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ticking things over

I spend a lot of time talking to students and professional practitioners about the nature of practice, and the importance of finding a way to maintain daily practice. Indeed, if students are even half as bored of me talking about it as I am, then things aren’t good.

Since September I have been doing what could only be described as ticking things over in terms of a dance practice. I go into the studio early, dance very briefly (with no warm up) and then leave. It has felt unfocused, slap-dash, and I have no idea if it is of any value.

Late in September, I happened to select an Oblique Strategy1 that said Distorting time. More than a worthwhile dilemma it has (very gently) been with me since that time, fading in and out of my attention.

Yesterday was my last day of practice until the New Year. I thought I’d video a couple of minutes to send to my friend Don Asker in Australia (he and I have been swapping videos of our solo dancing these last few months).

Here it is:

For all of that ticking over I’m starting to get a feeling for something that is interesting to me. It has something to do with the nature of surprise when feeling and watching simple dancing.


  1. I’ve been working with Eno’s Oblique Strategies for some time as an arbitrary way of informing my thinking and attention as I am dancing.↩︎

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