Thought stalking

I'm off to a swing dance class in a moment in preparation for Clod Ensemble's Swing Night next week in Stoke Newington.  Aside from wondering if I'll remember how to dance I'm looking forward to it.  It'll be nice meeting some new people and getting to move my hips a bit.  I'm looking forward to having some new conversations, the big band sounds, the mingling of lots of different people, chatting to strangers.  Which, is becoming a bit of a theme this week, because at the weekend I was in Ipswich at Pulse with Rajni Shah Theatre Company literally 'Writing Letters to Strangers'. We met some incredible people there... 

The invitation is simple. Write a letter to someone you don't know and in return you get one back.  It's an idea people immediately 'get' and are intrigued by. What would you say to a stranger? I guess the main thing that is delightful for me (and what makes me feel really lucky to be involved) is that people are so open to sharing their life stories or titbits of advice or just sharing a cup of tea, if space to do that is provided...  And it's always the people who you think would be least interested that actually are...  It actually makes me love people (which isn't always easy)...

So, whilst I'm yet to make it to my studio this week (sigh), meeting and working with others is really useful for my own practice.  New vistas open. New thoughts pop into my head...  Unexpected conversations are had and that's really refreshing. And when it's in a festival context (like Pulse) I get to see the new and brilliant work of others (of which there was much).

Stalking a thought in Newcastle in 2010

But, time soon to start gathering together thoughts I'm having for the next work I guess.  They're there alright.  At the moment I'm just coolly observing them as if I'm not interested in them at all.  Giving them space. Not letting them know I'm looking... Doing that purposeful ignoring thing.  None acknowledgement. I like to make this moment last at long as possible... The circling around a thought.  It's a precious moment when anything is possible. 

Time to shift all that soon I guess though... BUT... Not quite yet.  

 Tra la la...

Water-pull

This week my studio moved to Portslade, to the Blast Theory space just outside of Brighton.  In a way, it's an odd thing to do, to come away from your own environment, your own things, to inhabit somewhere else.  But that's also what is kind of nice.  To be freed from 'stuff', to sit in an empty room and see what that feels like.  Ummm... Mostly, it's meant I've sat at my computer all week, writing a public talk, writing an application, writing emails, writing this...with a few jaunts out in the evening and day.  To see other artists, to see new work, to look at the sea.

The sea...

Hove Beach/Sea

What is it about water exactly?  I went and saw Dream Think Speak's show last night and there is an epic moment when as an audience you feel submerged.  You become surrounded by footage of water and Ophelia floats around you and about you weightless and looming and it's like you're in a container somewhere. It's a really nice moment in the filmic dream-like Hamlet...

Lots to think about. Lots of food for thought.
Questions raised about 'practice' from the talk I gave on Wednesday and more plans emerging out of some of the conversations I've had...