Ok, so I had an experience today that, I must say, was one of the more intense experiences of my theatrical life....
I'll start with some background info. Ok, so I am a member of a newly forming dramatic group that goes by the name of Sacer Ludus. Today we had planned on meeting for about an hour and some change to do what it is that we do together (I phrase it like that because it isn't really a rehearsal, but they are not quite like your run of the mill theater exercises either...although it is closer to being an exercise session than a rehearsal session). Myself and another member of this group happened to be at an actual rehearsal for a play we are in beforehand and decided to head directly over to the meeting location immediately after we were done with rehearsal and wait on the rest of the people to show up. We get to the room at about 10:10.
At this point we are discussing different things and such and some how get on the topic of movement and how, while neither of us dance, we both like to move. Then this evolves into a sort of movement exchange where I would move, then she would move and then I'd move again. This sparked a new conversation, not as ourselves...but as heightened selves, creating a story/relationship as we went. It was one of intrigue and shy flirtation, I the pursuer, and she the pursued. We mixed expressinve movements, with witty banter, and a sort of energy that I cannot quite described. It was almost like improvisation....hell, it was improvisation...but free and unstructured. There were highs and lows, approaches and retreats. We were both playing off of one anothers signals with a sensitivity one could only dream of having in a written scene. She would throw the metaphorical ball and I would recieve it. I would throw it back and she would receive it. It is the most connected to a partner that I have ever been in a situation like that. There was no script, no prompt, not even a situation to adhere to...just playing action, receiving action, playing action, receiving action.
When it was all said and done, the clock read 10:45, and it was like time had barely moved at all. We broke our fiction (never a realer fiction have I ever experienced) only due to the realization that our group-mates had not arrived yet and it was past the time they were expected. Soon after we come to find out that the location of out meeting had changed. We packed up and proceeded to the new location, taking with us a sense of [unnameable] that in my experience has no equal.
I write this to convey to those reading, the true power that lies behind deep connection with another human being. There is an energy there, a force as natural as life. Live in it, bask in it, love in it, be in it. It is only in it that we can truly be in ourselves.
