Non-conforming!

The beauty of InterPlay is that you are free to be silly...if you want to.

InterPlay - "to be light and frolicsome!"

Seeking a Buddy for InterPlay Practice in Perth WA

SEEKING A BUDDY FOR INTERPLAY PRACTICE

www.interplayaus.com.au

InterPlay is a technique based on integrating body and spirit to help each one of us discover and claim what our bodies can do. The step-by-step approach teaches us the joy of living in the moment and ways to powerfully communicate with others. Started in San Francisco, InterPlay is now practiced in over 50 cities on 4 continents.

I have witnessed many people including myself, who have discovered how life-giving and transformative InterPlay can be. Sadly, WA is the only state in Australia that has no regular community events. I believe in, and am passionate about teaching and developing InterPlay further in WA. 

I am looking for a buddy, someone who is able to commit to a regular meet-up over the next few months and share the magic of InterPlay. At our first meeting, by way of introduction, we will share our hopes and expectations for what we want out of this process. We will also plan how often we meet, for how long and where?

After some time of practicing together, I hope to host a free sampler event, in the knowledge that I have someone who is familiar with InterPlay and can support and encourage me in my leading.

My dream is that this small cell group will multiply into a regular monthly group in Perth and become a place where we can host both interstate and international events.

If you are interested, please forward me your name, email and phone number and a few preferred days and times for our first meeting. I look forward to hearing from you or someone you know who could be interested in this fun opportunity!

Janet Pfeiffer

Visual Artist

WA Regional Contact/Leader InterPlay Australia

Email: janetpfeiffer@mac.com

Web:   www.interplayaus.com.au 

 

What is your body saying?

home   .   contact us WHAT IS YOUR BODY SAYING? "Many people treat their bodies as if they were rented from Hertz -- something they are using to get around in but nothing they genuinely care about understanding." -- Chungliang Al Huang "As we explore the extraordinary interplay of energies between the many aspects of our personality -- our needs, unconscious reactions, repressed emotions, aspirations and fears -- with the functioning of our physical system and its capacity to maintain itself, we soon realise how very wise the body is. With its intricately detailed systems and operations it portrays infinite intelligence and compassion, constantly giving us the means to understand ourselves further, to confront issues we are not looking at, and to go beyond that which is holding us back." -- Deb Shapiro Scan your body with your awareness. Are you experiencing any aches and pains? Any stiffness? What might your body be trying to tell you about how you are living your life? "Your body is the ground and metaphor of your life, the expression of your existence. It is your Bible, your encyclopedia, your life story. Everything that happens to you is stored and reflected in your body. In the marriage of flesh and spirit divorce is impossible." -- Gabrielle Roth "What is always speaking silently is the body." -- Norman Brown Now offering over 30 workbooks and email programs. You may be only 30 days from a significant change in your life. Which one will help you the most? The Inner Journey is brought to you by John & Patrice Robson of HigherAwareness.com. questions &  comments unsubscribe Copyright © 1999 - 2015 Higher Awareness Inc.  Edmonton, AB, Canada T5K 0L5

Body Wisdom

ASK YOUR BODY FOR ADVICE! "The body has its own way of knowing, a knowing that has little to do with logic, and much to do with truth, little to do with control, and much to do with acceptance, little to do with division and analysis, and much to do with union." -- Marilyn Sewell Are you aware of your body’s wisdom? Our bodies usually know us better than our minds do. If you have a decision to make, consult your body before making a final choice. Reflect on an option before you and then pay attention to your body. Are you breathing deeply or barely at all? Are your muscles tense or relaxed? Is your energy blocked or flowing? Your body knows what it likes and it feels good when it's happy. As your body is the source of your vitality, your motivation, your inspiration and enthusiasm and most importantly, your intuition, it's best to get that part of you on-side if you are venturing into a new activity. "When you are saying that you are happy and you are not, there will be a disturbance in your breathing. Your breathing cannot be natural. It is impossible." -- Osho "Our inner guidance comes to us through our feelings and body wisdom first -- not through intellectual understanding. ...The intellect works best in service to our intuition, our inner guidance, soul, God or higher power -- whichever term we choose for the spiritual energy that animates life." -- Christiane Northrup

Phil Porter and the Labyrinth

This is Phil Porter walking the labyrinth. Made me chuckle and I could relate to this right now. I'm on a kind of retreat (AIR) but at the same time I feel like I'm running the walk!

Phil is co-founder of InterPlay, Minister of Art and Communication at the United Church of Christ, Berkeley. He is also a professional graphic designer, textile artist and composer!

Phil visits Australia every year to teach InterPlay and I love learning from him as he is very wise and entertaining.

Sophie & Itay Yatuv (Contact Improvisation Festival: Ibiza)... filmed by...

Perfect.

  

Pina Bausch - a feast of music and movement to step into 2014

Pina Bausch

http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/view/80541709Bear with me while I get overexcited about discovering Pina Bausch for the first time!!! When you have 90 mins spare go to this program for a feast of contemporary theatrical dance/ brilliant music/meaningful quotes from Pina who invites the artist within us, to go deeper into ourselves and our work. This viewing is an expression of love, pain, sorrow, joy and anger and more by Choreographer and dancer Pina Bausch. 

I have bought a number of the music tracks at $1.69 each from iTunes and you can download the Piña soundtrack album for $19 . Great to use while I am painting in the studio or for InterPlay classes.

Sadly Pina died in 2009 of Cancer. She was 68 years old.

Some 'Movement Images' from my collection...keep moving over Christmas 2013!

By Janet

By Janet

By Janet

By Janet

By Janet

By Janet

photo by Ben Pfeiffer

By Janet

InterPlay with a group of fabulous kids in Beverley

While artist-in-residence at Beverley WA I did an InterPlay Workshop for the kids. I really enjoyed and they were so responsive. I will definitely be planning more of these!

This one is  'shape and stillness'  on a very hot day!

A 'one hand solo dance' in honour of their Mums.

Using two hand dancing and making connections.

InterPlay 4 Kids Coming Soon!

So far we only had four kids booked in for todays workshop and the organisers were apologising to me for so few attendees. Then there were eight. That was okay as I had 12 candles. The workshop was set to start at 12:30 today.  By 11.o'clock the numbers had doubled to sixteen children, aged from 3-11. I needed to buy more supplies quickly. All the shops in Beverley close at 12:30! I think I also needed a stiff drink!

I used to teach kids everyday but I took a break because I wasn't giving any of my own creative work the time and attention it needed so, as you can imagine I was a bit anxious about today. So anxious I gobbled down some nuts for lunch and gave myself a bad stomach cramp. I decided I was being stupid getting all wound up, so I spent about 10 min in prayer just letting all my anxiety go.  I was organised, so all I needed to do now was enjoy myself and that I did! I have to say, I think I had the 16 most beautiful kids in the world. Thank you God! They were just gorgeous and a real pleasure to teach. Their parents can be very proud!

We started off with an hour of InterPlay on the Beverley Platform which is actually a performance stage. perfect! Also, it was still in the shade. 30 degrees in the midday sun in Beverley is not very comfortable. This was a first for me. I had never done InterPlay with kids before, except a little with my three grandchildren.So this was a new experience for me. Oh! my goodness. I have been missing out! They were so responsive and creative and really got into it. With my adults there are so many layers to sift through before I can tap into the playful, creative and free spirited inner child. I know it took me a long time when I first started InterPlay, but wow-with these kids it was right there. I had so much fun leading them. I realised then and there, I must seriously look into offering InterPlay 4 Kids. Maybe that's why I haven't been able to get any adults involved on a regular basis- I'm meant to be teaching children! Anyway I'll look into finding a venue and planning something in the New Year. I couldn't take any photos of the InterPlay session because I was too busy leading but my friend Jenny was clicking away and I can't wait to see some of the action shots of those inspiring kids! I'll post them soon.

InterPlay Leaders Gathering 2013 in Melbourne

                                 

                                              A wonderful group of human be-comings! 

As always with InterPlay, this weekend was full of creative, stimulating, thought provoking, listening, communicating,energy filled, peace filled, connecting, re-connecting, skin-on-skin, huggy, snugly, strengthening, mind expanding, heart-felt, I am enough, belly aching laughter, knowing, remembering, child-like, reflective, interactive, gathering, holding, honouring, acknowledging, caring, loving, tummy-filling-with-tasty-food, grass -between the toes, sun-on-skin, stretching within, resting and stillness and so many more delicious moments that it is impossible to name them all here!

Thank you to all who made the weekend happen. Thank you for offering so much stillness. She is crying out in this busy, fast paced, stress-filled, mixed up, muddled up world in which we live. It was soul-satisfying to come home to stillness in our heart, mind and most importantly our too often neglected body. 

InterPlay....you have done it again!

InterPlay

InterPlay at YouthCare Staff Retreat

It was great to lead two separate groups of 10 participants in InterPlay on a Retreat near the town of Rockingham.  The largest groups I've ever taught for InterPlay in WA and a good mix of male-female attendees.

This group was one off but I am praying for a regular monthly group to start up and continue growing from there. I could only offer the group a taste of InterPlay in a 45min session!

I forgot to hand out evaluation forms, stupid mistake, and all the information that I printed up to hand out, all came back home with me!

From the verbal feedback (that I remember at least) they said they loved it so much and wanted to know where they could they go to learn more! No!... not really. That's just me dreaming!

One of the youth leaders who works in Esperance (8hrs away) said she would like to learn more so I will need to get onto my mentor about that. A number of participants commented on how they went back to their childhood while moving, where they felt free to play and dance and make a noise! One male was really touched when he thought of his loved ones as we lay down on the floor and did a ONE HAND SOLO dance on behalf of a loved one. Some had never thought to put some music on, lay down and dance with one hand. We had some fun with an exercise in collaboration - THE CIRCLE STORY. I appreciated another man who was a natural at GIBBERISH and I was able to translate his made up story. We had some playful fun in a wonderful venue. A chance to access our own body wisdom through movement, play, and non -verbal connection.

Thank you to my friend Pam for organising the two groups and thank you to each participant for dipping your toes into the wonderful world of INTERPLAY.

InterPlay and a Cup of Tea!

InterPlay goes ahead at DADAA in Midland. DADAA works across Western Australia  to enhance the social inclusion and wellbeing of people with disability or mental illness through participation in the arts.

We have had an introduction session and we are about to go into our second week of the term. 

With this group I am taking a very different approach to a regular InterPlay group, not that any InterPlay groups are 'regular'. We take it very slowly, with plenty of simple, repetitive movements and instructions. It is a joy to see the participants follow some of my movements and improvise some of their own. It is good to see these participants having fun and laughing. I am challenged as never before to be flexible with what I have planned while continually adjusting and improvising to match the abilities and confidence of the participants. I am really enjoying our cup of tea stop for 15 mins in the middle of our two hour session...that's different!

We are all different shapes and sizes and abilities at our InterPlay groups. 

These are little figurines and critters that I'm collecting from second hand stores for Sand Play Therapy. 

Your Body Knows What It Needs

We are stiff and breathless 

Everyday we sacrifice our body 

to the exploits of the mind and work

Let us relax and let our muscles soften

from the holding pattern

Simple movements clear away the mental clutter

help you to feel more present 

in the here and now

More relaxed

more peaceful and lighter

Creaky bones moisten into languid expressions

small breaths get deeper

Your body knows what it needs

 

Excerpts from 'The Art of Dance as a Spiritual Practice' by Cynthia Winton - Henry

InterPlay Group in Perth WA

InterPlay Group starting up again...Yaay!

If you want to join an InterPlay class, checkout our web page:

 www.interplayaus.com.au 

Contact  0412 223 469

Email janetpfeiffer@mac.com

Connected by our Conscious Awareness

Almost a week ago now since I found myself with about 18 other contact improvisation dancers as we moved in harmony (well most of the time we did) together for about 3 hours as we followed Nancy Stark-Smith's 'Underscore'.

It was very special to share these moments in one of the WAPA dance studios in Mt Lawley, near Perth WA. We joined with about 50 other countries who were dancing at the same time all around the world.

It was like praying together but it did not matter what spiritual tradition you were in, as each group of CI Dancers in each country were connected by our conscious awareness of each other as we danced and also stood in silence at the beginning of the underscore and at the end.

Wonderful group of people we have here in Perth and such a joy to join with them, even though I am relatively new to contact and as always, I took great pleasure in observing the improvisation and skill of transferring weight with their bodies...lots of fun!

The Global Underscore

Will be taking part in The Global Underscore this Sunday night. Should have mentioned it a week ago and you could have come with me... 

                    Date: Sunday 23rd June

Time: 9pm- 1am

Venue: WAAPA*

What is the Global Underscore? The Global Underscore is a simultaneous practice of the Underscore around the world (read below for a little more info of the Underscore).

                   The Underscore

The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith. It has been evolving since 1990 and is practiced all over the globe.

The Underscore is a vehicle for incorporating Contact Improvisation into a broader arena of improvisational dance practice; for developing greater ease dancing in spherical space—alone and with others; and for integrating kinesthetic and compositional concerns while improvising. It allows for a full spectrum of energetic and physical expressions, embodying a range of forms and changing states. Its practice is familiar yet unpredictable.

The practice—usually between 3 and 4 hours—progresses through a broad range of dynamic states, including long periods of very small, private, and quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing.

           

There are 20+ phases of the score—each with a name and a graphic symbol—which create a general map for the dancers. Within that frame, dancers are free to create their own movements, dynamics, and relationships—with themselves, each other, the group, the music, and the environment. Each Underscore is unique, providing rich and often inspiring experiences of the human and artistic phenomena of dance improvisation.

The GLOBAL UNDERSCORE is an annual event in which the Underscore is practiced simultaneously for a 4 hour period by people all over world near the summer solstice (northern hemisphere). In 2012, there were 70+ sites. Claire Filmon proposed the event to Nancy in 2000 from a desire to connect dancers all around the planet to dance and to compose together in the moment and organized it until 2010.

 www.globalunderscore.blogspot.com

To participate in an Underscore, one should have some experience with Contact Improvisation and attend a talk-through of the Underscore (Perth will do this at 9pm), which often takes about an hour.