The movement class today was extremely relaxing and was, again, a great way to begin the day. I found that I had a lot of tension in my body that was worked out during our warm-up. I am always grateful for the warm up, as I discovered a new relaxation I am not familiar with. It’s a wonderful thing to be so relaxed in class. Today especially, I was struck by a freeness in my neck and head when we stretched that area. When we began the Follower/Leader exercise again, I felt more confident than I did yesterday. While I did bump into a few people today, I felt trust in my partner. I knew that my collaboration with her was very different from yesterday, as I knew her more personally than my original partner, and the result was a very different experience. While yesterday I was focused on the exercise and feeling comfortable trusting someone I had just met, today was fun. I was able to giggle and get into the dance. We walked to the beat and, even when the music ended, we twirled and moved together with confidence.

Working with Trajal today inspired me greatly. What stuck with me most was his speech to us in the very beginning. We all see things in a unique way and, therefore, nobody can create the art that we create. He asked us to treat the space as a studio rather than a classroom and that greatly encourages a collaborative environment. I am excited for the discussion tomorrow about what makes a studio as I think it will enhance our comfortability in the space and with the people. Already, I am feeling comfortable with these people and I am excited to work with them throughout the short weeks we have together. Learning more of It is Thus and showing to the rest of the class was a great exercise! While performing it, I found that I was not as self conscious as I expected. While watching, I noticed little things that I could fix about my own performance of the piece. I hope we work with it again tomorrow so I can make those changes and see how it feels. In this way, collaboration has helped me look at my own work by viewing others perform the “same” work.

The last part of class was a great lecture about gender and sex and how they connect to performativity. I enjoyed the discussion and found connections that I did not consider beforehand. Deb and Daniel helped me understand what Judith Butler said about how gender is a performance. Their collaboration was useful to the entire class and it allowed me to expand my thoughts on the subject. I am glad we mentioned that different cultures have different gender systems because it is easy for me, as someone who has lived in the US for my entire life and has only been introduced to a non-binary approach to gender in the past few years, to fall into the pattern of binary gender constructs. I like being pushed out of what I’ve grown up with, especially with something as important to the world as gender. Especially now as that definition and idea is expanding to be more personal and more free, it is good to have conversations about its role in art and how it connects to sex. I hope for more conversations like this in the future of the class.