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October 19, 2005
artist's way: week 6
by gl. at 9:31 pm
so we're about halfway through the fall sessions and the tuesday night cluster has had a rather large and embarassing snafu: nobody showed up yesterday. i've never seen anything like this happen before. after two members called and said they didn't feel like coming that night for various reasons, i scrambled to find a solitary exercise for the member remaining, but then i didn't hear from her at all, even though i sent her a follow-up email today to ask if she was okay. i'm struggling w/ how to approach this. i want to be flexible about the way life works, but i also think it's inconsiderate to the other cluster members and of me. this is not a large lecture class. in a cluster, you matter. creative clusters are not inconsequential committments, and most people join a creative cluster because they can't get through the book alone.
the wednesday morning cluster members make up for it a bit, though: they're independently rearranging their conference schedules and plane flights in order to make it to sessions. today i thought i was going to have them try the "love letters" exercise, but something told me to try the playback theatre exercise instead, and i'm glad i did. at this point i want them to be moving from self-contained projects to more group/trust based ones (of course, as you'll see, that won't be very true the next two weeks. all the more reason to get one in now!).
playback theatre involves a "storyteller" and the "actors" who renact the story in various forms (e.g., as moving scupture, as a "play," as dance). everyone rotates through the roles. it's more fun than it sounds, even if you're not a theatre person. it gets the blood moving, involves a lot of laughter and often helps people work through situations. even people who are normally afraid of improv do well w/ playback theatre.
center (possibility): a candle in a glass votive surrounded by a pile of blazing autumn leaves (picked at nw 18/glisan) and layered with stamps from foreign countries.
music: bela fleck's ufo tofu, which is an energetic, cheerful album (though "sinister minister" from their first album is my favorite song, i think ufo tofu is probably their best album). bela fleck was the first concert i ever saw (hi, matt!), and they were great.
posted by gl. | October 19, 2005 9:31 PM | categories: artist's way