter piece in some ways ...
interaction more structured and also having stage performance sections...
very excited about it!
best to you
K
Karl Frost
Body Research
Human Contact Project
Winter/Spring 2009
www.bodyresearch.org
no nancy lately, though this past summer had an odd serendipity as we encountered each other in 4 different locals across the continent.
I've assuaged my desires for Contact by teaching it myself (and to myself) here in miami. Coincidentally other local dance and performance improvisers have been providing opportunities to gather too, ya ya ya!
One of them- Becky Flowers is seeking to create an ensemble of Interventionist performers.
She seemed quite intrigued with an old idea i had for a kind of 'cirque of communication'. Audience would choose various booths or areas to engage in a particular form of intentional communication e.g. verbal mirroring et al, witnessing, tactile mirroring... she introduced us to material from "theater of the oppressed", that would totally work.
Also using recording technology, like other projects you may know to get peoples stories or views captured. Yet with an emphasis on reviewing the recording as self observation or from a second and third person perspective.
I probably wont go on this cirque concept but like the idea.
Epistemology in how people relate seems to hold an endless fascination for me. In CI for instance ive been impressed that within this sensation based form people can still seem to be oblivious to what they or the other are doing. Ive posed the question to teachers, like nancy, 'how do we know what we are actually doing?'' "Practice" is the response i usually hear. Of course, but apparently this may not be enough to deliver oneself from habits or ignorance. I imagine that an epistemological practice is relevant to evolve from the mere feeling of knowing, to the completely different form of knowing based upon astute observations, that are yet still questionable.
The exercise of observational skills i imagine provides far greater potential, for modulating perception, or to reinterpret the understanding of sensation. As in still life painting to abstract painting, from capturing what the eye actually sees to conveying what the mind imagines of it.
Ive been wondering Karl, in practicing CI with its emphasis on observation of sensation and how we choose to respond, where does it affect the way we relate.
Does movement or our choice of movement utterly reveal are inner character. How does awareness of sensation and responses translate to other forms of communication and perception of others.
Example- some one leaning their weight or comfortably manipulating an object yet is at a loss to do the same with a person.
Indeed im wondering, with the rest of you, about CI technique and how its practice may or not translate into the social manifestations of the CI community and individual psychology.
Dont let the academic language fool you as this was a cool conference-
www.fau.edu/bodymindcult...in_Motion.php
I enquired about other such events and i was told that France and Poland seem to have them more frequently than in the USA.
Seen paxtons new dvd, cooool ya ya!
on up sp!ral
From: Karl Frost
To: collin
Sent: Monday, February 2, 2009 6:19:11 PM
Subject: Nancy?
Hey Collin
how was Nancy's workhsop? hope it was fabulous... knew some great people
going there.
fun projects lined up for the next months... starting to think again about
doing a new performance work. Will be redoing an old piece in St
Petersberg in May (Place) and will be doing a laboratory towards a new work
in Kharkov in early June... a bit of a lighter piece in some ways ...
interaction more structured and also having stage performance sections...
very excited about it!
best to you
K
Karl Frost
Body Research
Human Contact Project
Winter/Spring 2009
www.bodyresearch.org
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Re: Response to Karl
Mon, February 9, 2009 - 7:07 AMwell, there is a meme within the world of CI about avoiding too much
analysis, and i think that this results in answers like "Practice" to your
question.
And, of course, Practice is not enough, as there are so many people who
"practice" over and over and get nowhere.
with luck you may have or may find the other ingredients while you are
practicing, but it is not enough.
Yes, i think that analytic skills are very helpful and we can put words to
so many things that people like to say are "mysterious".
I think that there are other things that motivate the idea of keeping
things mysterious ... less intimidating to some who are traumatized by the
school system and therefore more accessible to them and theoretically
making for more full classes.
I like putting words to things!
A few dark observations about contact and how we relate. people like to
talk about how it improves how we relate to each other. I like to burst
that bubble. I have seen people get more invasive and arrogant through
doing contact... another way to develop a sense of self-righteousness and
superiority. I have seen them forget what other people experience in
proximity and just start touching as if "they know better". We talked of
course, in axolotl, about how contactors would go into blind repetition of
pattern when blindfolded and how there are archetypes like "Kenny" who just
wanders through the space oblivious and trying to play with everyone. The
disappearing into touch sensation sometimes produces people who choose to
be visually oblivious.
I have also seen in Israel, where contact has been adopted in the new
age/new spirituality community, it being used as a way to ignore the rest
of the world and deny political reality and implications of their actions.
I remember at the first Israeli Retreat Contact Jam in Mitspeh Ramon how
there were two Arabs present and of the 60 others there, only 5 or so paid
them any attention. it was horrible ... They weren't going around and
shouting racial epithets, but here were these two distressed and isolated
participants who all these enlightened and aware contactors were ignoring.
I think that contact can offer healing of certain psychological wounds, but
it can also produce dysfunction ... i certainly don't think it alone makes
you better person.
I think there are many metaphors that it offers to think about, but that
also doesn't mean that they will be thought about or noticed.
checked out the conference link...
sounds great! if you hear of something similar anywhere, let me know about
it, especially if you hear of it in time to get on the presenter's list.
many caught my attention, but the one specifically caught my eye in the
first scan... "Does bodily awareness interfere with highly skilled
movement?" --- I could go off on that one! I don't think that it as simple
as body awareness interfering but "How you are aware?" Put simply "what do
you do with your use of body when you choose to become aware of something".
So many body awareness practices introduce tensions or, more importantly,
stabilizing reaction patterns into the body as the technique for becoming
aware... BMC, Klien, Yoga Asana, Skinner Release, etc. I think that all of
these have within them good pieces, but this is a big flaw of so many
awareness practices.
fun online-pontificating with you!
hope to see you about sometime again!
best to you
Karl
PS you on facebook? I like some of the facebook formats for having
conversations.
