Wool Waulking. Fulling

 I've been aware of Waulking Songs since graduate school but not able to think of how they might impact my work until recently- these rhythmic songs and dances could become strong elements to pull or build a performance around- not so much the songs or lyrics but the structure and visual quality of things lining up and being in unison- also the obvious connection of the material I have been using in my sculptures. 

Originally, fulling was carried out by pounding the woolen cloth with the fuller’s feet, or hands, or a club. In the Scottish Gaelic tradition this process was accompanied by Waulking Songs, Scottish folk songs which were sung to set the pace.

Typically, this was done with tweed fabric- due to the course nature of the wool after weaving with it. Fulling it partially felts the wool down to soften the fibers and shrink them down in a more matted structure (combination of weaving and felting) This is very much what I've been doing with my sculptures- hadn't been thinking about how the process could be more on display in the work- and performance gives me an interesting opportunity to explore how the felting can be apart of the work rather than a process used to create the end-result- I've also been thinking about the safety of doing this- Using traditional methods of Fulling- combining the sweat and agitation of the performer in the process of creating the sculptures or augmenting them as the performance carries on- I would take a considerable amount of performance to do what the machines do for me in my work- so I think it might be more of a poetic element in the work. The Waulking Songs also help to provide me with ways to compose the sounds I plan to have the performances set to. 

Currently, I'm thinking the performances will be done with 4 performers, each working through a set of "stretching/strengthening gestures" of their own choosing in the first half of the performance- I'll leave it to the performers to connect the sounds they are hearing to the gestural set of options pre-decided- over time the sound will direct the performers to be working in unison/rhythm with each other- much like Waulking, also the improvisational nature of the lyrics typical of Waulking leads me to want to lean in more for the performers to develop their own movement sets. - I'm thinking of it being similar to Limiting orders or structured freedom (Nottingham). 

Exercise and Cancer

 As I have been thinking about how I'm planning to develop performances for wearable pieces- I've been thinking about the daily/mundane actions or gestures that could be used- This brought me to consider aspects of the healing process when diagnosed with cancer. 

Recent research suggests that exercise benefits most people both during and after cancer treatment. It can help manage some of the common side effects of treatment (see below), speed up your return to your usual activities, and improve your quality of life. The evidence also shows there is little risk of exercise causing harm if care is taken and professional exercise advice is followed closely. For some cancers, exercise may even improve treatment outcomes.

https://www.cancervic.org.au/living-with-cancer/exercise/exercise-overview

I think these simple stretch gestures will make up much of the formal language used in the performances. 

There is a large variety of stretches and strength training that could be very interesting if explored as a series of gestures performers could select from and experiment with- 

Words on Performance- specifically Butoh and the body

As I start to endeavor on a new direction for my work- it is often haphazard in regards to research. I just start with whatever pops up online- giving control to the digital algorithms. In this search- I looked up Butoh. A performance art/Dance, I've seen in person in Chicago in the early 2000's.  The art form is interesting to me for a lot of reseason's but often what I come back to is its expression of the body and loss. 

Through my digital meandering I've encountered an article called "Butoh, Bodies, and Being" by Brianne Waychoff. I often find seemingly random things to start my research off. Not really random but not terribly controlled either. As I started to read it- I noticed the author was also in Chicago while I was there.  And most likely we were in the same spaces seeing Butoh- like at Links Hall- where I often experienced incredible works of sound and performance art. 

Once I realized the connection, I looked in to Brianne Waychoff for the off chance, I might recognize her somehow. Nope, but close to 20 years ago is a blur- though I'm sure we passed each other. As I casually did my googling, I noticed a obituary for someone fitting the description- someone just a couple years older than I am- and I found that Brianne Waychoff has recently died, this past summer, but how she died really struck me- she died from cancer. Cancer has been the guiding element in my work for the past two years- after I was diagnosed with it. Uncomfortable but I'm going to believe this is important right now. 

I'm not a complete stranger to Butoh and I can't say my current work is really connected to it in any way but the ethos of what I understand about Butoh has always struck a cord with me. After seeing it, I found a book called Dancing into Darkness about Butoh- but that's still very limited. 

Back to the article. Important quote:

We drag and carve the earth with the tripod of our foot.
Breathe.
Feel the hara. The place below your navel where energy pools.
Tap into that energy. Move from it.
Feel it connect like an umbilical cord to another dancer and move with them. Try to exchange energy back and forth.
Close your eyes and feel their body.
Give them your weight and take their weight in return.

"Waychoff, describing their experience in a new rehearsals space. 

Butoh was, and is, a way of bringing the inside out; expressing interior tensions through dance; bridging the mind/body split (Ohno).