if you only walk long enough...
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat. ‘I don’t much care where -’ said Alice. ‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat. ‘- so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation. ‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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I was so fortunate this week to get out of Freiburg and into Berlin, breath in some different air and participate in an amazing Instant Composition workshop with Maya M. Carroll.
Before the workshop began, she asked us to write a short summary of the state of mind we were in at the moment: a present state, a desire to explore, questions we are handling through our work.
In writing this, I was very excited to discover where I am in my current improvisation explorations as I realize I am not only entering a new stage, but also arriving at a topic which I hope, assumed and trusted to be part of improvisation when I began, but it was not a guarantee.
I want to share what I wrote with all of you because I think it speaks to the magic, beauty and potential I see in improvisation.
'On the improvisation side, my interest now is in how to develop a whole story or dramaturgy instantaneously. Having worked a lot with improvisation, I have primarily focused on timing, space, qualities, connection and disconnection...the 'technical' stuff. Now I am wondering how to develop the non-technical, the non-practical side of creation and improvisation. How to find and enter into the unique story of each improvisation. The dreamy, imaginative side of it. More and more, I have begun to feel the way you can become a different person or enter a distinct story when you improvise. I am touched by this because in 'embodying' someone else, or 'entering and telling' a story that may not be my own (that which is not identified as Rebecca Narum's story), I feel I can connect with the world and with people. And I am interested to know about people and their experiences. As a performer, I am passionate to be able arrive at this place to then share this with others; to give a space for the different dream worlds or mental spaces to meet.'
