Brainstorm
After a long discussion around whether or not to continue our exploration of the choreography associated with "Baruch Atah YHVH," we decided that our initial session on choreogrpahy was a great starting place, but we were excited to take our inquiry in slightly different direction. Our goal became to work with the journey the blessing formula takes us through. This means delving into the move from directionality to no directionality, from groundedness to lack of groundedness, from movement where I am being held to movement where I am not being held, from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Our plan is spend the rest of the semester experiencing the arc of these words. Our first two sessions will be on this move from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Bring in the next part of the blessing formula "Eloheinu Melech haOlam," our third session will explore the move from the unfamiliar (YHVH) to the communal (Eloheinu). Finally, our fourth session will play with the entire phrase: familiar (Baruch Atah) to the unfamiliar (YHVH) to the communal (Eloheniu).
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
2. Why Pray?
Brainstorm
As we began to envision what this semester could look like, we talked about using previous forms, possibility of keva movement minyan. As our discussion continued we ended up moving away from this idea and towards a focus on our relationship to Gd and how that gets expressed through prayer. Adam brought up a Hasidic teaching that says that when a person prays, she should be so engrossed and passionate and intent that even the first letter, the bet of baruch, can hardly make it out of her mouth. We became interested in exploring the blessing formula "Baruch Atah YHVH" that we say so many times every day. As we began to delve into these words we started by writing the words of the blessing formula on the board, each in its own separate space. We thought about qualities of each of the words and the transitions between them. When we were done, we underlined physical qualities that we had put under each of the words so that we might more easily bring the language of movement into our brainstorm.
As we began to envision what this semester could look like, we talked about using previous forms, possibility of keva movement minyan. As our discussion continued we ended up moving away from this idea and towards a focus on our relationship to Gd and how that gets expressed through prayer. Adam brought up a Hasidic teaching that says that when a person prays, she should be so engrossed and passionate and intent that even the first letter, the bet of baruch, can hardly make it out of her mouth. We became interested in exploring the blessing formula "Baruch Atah YHVH" that we say so many times every day. As we began to delve into these words we started by writing the words of the blessing formula on the board, each in its own separate space. We thought about qualities of each of the words and the transitions between them. When we were done, we underlined physical qualities that we had put under each of the words so that we might more easily bring the language of movement into our brainstorm.
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