About the creation process and movement research in the desert

The desert is a magical place. A place to listen to the wind, yourself but overall, to the silence. The time of the desert works differently. You are more connected to the sunrise and sunset and to the cycle of the moon. To jump on the wave of the time of the desert is a unique experience and the power of silence can overwhelm you. What does it do to you? What does it do to movement, to rhythm, to dynamic?

Watching how the desert animals move enriched my way of moving through space. How a snake crawls through the desert floor, how a scorpion stings, the walk of an akrabut. This combination of a spider and scorpion walk, how they shift their weight, the coordination of their fast leg work and hip movements and the rhythm they create. And how watching them leaves you with a combination of disgust and astonishment.

sources: quotes about the desert; the power of silence; moving out from meditation, from stillness into dancing; the book “Never Not A Lovely Moon”; my own writings and experiences living in the oasis. I collect many quotes about the desert, mainly by Paulo Coelho, Khalil Gibran and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Next to them I took phrases from my own writings, like the one above, and I want to play with making small compositions on these sentences. To explore which movement expresses which word and to play with the dynamic of the sequence while talking out loud the used phrase. The book “Never Not A Lovely Moon” by Caroline McHugh represents another source of inspiration. Where else than in the desert, do you really see the moon? “Whether it’s full or a sliver, hanging high or low, even when it disappears for two days and two nights every month, the moon’s always a miracle. Just like it’s never not a lovely moon, you’re never not a miracle.” Her book illustrates in a beautiful way the challenges of finding yourself “but the irony of finding yourself is, that you were never lost."

I found it interesting to think about what kind of people live in the desert, what kind of people escape to the desert and decide to move there.

How kids grow up differently in this environment. I was always impressed by all kind of stories I have heard on my journey there and my eyes will never get used to the desert view, the desert colors. I always feel within me this magical desert energy and whenever I need it, whenever I struggle or fight against the demons inside of me, I close my eyes and I see the bustang – the small palm tree garden in the oasis, the little lake, the mountains around. I feel the sand between my feet and the hot sun on my skin. But you can not escape your demons. The dark sides of ourselves, which cause us suffering, will also be a source of research for the piece. How to express those demons into movements. All the questions who are arising with them and how they change the body texture. How tension can lead movements into uncomfort, into frightening shapes we do not want to be in. Is it a conscious decision of the mind to get yourself out of it or how can the change of physical sensation already help you? Do I think to relax or does melting down my shoulders and releasing tension in the joints relax me?