This workshop was on Tuesday 26 July; part of Contact meets Contemporary 2017.
We work with a partner. One of us gives touch to the other, and they ‘fill’ the touch by relaxing into it.
After swapping roles then we repeat a sequence of movements which Laura demonstrates and that are reminiscent of yoga and its ‘down dog’ exercises.
Partner work
(As ever – we take turns with our partner for each part of this work.) I lie on my back on the floor. My partner touches my foot, making the knee rise while the foot stays on the ground – similar to the ‘neutral’ position in Alexander technique. Then I push from the ankle to move the pelvis and rotate onto my side. My partner touches my side and I rearrange my limbs to return to neutral i.e reverse the movement.
Laura wants to examine the idea of touch being repulsive. i.e. we move away from touch. My partner lies on the floor on their back. Now it’s my turn to be the giver of touch: I repeatedly touch them on their feet or hands and they move away – like sea anemones being touched for example.
We change the exercise to move towards a point of attraction by pushing against the floor and stretching to reach it.
Rolling exercises
We practice different kinds of rolls to traverse the floor space:
- Spiral rolls – starting on our back, we move a foot over the other leg thus rotating the spine and pelvis so that we are face down on the floor, and then using our arm to set up a movement in our upper body causing a rotation from the shoulder in our spine and pelvis so that we’re again on our back. Repeat!
- Same side – we move both our leg and our arm over our body setting up the rotation this time. Repeat!
- X-movements – we open an arm and a leg out, to create a rotation in our spine and then repeat with the leg and arm on the other side to sustain the rolling. Repeat!
- Repeating movement of our feet to create rolling about our spine …
I feel a bit nauseous – perhaps I’m being a little too enthusiastic with the rolling – and so I stop the exercises and sit out for the final part of the workshop!
Notes
Laura Hicks website: http://laurahicks.net
[Top image: Various examples of sea anemones (1893 print) by Giacomo Merculiano . Source: Wikimedia.]