Chaos/Juggling curve ball..question

[Phelim McDermott]

Dear Marty,,

Thanks so much for your response to my juggling question. Sorry i  
didn't reply sooner.. please blame it on the opening of our new show  
this week "The Wolves in Walls" (a children's book about chaos by  
Neil Gaiman) and a very long "BLUSH". Seems your compliments made me  
shy. Thanks. I'm so pleased you've seen our shows.

I agree with what you say about the flow state this guy seems to be  
in. and yes the holding of tension is there but also the fact that he  
perhaps seems to go a bit further than he looks like he's going to.  
These seem to be the moments the audience are responding to and yes  
remind me of the moments of stillness/ silence/ tension before the  
next flood of issues occur in open space.


The idea of letting go without structure is an interesting one.

Reminds me of the attitude some people have to the idea of  
improvising and saying the first word that comes into one's head....

Often the edge is because people think if they do that it will be  
"Nonsense" or "chaos"

"You cant just improvise and make it up.. it will be chaos" " Someone  
has to control it in the end.." etc

However...  it is the control aspect which seemingly creates the  
chaos and when people do manage to let go then we actually get form  
and the stories.. "Just tell themselves" from the group mind if the  
Impro Gods are smiling on us.

As keith Johnstone said once: "the product of a truly spontaneous  
mind is not actually chaos .. but form."

Now i'm talking about performance here but what i've discovered  
is..... Well I guess i'm saying is there such a thing as having no  
structure anyway? Even if they're not explicit they are there. Just  
our sensitivity to their presence is sometimes a bit dulled maybe.

So we learn impro games so that we can forget them like having a map  
of a city for a while which we can then discard as we gain more  
confidence about exploring the streets that are there... without the  
map!

The map is not the territory

The rules are not the game.

but they help us start to play.

and perhaps we can notice that we haven't noticed when we still have  
a map in our hands!

er.... and now i'm just talking nonsense!!

best wishes

Phelimx







I am very interested in your
On 30 Mar 2006, at 05:28, Marty Boroson wrote:

> Hi Phelim
>
> First of all, I want to say how thrilled I am that you are on this  
> list.
> Having seen "70 Hill Lane" and "Shockheaded Peter", and other  
> Improbable
> pieces, I believe that you are one of the most wonderful and  
> pioneering and
> important theatre artists on the planet.  (I've been meaning to say  
> that for
> a while.)
>
> On the subject of juggling...
>
> At first glance, the juggler is like a very "successful" corporate  
> exec or
> administrator.  The rest of us just sit there and say "wow" as we  
> see him or
> her so successful at controlling a lot of complex factors and  
> competing
> directions. But that person is certainly not letting go of  
> control.  That
> person is making massive control look easy, and we are thrilled  
> because we
> know how hard it is.
>
> But I assume that the juggler is actually in a flow state, which  
> involves a
> high level of challenge as well as ease.  It's about being happy on  
> the
> edge.  Like any performer, this juggler must be very relaxed and  
> trusting
> within the context of his very highly developed skill.  Who knows?   
> Maybe he
> would say that, in order to perform, he has to get out of the way
> completely, and open space for the spirit of juggling to speak  
> through him.
>
> It's often said that OST involves letting go of control, but I  
> believe that
> that is somewhat disingenous.  In OST, we are letting go of control  
> with the
> help of very subtle and finely honed structure.  (There's a T on  
> that OS!)
> What I like most about OST is this structure which makes letting go of
> control so wonderful and productive.  Without structure we would  
> have, well,
> just nothing.  (We certainly wouldn't have this wonderful list-serv.)
>
> If we were all to just "let go" without appropriate social  
> structure or ego
> structure, I think there would just be a kind of psychotic  
> formlessness.
> However if we can let go within (and supported by) an appropriate  
> social
> structure and ego structure, there is transcendence.  (OST, in my  
> opinion,
> is the minimum possible structure for the best possible result.)
>
> From a performance point of view ... I believe that there are  
> different
> kinds of performance. Or maybe a continuum. On the one hand there  
> is the
> technical skill variety -- from certain olympic sports to juggling,  
> which
> occasionally includes some kind of corny music or lighting effect  
> to make it
> look more like an
> art.  On the other hand, there is acting, which is more in the  
> lineage of
> shamanism, and thus involves a great deal of spiritual and emotional
> openness and vulnerability, as you suggest. Maybe the real juggling  
> act is
> between skill on the one hand and art on the other.  Or between  
> structure on
> one hand and freedom on the other.
>
> I am also struck by the fact that this juggler is certainly  
> creating and
> holding tension and suspense, which is the essence of theatre, or  
> at least
> entertainment.  [I believe that "entertainment" actually means "to  
> hold
> between".]  Surely there is art in that.  Creating a space that can  
> hold a
> certain level of tension and suspense also seems to me to be at the  
> heart of
> OST.  "Walking the circle" doesn't just focus the energy, it builds  
> the
> energy.  When the space is opened and everybody starts posting  
> issues, there
> is a burst of freedom that surely is commensurate with the amount  
> of tension
> (and conflict) the group had been holding previously.  More tension  
> leads to
> more freedom.
>
> Phelim, when you say:
>
>> On the other hand great performances make you think:  “I could do  
>> that
>  too!”  and you want to jump onstage yourself.
>
> ...  I assume that you are speaking as an actor!  When I was  
> involved in
> theatre as a writer/producer and saw a great performance, I would  
> think:  "I
> want that person in my play!"   But most of the time, when I am  
> seeing a
> great performance, I hope that I don't think at all--I am just  
> immersed in
> the world being created for me.
>
> I love what you said about vulnerability and an actor's  
> relationship to the
> unpredictable.   To me, the closest analogy in Open Space is "not  
> knowing".
> But I don' t believe that "not knowing" is simple humility  
> however.  Most
> OST facilitators, I imagine, have learned to "not know" the hard  
> way.  Just
> as most actors have worked hard to become so vulnerable. Most OST
> facilitators, I imagine, have spent a good portion of their lives  
> trying
> very hard to know, and given up. When Harrison speaks about having  
> an open,
> clear and vacant mind, I imagine that he speaks from a lot of  
> experience.
> :)
>
> I have spent many years trying to juggle a thousand balls:  it  
> seems to be
> my nature to try. But then sometimes I fall down and drop the  
> balls, and I
> am suddenly in awe of the complexity of the created universe, and  
> am unable
> to fathom ever coming to grips with it, and am amazed that I tried,  
> and
> amused that I tried, and I realize that I never really was in  
> control, and
> that in spite of having fallen down and given up, I still exist and
> everything's still okay, and this is because I was really only ever  
> just one
> of the balls being juggled.  This, to my mind, is "not knowing".
>
> But back to juggling!  This juggler--who calls himself Chris Bliss--is
> certainly playing his part in reminding me how wonderful the world  
> is.  He
> is certainly bringing his enthusiasm to the theatre of life.  And  
> he does
> make me want to take out my balls and see if I can keep them in the  
> air for
> more than 30 seconds.  I confess to a fondness for juggling because  
> I just
> love the weirdness of the circus, and am a clown at heart.
>
> Fondly,
>
> Marty Boroson
>
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