Residency: Day three

09Jun10

We started pulling a piece together, exploring new things in the morning and coming back after lunch with a structure for the group pulling the material into something that resembled a performance. The group were anxious about performing, not all of them necessarily wanted to perform so we asked all of the group to give a response. The group, except one, were excited by this, giving different reasons as to why they wanted to perform; some were doing because they felt that this was great for confidence, some were doing it because they had enjoyed the material, and some were doing it for the group. This was exciting to be in amongst.

We structured the performance and presented it back to the group, when it was drawn up on the the board the group could see the links and where they all were involved in each moment, and with blocking it out we got suggestions from the group as to how they would like some moments performed.

One of the group who seemed reluctant at the start, or would get bored easily, was determined that we kept rehearsing until it was right, this was when for me it felt important that the group were involved in decisions so that this was their thing that they had responsibility for, and they took the ownership of this, even telling myself, Lizzie and Kate how it should be done.

Learning points/Observations

-It is not about ‘meeting someone at their version of the world’, it is about two worlds finding a place to come together, acknowledging differences and similarities and moving from there. This is the place were collaboration can thrive I think.

-Working from within is just as important as being the lead facilitator. You can be the controller of the small cogs, which helps the big cog move.

-Facilitator before artist: In this context, and were we are turning out a piece of performance in a short period of time, with a group who are not necessarily confident at all, then we need to allow them to have some control and support them with that. It may not be the artistic vision that you imagined, but it is theirs, and they want to perform it, and I can still be proud of that piece of work.

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