BOWING Back Rehearsals

We knew we wanted to talk about comfort and discomfort, meditate, and cast over Odemira a voice and the body of a multicultural crowd. We wanted to reach a place where one is welcome and who we are contributes to everything that happens. Meditation is a common practice in many Eastern countries. That's where we started. We worked hard for two and a half months. In every rehearsal, we warmed up the body and voice and then delved into the topics we wanted to explore: Some would invent small stories to transform into performative dreams. Others began teaching their favourite dances from their countries of origin. These dances were deconstructed, both choreographically and dramaturgically, to be reconfigured in the light of a subliminal and subtle intersection. Some created solos on paper, others with rules, and still others about the pleasure of dancing, as in Bollywood. Some experimented with making and folding giant samosas with carpets on the floor. Many rehearsal moments were about sharing between performers and participants, teaching them, for example, the language of physical touch and the transposition of body weight to trigger movement in duets. Many hours were dedicated to building movement patterns invented and created first and then passed on to the whole group to be perfected effectively in each body. In other rehearsals, the elements of the Asian cast took on the role of teaching and passing on their dances to Western performers. These were fantastic moments of sharing and reversing roles. Rehearsals were construction workshops, which also always had moments of writing, reading, and selecting images that could feed what was being created. The music was composed in phases of improvisation and a lot of repetition of the best musical moments for the best choreographic moments. Once that choice was made, we entered the realm of more detailed rewriting and fixation of material to be repeated and appropriated by each. The performance would be a kaleidoscope of atmospheres and compositions that changed from one space in the village to another. So rehearsals were never just one, but multiple experiences within a larger rehearsal. Initially, we worked in the village of Brejão with the core performers. On certain days of the week, we met with the larger group to try out what had been found and with specific requests for help regarding the cultures of each participant. Everything was constantly changing and reshaping. We always had fun.