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