Mhairi’s week 16

When I was at school in Paris we worked on the Journey of the neutral mask for several weeks. This was an exercise working with a neutral mask with the objective of being able to move as economically as possible. The point was to create a blank canvas with your body. The journey entailed coming out of the ocean, walking through a forest, climbing a hill, running down the other side of the hill avoiding boulders, crossing a river and walking across a desert, sitting down and watching a sunset. Thus representing the stages of life. The teacher asked a student to stand up and do the bit when she crossed the river. She put the mask on and looked at the stones she would need to jump on in order to cross. She focused soley on the stones she needed to stand on, never once really looking at the river bank on the other side. When she took off her mask the teacher said here is a woman who will never achieve her ambition as she lacks direction; she sees where she is right now and her next move but doesn’t have her head up and does not see where she is going. How then can she ever arrive?

This week I struggled to keep my head up and my mind on the place I wanted to head to. Its easy to resort to a habit of reacting and looking one or two steps ahead of myself. Its important to see whats here and where I need to go next but then to trust and keep my eyes on the destination. Studying mime means you break down each single movement; first you look at what you are about to do and then you move your hand towards it.If you don’t first look then what are you grabbing at?

So this week my beads have represented the destination I’m heading towards. Yes, I’m aware of whats going on here and now but ultimately I want to keep my eyes up and focused.

Hollywood sign smaller

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