Convenings

Past Learning Exchange Reports:
Seattle, May 5–7, 2002

Henry Art Gallery Debriefs: Movement-based Dialogue with Liz Lerman

Led by Liz Lerman, Artistic Director, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

What did you notice, observe, discover?  What was meaningful?

• moving through it physically relieved the angst/tension people felt in the exhibit
• eliciting a gesture and use of physicality deepened the experience
• movement as a device to help tell a story – we had a clear storyline that I could remember better because I saw movement with the words
• importance of listening—movement added a visual aspect; visual clues to build on listening.  Helpful tool for facilitating dialogue.
• Liz, as facilitator, was listening deeply for the meaning under the gestures, which gave the gestures more meaning.
• reversed the polarity of arts-based civic dialogue—used dialogue to get to the art, rather than art to get to the dialogue
• the movement allowed me to experience an emotional relationship to the exhibit, which I otherwise wouldn’t have dealt with. 
• the process created a collective experience for the group; provided a transition from very private experience to public communal experience

What questions do you have for the leader?

Q:  How do you pull the gesture out? 

Liz:  We work very hard at our observing skills, to watch, listen, and be a little bit ahead.  When I facilitate, I’m always aware of my own feelings.  It’s sometimes helpful to be very literal in order to get to that abstract place.

Q:  What do you do to work on observing skills? 

Liz:  We talk about how to observe gesture, we give assignments to observe people.  It’s sometimes difficult to choose between gesture and choreography.

Q:  The last time I saw you do this, you allowed the participants to choreograph the dance, but today you choreographed it.  Why?

Liz: it’s dependent on time.  What’s really interesting is to put the choice of gesture to the group.

Q:  Liz did a good job of showing her intent with the process.  When we talk about facilitation, we assume the facilitator is neutral.  What made your session successful to me was that you were so present and didn’t abdicate from it.  To what degree is this related to your practice as an artist? 

Liz:  When we do this exercise, I’m so excited about people finding that artistic place in themselves, and I think the artist is a large part of that.  If we had more time, I would be more removed as we went along.  Our ADI project is about breaking down each piece as a tool.  Standing in a circle is a tool.  My speech at the beginning of the session was a tool.

Q:  Is it prescribed, like a recipe? 

Liz:  No, it’s about discovery.  It’s like looking at a diamond.

Q:  You really created a safe space to do this... 

Liz:  I think a safe space is also a challenging space.  I think people need to be challenged as well as nurtured. 

Q: ...perhaps giving people the permission not to do it gave everyone the freedom to do it. 

Liz:  I also made it a communal, societal thing.  I don’t do that manipulatively, I do it with a great passion.  I never asked how you were feeling.  I asked what you noticed/observed.  But people still talked about their feelings.  You have to listen.  I don’t like to ask people about their feelings, because they tell you about what they already know.  Instead, I want people to reach for that discovery.

With arts-based civic dialogue  as a goal, how might you wish to use the method?

• This method seems like a natural progression in my work—to get kids moving, out of their seats.
• We have a 4-part process we’re using for dialogue facilitation, and for our closing part, we ask the same kinds of questions that Liz does, but combining the movement with the questions would be much more powerful.  It helped me recall my own feelings and what other people had said. 
• I’ve been nervous about using gesture in my workshops, and this let me know that this needs to happen.  I don’t know how to articulate it in a way that doesn’t make people nervous about it.
• The difference between VTS and Liz’s method is a difference between individual and community.  VTS is very individual, and Liz’s method is very communal.  It seems very rewarding to build community.
• It helped me to see how my response fit with everyone else’s.  It gave my response context.