From Blog Director Jill Randall:

Crazy times, cancelled classes, and home isolation call for new projects and new options through Life as a Modern Dancer!

Personally, I have always loved poetry. I love reading poems. Thank you W.S. Merwin and Mary Oliver. I also love writing short poems as movement springboards in my classes. (I currently teach an intermediate teen modern class twice a week in Berkeley, CA.) My Movement Poems are truly just meant for explorations, not fully crafted dance projects and performances.

Please join in! I hope you will enjoy these poems at home or use within a college or high school dance course.

Today's poem I actually wrote last week and used it in my teen modern class, but I think college students and adults will enjoy it as well.

———–

Opening

A movement poem for March 12, 2020 by Jill Randall

 

Unfurl,

Expand,

Soften,

Brush off.

 

Lift off

 

Back body

 

Whole body

 

Eyes outward + all around.

 

To listen to the Soundcloud reading of the poem, click here. 

———–

There are numerous options for play and exploration. Here are just a few to get you and your students started.

-Read the poem and make a short phrase (mini composition!) with one movement per line. Decide whether to move in silence or with music. Today I would like to suggest one of my favorite Michael Wall composition's entitled "3 147," which you can download for free from his website or enjoy via Spotify. Scroll down to the 26th song on this list on Michael's site.

-Use the audio recording on SoundCloud and improvise with each line. Then shape your phrase.

-As for an improvisation, this poem is quite short. I would suggest having it on hand and cycling through and exploring each of the 8 lines/ideas for the duration of a song. (Michael's song, for example, is 5:28 minutes in length.)

Please leave a comment below to share how you explored this Movement Poem. Thank you! Be well.

———–

Related posts:

Movement Poem #1 (Sequencing)

Movement Poem #2 (Grounding)

———————-