IDEA – a structure for sharing the experience of watching performance – dance, music, spoken word – through spontaneous written reflections, read aloud in the closing circle.
As this chapter closes, I send a hug and a thank you to all IDEA participants, for showing work, sharing writing, and bringing your willingness to the experiment of IDEA. Though it continues where it began, in Amsterdam, (originally Int’l Dance Exchange of Amsterdam), the Easthampton chapter is going on an indefinite hiatus. It has been a lovely exploration into the wilds of our creative geographies, and it couldn’t have happened without you.
The main reason for letting it go for now, is to honor the law of balance in the universe that responds to a collective need by providing the conditions with which to fill it. Indeed, IDEA sprang from the collective need of dancers to share what they were working on: some of us were regaining momentum after having babies; some had recently graduated from the Theaterschool where Pauline and I taught, (so no longer had access to its theater); some were passing through on a performance tour and needed a chance to explore new material that was as yet unformed. Though our Pioneer Valley has a small and devoted local community of performing artists, the need for IDEA is not manifest in the numbers of people who have been attending. It is time to tip the hat to the passage of time and a shift in needs. We have fulfilled our mission of collecting the written evidence that human consciousness is poetic by nature. By holding each others’ attention as audiences and hearing aloud the written reflections, we have witnessed a grand gurgling up of the natural spring of awareness. With one handle held by performer, the other by audience, IDEA has been an amphora to catch that water with. May the waters of inspiration continue to quench our collective thirsts.
Here’s looking at you,
Christina
A BIT OF HISTORY
IDEA was launched in Amsterdam by Christina Svane & Pauline de Groot in 1991 at Pauline’s “Studio de Koe.” It began as a monthly experiment in a new performance paradigm, in which performer and audience have an exchange in the language of imagery and intuition, instead of criticism and speculation. After seeing a performance, the audience was given pen and paper and asked to record experiences and imagery that arose while watching. These were then shared at the end aloud in a closing circle, giving each performer something back, and giving dancers the evidence that their written improvisations were as valid as their movement ones. These Sunday afternoon IDEAs became a meeting ground for the itinerant global dance community. IDEA continues in Amsterdam, with Pauline. With the help of Mary Ramsay, Christina moved IDEA to America in 2004, taking place on Equinoxes and Solstices. For the past few years Christina has hosted it at her Blue Guitar Dance Studio in Easthampton. This website is an archive of audience responses. To read an audience response to a particular performance, click on the date of the performance and then on the name of the performer.
