Drawing from the Dance

March 8, 2011

The studio is painted! The space is clear! It’s a new place and I ‘christened’ it yesterday with a dance and a drawing.

I am working on ideas to weave into a series of workshops, and so I thought I would try some of them on myself first.

So, I went into the space – put on some of Gabrielle Roth’s music and then danced for about an hour to the different rhythms. FELT SO GOOD TO MOVE! Afterwards, I experimented with an idea I got from Laura Hollick she calls bodymapping. I have done work like this before- tracing your body on paper and artfully working with it as a tool for deeper insight and healing- but this time it was a little different.

Dancing Genie

I got onto the paper and found a pose to mirror what I was feeling. Goddess pose, where your feet are touching and legs are splayed out to the sides felt really good. I traced my body, but used only part (my legs) to focus on. With the paper tacked to the wall, I grabbed my oil pastels and made marks and turned the form into what looks to me like a genie of some sort. It felt soooo good to play with the pastels like a kid!! Then I painted over it to make a resist. This was such a freeing and good-buzzing exercise! I loved it! I’m sure some version of this will find it’s way into my workshops in the near future.

Looking forward to exploring more.. will keep you posted!