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Newsletter 1/2004
Movements seminar in Steyerberg
a review by Mathias Pongracz, Vienna
Steyerberg is an enchanting place. The woods behind the houses
have a very light and playful quality. Although I did
not know the majority of the people
in the
movements group, it didn’t take much to feel at home. Why? - am I wondering...
What was it?
Maybe this: The dedication and motivation of
the persons in the group to be present and to achieve what
is hard to achieve: namely the performance of a number of
movements as one single, whole body instead of many different
individual bodies, this dedication really got me. Then
the humbleness about the shortcomings, mistakes and imperfections,
that is to say the attitude of not hiding them and admitting
the difficulties; that was certainly another reason that
I felt I could join the dance even though I am a beginner.
Of
course I realized more than once how hard it is to keep
my attention focused for more than a few minutes and
and especially to make my feet
stamp the correct rhythm at the right time.
Again and again I stumbled over my strong, ongoing tendency
of wanting to withdraw, to go blank, to switch into a sleeping
mode.
So much numbness, so painful, so hard to look at.
But thanks to the humor of the people around me, I continued
to hang in there, no matter how bad or how wrong my steps
were....
One of the reasons for feeling at home or better
non-reasons for it was the big emotional heart, that was
awoken and invited in the group by Wim's personal sharing
of his feelings and his experience of the movement or of
the dance that we were just learning. Wim shared it with
us with his words and his expressions, with the piano,
and Christiane physically, when showing
the gestures.
Something touched me, and that was deeply
moving.... So it came about that there were moments that
I was just a body within a group of bodies. A few moments
that I felt in contact with this organism with legs and arms.
And I felt that I was really inside of it.... And this feeling
had a taste of "Gewissheit", doubtlessness and
freedom....
Anyway, time went by quite quickly, and at
the end, when we were shown a video of our performance,
I could not believe, that
I had been in it...
So impressed
I was by the quality of its manifestation. Strangely alive.
Wunderbar wirklich. The experience left an imprint that
glows in the dark. It could lead me, like a horse that
knows its way home , even when it has snowed, and when
there is no trace left of the right way to take.
Sincerely yours,
Mathias
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