Here we are in week three and we are still a set of happy little bunnies. Going Beyond has now become something we are quite habituated to, an almost daily occurrence (not similar in any way to brushing your teeth, something far beyond that). The discoveries continue, we go deeper, we understand more, we feel more, we connect more, it still feels special.
Morning class has continued to flourish and unbelievably the sweat factor has increased - something to do with the sunshine and something to do with the sheer number of bodies flying around the space. From tomorrow onwards (Thursday 29th March), we are going to have to start to implement a first come first served kind of thing as sadly we just can't fit you all in. I'm afraid we'll have to close the doors after the first 22 of you arrive, so make sure you arrive in plenty of time if you want to be sure of a place. We are thrilled that the classes are so popular and that we hear time and time again that they are just what Bristol artists need. How warming. Conversations are now starting about how they can continue after the project is finished - I'm game if you are!
So last week I revealed a slight anxiety about tempting fate when saying just how brilliantly everything was going, well, that fate was momentarily tempted. On Friday, we had a tiny bit of a bad day. It was only a little bit tricky, but a good reminder all the same, a reminder that going beyond is not that simple, not that easy, and not something to be taken for granted. Last Thursday we climaxed, we peaked, we hit the top and oooh we felt so good. We thought we had cracked it and then, of course, we had to come, floating delicately, back down to the ground on Friday afternoon. That grounding was actually hugely positive and has led us into this week feeling very connected and in control, stepping now with real knowledge and understanding. Meaning that we have really settled over the last couple of days, it feels like we've gone from exciting, chancy, pubescent Beyond, to a more mature and wise Beyond. Very pleasing. But that doesn't mean that the journey still isn't wild and magical, because it is! Here's some memorable stuff:
wanting to hide... walking on water... giggling... Beady's tales... support... fess up symbols... affirmations... a climax... high fives... perfection... jar revision... jar culling... top shelf jars... struggling through jar time... sinking feeling... reality hit... anger... frustration... polish needed... the weekend needed... taking a moment to stop and look... remembering the first kiss... jar kissing... notes... observations... group check in... re-connecting... feeling lighter... jumping... jumping... jumping... suspend... release... suspend... release... intimacy... transcending the skin... in 1982 Chek got married... falling... fears faced... tears... trust... fondness... life lists... revision... sunshine... feels good. We're feeling good.
Jarno - I feel anger, trembling legs, melancholy, pain, joy, I was crying today. I feel silly at times, stupid, very smart or just in the present moment. There's love, sexuality, caring, laughter, relief, excitement, awareness, caution and distortion. At the same time it is confronting, liberating, philosophical and revealing, showing me my boundaries and my weak spots, but where my strength is too. It shows me the places where I like to hide from myself or the outside world and it reveals other, new paths to follow. There's a lot of words to describe Beyond, but if I had to define it in one word, I'd go for: real.
Jon - We sail through day 3 week 3, our ship more weather hardy, patched and colourful. All of us working the decks like trained pirates made mad from the sea water. All of us emerging from the tasks bright eyed. Everyone shining with the particular iridescence of their inner light. 'I don't want to do it' - I think before every exercise, 2 minutes later I'm bouncing like Tigger, 9 years old again, playing ninja in my grandma's garden. Everyday a bit more honesty. 'I don't think that works' - we all agree a 10 minute jar that took a gruelling hour to make gets top shelved, collecting dust, never to be opened again. No regrets because ahead is open water and we know how to catch the wind.
Laura - As more bits of our lives seep into the work, we build more trust and allow ourselves to unravel. We disclose our beings without judgment. She hangs of his neck - open - they exchange a fragile handshake
she balances precariously - desperate to smash that jar. A bead of sweat runs down his curl and drops onto the floor. Hands get covered in dirt. He shakes his tired wrists and leaps on invisible springs. They exchange a smile as their paths cross. They shake in anticipation, save each other from falling and see the world go by. Things get clarified so we can trust what we do not know.
Chek - Beyond MB Training: Word has spread. Fabulous atmosphere. Great to have the chance to practice the challenging Shacklock Consciousness Exercises with the whole class. Our laboratory work is a daily exploratory process of experiencing discoveries, which get jarred. It is very special to share the making of jars as well as to discuss the process afterwards. We all look out for each other and give everything possible and Karla thanks us after every task, which is so special and supportive.
There it is people. Keep checking out our wonderful videos and see you at morning class!
Ooooh and Happy Birthday for tomorrow Jarno (Beyond performer)!
Karla x
29 March 2012
25 March 2012
Rehearsal Video
Another fascinating video by Chris Lewis-Smith who's been present at all the Beyond rehearsals.
22 March 2012
Rehearsal Diary – Week #2
Wow, we are halfway through week 2 and I find it thrilling and unbelievable to say that every day so far has been nothing short of magical. I hope I'm not tempting fate here, but we truly are going beyond every single day and, frankly, it feels incredible... special... humbling... touching... right.
It seems that the word is really starting to spread about our super sweaty morning classes as yesterday and today there were no less twenty of us all indulging in a bit of well needed rubbing, running, rolling, stretching and play. On Tuesday the dance floor was one big puddle, which all of us took great pleasure in creating! It truly is wonderful to be meeting all of these different people each morning, to share their energy and take a little bit of it into our Beyond laboratory for the rest of the day. It seems the classes are attracting all age groups and lovely people from all sorts of disciplines. The Beyond performers have said that they have never felt so much a part of the Bristol scene. I love it! It's a morning sharing that I hope keeps going long after the Beyond project is over, as it seems it is what we are all after in Bristol. Yum. Oh and did we mention... it only costs £1!
I can't even imagine where to begin in attempting to share the world of the Beyond laboratory with you, so do check out the performers diaries which gives you a great insight from their perspective (note that some of these performers actually asked if it was necessary to have a weekend or whether we could just keep going!). But for me, well, I feel so spoilt. Maybe more spoilt than I have ever felt. Each day I am witnessing five very special people, open themselves and create experiences which I then spend all night dreaming about. The building has become the world of Beyond and today we laughed when we remembered that here we are, in the middle of a city centre, surrounded by Tesco Metro, Bikram Yoga and a bustling market, surrounded by people walking their dogs, rushing to their offices, seeking a place for a swift half, and here we are in the midst of it making something that seems very special. We become completely immersed. Beyond becomes our world. And, it feels great.
Some treats from the latter half of last week and the first half of this week: 6 years... run of pride... secrets... we got heaters... jar revision... understanding beyond... going beyond... the laughter cupboard... singing out of your bum... the bandage baby... 8 moves at the bar... endurance band... mirrors... drumming... seeing self... consciousness commentary... conducting... it was difficult... happy jars... jar time... endurance... more endurance... sweat... laughter... laughter... laughter... first kiss... giving birth... floating... happiness... floating... invincible... the anatomy of movement... lunch in the sunshine... affirmations... endurance objects... laughter... joy... exhaustion... beyond...
There you are people, more to follow next week and also be sure to check out our videos by the wonderful Chris Lewis-Smith who is so beautifully existing in our world and capturing it all at the same time.
Laura Dannequin - We have wanted to cry as we have tried to laugh in cupboards. We have learned to trust each other, there has been banter and there has been pain, there has been real laughter that has carried on until breakfast the next morning as images from our work have emerged in my mind. There has been shouting and silliness, blushing, remembering things past - there has been some real eye contact. It's been cold and it's been sweaty, we've been supportive and we've taken the time to notice and say beautiful things about each other. I've felt part of a group. I have tried my hardest just to just be, and to let others just be too
Chek - To perform or not to perform. That is the question... We are asked to simply be ourselves. And it is that simple. No need to over-complicate what just is: that we are who we are. But it got me thinking... performance is existing in the space... who am I anyway... working with a YES is performing... doing anything is performing... The struggle to be "me" during Jar Time is contradictory because I am interacting with four other performers and an audience. I do what comes. Yet there is a sense of not doing it "properly". I know I panic. I know I freeze in a statuesque form of "performance presence" in an attempt to cover up transitions and misunderstandings during Jartime. Thanks to the open frankness of the others I can work on these things that this process exposes.
Karla
It seems that the word is really starting to spread about our super sweaty morning classes as yesterday and today there were no less twenty of us all indulging in a bit of well needed rubbing, running, rolling, stretching and play. On Tuesday the dance floor was one big puddle, which all of us took great pleasure in creating! It truly is wonderful to be meeting all of these different people each morning, to share their energy and take a little bit of it into our Beyond laboratory for the rest of the day. It seems the classes are attracting all age groups and lovely people from all sorts of disciplines. The Beyond performers have said that they have never felt so much a part of the Bristol scene. I love it! It's a morning sharing that I hope keeps going long after the Beyond project is over, as it seems it is what we are all after in Bristol. Yum. Oh and did we mention... it only costs £1!
I can't even imagine where to begin in attempting to share the world of the Beyond laboratory with you, so do check out the performers diaries which gives you a great insight from their perspective (note that some of these performers actually asked if it was necessary to have a weekend or whether we could just keep going!). But for me, well, I feel so spoilt. Maybe more spoilt than I have ever felt. Each day I am witnessing five very special people, open themselves and create experiences which I then spend all night dreaming about. The building has become the world of Beyond and today we laughed when we remembered that here we are, in the middle of a city centre, surrounded by Tesco Metro, Bikram Yoga and a bustling market, surrounded by people walking their dogs, rushing to their offices, seeking a place for a swift half, and here we are in the midst of it making something that seems very special. We become completely immersed. Beyond becomes our world. And, it feels great.
Some treats from the latter half of last week and the first half of this week: 6 years... run of pride... secrets... we got heaters... jar revision... understanding beyond... going beyond... the laughter cupboard... singing out of your bum... the bandage baby... 8 moves at the bar... endurance band... mirrors... drumming... seeing self... consciousness commentary... conducting... it was difficult... happy jars... jar time... endurance... more endurance... sweat... laughter... laughter... laughter... first kiss... giving birth... floating... happiness... floating... invincible... the anatomy of movement... lunch in the sunshine... affirmations... endurance objects... laughter... joy... exhaustion... beyond...
There you are people, more to follow next week and also be sure to check out our videos by the wonderful Chris Lewis-Smith who is so beautifully existing in our world and capturing it all at the same time.
Laura Dannequin - We have wanted to cry as we have tried to laugh in cupboards. We have learned to trust each other, there has been banter and there has been pain, there has been real laughter that has carried on until breakfast the next morning as images from our work have emerged in my mind. There has been shouting and silliness, blushing, remembering things past - there has been some real eye contact. It's been cold and it's been sweaty, we've been supportive and we've taken the time to notice and say beautiful things about each other. I've felt part of a group. I have tried my hardest just to just be, and to let others just be too
Chek - To perform or not to perform. That is the question... We are asked to simply be ourselves. And it is that simple. No need to over-complicate what just is: that we are who we are. But it got me thinking... performance is existing in the space... who am I anyway... working with a YES is performing... doing anything is performing... The struggle to be "me" during Jar Time is contradictory because I am interacting with four other performers and an audience. I do what comes. Yet there is a sense of not doing it "properly". I know I panic. I know I freeze in a statuesque form of "performance presence" in an attempt to cover up transitions and misunderstandings during Jartime. Thanks to the open frankness of the others I can work on these things that this process exposes.
Karla
19 March 2012
Reaching into Places inside Everyone
'Some pictures from while I am working among everyone. There is performance emerging here that is just amazing, sad, painful, beautiful, and reaches into places that are surely inside everyone but not so often visited'.
Chris
17 March 2012
Blindfold Beyond
During week 1 of Beyond rehearsals, Karla Shacklock's first task was for all the performers to experience The Looking Glass (the venue for the performance) without being able to see it. Here's a photo gallery of their experiences:
Chek - Our first encounter with our performance space, The Looking Glass, was blindfolded. To be given so much time to touch, smell, hear and explore the space meant for me that my sight became three-dimensionally richer. The memory of seeing the space through the other senses added layers or texture I would not have discovered had I just explored the space with my eyes. We repeated the exploration without the blindfold and the experience of seeing that which I had felt and smelt was revelatory. For me, there was an appreciation of the space I would not have had otherwise.
Chek - Our first encounter with our performance space, The Looking Glass, was blindfolded. To be given so much time to touch, smell, hear and explore the space meant for me that my sight became three-dimensionally richer. The memory of seeing the space through the other senses added layers or texture I would not have discovered had I just explored the space with my eyes. We repeated the exploration without the blindfold and the experience of seeing that which I had felt and smelt was revelatory. For me, there was an appreciation of the space I would not have had otherwise.
15 March 2012
Rehearsal Diary – Week #1
It took nine months of preparation to get here. That's a full term pregnancy. And finally, on Monday, I began to birth the beyond baby. And what a baby it is.
Who would have thought that we would go beyond in the first few days, I didn't know it was possible. But today, sitting in a cold, musty old building, surrounded by hundreds of objects, five fabulous performers, my costume designer and film maker, I saw my first glimpse of Beyond. Pretty blinking exciting. It's only day three, but we are already right into something pretty big and very special. It makes my feel full to the brim and quiver at what is to come.
We're really loving being joined for our warm up each morning (DanceSpace at 10:00am) by a range of performance artists (dancers, actors, live artists, circus people and everyone in between). People come and drop in, pay a quid, and join the team for an hour and a half of reckoning. It's pretty full on and sweaty, but ends with a great long stretch and today we also included a vocal warm up. The more people the merrier really. It's a great way for everyone to start the day and we all get to share everyone's energy, and we take that with us into the Beyond laboratory.
We've been in that laboratory for 6 hours each day and I've already put the team through some pretty serious beyond-esque tasks. It's been incredible and very humbling to witness 5 people opening themselves, going beyond themselves, being themselves and in doing so they have already created 30 odd jars of experiences. These jars will become Beyond. They are Beyond. Sweat, laughter, face line, my name is, move/return, piano, double bass, a small ballerina, rules, video camera, a broken rabbit ear, hiding, rope man, mirror me, flower poetry, truth, transformation, WHACK, cling film, tiny shoes, breath, blindfolds, searching, seeking, wanting, higher order thoughts, raw experiences, seeing, looking, glass, sounds from the cellar, let it resonate, let it resonate, let it resonate... a glimpse.
And here are a few reflections from the Beyond performers...
Laura - Blindfolded we discover the space. We begin to unfold ourselves and minutes turn into hours. The first note on our piano, words turn into mud, here we are safe to lose ourselves. A feather falls out of my clothes as I get home and I have no idea how it got there.
Jon - Pulling at a thread and getting an orchestra. End of day ears ringing, people staring in the supermarket at this ball of humming humanity.
Jarno - Intense, exciting, physical, confronting, funny, revealing, demanding, out there, a touch of infinity
Karla
Who would have thought that we would go beyond in the first few days, I didn't know it was possible. But today, sitting in a cold, musty old building, surrounded by hundreds of objects, five fabulous performers, my costume designer and film maker, I saw my first glimpse of Beyond. Pretty blinking exciting. It's only day three, but we are already right into something pretty big and very special. It makes my feel full to the brim and quiver at what is to come.
We're really loving being joined for our warm up each morning (DanceSpace at 10:00am) by a range of performance artists (dancers, actors, live artists, circus people and everyone in between). People come and drop in, pay a quid, and join the team for an hour and a half of reckoning. It's pretty full on and sweaty, but ends with a great long stretch and today we also included a vocal warm up. The more people the merrier really. It's a great way for everyone to start the day and we all get to share everyone's energy, and we take that with us into the Beyond laboratory.
We've been in that laboratory for 6 hours each day and I've already put the team through some pretty serious beyond-esque tasks. It's been incredible and very humbling to witness 5 people opening themselves, going beyond themselves, being themselves and in doing so they have already created 30 odd jars of experiences. These jars will become Beyond. They are Beyond. Sweat, laughter, face line, my name is, move/return, piano, double bass, a small ballerina, rules, video camera, a broken rabbit ear, hiding, rope man, mirror me, flower poetry, truth, transformation, WHACK, cling film, tiny shoes, breath, blindfolds, searching, seeking, wanting, higher order thoughts, raw experiences, seeing, looking, glass, sounds from the cellar, let it resonate, let it resonate, let it resonate... a glimpse.
And here are a few reflections from the Beyond performers...
Laura - Blindfolded we discover the space. We begin to unfold ourselves and minutes turn into hours. The first note on our piano, words turn into mud, here we are safe to lose ourselves. A feather falls out of my clothes as I get home and I have no idea how it got there.
Jon - Pulling at a thread and getting an orchestra. End of day ears ringing, people staring in the supermarket at this ball of humming humanity.
Jarno - Intense, exciting, physical, confronting, funny, revealing, demanding, out there, a touch of infinity
Karla
12 March 2012
Beyond Trailer
Be taken on a journey through dark shuttered corridors, into a world which goes Beyond the Looking Glass. Allow yourself to become absorbed in an exhilarating performance event created by award winning Choreographer and Director, Karla Shacklock. Film by Farrows Creative.
11 March 2012
Beyond Flyer Image
Here's the final promotional image that will be used in flyers and posters across Bristol in the build up to Beyond. Photography by Chris Lewis-Smith. Design by Farrows Creative.
10 March 2012
Introducing... Beyond
Beyond
The Looking Glass
Physical raw performance, cutting-edge design, live sound - an extraordinary immersive event
Meet at the Bristol Old Vic and be taken out on a journey through dark shuttered corridors, into a world which goes Beyond the Looking Glass. Allow yourself to become absorbed in an exhilarating performance event created by award winning Choreographer and Director, Karla Shacklock.
Led playfully by the new inhabitants of a ghosted space you will bear witness as lids are lifted from glass jars and a symphony of real experiences spill into the nooks and crannies of the building and into your hearts and minds.
Embark on an unknown adventure; lose yourself in a mysterious journey and join us for the after party.
Beyond. A world where experiences are created.
The Looking Glass
Physical raw performance, cutting-edge design, live sound - an extraordinary immersive event
Meet at the Bristol Old Vic and be taken out on a journey through dark shuttered corridors, into a world which goes Beyond the Looking Glass. Allow yourself to become absorbed in an exhilarating performance event created by award winning Choreographer and Director, Karla Shacklock.
Led playfully by the new inhabitants of a ghosted space you will bear witness as lids are lifted from glass jars and a symphony of real experiences spill into the nooks and crannies of the building and into your hearts and minds.
Embark on an unknown adventure; lose yourself in a mysterious journey and join us for the after party.
Beyond. A world where experiences are created.
Introducing... The Looking Glass
The Looking Glass was formally The Rummer Inn, which closed in 1999 and put up for sale. Sarah Middleton from Rolling Stage with support from Bristol City Council and Capacity has been granted the venue for approximately one year while the sale and planning of the building goes through. Sarah has been busy with the help of volunteers transforming the run down pub into a new and exciting arts venue THE LOOKING GLASS that will provide an affordable space where artists can present their work and to create a vibrant community hub where art, music, enterprise and innovation can thrive. Beyond is the first full production in this exciting new venue.
9 March 2012
Introducing... Karla Shacklock
Karla Shacklock is an independent performance artist currently based in Bristol and is available for performance, choreography, masterclasses and guest lecturing.
Since graduating with a 1st class BA(Hons) and PhD in dance in 2005, Karla Shacklock has toured her own work extensively throughout Europe, worked as Co-Artistic Director, Choreographer and performer for multi-award winning company Precarious, performed internationally with various dance, circus and physical theatre companies, delivered masterclasses throughout Europe, held a senior lecturing post at Bath Spa University, published her own book and various articles, been commissioned to choreograph works for theatre, opera and youth groups, and trained extensively in trapeze and Bodyweather/Butoh.
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