In 2019 and 2020, we trained 17 women from Dublin's Nort East Inner City. The stage performance "The River" took place in March 2020, at Project Arts Centre, Dublin. The Documentary "The River" premiered in 2022 at D-Light Studios.
Partners: The Ringers, D-Light Studios, Dance Ireland, Project Arts Centre, DCC/NEIC and the Irish Arts Council.
Online series, The River. Film: Stace Gill.
Documentary 2022. Film: Stace Gill + The Ringers.
A circle. A loop. No beginning, no end. Flexible enough to hold the present moment at any time. A piece where time does not matter. A dance that can go on forever. A mirror and a field. Real time IRL.
Perform it for ever.
When the day is done, go home and rest. Tomorrow, start again, and start fresh.
Follow the map, the form. Choose any starting point.
Entropy/Stillness.
Feel and dance to your own heartbeat. When the time is right, join the movement.
Join together - follow the one heart, like on a silent disco. (Pre-decide a leader or let chance guide you.)
Walkings.
Sync up with the person infront of you, in your field of vision. The leader in front make loops of transformation, evolving mutations. Stay on spot or travel around the space. The group might split but will come back together again. Embody soldiers, freedom fighters, horses, farmers, women, and whatever else floats up on the day.
Waves of Emotion.
Slide between neutral body and an emotionally charged physical state representing: Joy, Fear, Anger, Sadness, Disgust and Surprise.
When the time is up, let Wailing Whales transition you into the..
Desert.
Improvise/play/dance the desert. A desert. Any desert you like. Possibly include: sand dunes, insects, shelter, spacemen.
Let your improvisation form characters. Make a parade? Rise and fall of civilisations. Interact with materials available to you.
(Materalistic girl with planetary care, Serving robot, The Asteroid, Antarctica.. see who is in there today. Let your body lead you and reveal your subconscious to you. Play with intention and remember that time is not linear.
For more action, use prompts. Perhaps find a way to prompt and include the audience? (ex: Gather everything. Build something. Help someone. Copy someone. Spread joy. Etc. )
Ring bell and have Tea-Break. Break bread. Have a break. Tell stories. Chat. Sit in silence. Be equal. All human.
Transition through the Empty Space - a window for whatever is needed, follow your individual flow and needs each time.
Hearts & Parts.
Tune in to your heart organ. About the size of a fist. A little to the left of your spine, in your chest.
Start to feel small movement of sliding the heart forward, back, to the sides.. Start to follow you heart. Let your heart guide you, bring you in to movement - forward, reverse, to the sides. Play and Listen.
From your heart open up your energy field and your field of perception. Like a bubble expanding around you, open and take in the room, the world, the universe. Open and close it back in to your physical heart 3 times.
Dance with your heart. Let your heart dance with other body parts. Through dancing, have a heart to heart conversation with someone else.
Army of Lovers.
Again, start to feel the small movements of the sliding heart, this time forward and back. Join together in the room, and link hearts. Let your hearts bring you forward and back in the room, almost like waves rolling onto a beach, or the tides pulling in and out.
After a while, space yourselves out evenly, side by side, and also suspend yourself evenly in your own body (head, feet, lungs, spine etc, all stacked and suspended, grounded yet spacious. ) Keep your heartfield/energy open and active, and link up/merge with the people around you. You are moving as one frontier, a pushback and a nourishing river. Acceptance and Generosity. Give the audience a wash, or perhaps the opportunity to gently dip their toe in the waves.
The person most to the left passes in front of the other in the line, heart to heart, gliding past every one. (Practice eye-contact too if you like.) Continue until everyone is gone, and form a circle in the room.
Circle.
In a circle anything can happen. Rest together. Find symmetry and harmony. Tie the room together. Perhaps do the praying positions score? Open and close. Include everyone? Exclude people? Gather around?
Build Bridges.
Make connections.
Use all the skills, materials and possibilities.
When all is done, and you can’t go any further, settle down. Find yourself back in Entropy/Stillness. Connected. Suspended. Stretched out. Loose the grip. Become bodies in the space. Rest for as long as you need. Until you are ready to listen to your own heartbeat again. Etc.