TOUCHSTONES
Teatro XI by Herk Van Tongeren
Movement Example
Touchstone Audio
How does our breath change when encountering something that seems impossible? What freedoms are found through letting go of the need to immediately make sense of something? What opens to us in the wonderfully strange realm of dreams? How can we access and explore the musings, impressions, and messages of our subconscious minds while waking? How can the surreal liberate our many layers of conditioning?
Movement: Examine the sculpture from a variety of locations, heights, and angles. Situate yourself wherever you feel most intuitively drawn. Take three deep cleansing breaths. Gaze softly upon the sculpture. Let your conscious mind quiet. Be led by your body’s direction. Stay in a natural flow, welcoming movement when the impulse arises, greeting moments of stillness and suspension with equal enthusiasm. Allow yourself to be astonished by what happens.
Writing: In addition to having been a talented sculptor, one of the original artists involved at GFS, and Executive Director of the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture, Herk Van Tongeren was also a set designer. Imagine Teatro XI as a stage. Write a scene for a play that occurs in the world of the sculpture. Have one of your characters begin at the stairs, another on top of the sphere. Explore the surreal – juxtapose images/ideas/elements that you would not ordinarily. Include the refrain from your favorite song as a line. End the scene with a surprise.