Third Week

THIRD MEETING

Thank you again to the great help and participation from everyone on Saturday, 03.03.2012, our last meeting. Saw some new faces and some old faces, and as always, very much enjoyed learning something new from each person!

03.03.2012

We began with a brief overview of our goals and aims, of our revised timeline, discussed favorite movements from the week previous ("What were your favorite movements and why?") that segued into a discussion what ideas the group wanted to share through the dance, and finished our introductory section with a few warmup exercises. We then worked on putting together the different movement phrases we had come up with in the last two weeks. See below for revised timeline, summary of discussion, details on warmup exercises, and more on putting together the movements.

1. Discussion
Q: "What were your favorite movements and why?"
A: Many participants mentioned that they enjoyed the partner work because it allowed them to explore movements, develop relationships with different people they didn't know, and fostered a feeling of "this dance is more for us than the observer." One participant asked "Isn't the ideal dance one where everyone feels like they're participating and the observer is a part of it too?" From these answers, the group concluded that they would like to experiment with how different formations can help foster the feeling of inclusion in the dance.

Q: "How can we share the feeling and idea of community with fellow students in Afghanistan and with observers?"
A: The group revisited the idea of partner work, changing partners, and decided that the dance would face different directions at different times under the premise that there was no specific audience and that it was more a dance with each other than for the audience.

2. Timeline Revision
Tentative revised performance date will be at the end of April or beginning of May (Saturday or Sunday). Following this revision, a revised weekly schedule until the performance date (precise date to be determined shortly).

• March 3, 2012 – Finalize American dance section.
• March 10-17, 2012 (2 weeks) – Aim to work with AFCECO to develop curriculum for Afghan dance section compilation if possible.
• March 24-31, 2012 (2 weeks) – Aim to work on compilation of Afghan dance section; US may continue working on American dance section if necessary; receive Afghan section by a tentative date of 04.04.2012; NDI's facilitators jointly compile Afghan-American dance.
• April 7-21, 2012 (3 weeks) – Joint Afghan-American rehearsals take place OR filming of video takes place
• Performance!

3. Warmup Exercises

All participants present stood and walked briskly around the space, exploring the size and shape of the space. All participants were then asked to move in only half the space and to shake hands with every person they walked by. Participants were then asked to move more quickly and then to move backwards at a relatively brisk (but safe!) pace. Participants were consequently asked to walk forwards again quickly in just a quarter of the initial space given, then an eighth of the initial space given, and finally participants were asked to jog through the space for a short while before finding a way to slide to  laying down on the floor. Participants rested laying down for several moments before finding a way to sitting in a circle.

All participants sitting in the circle were asked to experiment with the idea of shaking hands in the following ways:

• Directive to shake hands with the people next to them.
• Directive to shake hand with the people directly across from them,
• Directive to shake hands diagonally across with them.

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Participants were asked to do the same exercise, but this time facing outwards (as opposed to sitting facing the center of the circle, participants sat facing the outside of the circle and shook hands "backwards"). Participants were then asked to shake "hands" with feet instead of hands, and we learned that feet can be a topic of discomfort, so chose to shake "hands" with elbows instead in the same pattern as the initial round of handshakes.

4. Working with Movement

We took time to review the movements from the weeks previous and to teach each other any parts we had forgotten or hadn't learned yet (for those joining the group for the first time or those that had not been present during the first week). We then put all the phrases together to come up with 45 seconds of movement! We tried a few different songs, and found that we enjoyed dancing to "Waving Flag" by K'naan.

5. Summative Discussion

In keeping with a common theme of food.

We discussed today's events, what we enjoyed and didn't, and about the idea of what music we would use. We are looking to pursue composition of a joint Afghan-American song to accompany the dance, or are entertaining the idea of using a heartbeat as the soundtrack to the dance because the universality of the sound. While chatting, we ate a concluding snack of ginger-snap cookies and chocolate-vanilla sandwich cookies (returning to the theme of food!).

Afterwards:

After the conclusion of the formal session, one participant volunteered to teach any interested participants Afghanistan's national dance, the "Attan." Three members and NDI's facilitator stayed to learn the Pashtun version of the dance. Thank you for the chance to learn a new dance!

Check out the link to see the Attan performed by George Mason University's Afghan Student Union: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVt3kxzaX44

And a performance of the Attan at an International Student's Day in Bangalore, India: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6seI4P3zgUQ&feature=related