16A. Space Between

• Everyone, spread out in the room and find a place to stand.

• Your feet are shoulder width apart, arms relaxed by your sides. Take the next few breaths to quiet yourself, rid the tension from your body. Stop talking to yourself internally.

• Become aware of the sensation of your head resting on your spine. Your spine rises up out of the center of your pelvis. Your pelvis floats freely around the tops of your legs. Separate all of your bones, starting with your toes and moving up your legs, into your pelvis, up your spine, the bones of your rib cage, shoulder girdle, down your arms and fingers, your neck bones, and all the bones that hold your head.

• Sense the space between the soles of your feet and top of your head and the shape of that space. Explore movement that changes and rearranges that space/shape. Feel free to move around the room, and at any speed you want. Enjoy yourself.

• Now, explore movement that rearranges the space/shape between your shoulders and the soles of your feet... now your shoulders and your knees ... your knees and the palms of your hands ... the palms of your hands and your back ... your back and your front... your shoulders and your pelvic girdle .. . your head and your pelvis .. . your head, your hands and your pelvis .. . your head, your hands, your pelvis and the soles of your feet ...

• In the next few minutes, connect with someone near you. Focus on the space/shape between you. Improvise movement that rearranges that space/shape.

Space Between expands physical awareness. The exercise is not about conjuring up mental pictures, memories or emotions. This is focused attention on the body, the inside the body, the body in motion and in space. It crowds out the conceptual mind, offers it no room to think.

Most of us, if asked, wouldn't be able to say how our feet are positioned while we brush our teeth in the morning. Nor would we be able to describe the position of our spine as we hand a police officer our drivers license. Even most actors and professional performers, don't track the body.

Space Between searches out the still point that always resides within us. It mutes conceptual activity, an energy that feeds past and future. We do this by bringing our attention into the body. Present time. Now. Our still point is the present; it's the relaxed state where awareness always is. Resting in the still point we brush our teeth, relate to the police officer, dance in our room or perform miracles on stage. Steady. Unswerved by the vast array of stimulation.

Now, we'll listen to space, and shape it, with the sound of "ah." The inside of the mouth will shape "ah" and that "ah" will shape a wave of sound through space.

16B. Chords

• Lef's stand in a circle. We'll move around the circle making three pitched chords. I'll begin by making an "ah" sound on a particular pitch, and I'll hold it while the person next to me joins in with an "ah" sound on a different pitch. We'll both hold our tones while the next person, the third, joins with an "ah" on yet a different pitch. The first person ends the chord by gesturing, signalling us to stop. Then, the second person begins the next set. These people must move quickly so that the first person doesn't run out of breath. You can create harmony or cacophony, just be sure to always have three different pitches in each chord.

• Again, let's go around in sets of three. This time I'll tone two "ah" sounds, each on a different pitch, and hold the last. Each person who joins the chord, also, tones two different "ah" pitches and holds his or her last. All six pitches must be different.

• Let's change our timing. We'll return to a single pitch and proceed in staccato fashion. Don't hold your tone. Each "ah" is short, abrupt, and percussive. We'll build up speed as we circle with faster and faster chords. Stay relaxed.

Jonah stands in the circle. His face is paler than usual. He looks so serious. Jonahs terrified. He's never been able to sing, let alone carry a tune. He's been told he's tone deaf. He believes it. His turn is getting closer. Now, it's upon him. He opens his mouth and he hears a scrawny, squeaky, scratchy, vibrating sound that starts and stops, wavers and finally collapses altogether. He tries again. He's sweating and his face is burning. And then again. Finally the person next to him sounds over him and the circle resumes. Nobody's looking at Jonah. Again his turn is getting closer...

Many of us come to this exercise with devastating singing experiences from the past, at school, in community organizations, with friends or family. These past events turn our present task into a personal challenge, or a torment. All we can do is notice this experience as clearly as possible and, while holding it, listen. Hear the sounds as they come to us. Our old identifications fade away as interest in the present phenomena we're making together grows. Let the "ahs" grow itself into an amazing event.