Solo
An invitation to join in on an offline, self-organising* movement research process: June 2021
What would it mean, or what might it take, to really commit to a regular, offline, solo movement/ dance practice at this point in time?
This was my question for June 2021.
The plan began as this: to move/ dance alone, for 1 hour each weekday (22 days), and to write something brief in response, each time.
I then thought it would help me to have some accountability, and virtual company in this experiment, so I shared this plan as an invitation, by email and via Instagram, adding: "if this, or some version of it, sounds like something you're interested in, or you have thoughts to share from your own movement research process, I'm really keen to have productive conversations, just drop me a line: kyra.norman@gmail.com "
And, brilliantly, people joined in, some old friends, some people I've still never met, some experienced movers, some who fancied trying something new.
Each person sent me their writing, when they could, and I made a weekly edit which I circulated to all participants (exerpts below).
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Afterwards, one participant said "I created a fantasy for myself of us as a small underground organised group with secret identities starting our own version of a revolution" - and that felt close to the general vibe at the time : )
This project really just found its way as it went along, and I love how an initial impulse to do something on my own gently snowballed into something that drew out a range of voices and perspectives: some strong images, thoughtful reflections, poignant moments, and funny asides, reflecting on what it is to be a body, moving, on your own....
Edited responses from Solo: June 2021 Week 1
To move in the sun and breeze is bliss.
That hour felt long.
Funny how we say "dance like no-one's watching" but often dancing by yourself is the hardest, most self-conscious thing.
Two days in and already it feels joyful, valuable... beautifully simple. Thanks. I think not recording it is key... the liberation from not filming is lush....
Edited responses from Solo: June 2021 Week 2
Rolling out of bed and into moving - body starting with a clean slate. What gets written on the page comes from me before the rest of the world can have a say.
Remember who you are, remember what you are. Whose life is this, whose hands are these, whose feet are these, this moment, this floor?
Feeling the landscape of my body. It doesn't feel like 'mine'... Movement of bringing it in, and on. Monsterwalks, bhummmm, like those monsters in Anime films, big woods.
We're together but the practice is solitary....
Edited reflections from Solo: June 2021 Week 3
Today I pretended I was at a rave. It was hard though, and I never quite got there.
Sharing responsibility between all body parts.
The dance of the nape: nestling, suspending slowly, stacking neatly, stroking. Soft.
I am craving the floor or some form of support to hold my weight and to make me feel my body through different contact points. I also crave big spaces and letting go and getting lost....
Edited reflections from Solo: June 2021 Week 4
I started with swinging again, I like that.
A little swim dance exploration with my flatmate popping by.
Receiving and passively responding - the wind touching and moving me.
I am brain, mind, rush, forward....
Note: I'm still wondering whether to do something with the full texts - lets see!
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*I wasn't sure that 'self-organising' was quite what I meant, so looked it up, and this Wikipedia definition is just right, actually:
"...also called spontaneous order... a process where some form of order arises from local interactions between parts of an initially disordered system. The process can be spontaneous when sufficient energy is available, not needing control by any external agent... often triggered by seemingly random fluctuations, amplified by positive feedback. The resulting organisation is wholly decentralised, distributed over all the components of the system. As such [it] is typically robust and able to survive or self-repair substantial perturbation. Chaos theory discusses self-organisation in terms of islands of predictability in a sea of chaotic unpredictability.