Harvest Freiburg, Germany

2012 global UnderScore harvest Freiburg i.Br., Germany

A short very personal preamble from me, ines. I was facilitating the global UnderScore in Freiburg, Germany. I came home happy and tired, nourished from a full day of dancing, when a friend called, telling me that my long-time and very dear friend Rainer passed away the night before.

The dancing slipped to the background immediately.

Rainer was 49, in the middle of a good life, dying an unbelievingly sudden death.

A memory popped up: i recalled the global underscore solstice on June, 23^rd, 2007, when we satellited in Berlin, meeting with what we call our “chosen family” (mutual friend Karen Schaffman being part of it). We small danced, baked and savoured pizza that night (grazing with the ingredients and engaging with the end product and us being together… hmmmm…)

So tonight, from 2:30 til it got light out around 5:00, I skyped with Karen, who lives in California. We cried until we started laughing, sharing photos and quotes and memories of Rainer. I’m so sad.

We started the afternoon with transitioning from the UnderScore day jam (that we hosted for the sixth time) to the global event. Some people left, some joined those who stayed. We were 13 then. There was some confusion about the directions to face (while the drawing suggested a north-south progression, we faced east and west and both sites, Donnersbach and Munich are in the east …) oh well, we decided to let go. Also about the confusion that  had turned Freiburg to Freiberg (which is somewhere else but in the Black Forest…) and led to the announcement that “FREIBURG HAS MOVED!!!” – big laughter.

It was an afternoon full of sun, wild and quiet dances at the same time, a huge variety of whole group compositions, of fun and community.

Here’s what Jenny scribbled down during the sharing:

Everybody enjoying strawberries (“Thanksgiving”…? Well… thanks for giving the strawberries ;-))

Michael: I found out, that I would like to create a bodily Underscore (filling the skeleton of the underscore structure with physical details)

Alyssa: I have the “want-to-do-everything-at-the-same-time-syndrome”. In the Underscore I have the feeling, I CAN do a lot of things at the same time. Also it is a practice of letting go of judgments.

Ines: I was able to go into a deep investigation about weight transfer and small physical changes. I could let go of taking care of the whole composition, because I new the others would do so and I would still be part of it.

Anir: At one point I had the image of different kinds of weather conditions. “Are we still in the same thunderstorm?” Image of “thunderstore.” Image of 18^th century (Response of someone in the group  > maybe that’s because you hit your head on the window before… laughter… )

Jenny: I enjoyed to find myself energetic though I was really tired and I finally found a real rest. I feel much calmer inside now and yet more fresh.

Ines: I was amazed about how much knowledge we have about the moving body. Like a gardener or a chess player… to have quite a precise idea about what will happen when we start something. (e.g. joints, momentum, inertia etc.)

Simon: It felt like traveling far away. Long but joyful journey

Zina: Sharing space and movement.

Conny: It took me some time to arrive, maybe an hour or more. this time these things (bonding with the earth etc…) didn’t help me. But I pushed the idiot button. That always helps.

Anir: The whole space was in a kind of idiot button for an hour.

Zina: Normally if I don’t like something, I cut something off. Today I could stay with it easier.

Alyssa: I have done the underscore before, but never the global underscore. It is really powerful to me to see all these names of people I know… 

23.6.2012, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, 19:35

Global Underscore Harvest: Madison, WI, USA

Our group was small, only 8 people. We were: Rek Kwawer, Hildy Feen, Kim Lasdon, Richard Aviles, Ellen, Heather Good, Mars Miquelon, and Luv Joy Seamon.

Our location was the Center for Conscious Living, which is a dance and music church. It has a beautiful wooden floor, very smooth, big windows, and lovely artwork, plus a kitchen area that we were able to use to display the global maps and lists of participants. It is in an old industrial building, and the space used to be a bakery, and still has a large cooler as a closet. For many of us, it was the first time in the space.

We began at 8:30 in the morning, and in our opening gathering, many people commented that morning is not their prime time of day, or that they have not been sleeping well.

We had two sets of posters of the Underscore, big and small. We posted the list of sites, and the directions we would be facing (towards Buffalo and Montreal), and had a computer open for real-time harvest.

Here is the real-time harvest:

Stand. Facing someone, who is facing someone else, and feel those who are facing you across the miles. All of us bonding with the same earth.

Skinesphere: the global nap.

Sirens and stomping.

In the silence between the air conditioner running, I can’t hear anyone else, so I go back into the earth.

Hugging with the body.

Love the idiot button, but my monkey mind disagrees

Snacking after resolution, considering & holding love for other places around the globe.

Here is the harvest from our sharing and thanksgiving:

Mars: I had a sensation, not even totally on my own, a time of stillness, this image that we were witnessing some other dance that was going on in some completely other place.

Heather: I had a similar moment, where there were ebbs and flows. It was a relatively quiet and still, and I had an image of another jam somewhere else with all this energy, people running and leaping. Between all of us, we have all the states of being covered.

Luv: Had an interesting moment, rolling on the group, realizing my mind was creating an image of where I was going to go, and in the same moment, I wasn’t going there.

Ellen: When we were standing, I had this thought of all of the people standing, and we’re all facing each other’s backs, and in the middle of my upper back, there was an oval of warmth. Had a hard time getting out of my head, started to berate myself for being so inside my head. I had to go into a different place to find the pause and be okay in that pause, and realized that there are probably a whole lot of people all over the world feeling the same way. Was able to let go.

Mars: Had some of the same thoughts.

Heather: Really nice transition from small dance, feeling very tired and uncomfortable, and then a relief of being on the ground. Had a gradual realization of where I was, sensing that we had all laid on the floor for however long that was, and feeling the whole room gradually get into moving.

Kim: Felt a deep permission in the initial phases to just fall asleep and come into the space whenever I wanted. Didn’t have to do anything, could just give my brain permission to do its monkey mind thing. Pleasure in dancing with people I’ve danced with so many times over so many years.

Luv: Felt a sense of “oh, I’m doing something now. I didn’t know I was doing something, and we’re all doing something”

Rek: Felt like we were all really going through the progression together, at the same pace. Not used to that, usually more individual variation. At the same time, never a point when it felt like we were all dancing.

Heather: I think this is the smallest underscore I’ve ever done (a lot of us nod).

Ellen: I knew, coming in, that there would be a sense of comfort, so when I knew my mind was being noisy, I had trust all around me.

Thank you to our global dance companions, especially those in Buffalo and Montreal who held us so nicely, and our satellite sites that were facing with us! We felt your energy and presence, and appreciated it deeply.

Here are some pictures of the space:

  These chairs became frequent dance partners in our practice.

Global Underscore Harvest 2012 Berlin

Berlin 23.6.2012
Just a few people had inscribed beforehand for the Global Underscore. So I didn´t know if we would be just a few people. At 15 o`clock the room in Tanzfabrik where also the normal saturday night jam is happening startet to fill up with people. At 15h40 we made a big circle with around 40 people, some had travelled from Hamburg, we had guest came from Finland; Argentina, Spain.
From the beginning on there was quiet a lot of energy in the room, a lot of movement happening. I felt the dancing moved than in waves towards more internal dances to again more energetic dances. For a time sounds were coming out of the movement, creating a music and sound space to the dance....
Me and other felt the small dances very powerful, transferring like an energetic wave -  the connection to the other people in the world, knowing we are all together dancing and connecting through the dance.
Although I had placed the computer in the space and blank papers, the focus was very much into the dancing, so that we all forgot about the technology part, so that is why I am describing briefly about our experience. I hope I will get some more notes and fotos to put in the blog later.
Thank you so much to dance with all of you together.
Heike Kuhlmann

A Wee Underscore: Ireland Satellite

I don't speak Gaelic, but the Underscore goes on in Ireland

Monroe's Tavern Gave Me A Wee Private Space  THANKS!

On the other side of the wall: beer drinkers having a good time

First I faced East

The UNDERSCORE!

 Underscore Harvest from Sue Lauther in Ireland:

Since it was rainy, cold, windy, I looked for a place: cathedral, city theater, art center, yoga center; and finally Monroe’s Tavern let me use the private party room they had on the side.  What a perfect place—a pub for dancing in Ireland!

Harvest:

Les, the witness, with Marilyn Monroe

·      TIME: It was my first 2½-hour solo and I felt clearly the Underscore and how much it makes sense--even alone. 

·      PEOPLE: I was aware of the bartenders in the next room and wondered if suddenly they came in, if I could avoid shocking them by being in some strange place/position.  I didn’t want to be kicked out.  Also, sweetie Les was a witness/sleeper/recorder in the room.

Dancing in the Pub

·      ENERGY: More than ever, I became more aware of the ebb and flow of activity.  A very quiet and listening chunk of time  followed and preceded a surge of activity.  Always something comes—improvisation is a miracle of faith.  Part of what we learn is that we sometimes have to wait long enough to find out that the miracle comes every time.

·      DISCOVERY: I explored my “furniture” partners, and thought that maybe peoples’ habits ARE form; like a stool who can’t tip over one leg without extra force—tipping between the legs requires less energy.

·      SPACE: In this place I felt quiet and sneaky; out there were beer drinkers exploding in joyous outbursts.

Ending small dance in the rain on the way home

a little global pre-harvest...

"WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE! WE MADE HISTORY, FIRST TO CONDUCT GLOBAL
UNDERSCORE CI IN AFRICAN CONTINENT. LOOK FOWARD FOR THE NEXT 12 EDITION IN
2013. THANK YOU FOR GIVING US AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE THIS WONDERFUL
EXPERIENCE.I WILL POST PHOTOS & SHORT VIDEO OF THE GLOBAL UNDERSCORE
EKURHULENI SITE, SOUTH AFRICA LATER TODAY. THANK U VERY MUCH"


- from Lucky Kele in Johannesburg, South Africa

"The bell is STILL ringing at the enormous roman cathedral in Chichester. It was suppose to be raining and gusty today but instead I woke naturally before my alarm to a sunny sunrise with 3 bright streaks of orange.

Mike just walked in with a breakfast snack before we head over to the university. A small "Innocent" pure fruit smoothie bottle has the image of a circle with two dots (eyes) and a halo circle above it. It is kiwis, apples & limes. Yum! So many angelic supports this morning.

Now I'll have a swig of my angelic smoothie, check my lists, and we'll head out the door.

I may be able to connect again via internet at the school, but if not, we will all be with you with our hearts open, dancing with gratitude and delight.

Thank you again for your deep exertion, service, and pleasure in dancing in the Underscore; we all rejoice,

xxox Nancy (and Mike)"

- From NSS in Chichester, UK

"Dear Underscorers.

Thank you for all the precious hours spent on organizing all the maps and lists and informing us about all the changes.

All that is left to be said is

LET’S DANCE…"

- From Ewa Switon i Marta Grabowska in Wroclaw Poland

Final Notes for Global Underscore 2012

Dear Global Underscore Facilitators,


The time has almost arrived for us all to be dancing together! Here are a few last details, tips and reminders to help make your practice complete. There's a lot of words in this email, but we promise it's worth the read. The whole thing should take you less than 10 minutes.

This year we are made up of approximately 70 sites (there are some who didn't register by the time of this email who will join us) in 62 cities on 6 continents and 1 virtual reality. We are really excited to be a part of such a mobilization, for surely there are hundreds of us if not thousands who will participate. To connect with each other in our individual practices, we will be creating a continuous circle around the globe connecting by facing each other in our simultaneous Small Dances. Brandin drew a brilliant image to give us all a visual of how this will work.

The map shows a virtual ribbon that begins with the northernmost site on the western hemisphere, Vashon Island, and runs south, darting across the land back and forth until it passes through the southernmost site, Bolsón, then on over the bottom of the planet toward Sydney, the southernmost site of the eastern hemisphere. The ribbon runs back up the eastern hemisphere, zigzagging to connect the cities along it as it runs northward to Karelia, the northernmost site of the eastern hemisphere, which faces north to look over the planet back toward Vashon Island.


The second standing reverses the direction of this ribbon as the Underscore participants face in the opposite direction along it.

WHERE TO FACE: Full Practices and Modified Score Jams: For the first standing, face the city after yours on the list, skipping satellite sites (labeled “SAT”).
For the second standing, face the city before yours on the list, skipping satellite sites.
Satellites: Face non-satellite sites either after or before yours on the list.
(Note: this is city-by-city. If there are multiple locations in one site, you will all face the next city listed.)

First find your city on the list below.

Latitude / Longitude

x°, y', z" / a°, b', c"

Senses Places Koru Island (SAT)

virtual space online

Koensaari Island, Karelia, Russia

63, 0, 54 N / 33, 8, 5 E

Lasqueti Island, British Columbia, Canada (SAT)

49, 29, 3 N / 124, 17, 28 W

Vashon Island, Washington, USA

47, 24, 34 N / 122, 28, 32 W

Chertsey, Quebec, Canada (SAT)

46, 4, 13 N / 73, 53, 39 W

Bozeman, Montana, USA (SAT)

45, 40, 46 N / 111, 3, 39 W

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

45, 29, 55 N / 73, 33, 52 W

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (SAT)

44, 57, 58 N / 93, 16, 26 W

Honeywood, Ontario, Canada (SAT)

43, 48, 14 N / 16, 20, 52 W

Madison, Wisconsin, USA

43, 3, 39 N / 89, 24, 24 W

Buffalo, New York, USA

42, 52, 48 N / 78, 52, 55 W

Deerfield, Massachusetts, USA

42, 32, 36 N / 72, 36, 14 W

Chicago, Illinois, USA

41, 50, 13 N / 87, 37, 37 W

New London, Connecticut, USA

41, 20, 53 N / 72, 6, 32 W

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

40, 44, 50 N / 111, 54, 24 W

New York, New York, USA

40, 43, 35 N / 73, 59, 49 W

Boulder, Colorado, USA

40, 0, 24, N / 105, 15, 6 W

San Francisco, California, USA (SAT)

37, 45, 12 N / 122, 27, 13 W

Morelia, Mihoacan, Mexico (SAT)

19, 41, 21 N / 101, 11, 22 W

Kingston, Jamacia (SAT)

17, 59, 59 N / 76, 48, 44 W

Brasilia, DF, Brasil

15, 47, 32 S / 47, 57, 59 W

Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

19, 55, 18 S / 43, 56, 23 W

Campinas, SP, Brasil (SAT)

22, 55, 5 S / 47, 3, 56 W

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil

22, 57, 30 S / 43, 11, 54 W

Sao Paulo, SP, Brasil

23, 33, 14 S / 46, 38, 33 W

Jaraguá do Sul, SC, Brasil

26, 31, 11 S / 49, 5, 52 W

Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

27, 36, 20 S / 48, 34, 14 W

Rosario, Argentina

31, 38, 5 S / 60, 42, 38 W

Buenos Aires, Argentina

34, 42, 20 S / 58, 21, 34 W

Montevideo, Uruguay

34, 53, 17 S / 56, 10, 48 W

Quequen, Necochea, Argentina

38, 34, 11 S / 58, 42, 49 W

Bolsón, Argentina

41, 59, 2 S / 71, 32, 5 W

Sydney, Australia

33, 54, 25 S / 151, 10, 19 E

North Perth, Australia

31, 57, 25 S / 115, 51, 3 E

Tel Aviv, Israel

31, 3, 50 N / 34, 46, 18 E

Istanbul, Turkey

40, 59, 55 N / 28, 57, 56 E

Barcelona, Spain (SAT)

41, 23, 6 N / 2, 9, 52 E

Arezzo, Italy

43, 27, 39 N / 11, 51, 15 E

Barnave, France

44, 39, 11 N / 5, 7, 50 E

Bordeaux, France (SAT)

44, 49, 57 N / 0, 34, 56 W

Geneva, Switzerland (SAT)

46, 11, 56 N / 6, 8, 49 E

Borg en Bresse, France

46, 12, 8 N / 5, 13, 36 E

Murten, Switzerland (SAT)

46, 55, 26 N / 7, 7, 14 E

Bern, Switzerland

46, 56, 56 N / 7, 26, 28 E

Donnersbach, Austria

47, 27, 28 N / 14, 7, 52 E

***Freiburg, Germany 

47, 59, 50 N / 7, 51, 00 E

Munich, Germany (SAT)

48, 7, 59 N / 11, 34, 27 E

Vienna, Austria (SAT)

48, 12, 56 N / 16, 22, 38 E

Stuttgart, Germany

48, 45, 58 N / 9, 10, 35 E

Paris, France

48, 50, 9 N / 2, 19, 45 E

Engelthal, Germany

49, 26, 22 N / 11, 30, 10 E

Wuerzberg, Germany

49, 47, 18 N / 9, 57, 53 E

Bonn, Germany (SAT)

50, 43, 21 N / 7, 5, 50 E

Chichester, United Kingdom

50, 50, 15 N / 0, 46, 30 W

Brussels, Belgium

50, 51, 51 N / 4, 21, 2 E

***

Wroclaw, Poland (SAT)

51, 6, 25 N / 17, 2, 3 E

Berlin, Germany

52, 29, 46 N / 13, 22, 53 E

Galway, Ireland (SAT)

53, 16, 30 N / 9, 2, 40 W

Leeds, United Kingdom

53, 57, 54 N / 1, 32, 53 W

St Peter Ording, Germany

54, 18, 36 N / 8, 37, 5 E

Novosibirsk, Russia

55, 1, 18 N / 82, 55, 29 W

Moscow, Russia

55, 44, 22 N / 37, 36, 42 E

Stockholm, Sweden

59, 19, 41 N / 18, 4, 0 E

St Petersburg, Russia

59, 57, 58 N / 30, 21, 58 E

Koensaari Island, Karelia, Russia

63, 0, 54 N / 33, 8, 5 E

Lasqueti Island, British Columbia, Canada (SAT)

49, 29, 3 N / 124, 17, 28 W

Vashon Island, Washington, USA

47, 24, 34 N / 122, 28, 32 W

------ 

BLOG

On the blog you will find two new pages: 2012 World Map and 2012 Participants & Spaces. Look at and print out the color coded lists and maps on these pages and share them with your participants on Saturday.

REMINDERS:

1) If you are planning to use the live blog or video stream during the Underscore, be sure to join dance-tech.net in advance and send Marlon the embedding code for your ustream channel. Check the blog for full details and instructions about the technology.


2) Timing for the Global Underscore is as follows:
00:00 start time
00:45 preambulation
00:50 opening 5 min global small dance, facing east according to the map
03:55 closing global small dance, facing west according to the map
04:00 closing
(Note: you can start preambulating or small dancing earlier than specified, as long as you’re doing it at the appointed time.)

3) Here are the tips from our last email. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with these tips in case any of them will be helpful in making your practice flow smoothly. As there will be many individual sites practicing all over the world, it’s useful for all of us to use the same schedule and structure.  Within that structure each facilitator is encouraged to create an experience that works for the people in their local group.  That means different things for different people, and we’ll give some examples that we hope will be helpful to think about.
Tips for setup:

• Give yourself plenty of time for setup so you don’t have to rush, either in organizing or in preparing on the day of.

• Have a compass with you to help you figure out which direction to face in order to create the global ring of linked Small Dances.

• Post a written Underscore on the wall along with the Global Underscore schedule.  

• Post a World Map so everyone can have a visual of what we’re creating together. You can find this map on the blog here.

• Post the List of Participants so everyone can see who else is participating. You can find this list on the blog here.

Tips for orienting the group:

• Be clear with your whole group about timing.  This could mean posting the schedule and a clock, or just discussing it during the Pow-Wow and coming up with agreements about how these transitions will be made: whatever works so that your site can be aware of and stick to the world timing without it being a distraction from your dancing.

• Build in enough time after your final resolution for reflection and ample harvest time so you don’t feel rushed to get to the closing small dance.

• Use a bell of some kind to signal the end of the closing global small dance.
  *Clarification: the final small dance happens AFTER you have had your final resolution, reflection and harvest. Once you have finished sharing in the circle, you stand and preambulate a bit (if you choose), then at the appointed time, go into your final small dance facing the appropriate direction.

• Create some kind of closing after the final global small dance so there’s a clear end to the Underscore. A sound? A few claps? You can make up your own thing.

Tips during the Underscore

• Organize a way of “collecting” the Harvest during the Sharing so it can be posted on the blog. This could be in the form of words, photos or video.

• Have fruit or simple snacks available to pass around during the Sharing (usually very pleasant after 3+ hours of Underscore).

“See” you on the dance floor!

Underscore NYC

find us on Facebook!

http://globalunderscore.blogspot.com

love from Mark, Rebecca, Jesse and Brandin