Janusz Thoughts on CV Book Task

Janusz’s blog (24.07.2007)

Books were scattered on the floor. Charlotte asked everyone to find any book (or books) and find something that could be interesting for each of us – a quote, a dialogue, a thought, a picture, anything. The task was open, we did not know where it is going to take us. We had 45 minutes to complete it…

I have tried to approach that exercise with an open mind, not wanting to be ready for anything, without planning what I would like to read about and not knowing what could come out of it.
Just simply pick up any book and find some words which could relate to anything. However… a second after that I have picked a book and realised that I will read about dance and it’s role at the studio, in working process, at the theatre. I have chosen three books:

- “A widening field, journeys in body and imagination” by Miranda Tufnell and Chris Crickmay
- “The Empty Space” by Peter Brook
- “Difficult loves” by Italo Calvino

What interested me in choosing the first book was its sub-heading “journeys in body and imagination”. What my journey would be over the next 45 minutes. Will I find something similar in other books I have chosen. I have opened it on a random page thinking about giving myself enough time for the whole exercise. The title of the chapter was: “Taking your own time”. Have found few interesting though maybe already well known thoughts:
- it is sometimes hard not to rush,
- remember to take enough time to feel our way forward,
- allow stillness.
After that I wanted to see the contents and found a chapter about getting stuck. It called: “Failing at work (what to do to recover)”:
- let go of your aspirations and judgements and pay more attention to what is actually emerging,
- when we feel we have achieved little, it usually turns out there is more to it than we thought,
- spend more time with a partner together, discuss, explore, do not judge.

The second book (“The Empty Space” by Peter Brook) was about rehearsal process and director’s role in it: “The director who comes to the first rehearsal with his script prepared with the moves and business, etc. noted down, is a real deadly theatre man”.

By the third book I did not want to read about theatre. Ended up reading a story about an nearsighted man. And yet that one somehow related to theatre as well: “(…)The fact was that he was nearsighted. The oculist prescribed eyeglasses for him. After that moment his life changed, became a hundred times richer in interest than before.(…) there was no doubt that he was one thing and the glasses another, completely separate; it was clear he was wearing glasses only incidentally and, without glasses, he was an entirely different man.(…)”. After reading the whole story I began to ask myself questions: What or who makes you look at things, people, objects? How an object or a person change our perception of looking at it?

There were couple of interesting comments about everyone’s choices of books and quotes. Alex had pointed out at a rhythmical way of me speaking, the fact that I was processing everything in my head and was thinking about how and what to say next, searching for words which clearly translate my way of thinking. The whole exercise raised a lot of interesting questions. Many of them left without answers:
How many valuable information a person have?
Is it possible to look at a group of dancers as one individual?
Is it possible to flick through a dance performance the same way we are easily able to open a book on any page we like?

Last week (before I came to London) the whole group was asked an interesting question: How your last dance will look like?... I think I will stay still, look in people’s eyes wanting to say “I did it as best I could and I think I’ve done well”.
How long this performance will last?