Improvisational Movement and Art/Altar Collaboration at Dance Church

COLLABORATION #1 (by Hallelujah Truth and Brian Sherman)

Hallelujah for Dance Church on the second Sunday of every month at the Decatur School of Ballet. In addition to the magic that takes place by "moving our bodies" in any which way we please - improvisational movement - in community with other participants, Brian Sherman and I have been improvising art on the Dance Church altar.

COLLABORATION #2 (by Hallelujah Truth and Brian Sherman)

Our lives have collided sporadically over the years whenever we both happen to be able to attend this once-a-month "dance church" from 10:30 to noon on a Sunday morning. At Dance Church, we are invited to bring and place items on an "altar" while we are dancing. 

I first started paying attention to the Dance Church altar when I became aware that Brian was bringing a lot of copper in varying forms of pennies, wires, and other objects. The randomness of his objects drew me in. I was fascinated by his birdlike gathering of bright objects, and he seemed to have some unstated principle that dictated how they were collected and placed in different containers.

BRIAN'S OFFERINGS

Was it the improvisational dancing that "moved" me to start interacting with Brian's found and gathered objects? I found myself taking them out of the containers and arranging them in patterns that felt satisfying. 

Soon after my initiating the first arrangements, Brian informed of his only "rule." I was not to put anything away once the object was "out." He has an organizing principle for his collection of objects and how he stores them. Fine by me. I function at my best creatively when I know my parameters.

COLLABORATION #3 (by Hallelujah Truth and Brian Sherman)

Over time, I felt comfortable enough in this receptive environment of Dance Church to start bringing tablets of my art work. I have a "display" principle myself, one that is easily carried out in this open nonjudgmental environment. I like to "control" the viewing of my work. That is, I like to offer the viewer, a certain limited time to see my work, and then I conceal it, offering another work to see. (Yes, please ask me about this. I find it fascinating how I interact with viewers of my work and have much more to say about it.)

Anyways, what you are viewing here in this blogpost is the outcome of the collaborations Brian and I made today. What do I love most about them? The nonverbal emergence. Brian and I don't talk during the Dance Church.

COLLABORATION #4 (by Hallelujah Truth and Brian Sherman)

Instead, he brings out sets of objects in containers. I put up my pad of drawings. We dance. We move. We look. I arrange objects. I turn the page on my pad of drawings. Brian brings out objects. Maybe, he shifts his container of objects.

I watch him. He watches me. We dance. We rearrange. We appreciate each other's offerings. 

BRIAN MOVES TO THE ALTAR. We created a dance of moving towards and away from the Dance Church altar during our 90-minutes of dancing and co-creating.

I find that I don't need to know a lot about what is going on in our collaboration. Moving. Looking. Seeing. Creating. Recreating. Without speaking feels satisfying.

COLLABORATION #5 (by Hallelujah Truth and Brian Sherman)

COLLABORATION #6 (by Hallelujah Truth and Brian Sherman)

I have known that Brian is a retired sociology professor and has a radio program on WRFG, a local public radio station here in Atlanta. He has been kind of enough to buy Tony's books. Tony and I both feel supported by Brian. And there is this art thing. I like experiencing it rather than trying to understand it.

BRIAN SHERMAN AND HALLELUJAH TRUTH. Brian has made me more conscious about documenting what we do. Hence the photos I took today, and the photo of us together taken by Tony Martin at the conclusion of Dance Church.

Dance Church was perfect for Tony and me today. We both needed to release the tension from our bodies after attending a three-day conference in Savannah, Georgia and four hour to and from the Georgia coast.  Thanks to Dance Church, we had such a sweet, connective time, moving and dancing with others in our Decatur community. 

And for me, I co-created with Brian! What do you think of our collaborations? That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul Blog with me! What might you improvise today with someone else?