Page 34 - radio strainer

Endurance
In the end, she invites her oldest collaborators to dance with her in this work – Valerie Smith and Christina Houghton. Because they make her feel safe, as her pregnant body surges with hormones and nausea (she can barely eat or drink, she vomiting continuously throughout every day) because they understand her and because when she imagines the work, she sees them in it. The first rehearsal is a reunion. They notice the strangeness of aging, having started dancing together in their early to mid twenties, and now they are celebrating birthdays between 35 and 40. It doesn’t feel like so much time has passed, but it has. They have performed together at weddings and funerals, in many shows, at many parties. They are proud of the endurance of this friendship, which is held together by dancing.
This is the second phase of rehearsals, so they have some materials developed in the first stage of research, the traces of improvisation and inquiry Alys holds within her body. Their rehearsing soon falls into rhythm – shaped largely by the contemplative practice Alys and Val began years ago:
• 10 minutes in a silent meditation, in cellular listening
• 10 minutes warming up in own space
• 10 minutes group improvisation bringing ones inquiry into the shared space
• 10 minutes writing
• 10 minutes talking
• working on specific choreographic tasks and developing/ refining improvisation
scores.
• Translating movement work to pages and digital video
• Discussing the days work as part of an emerging conceptual framework
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