Today I met with Ella Dumaresq, she is studying dance therapy at the VCA within the art therapies school. We met at a VCA workshop and felt that various areas of our research intersect.
I shared a creative process of mine that involves recording one sided conversations and filing in the other side with an overlapping track. Gaps in the conversation are left in the first recording and instances of a simple ‘ yes’ and ‘ no’ can help provoke a response on the overlapping track. I developed this process to enhance my own screen writing practice.
It helps me find real life dialogue characteristics in conversations I'm developing. Moments such as people misunderstanding each other, not listening properly or talking over one another arise as the recordings fail to be met with perfect responses.
Ella and I explored how this process might inform therapeutic practice or the making of an experimental dance film. Ella drew on some of her reflective writing and responded to it in conversation with recorded tracks. Ella provided a counterpoint to the earnest feelings in the writing with an opposing character who is critical. This made the earnest feeling more palatable as it was less directed to an audience and more towards another character within a work. As such the audience is perhaps less confronted by the earnest feelings and finds a way in to the feelings and ideas via the relationship dynamic.
Ella and I explored how this process might inform therapeutic practice or the making of an experimental dance film. Ella drew on some of her reflective writing and responded to it in conversation with recorded tracks. Ella provided a counterpoint to the earnest feelings in the writing with an opposing character who is critical. This made the earnest feeling more palatable as it was less directed to an audience and more towards another character within a work. As such the audience is perhaps less confronted by the earnest feelings and finds a way in to the feelings and ideas via the relationship dynamic.
Sharing this recording process with Ella made it feel like a legitimate creative process, rather than a mad personal thing that I do sometimes.
Working with Ella I really felt how our two practices strive to create rules, systems, processes and scaffolding that facilitate and provoke expressions from the hidden parts of the self. Whether it be hidden energy in our body, unrealized thoughts in our mind or deep feelings waiting for an excuse to come out. No matter if what comes out helps with the writing of a screen play or personal development, we are both interested in how to get personal expression out into the open where it can be accessed.
When Ella returns form a trip to Berlin we intend to develop these ideas and shoot some dance films on the beaches along the great ocean road.
1 comment:
I've since been exploring Mischa's method in my own time and finding it to be a hilarious, meaningful, and rich way to begin exploring different aspects of my 'self' in narrative form. I really enjoyed the way in which Mischa helped me to find a counterpoint to the earnest voice, which tends to dominate my reflexive journaling. As a dance therapist I am comfortable with movement improvisation, yet I generally find voice a challenging modality to work with. This technique is providing a way for me to playfully engage with dialogue in a way that feels intimate, structured and contained; as a result I am finding it opens up a free-wheeling, associative thought process which is fun to explore. It shines a light on aspects of myself which might not get much air time during everyday life! Having Misha's gentle and encouraging presence guiding my attempts, I couldn't help thinking about the role of 'witnessing' - in therapy anyway - and how, through art & collaboration, we both offer and avail ourselves to the other in small, and often imperceptible ways. This can lead to growth over time I feel, or at the very least, provoke small shifts and changes in the way we understand ourselves & others... I'm curious to see where the intersections our of work/art/practice lead us from here. Thanks Mischa for the invitation to explore with you :)
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