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I Have An Idea…

Convenor: Lisa Heft

Participants: Louise Kippert, Carla Vlliex, Gabriele Burkhardt, Bayyinah Bello, Val Embree, Jill Hardwick, Peggy Holman, Malay Biswas, Jan Carr, Emily Reich, John Moore, Janet Pinto

Discussion:

I (Lisa) saw a videotape once of some work the choreographer/dancer Bill T. Jones did with a group of people with life-challenging illness. Bill T. Jones choreographs with famous US-based dance companies like Dance Theatre of Harlem and other large, world-renown companies as well as for dance companies of disabled people, for example. He uses a lot of spoken word, life experience exploration with groups to form works that are both for them and can then develop into a dance piece done by professional dancers, and otherwise taps into and from all manners of understanding and expressing spirit/heart/mind/culture/memory/experience. The Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane dance company is the name of his group – his lover/partner/co-choreographer Arnie Zane died some years ago from HIV/AIDS. Bill T. Jones has HIV himself.

For the piece he created about living with a life-challenging illness, he worked with a group of non-dancers over several weeks or months as they reflected, expressed, supported, defined, got messy and shared healing with each other. Of course some of this included movement work, though all were non-dancers.

The piece I saw on video was one segment of this longer process of support and expression. I’d seen it years ago and always wanted to try it out / work it out / see if it would be of use for us / our work. So I wanted to try it here, as much as I knew and could intuit into it to co-create it with whomever came to my group. (perhaps you can find the video on the ‘net – I found it through the US Public Broadcasting Station / PBS – with other key phrases including the title “Still/Here?” and Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane.

Here are the elements, put simply (feel free to email or call me to engage in further conversation about any of this): - - - 1 A guided visualization. Taking people through a reflection on their life and that journey, starting from when they were born / what they were born into, how they saw that, felt that, how they felt love or lack of love, trust or lack of trust, how they saw other people, how they saw themselves, what events brought them major shifts in how they saw how they thought how they moved through the world from that point forward, major events both joyful and perhaps also painful or otherwise surprising. Then this same reflection back to their adolescence, how they saw that, felt that, how they felt love or lack of love, trust or lack of trust, how they saw other people, how they saw themselves, what events brought them major shifts in how they saw how they thought how they moved through the world from that point forward, major events both joyful and perhaps also painful or otherwise surprising. Then as a young adult, how they saw that, felt that, how they felt love or lack of love, trust or lack of trust, how they saw other people, how they saw themselves, what events brought them major shifts in how they saw how they thought how they moved through the world from that point forward, major events both joyful and perhaps also painful or otherwise surprising. Then, if they are of an older age, as their current age of adulthood, how they saw that, felt that, how they felt love or lack of love, trust or lack of trust, how they saw other people, how they saw themselves, what events brought them major shifts in how they saw how they thought how they moved through the world from that point forward, major events both joyful and perhaps also painful or otherwise surprising. Then how they felt / what they carried in with them or left behind or thought about or tried not to think about as they began this Open Space. Then after they fit back (or don’t) into their lives pre-OS, what they know is about to happen to them, good or bad, how they feel, how it might change them. Then to move from the cognitive to the intuitive and think about what is coming to happen for them – something they can’t name but a feeling that something – they don’t know what – is about to happen.

2 A moment for silent reflection.

3 Then each has a piece of paper and a marker pen. They are invited to place their pen on the paper wherever the story starts, and to tell themselves that story again, and watch where their pen moves / move their pen in a continuous line as they tell that story, to create a map of their life’s journey. And to end by picking up the pen off the paper.

4 Then to stand up, think of the whole room as that piece of paper, and holding their map in their hands, to find a place in the room where their map/story starts, and to walk, their path on the map, telling themselves the story again.

5 Then one person volunteers to share their story with the group. S/he goes to stand where the story starts, and the rest of the group goes to stand behind him/her. The first two people lightly place one hand on his/her shoulder (one person with a hand on one of her/his shoulders and on with a hand on the other of her/his shoulders, both behind him). Then three others put their hand lightly on the shoulders of those two, then the rest behind those two, and so on, until all are connected as a flock of birds or something. Then s/he begins telling his story by moving though it – but this time with the others witnessing his story by fully listening and connecting and moving with her/him in this manner around the room.

6 S/he talks and moves around the room with his/her life map and the others moving with him / connected to him / witnessing in this manner.

7 Time for reflection on what it was like to go through the visualization, to draw one’s map, to walk one’s map, to tell one’s story to/with the group, to witness, to be witnessed.

- - -

My sense is that this would be part of, say, a 6 week support group – one of the tools for experiencing / defining / naming / expressing whatever folks needed as they look upon their life, including for people with life-challenging illness the map of their life’s journey up to and through death and beyond.

The must-haves would include holding safe space for folks to walk away / around, breathe, get messy, not get messy, reminders to breath, reminder that what happened may have been or still be difficult and to stay; with that or jump to another time and avoid that – all is fine; to remember that what happened is always part of us but that they are also having other experiences now and that that is part of them too; that they are loved; to always ask permission of the volunteer if you / another can touch her/him lightly on the shoulder for this next bit (because many people are survivors of unwanted touch), and so on.

We discussed the power of ritual, of using other ways than words, of witnessing, of being touched, of how important it is when working with emotional stuff to allow plenty of time and air around every transition, how important to help folks segue into the ‘real’ world / world outside that door by planning / designing what happens next / last – even if it is to include food together / loving up each other and one’s self in that manner, decompressing, replenishing, whatever.