Beginning to Rehearse

FOURTH WEEK (continued)

After Monday's adventure of filming the Afghan-American dance we compiled in the short space of 26 hours, we had our first rehearsal!

03.24.2012

This weekend's rehearsal was the first time the rest of the group got a chance to work on learning the compiled Afghan-American dance together. It was the first time we saw each other since returning from a week-long break (many individuals had a school break and were traveling, so no rehearsal was held). Some individuals expressed a desire to perform and some preferred just to participate in learning the dance, but did not feel comfortable with the idea of performing. The activities we worked on were as follows.

1. Warmup Exercises

We began with a short series of warm-up exercise to regain some energy as the group's energy was somewhat low to begin with. We did some stretches and improvisational exercises across the space, including,

• Moving across the floor initiated by different parts of the body (i.e. hand, leg, hips, and head).

The response to this exercise was varied. In moving across the floor with hips and head, participants were encouraged to explore as many different movement possibilities as possible after watching the facilitator demonstrate. A sample demonstration of the exercise included the facilitator falling, rolling, and crawling, exploring movements that are often conceptualized as embarrassing or foolish. Each participant explored the exercise differently and with a mix of perspectives.

2. Rehearsal of the Afghan-American Dance

We worked on learning the first section of the Afghan-American dance, some movements of which the participants knew and recognized from their contributions, and others of which were knew to them. It was interesting to explore blending Afghani dance movements and American dances movements together.

From a choreographer’s perspective, it was an adventure to work with space, different bodies, people who had a lot of dance experience, and people who didn’t have a lot of dance experience. As always, I am learning immensely from all of the participants in the project, and am grateful for their willingness to share themselves and their perspectives.

As we get closer to the date of performance (April 21^st), my principal concern is that a location for the greater celebration has not yet been confirmed, but I look forward to the dancers being able to work in a different space and to the arrangement of a musical piece by a student in Washington who expressed an interest in participating.

FIFTH WEEK

03.31.2012

This week was our second rehearsal learning the compiled Afghan-American dance. We held our rehearsal at a different time than usual (one hour delayed) because I was presenting research on Afghan education systems during our usual rehearsal period. Whether because of the time change of the rehearsal or because of other reasons, only two individuals were able to attend, and one for the duration of the entire two hours, Though admittedly discouraged at first, I was delighted to have had the opportunity to rehearse individually with the participant who was able to stay. We were able to try different things and really focus on the technical aspects of the dance. By the end our legs had certainly gotten a good amount of exercise from all the squatting practice from the Pubjab section of the dance!

As a facilitator, it certainly is a learning experience in coming to realize the challenge in organizing meetings with many people when we all have very different schedules. I look forward to next week’s adventure and continuing to learn from the participants that make this project possible!