The moon as my witness. (1st October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Allen, Jess; Preece, Bronwyn
• Is Part Of: Journal of dance & somatic practices. Volume 7:Number 2(2015)
• Page Start: 229
• Page End: 245
• Publication Date: 2015-10-01
• Subjects: Dance -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Dance -- Sociological aspects -- Periodicals; 792.805
• DOI: 10.1386/jdsp.7.2.229_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-1871

Abstract

Full:new was a transnational score for a site-based Authentic Movement (AM) and ecopoetic writing practice, performed for the duration of a complete lunar phase: two women (one in Wales, the other in Canada) moving/writing authentically on their respective sites for 28 minutes every day, for 28 consecutive days. The process led to the creation of a collaborative, concrete poem: the length of each line waxing and waning daily with the moon. In an adaptation of the 'classic' form of AM, the moverwitness dyad was stretched into a virtual arc across the northern hemisphere, held within the witnessing circle of the moon's cycle: 'witnessing' thus took the form of a remote, reciprocal commitment to self, site and other, through a strict adherence to the score. In these artist pages, we offer a reflective poetic-photographic documentation of this practice, with an accompanying written commentary on the role of AM within this process: how can the authentically moving body, transnationally witnessed, become a resonant organ both for sensing ecological relations and writing them into being?