4. Modes of Leadership

In the Deep Blue Sea

We began, of all places, in the ocean. To explore the experience of all together together we started by thinking about nature. What species do we know of that move all together together? The image that came to mind was a school of fish. Somehow, each fish is a separate organism, but as an adaptive and protective mechanism, the fish are able to sync up with one another and create almost a super-fish. How, we wondered, are fish able to remain separate, yet become so intimately connected that they move as one being? Further, how could we get a feeling for this experience through the body? Here's where our brainstorming goes wild!

One Fish Two Fish...School of Fish

For an idea we didn't end up going with, we spent a lot of time brainstorming, so we wanted to include all of that here.After spending some time excitedly browsing through YouTube videos watching swimming schools of fish, we
thought about how we could take this idea into the Minyan. Our first thought was to warm up with a spacial awareness exercise taken from clowning workshops that Adam had done. We would ask participants to find an object to interact with and then to explore how many different ways they could move around this object. The purpose would be to get into the body and play with a sense of curiosity. Then, our questions was how to get the feeling of what it would be like to be so intimately connected to others in the room that we could move together without speaking or choreographing before hand, like the fish. Our imaginations went to the idea of having a ball of yarn serve as the connective mechanism, linking us all. We would start with one person holding the ball of yarn. She would then throw it until it goes all the way around the circle and everyone is wrapped together by the string. Our idea was that each time the ball is thrown, the person who catches it would answers: what quality of a school of fish can I embody. The guidelines would be to stay connected by string without talking.

Why Pray Together?

The prompts we were going to use were:

Can you gain something from sensing your neighbor's movement?

How does your movement change when connected to the group?

What does it feel like to be part of a larger whole in this way?

Fish swim in schools in order to confuse and evade their predators, some say we pray in groups because a minyan helps raise our voices up to Gd. In what other ways does prayer in groups together together serves us? What does it say theologically?

Or...blindfolded?

We were also interested in experimenting with how we may be able to feel more togetherness when vision is taken out and the connection is just sensed. Our idea was to have pairs in which one person is blindfolded play with moving together. The thought was that our biofeedback mechanism is little about vision and mostly about sensing through the body. For this exercise we would need some kind of prompt for how to move as a group, like going from point a to point b without vision.

Togetherness

In the end we came up with something completely different to play with "together together." See movement outline below.

Outline

I. Theme and Frame

Tefilat yachid and tefilat tzibbur - modes of leading and following

a) In what ways do these modes appear in tefilah?

b) Why are they a part of tefilah, what purpose do they serve?

c) What does it express (re: relationship w/God, etc)?

II. Kavanah

Experiencing arc of shacharit through movement. Review for those who were here first two sessions of semester: going from "follow the leader" paradigm, to "call and response" paradigm to "everyone together" paradigm(s) - both "alone" and "together." Will end with Shema on David's cue, and gather back in circle for reflection.

III. Warm Up

Kavannah: Explore the role of leader and the role of follower/community. How do you feel when you're leading versus when you are following?

Movement: 10 min (3 per partner): guided by point of contact - elbow touching exercise (short demo)

IV. Physical Practice (30 min)

Kavanah: Explore the role of caller and the responder (as a way into "everyone together"): How do you feel when you're calling versus when you are responding?

Guiding Questions:

1. As we begin to move as group, is there a way to find individual movement in group?

2. Is there a way to totally become part of group?

3. How does it feel to move together? Is it freeing? Limiting?

Movement:

1. One person is "caller" - holds different positions and other person is "responder" (short demo): can explore from a distance, or with contact as each pair is comfortable: above, under, behind, through, around, etc.

2. Indicate when the "caller" should change positions

3. People prompted to switch roles after they are comfortable in these roles (10 minutes total - 5 min each partner)

4. Two partners switch roles over smaller intervals until there is improvisational flow/no "roles" (10 min total- 2-3 minutes, then 1 minute)

5. Pairs join into groups of 4 and then groups of 4 join into group of 8, until everyone "together"; within group movement can find you own dance, or explore group's dance (10 minutes)

*prompt David to prompt the Shema

V. Tefilah (2 min)

David weaves in some of the words of the Shema into his music. He then stops the music, everyone stops moving, and he "prompts" people to recite just the 6 words of Shema together.

VI. Closing Reflection (10 min)

Did anything in these exercise mirror for you a leading/following yachid/tzibbur dynamic from tefilah? How so and what did it feel like?

What are your overall reflections on your experience in the Movement Minyan?

VII. Hand Closing (1 min)