Moves like Jagger

I thought of Jeff Harris this week; I hope he is well. 

Jeff and I were buddies in the modern dance class all theater majors were required to take. We were equally graceful even though he was three times my size and we were equally humiliated walking around in leotards and tights. He was a very large black man and I was a tiny uncoordinated white girl so we did wonderfully together. I think we spent most of the class dying of laughter watching each other in the surround sound mirrors. 

I'm currently taking an acting class in the Alexander technique. Don't ask me for details about what the heck that means, but we did lots of moving and if Jeff was there we would have been giggling.

But he wasn't, so I paid attention and tried not to stare at the other participants or worry about what they thought. 

We did explore our own and each other's bones. It was weird and fascinating. One of the insights I kind of got out of exploring all the stinking bones in our body (who knew there were so many?) was learning to trust the support our skeleton gives us.

The Alexander technique is being present in the moment and aware of all the supports you have around you and letting go of what is weighing on you (I think). So you feel all the bones in your feet so you know you are not walking on peg legs but a flexible structure able to provide for your needs.

That's not really the super interesting part and I know I'm not summarizing this perfectly, but the teacher said, "this technique is finding the space between stimulus and response for freedom of choice." 

And the relationship between student and teacher is not one of figuring out the right way, but the teacher observes what the student is doing and the student experiments and adjusts.

I believe that's what creativity is all about. It is not looking for the one right answer, but having the space to observe, experiment, and adjust. 

So even though I felt kind of hokey walking around the room, I didn't feel judged or freaked out about not doing it right. 

This is why I'm doing an acting class on movement and not yoga. I know I should do yoga, but I feel like I would have to embrace a life of half-truths. "Yes I ate homemade granola this morning" (with a frosted cherry Pop Tart and a billion cups of coffee). 

This class was about creating space where awareness was raised and options explored without condemnation. 

Sometimes I wonder if the violence in our society is a response to our lack of creativity. Violence is such a dull way to resolve conflict (unless Jackie Chan is involved). As our schools and culture focus more on the "right" answer, I worry we don't foster creative problem solving well.

So I'm looking like an idiot for all of us. I'm trying to learn a bit more about this space between stimulus and response where we can find the freedom of choice. I'm trying to learn more about trusting our bodies and trusting a weird group of folks willing to take this class. I'm still laughing at myself even without Jeff there, but I do miss sharing the joy of humiliation.