Class 9/17

Today's class felt sort of jilted. Sort of stop-and-go. Like a video that kept stopping to buffer. Or like when a storm makes the cable go all laggy. I think we were sort of disconnected, not incorporated. I wonder if it was because there was no warm-up game? I wonder if maybe I'm the only one who felt this way? Something didn't click--didn't settle. There were unassuaged insecurities leaking out of classmates and coating the room with anxiety.

I think, in short, that it's a good time to start our independent projects. I think it's a good time for us to play around and figure out by leading and facilitating what works versus what doesn't work for us personally. It's also the first hurdle of the semester workload-wise. While TO is a consistent class, many others are ramping up for midterms or papers. Maybe today we all just needed some decompression time. The rain should have helped, but maybe other people don't react to rain the way that I do.

Image theatre can frazzle people. It seems that it needs to be very all-or-nothing. The alternating back and forth between speech and silence can be dizzying and disconcerting. I think that when I lead an Image Theatre exercise, I will probably have it done completely silently. I think I trust our class to "riff off of" each other the way that Peter talked about. Energetically. I think we can all radiate and receive quite well, and I think we can feel out who would be next to stand up and alter an image. After we arrive at the anti-model that nobody wants to change, we can discuss it. If we don't arrive at that anti-model, I think we can discuss WHY it's difficult to arrive at an anti-image. There seems to be no throwing the baby out with the bath water in Image Theatre. I think any conversation generated through the activity will be fruitful and engaging and can get wheels turning and stimulate individual and possibly group growth.

I'm nervous, but I think it will turn out well. I think I'm going to do a heads down sort of situation. We'll see how things go. I hope I'm not the cause of a breakdown, but if I am, then I hope we come to view it as a breakTHROUGH. And I hope that there's time to wind love around that person and help them know that they are safe and loved and beautiful.

Fingers crossed. Dive in, Davis.