lydia’s cards added a lot more movement to the deck, drawing on some of our earlier exercises:

to reiterate:

the first card: a description or documentation of something you did while performing a remembered card

the second card: a description or documentation of something you can see happening in the space now.

perform both your cards at face value before passing them to someone else.

placeholders

we wanted a slower accumulation of actions that was less immediately chaotic, so we decided that we should enter the space one by one, starting with maxime.

our warmup was an extension of the soft gaze exercise we did on the 24th of march.

rather than giving them out randomly, i divided the deck so that each person had at least one of each category of card to avoid an imbalance of tasks.

we decided to start with everyone sat in a line to inject a more ‘staged’ feel to the run.

this also created a focal point in the space because it meant people had to return to their individual deck throughout the performance.

we also gave everyone an initial instruction: at any point, they should feel free to ‘take matters into your own hands’. 

one thing that lydia and i weren’t expecting, was the clarification of actions once the cards were introduced.

we thought that the accumulation of cards would create an accumulation of actions. instead, the busiest and most chaotic section of the run was the start, when everyone was remembering different cards.

lydia and i both felt that a delicate balance had been struck between the elements of this process. we therefore ultimately rejected the idea of audience participation or audience cards, as this jeopardised the unique focus we just found.

in advance of this session, i was primarily concerned with instrumentation.

after last week’s session, lydia and i decided that we would try and incorporate everyone’s ‘main instrument’ (if they can be said to have one) into the performance/run of this week.

i tried to figure out what darius and maxime would be doing. lydia and i had mixed feelings about darius' melodica, and there was no piano in the performance space for maxime.

i considered having two small midi keyboards, each connected to a laptop with a keyboard sound. after trying hundreds of sounds, i was not convinced.

we realised that once maxime had finished his remembered cards, written a card, done it, and given it to someone else, he might have 'nothing to do', not a card to remember, nor a physical card to do.

the unintended choreography of instrument-playing also sat uneasily at the back of my mind.

i showed the table to lydia and she thought it looked quite busy. it was true.

i mentioned the fact that three harmonicas and three objects looked more interesting, and lydia said, 'what about 6 harmonicas?'

after the last session, lydia and i decided that we wanted to try doing the practice without cards in the space at first, but bringing them in at a later point.

this week was about experimenting with how we would do that.

taking inspiration from the 'cards for 3' exercise from the previous session, i included cards that allow multiple performances of one person's description of a movement or sound.

by asking the performer to rip off the original instructions, only the description of a sound/movement is left, and can be given to someone else to do:

instead of starting with cards, we came up with the idea of performers firstly remembering cards that we have done in the past and performing them.

there was a general confusion about what to do if you remembered a card that originally had tactile/interactive elements

we never performed lydia's cards in the previous session so we decided to do the 'deck of cards' exercise again, but make some changes to it and to some of the cards, incorporating lydia's cards to the deck.

i was no longer self-consciousness about not using the main instruments of the people in the group.

james said he felt that the cards could have been kept in circulation for longer.

this was by far the most compelling instance of the piece we had done.

the focus which the harmonicas brought, the sonic throughline they provided, convinced me that no other instruments were needed. they could only distract from this focus and smallness.

they also produced some beautiful sonic moments. the ways in which separate harmonies were layered on top of each other non-concurrently was very nice.

it also felt as though all of us had come such a long way with our movement vocabulary and feeling comfortable with movement.

we felt the performance had a lovely shape to it.

darius: there was a freshness to this, a sense that new cards were being developed in real time.

we wondered if the piece could do with each person writing more than one card.

we decided that next time we could try everyone writing two cards:

1. on one card, a description of one of the four things they did as remembered cards
2. on the second card, a description of what someone else is doing in the space.

we wanted to give them the option to break out of the specificity of the instruction cards when they saw, for example, a situation developing which they would like to be a part of. 

everyone stands in a circle. one person goes into the middle and responds to the sensations in their body with movement. the group holds a soft gaze, which is caring and safe.

the question was whether maxime’s solo ends with him having a written card which is passed to someone else to invite them into the space, or if everyone is on stage by the time the first card is brought into the space.

we decided to come up with some kind of ‘placeholder movement’ and ‘placeholder music’ which the performer could do when they are not performing a card.

our first session on the 15th of april marked the start of our 'construction' period. the idea was that from this session onwards, the focus of the process would be on choosing and refining material, experimenting with structure, honing in on a piece.

it is clear that cards, open instructions, and score-making were becoming predominant themes in our practice. the following 3 sessions were focused on exploring something further along these lines.

construction session 1 - 15.04.25 (lydia's cards, new deck, lydia's direction)

construction session 2 - 28.04.25 (restructuring, no cards, remembering, instruments)

construction session 3 - 06.04.25 (arriving at a piece, harmonicas, 2 cards per person)

at some point, they would pick up a blank card from a pile and document/describe one of the things they did while remembering the cards, as an instruction. then they would do it again, and finally give it to someone else to do.

eventually this card would end up in a pile of deposited cards on the other end of the space:

to consider their instrument as the main part of their musicianship is to underappreciate their artistry.

agreeing that the latter would be better, we decided that each person would enter after they think the person preceding them has completed their first remembered card.

writing something down pinpoints one thing, making it more selective. this is the opposite of what the cards had been previously: an inundation of instructions.

our session on the 6th of may marks a crucial turning point in the development of our practice.

it is from this point on that an identifiable 'piece' began to emerge.

it was also at this point in time that i became anxious again that we weren't incorporating the instrumental practice of the performers.

this project is unique because the movers are the musicians and the musicians are the movers.

so instruments, if used, would be in the space and incorporate many micromovements that if ignored, become a ‘choreographic oversight’ in lydia’s terms.

this, alongside other cards like ‘do what you’re interested in doing’ and ‘write your own card’ opened up an improvisatory decision making opportunity where you are able to think about what this situation needs, and make that change.

this would also create a through-line and some repetition as this placeholder music/movement returns throughout.

at some point in the piece, all the cards would end up on the discarded pile, so this placeholder music/movement would gradually accumulate as people finish with the cards.

the deck of cards

lydia's direction

group responses

the session

i had made the following table:

everyone i spoke to mentioned the fact that instruments like cellos and cabled midi keyboards would necessarily be tying the performers down to one action and one location.

things started quite varied, but very considered, and some beautiful arrangements arose from this.

as the cards were introduced, it was fascinating to see how certain early decisions came to define the texture of the whole performance. the cards focused the performance: sitting with your back to someone else became a central motif, as did a slow knocking on a hard surface.

when all the cards were in, things became even more focused, and ideas were repeating which felt really satisfying. then very slowly, the ‘placeholder music’ and ‘placeholder movement’ started to emerge and disappear as cards were passed between people.

the slow emergence of the shared high D among the group was also very beautiful. very slowly, cards started to be deposited on the other end of the room. the high D and shifting of weight came to dominate the activity in the space.

lydia also expressed a desire to do some movement direction with the group, drawing on some of the things that had come out of the previous sessions.

this session marks the end of our 'construction' process. we all felt we had really arrived at a piece now, a practice we could inhabit. what was necessary now was to do it again, and again. refine the intention. we would now be rehearsing...

they all have fantastic improvisatory instincts and they bring this to bear on the situation that they see unraveling, heightening whatever is happening.

we decided that each person would perform 4 remembered cards before picking up a blank one. 

on that blank card, they would document/describe one of the four things they just did. then they would ‘do’ the card, and then give it to someone else.

with some people not being able to bring instruments and the general uncertainty around the subject, we agreed to try the 6 harmonicas idea in this session.

i think this was daunting for most of us but the way everyone got involved with it was incredible to watch and everyone did really amazing movement.

lydia felt that this exercise really made them open up as movers when we did the piece.

james said he enjoyed being free to add something he felt like the situation needed, rather than having to add what an instruction was telling you to add.

lydia: the placeholders gave a sense of collective that we maybe haven’t had as much of before (everyone agreed).

lydia said she also thought the placeholders could have gone on for longer at the end.

lydia felt more comfortable with instruments being in the space, but not being with the performers at all times.

i agreed and i had the idea of keeping the instruments like stations on the outer edge of the space, things that people go to rather than be attached to.

we decided to try this next time.

lydia expressed a concern about the cards themselves as a material, as bodies that would be in the space.

are little white squares what we want in the space? i agreed that the resulting messiness of the performance space as the cards get used up was undesirable.

i argued that not using instruments would be to ignore their practice as musicians, whereas for lydia, ‘their practice as people first and foremost’ was at stake.

parsing your selfness through the instrument could be seen as problematic, but on the other hand, musicians often say they are extending themselves through their instruments.

we agreed to allow instruments for the day and see how we felt about their presence afterwards.

they don't need their instrument to do this, but their musicianship is unquestionably coming into play.