Movement Seminar

Yesterday, as part of Orientation, the first year grads met with a professor named Marjorie Morgan, in order to break the ice with each other and let some inhibitions go, since we are going to be working very closely with each other for the next two years, starting on Monday. She had us do all kinds of movement awareness and breathing excercises and gradually moved us into creating and expressing with our bodies and then our voices. We made body collages and sound collages. It was fascinating to me! Marjorie was the best at being willing to be ridiculous and gaining the trust and admiration of the group. At the end, we all layed on the floor in a circle and closed our eyes and created a 6 minute sound bite, where we did anything that came to mind: humming, singing, whistling, beating on the ground, sighing, etc...It reminded me of John Cage's song, 4 minutes and 32 seconds, where the entire peice was the spontaneous sounds of the concert hall: sniffs, coughs, stirring in seats, and not one note played on the piano. Ours was ever changing and being created in the moment. It was to promote freedom of expression and a spirit of improvisation whose success is found in large part from the acceptance and support of your fellow classmates. We'll see if I can bring this to mind when I have to sing for everyone on Monday...