Limits Give You Somewhere to Go (haven’t I been here before?)

Having Liz Lerman in the room is always exciting. It’s like turning up your listening anttena so high you even take notes on the static. Everything is interesting and discussing the material the day before seamlessly links to a new area of discovery.

To illustrate that limits give you somewhere to go, we did a quick Detail exercise.

Detailing:
See something in the room you haven’t noticed before.
Put it in your hand.
Put it in your spine.
Shape it with one arm, one leg, and your head.
Trace it in the air.
Trace it on the body.
Trace it on the body somewhere else.
Put it on the floor, or on a wall.

We then took this idea and made it into an Equivalents exercise by using the three column writing from the day before. We placed the writing on the floor and were free to move around capturing words or phrases in movement. Working with self imposed limits – choosing one word, one limb, tracing in space, amount of time for movement, etc. Provided easy to follow direction.

In our work the day before someone pointed out they really enjoyed adding the ‘physical descriptors’ to the story because she was able to pick out details from the wall paper she never would have thought of.
This is an important skill that is always available to you – trick yourself into seeing something you don’t always see. By tricking yourself, you may find new meaning. Look outside, look around the room, go back to the phrase. Let your imagination wander, look for new details. Every image has wallpaper.