Closing your eyes.
Allowing a moment to touch the material of the Stagen.
What´s its texture like?
What´s the weight like?
How does it move?
Pause...
Open your eyes.
Prepare your Stagen by rolling it into a tightly formed cylinder shape. This makes the dressing process easier.
Then, either as a solo, or a duet, begin the dressing process. The aim is to wrap the Stagen around the waist to create a strong and firm contact with the body.
Begin by locating the waist – the place between the bottom of your ribs and the top of your pelvis.
Place the Stagen´s end starting at the belly, over the navel, holding it with the palm of your hand and with the material positioned horizontally to the floor.
Begin to wrap the Stagen around the waist. If you have a partner, you can ask them to help hold the Stagen´s end in place as you first begin the wrapping process. The material needs to lie flat against the body, with few wrinkles or bumps.
The key to creating a firm and smooth wrap is to when coming to the right hip or left hip, tug firmly on the Stagen to create further compression at the waist, just before turning the corner and wrapping around the hip. Your hands can also slowly check the smoothness of the wrap after each completed circle around the waist.
As you are wrapping
or being wrapped,
notice the gradual increase
in compression
at the waist
as each layer
is added…
The compression touch
from the Stagen
is to be supportive
but not restrictive
so do adjust it
as needed.
Continue the wrapping process until you come to the last 20 cm of the Stagen. Give a final tug and then tuck the material into the wrap, next to the skin/clothing from the top (rib-side) down towards the pelvis.
Then, explore three ways of being in relationship to the Stagen: walking/ standing, sitting (on a chair or on the floor) and lying/rolling. Notice, in particular, the transitions between the different levels.
Now and then pause…
Finding
Moments of movement
Moments of stillness.
Sometimes with
Eyes opened or
Eyes closed.
Allowing time…
(You are invited to also continue to wear the Stagen while reading the next chapter)
Then slowly, with eyes closed, take off the Stagen.
Sense through touch, the undressing process.
Allowing time…
Gently, explore walking/standing, sitting and lying/rolling on the floor once again.
What´s this like now?
Can you sense the reverberations
from the Stagen´s touch?
The touch imprint
as you move
around your waist
Moving from this felt sense
as if the Stagen is still there-
wearing an invisible
yet tangible Stagen.
Allowing time...
As you are ready, gently roll your Stagen back into a cylinder form,
As you notice your breath
And the touch of the material…
Allowing time…
And then finding your transition
In stillness or
movement.
Note: The impetus for this PhD research, and the creation of ´Somatic Costumes TM ´ developed while living in Java (2007-2009) and during my first encounter with the Javanese Stagen. A Stagen is a tightly wrapped sash (4 meters long, 14 cm wide, made of woven cotton fabric) between the pelvis and ribs worn during traditional events and dance performances. I experienced a containment quality in my body/movement that was profoundly new - shifting my felt sense, movement, sense of character and emotion. This episode instigated reflections and future investigations into the powerful kinesthetic affects of costumes.