Description
Deborah Black
Doing the Unnecessary
About the Workshop
In dancer/choreographer/phenomenologist Mary Overlie’s practice and theory called The Six Viewpoints, the exit from training into society is from out of a laboratory called ‘The Original Anarchist’. The original anarchist is an old idea. It is someone who is or has re-learned how to become a participant/observer instead of a creator/originator. In other words, they are not at the top of the hierarchy, but remain nature.
The gateway to this past/future way of being is by performing actions from the prompt – Do The Unnecessary. This is at once a playful and relational space. Children do what many adults would consider unnecessary actions all day long. They take a long time to tie and untie their shoes, they stack blocks, knock them down, stack them again. They tell wild stories, finding truth and excitement inside of them. We will look for this playful side of ourselves and start to locate the underlying reasons for and subsequent results of our actions. How can we stay in playful ‘unnecessary’ action that doesn’t cause harm? And can we start to widen what we might consider necessary or unnecessary as we interact with the human and more than human? To quote Overlie, “Doing the Unnecessary strips away habitual and partial awareness, putting the artist into direct contact with the nature of life, anima, soul, and inner self.”
After a brief perceptual warm-up, we will spend a considerable amount of time with this prompt, pause for discussion and then repeat. I will give this workshop alone and the participants can be in an outside space with some sense of boundary – walls, paths, or other markers. Most likely I will be on the other side of the computer in New York, so a speaker and monitor would be helpful. If this is impossible outside, working inside is a great alternative.
About Deborah:
Deborah Black is a dancer, theatre maker, writer, and teacher. She has performed in the work of Deborah Hay, Mary Overlie, Susan Rethorst, and Ann Hamilton. While living in Rotterdam (NL) from 2013-16, she created and toured with the Tuning People (BE) and Ymist Company (NO). She is currently researching the space between the body and language with poets Alyson Hallett (UK) and Scott Thurston (UK) and recently completed her first chapbook.
Deborah taught theatre and dance at the Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Tilburg (NL) for three years. She led guest and master classes at Goldsmith’s University London, NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing, Drama Studio London, Capilano University, Ohio University, Skidmore College, Rowan University, James Madison University, University of South Florida, as well as private workshops in New York City and all across Europe. She has taught Mary Overlie’s Six Viewpoints on-line since January 2018 and is now co-steward of Mary Overlie’s Legacy Project and co-director of the forthcoming Six Viewpoints Institute.
Website: http://www.deborahblack.net
