SPACE: The Curious Explorer

The day began with observation. What sticks out in the space? What draws the eye? One person being drawn to what beckons them, bravely enters what has become an immense and profoundly rich room. Stepping in to relationship with space; simultaneously, both daunting and supportive. A second person enters into a communion with space and allows relationship to unfold. Fluid shifts of energy occur as a third person enters into relationship with the others and space. The actors begin to realize that, none of this has been about them, that the people in the room are both vital and unimportant all at the same time. They don't need to look at one another. Space, by its very nature reveals to us that there is power in just being. The problem is that we are very rarely engaged in that state. When we engage our focus in being present we realize we have much to offer and much to receive. It is the only state in which we can be in relationship with anyone and everything around us. Space itself can become an enormous and beautiful scene partner.

We enter the space with curiosity rather than knowledge. Curiosity and exploration are our most vital tools as performers. Continually ask the question, what is this? What is it now, presently? I am seeking to find logic that comes from space not from knowledge. When the artist meets the world, logic and story finds its beginning. Space doesn't think, it is. Humans think. They think they know. This knowledge gets in our way. Do we know anything? Do we spend enough time being?

The actor has the ability to bring revelation to the space. By drawing attention to what is asleep in the space the actor can wake up a space for the audience to see and read. Space speaks its own language and it is the language that we have derived poetry from. This might seem a bit snobbish, but sometimes that poetry is full of vulgarity, the mundane, intimacy, wonder etc. It breaks expectation if we allow that line of logic to find it's way. The actor's job is to help the audience see and read. Be clear and Articulate.

Putting an idea into space is simple, developing an idea is difficult. Repetition is the same until it is not. Repetition becomes weighted with history. Repetition is an opportunity to develop and expand on an idea, let the poetry deepen, layer, grow and generate cumulative emotional response. Revisioning is part of this process.

Space has the ability to be both qualitative in this way as well as quantitative; defined in terms of how the space feels to the audience or what the audience becomes aware of. Scale, largeness, smallness, distance, direction, angle, depth, height, horizontal, vertical, etc OR Expansiveness, intimate, openness, claustrophobic, free, playful, pressured, heavy, floaty, etc.

The air itself is space. Gravity has an effect on space over time. We have infinite explorations to play with in terms of asking the ongoing questions of what is rotation? what is pendulum? What is wobble? What is weaving? What is direction? Flow? Spacial energy/matter? What is the logic of space? What is it's story?

Questions to think about?