Mu's 5 efforts

[@mu]

Hiya fellow Assassins,

 

I have been busy with Kirsty's handstand coaching group the past couple of months. Quite a lot of technical work under the hood (mostly from shoulders to abs ha ouch) and quite a few light bulb moments as well. But I missed you guys!

 

I still have a week to complete on my current programme and after that, I will change a little bit my HS practice programming, trying a less is better approach with strength as per her advice. I'm going to reduce press work to just twice a week (bent and straight arms), and keep 1 or 2 sessions for play and possibly a Zoom class.

 

This challenge will be about the play bit (I have been getting technically challenged enough by Kirsty ). Because it's play I don't want to constrain it too much obviously. But there are some improvisation exercises that I used to do on silks that I would like to try in handstands.

 

The improvisation game is based on Laban's 8 efforts. Each week I will pick up a polarity from 3 categories:

• direction: direct/indirect

• weight: strong/light

• speed: sudden/sustained

(NB: I'm leaving the flow category out, 3 factors are enough to think about.)

 

and I will explore the combination (what Laban calls an effort) while in handstand.

 

There are 8 possible combinations that are named as follows: punch / press / dab / glide / slash / wring / flick / float. For instance a punch is a direct movement, strong and sudden, while press is also a direct and strong movement, but it is sustained. Here is a little diagram:

 

 

I should be able to cover 5 of those during this challenge. There is no expectation of having to produce something that works / looks good. From previous xp on silks, most of it usually doesn't   but it can lead to some new inspiration here and there. So I just have to DO IT and trust the process. Worse case scenario, nothing interesting comes out of it but I get to balance odd shapes on my hands.

 

That's it! It's small and focused, with an update at least once a week (not sure I can do more than that theses days, life is just oddly busy). Next update should be around next week-end.

 

Have a good challenge everyone!

[Mad Hatter]

Very excited to see this!

[Mike Wazowski]

Omg I love Laban movement theory! So in for this!!

 

Also, interestingly, the ballroom dance book that introduced me to these called them “dynamic actions” and differentiated them on sudden/sustained, strong/light, then direct/indirect, so I was surprised to see the pairings you wrote. And now, I feel inspired to play with all 3 possible pairings of efforts that only differ by one movement factor to better understand them.

[raptron]

On 10/25/2020 at 2:45 AM, @mu said:

The improvisation game is based on Laban's 8 efforts. Each week I will pick up a polarity from 3 categories:

• direction: direct/indirect

• weight: strong/light

• speed: sudden/sustained

(NB: I'm leaving the flow category out, 3 factors are enough to think about.)

 

and I will explore the combination (what Laban calls an effort) while in handstand.

This is so fascinating! Excited to see what you come up with.

[WhiteGhost]

On 10/25/2020 at 2:45 PM, @mu said:

I will explore the combination (what Laban calls an effort) while in handstand

How are you going to be punching while in a handstand?  

 

[GoodDoug]

As always with your challenges...

 

This is soooo cool!

[DoubleTrouble]

Here!

Hoping you'll post some videos to illustrate

[KB Girl]

This is so far away from my comfort zone, love getting to read/see you do it. 

[PaulG]

Even after googling Laban, I can’t make heads nor tails of this movement theory of his. But I’m following for the education! Good to see you back!

[@mu]

On 10/25/2020 at 7:22 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Very excited to see this!

 

Hiyaa!

 

On 10/25/2020 at 9:03 PM, Mike Wazowski said:

Omg I love Laban movement theory! So in for this!!

 

Also, interestingly, the ballroom dance book that introduced me to these called them “dynamic actions” and differentiated them on sudden/sustained, strong/light, then direct/indirect, so I was surprised to see the pairings you wrote. And now, I feel inspired to play with all 3 possible pairings of efforts that only differ by one movement factor to better understand them.

 

Ha so glad to have you here for Laban!

Interesting! I used a totally arbitrary order indeed. But it's true, if I change the order to get different siblings, say punch/slash instead of punch/press, my brains gets oddly excited

 

Do you find there is a polarity you have most difficulty with, or the opposite, a combination that you find most comfy?

 

I find “light” super hard. I can do “light” with my finger tips if I think hard about it but that's pretty much it every other body part will default to “strong”. My primary movement style is direct/strong/sustained I think. I learned about indirect and sudden from aerial creative classes (looking at odd shapes, and tempo changes). But I never managed to look “floaty” in aerial work. At best, a “flick” or a “dab”, but “sustainably light”, mhm, no

 

On 10/26/2020 at 4:57 PM, raptron said:

This is so fascinating! Excited to see what you come up with.

 

Me too! It's a fun trigger-based improv exercise and it can work pretty much for any kind of practice, as long as your alive and breathing (still work with zombies ) .

 

On 10/27/2020 at 1:46 PM, WhiteGhost said:

How are you going to be punching while in a handstand? 

 

 

 

Welcome

 

That was actually a SLASH I think 🤔

 

On 10/27/2020 at 10:19 PM, GoodDoug said:

As always with your challenges...

 

This is soooo cool!

 

Hiyaa! Welcome!

 

9 hours ago, DoubleTrouble said:

Here!

Hoping you'll post some videos to illustrate

 

Hellooow! I will do!

 

7 hours ago, KB Girl said:

This is so far away from my comfort zone, love getting to read/see you do it. 

 

Welcome! Happy to serve as a proxy

 

4 hours ago, PaulG said:

Even after googling Laban, I can’t make heads nor tails of this movement theory of his. But I’m following for the education! Good to see you back!

 

I don't know that much about Laban myself. I never really went further than this sort of improv exercises because it looks overwhelming to me really. But to give you a more concrete application, I have a friend who is a dancer and owns a dance company. She has decades of experience making people with a visual deficiency dance and perform. She's developed a tactile toolbox based on Laban notation to help blind people visualise and learn choreography. Basically it's Braille for dance and the alphabet is Laban notation. Here is a video that shows the thing and how it is used in a discovery workshop. It's all in French I'm afraid but the visual might be interesting. Funnily, one woman is actually saying that at first it looked very complicated but once she started using it it was very simple. So I don't know, maybe one day I will dig deeper?

 

 

So we are back in a full lockdown as off tonight... I started prepping a bit for my first effort but I have to run/bike to work now to get some stuff, see you all later.

 

 

[WhiteGhost]

Full lockdowns are not fun, I hope it makes a difference and things improve.  

[Mike Wazowski]

On 10/29/2020 at 2:36 AM, @mu said:

Ha so glad to have you here for Laban!

Interesting! I used a totally arbitrary order indeed. But it's true, if I change the order to get different siblings, say punch/slash instead of punch/press, my brains gets oddly excited

Yep, punch / slash is the example pairing I first learned (technically, the book I was working off of calls it a "thrust" instead of a punch, but literally the same thing in terms of sudden/direct/strong.

 

On 10/29/2020 at 2:36 AM, @mu said:

Do you find there is a polarity you have most difficulty with, or the opposite, a combination that you find most comfy?

Yes - I specifically struggle with the weight dimension (strong/light) and with flow as well to a lesser extent (free/bound) within dance. I think for me, my baseline isn't heavy enough / I don't play a ton with differences in weight in my dancing - but it's also been a solid year or more since working on dynamics much, we've currently got a lot of other topics, mostly mechanical and partnering, occupying us right now.

 

On 10/29/2020 at 2:36 AM, @mu said:

I find “light” super hard. I can do “light” with my finger tips if I think hard about it but that's pretty much it every other body part will default to “strong”. My primary movement style is direct/strong/sustained I think. I learned about indirect and sudden from aerial creative classes (looking at odd shapes, and tempo changes). But I never managed to look “floaty” in aerial work. At best, a “flick” or a “dab”, but “sustainably light”, mhm, no

I imagine some of it is probably activity dependent as well, e.g. aerial work almost certainly requires a ton of strength and technical mastery to make it look sustained and light at the same time for the movement overall, vs. something like pointe work where by construction light is much easier and getting strong for contrast is much harder. I've also been coached to think of the dynamics as relative to baselines - e.g. sustained in a fast dance will necessarily look different than a sustained dynamic in a slow dance (and same with sudden as well). But I have faith in you and your work ethic, you'll find a float and a glide soon enough!

 

On 10/29/2020 at 2:36 AM, @mu said:

That was actually a SLASH I think 🤔

 

100% correct - maybe even a textbook slash!

[@mu]

On 10/29/2020 at 11:18 AM, WhiteGhost said:

Full lockdowns are not fun, I hope it makes a difference and things improve.  

 

Yep no fun. But emergency services are starting to feel a lot of pressure. So...

 

On 10/30/2020 at 7:26 PM, Mike Wazowski said:

I imagine some of it is probably activity dependent as well, e.g. aerial work almost certainly requires a ton of strength and technical mastery to make it look sustained and light at the same time for the movement overall, vs. something like pointe work where by construction light is much easier and getting strong for contrast is much harder. I've also been coached to think of the dynamics as relative to baselines - e.g. sustained in a fast dance will necessarily look different than a sustained dynamic in a slow dance (and same with sudden as well).

 

That's true. And the fact that sustained will look different depending on the dynamics got me thinking.

 

On 10/30/2020 at 7:26 PM, Mike Wazowski said:

But I have faith in you and your work ethic, you'll find a float and a glide soon enough!

 

It is hard enough on my 2 feet to be honest

 

[@mu]

I was studious this week. I decided early on to go for WRING and I prepped a wee bit.

 

I wrote down lots of words describing each polarity (indirect / strong / sustained). I decided to do the same for the polar opposite of WRING which is DAB (direct / light / sudden), to get some help from contrasting descriptions (jumping on Mike's idea). Day by day, I added more adjectives that would come to mind. Here is my final table:

 

WRING

INDIRECT wavy flexed sickled turning twisting crossing spiral sliding backward awkward broken fragmented bending rotation oblique side bend creepy passive aggressive zig zag hinge

STRONG tense heavy tough gravity (force, feeling) high density uncomfortable fatigue covered by heavy blanket resistance overwhelmed restrained unbreakable rock-solid, marble solid as in not liquid but Niagara falls harsh bull in a china shop huge tiny can be strong, eg diamond

SUSTAINED slow consistent anguish (the Scream) uninterrupted continuous powerful predictable flowing

 

Some are not all compatible for wring. But overall that exercise generated ideas/feelings.

 

Then I tried to visualise stuff. The textbook example for WRING is wringing a wet towel, which didn't really inspire me for handstands... I wrote those in a corner:

• a corkscrew (shape and action)

• matter getting spiralled into a black hole, big to small, small to big

• imagine that instead of bones and muscles I was made of just wire (the type used for dolls skeleton)

• a painting: the Scream, Edvard Munch

• atmosphere: a haunted house with squeaky doors (more on that later)

• an animal: a cat yawning and stretching its belly sideways. Feline quality.

 

I also gathered bits of music that would qualify as WRINGING. At first it was a bit difficult, until violin came to mind and I quickly remembered 3 pieces. I also tried to find samples with human voices. Not so easy but I eventually managed to find a few songs or sections that were relevant I think.

 

I was very enticed by a very screeching sound from a train about to stop (friction on the rails), it was definitely strong and fairly sustained (with some interruptions) but a bit too direct.

I went down the road of sound effects and found this YouTube “Squeaky Door Hinge Opening Sound Effects” entry that got me all excited. I edited it to get a repeatable sequence in HS with silences between effects. So all in all it's not continuous but I kinda liked the idea of having short “wrings” with “freeze” bits in the middle.

 

Then I started hearing wringing everywhere and I stopped searching  

 

During the week, I also started imagining wringing HS stuff. This is where I tend to overshoot skill-wise because I have way too much imagination for my actual skills  

I wrote down a few ideas anyway:

• movement isolation (by joint) => to try with door hinges

• explore rotations in all possible directions

• broken shapes

• make straight shapes look indirect

• use contrast (at the beginning or the end)

• find an indirect path in transitions that are usually pretty direct (e.g. straddle to tuck).

 

[@mu]

So I have 2 videos.

 

One with bits that are giving me ideas and that I would like to work on further:

 

 

And a more lengthy video with lots of repeats on a particular section. That one has a lot more process, like having to wait for the start of a music section in HS :D, not getting the timing right, bailing a lot, and getting all the WRING wrong I find it useful to see what does not work and how stuff evolves on its own, but it's a bit long.

 

 

Random thoughts

 

I spent about 3 hours on this, over 2 days. I don't think I can do that every time (it's pretty tiring too). I could not fully explore everything that came up. I had (too) many ideas but trying out in HS actually took a lot of time. I can save some of the half-cooked material for later, it's not a problem in itself. But maybe next time I will explore just one idea to have a bit more focus.

 

My legs and my brains still don't understand each other very well. I have some leg awareness problem, and like HS puppets, this was a good exercise. Video feedback was super helpful because what I feel doesn't quite match what it looks like. It will probably take a while to synchronize fully.

 

Using music really helped. It added constraints (like timing) but overall it was definitely inspiring.

 

Sustained was actually a lot harder to do that I thought it would be, because of all the not-so-subtle counterbalancing moves I need to make to stay up. Keeping the movement smooth throughout was challenging really.

 

Broken shapes: I found those a bit artificial, and not working so well with sustained. It went a bit more WRINGY when I started focusing on continuous rotation independently of my actual shape (straight or not). Broken has indeed a bit of sudden / static quality that does not quite go with WRING.

 

I didn't work much on the weight polarity. Maybe a bit of laziness, because I know I tend to default to “strong” and I don't recall any moment of “oh this is a bit too light for a wring” But I didn't really play with the qualifiers I wrote in my strong column for instance.

 

I found a move (“Marina” clips) that I really assumed would be fairly easy but was not at all actually: in straight handstand, legs together, draw a little circle towards the ceiling with pointed toes, small to big circle and vice versa. Being a piker, I kept drawing at an angle... I found it super hard to draw the circle part in my back side. So here is a new drill I will keep in a corner to work on because that really bugged me.

 

Following on that road, as usual, technical limitations. I ditched neck based movements, flags and the corkscrew idea because I spent too much time bailing on those. I was good at ditching early on, usually I get a little bit more obsessive about it

 

“Door hinges”: I really like the idea, it works well in HS I think. The hardest bit is controlling the freeze for sure, and having to start and end on an external cue. Very good exercise, and I just really like the idea. I'm sure if you get this done by a pro hand balancer, it would look really cool!

 

Contrast: I liked that bit (“Cruxshadows” section with the punch at the end).

 

Video angle: I took all the videos from the side, I should try stuff from behind.

 

Voilà.

[KB Girl]

Really cool to see your process! 

Having too many ideas sounds like the best problem to have.. but mhm, you can always change the rules if you wish to spend more time on this. 

[Epsilonte]

Wow those videos are really cool!! Your handstands look so effortless and solid.

[raptron]

TOO MANY IDEAS is such a fun problem. I am super intrigued by your approach to these movement puzzles -- you think so analytically but wind up drawing out such diverse and interesting takes. This is neat!!!

[Mad Hatter]

SUPER COOL!!! 

One human voice that popped into my mind is Asaf Avidan, though it sounds like more ideas is the last thing you need.  

 

He's got a few different sounds and I think there's wringier ones (I'm an album person mostly and never know which song is which!) but here's one example

 

 

[@mu]

On 11/1/2020 at 7:24 PM, KB Girl said:

Really cool to see your process! 

Having too many ideas sounds like the best problem to have.. but mhm, you can always change the rules if you wish to spend more time on this. 

 

I could, it's true but these days I'd rather generate stuff in a given time and move on, rather than keep digging around one thing. My natural tendency is to dig (which comes with its own set of frustrations ha ha). It's a good exercise for me to practice moving on just now

 

On 11/2/2020 at 11:50 PM, Epsilonte said:

Wow those videos are really cool!! Your handstands look so effortless and solid.

 

Thanks! I started practising handstands on this very forum a few years ago! NF for the win!

 

On 11/3/2020 at 2:13 AM, raptron said:

TOO MANY IDEAS is such a fun problem. I am super intrigued by your approach to these movement puzzles -- you think so analytically but wind up drawing out such diverse and interesting takes. This is neat!!!

 

Ha ha yeah I have a funny right brain at times I like it, the left one can be a pain in the bum  

 

10 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

One human voice that popped into my mind is Asaf Avidan, though it sounds like more ideas is the last thing you need.  

 

Awesome, I didn't know him, thanks, added to my list! Very good wring sample, cheers!

 

Here are a few wringy songs I had in my list and that are also on YouTube if it's of interest. I had never looked into music that way really. It's difficult to find a song very dominantly wringy throughout, but sections can be found. I did not end up using them. Some wrings are also a bit hard to take on repeat to be honest

Parvaz Homay - Ab talab nakardeh
https://youtu.be/stANsEl0qVk?t=355

 

Devendra Banhart – A Sight to Behold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osFVK8VVOd8

 

The Drums - In The Cold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_y2flCqqMQ

 

Without lyrics I had in a corner:

 

Kila - Wine bottle, I really like that one but did not manage to get to it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvwI308hhAk

 

And the God Fathers theme which I did my very first silks routine on ha ha, I had too much pulling body memories on it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWqKPWO5T4o

 

 

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, @mu said:

Devendra Banhart – A Sight to Behold

It doesn't sound anything like it, but that track made me think of this one, very wringy to my ears. It really is interesting to think about music and sound and movement in this way!

 

 

[KB Girl]

On 11/4/2020 at 7:20 PM, @mu said:

I could, it's true but these days I'd rather generate stuff in a given time and move on, rather than keep digging around one thing. My natural tendency is to dig (which comes with its own set of frustrations ha ha). It's a good exercise for me to practice moving on just now

 

ah! excellent  moving on then

[PaulG]

Damien Rice and Asaf Avidan! This is a hell of a trip down memory lane for me.

 

Funnily, the only song I really heard from Avidan, way back when, was wringy AF. At least, I think it was? This is unfamiliar terminology for me. The chorus starting at 1:23 would classify as a wring, I think?

 

https://youtu.be/KNVhSu2oSPM

 

[@mu]

On 11/4/2020 at 8:37 PM, Mad Hatter said:

It doesn't sound anything like it, but that track made me think of this one, very wringy to my ears. It really is interesting to think about music and sound and movement in this way!

 

 It also sounds very wringy to me, it's so interesting to hear “wring” in so many different styles. The polarities sound constraining at first but it's so rich when you start looking into it!

 

6 hours ago, PaulG said:

Damien Rice and Asaf Avidan! This is a hell of a trip down memory lane for me.

 

Funnily, the only song I really heard from Avidan, way back when, was wringy AF. At least, I think it was? This is unfamiliar terminology for me. The chorus starting at 1:23 would classify as a wring, I think?

 

https://youtu.be/KNVhSu2oSPM

 

To me yeah totally, even before, his way of singing has a “wringing” quality.

 

Today was DAB (direct / light / sudden) and it was HARD.  I'm just not familiar with LIGHT at all. I tried anyway.

I also did not prep much this week apart from selecting some sound tracks. Below is the full list if it's of interest.

 

Spoiler

Bobby Mc Ferring - Don't worry be happy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU

 

 

Victor Victoria - You and Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-dqYAGIySA

 

 

Django Reinhardt – Minor Swing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcE1avXFJb4

 

 

Jean Michel Jarre - Pop corn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBDgfBunNyc

 

 

Pink panther theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp6z3s1Gig0

 

 

Harry Potter - Hedwig's Theme – Flute, beginning with triangle, maybe not so light?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2uMJihWvf0

 

 

London Philharmonic Orchestra - Angry birds (some light bits?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbrgo3vPBdQ

 

 

Cake – Perhaps – not sure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwIo9Y9iJ6A

 

 

Colombus - Snowmine - beginning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAs-7AVdSLU

 

 

Dexter theme song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lHcn0YvBp0

 

 

Here is what came out:

 

 

Some thoughts:

• of all the "light", I'm probably more at ease with flick (indirect)  and maybe glide (sustained). I have a very very hard time with direct + light. I ended up a bit flickery or doing small presses ha ha. I am really clueless on that one.
• In "Don't worry, be happy" I tried to open up my toes, to make it look more like a dab rather than a flick (which feels "sharper" to me). But not sure it makes much of a difference.
• Tempo was hard to follow
• "Mr Sun" => I'm not sure the hip movement qualifies as a dab (possibly not direct enough) but it was fun to do.
• I think the most dab-by part is probably the beginning of the puppets one, with my feet. Then I tried to dab with more of the leg and ouch that was really hard to balance. And now I'm wondering if my puppet hair flick is not a slash really But I think it was easier to get close to a dab with the puppets, not sure why.

Anyway, it was a very confusing one.

 

Existential side question: is twerking a dab? I'm reposting this one because I LOVE IT  

 

 

 

[PaulG]

The twerking guy broke my Youtube, couldn’t even pull it up. 😂

 

Your puppets are back! All I wanted them

to do when I saw them singing was for them to sway side to side in the classic singing-Muppet style. (Is that a dab?)