PEOPLE PLAN

LECTURE ON MOVING

O.K. let's begin. The first decision to make is whether you are performer or audience. Half of the group today is audience and half is performer. That is the first thing you must decide on the basis of half and half. If you have chosen to be audience, please sit or stand along the periphery of the available space or along the walls. If you are a performer, listen to this tape and make your decisions. If and when you wish to change roles, go to a member of the audience if you are a performer, or to a performer if you have been in the audience, and inform him that you are exchanging roles. First rule for performers is that they must keep in motion. I shall not specify the style or type of movement. Remember that at least at the beginning you must also be able to listen to this tape. The content of this class shall be bodies, animate and inanimate. My particular prejudices as they apply to the use of these bodies will become clearer as the session proceeds. I myself shall begin as a performer. My example however, is to serve more as indication of attitude, than as a model for exact imitation. For the moment let me make some precautionary remarks. Remember that we performers must continue to move while listening. First rule for performers. I take for granted the innate dignity and integrity of the human body as it stands erect on its two feet, arms at rest, eyes gazing straight out of the head suspended at the top of the spine. Sometimes it even seems to me that this phenomenal configuration can be nothing but diminished by demanding that it engage in actions and motions that will alter its basic shape. Alas we must do more in the world than stand and be admired, but not too much more, and probably much less than we are accustomed to thinking we must do. Later on I shall read some definitions taken from the dictionary of some action words thru which we shall involve ourselves with this particular environment with its particular collection of bodies and objects. The attitude I would like to impart is that these definitions are to be taken as literally as possible, and in those cases where they can not be acted on in a literal and concrete manner, they should be overlooked or regarded as a poetic contribution of this verbal outpouring. In other words, the forthcoming definitions are not to be used as points of departure for free association, improvisation or interpretation, but rather as directives for very specific behavior and activity. The inanimate bodies, namely the objects in this environment, are also imbued with a basic dignity of presence, that I can only account for as deriving from each one's peculiar molecular distribution. These object-like bodies, occupy a given amount of space, and the placement of each determines the exact amount of empty space available for our movement or for redistribution of the same objects. Our bodies, despite the difference that lies in the fact of our volition, can be looked at in the same manner. We occupy space, when one of us moves out of that space he leaves room for another to enter, or for an inanimate object to be placed there. This place is chock-full of redistributable material.

The audience too can be regarded and dealt with as redistributable material. The still passive presence of the detached observer suggests an equivalence with an object that can be lifted, placed, passed by or whatever. I advise you not to struggle with material that is too heavy for you, but to ask for assistance from fellow participants if you need it. Remember again that you must keep moving, even while listening and even while talking. The session will be over when all the material is returned roughly to its original placement, including audience. I think that the first thing to do, is to take stock of exactly where everything is, especially of those things that you might be interested in dealing with. Exactly how are they situated, what is the distance between particular objects, how many steps is it from a particular object to its nearest neighbor, how many steps is it from a particular object to one most distant from it, how many steps are required from a particular member of the audience to the nearest object. I suggest you take several of these measurements, try to remember them and re-check them at the end of the session.

carry To move while supporting; transport; he carried her for a while in his arms. To wear, hold or have around one; he carries his change in his pocket; he carries a cane. To bear the weight, burden, etc. of. Sustain; these piers once carried an arch. To hold the body, head etc.; she carries her head to the left. To act as a bearer or conductor; carry all before one, carry away; carry back; carry forward; carry-off; carry-on; carry-out; carry-over; as to hold until a later time; postpone; or to be left; remain; carry something too far; carry through.

displace To move or put out of the usual or proper place. To take the place of; replace; supplant; relocate.

distribute To disperse through a space or over an area; spread. To pass out or deliver to inten ded recipients. Oistribute implies apportioned, individualized and often personal giving, espe cially if something that is definite or limited in amount or number.

exchange To part with for some equivalent; give up something for something else; change for another. To give and receive reciprocally; interchange. To part with in return for some equivalent.

interchange To put each of two things in the place of the other. To cause one thing to change places with another; transpose. To cause to follow one another alternately. To occur by turns or in succession; alternate. To change places, as two persons or things or as one with another.

intercept To take, seize or halt someone or something on the way from one place to another; cut off from an intended destination. To stop or interrupt the course, progress or transmission of. To intersect.

disperse To separate and move apart in different directions without order or regularity. To dispel; scatter out of sight.

collect To gather together; assemble. To accumulate; make a collection of.

pull To draw or haul toward oneself or itself in a particular direction, or into a particular po sition. To draw away from a place of growth, attachment etc. To exert a growing, tugging or hauling force; pull-down; pull-in; pull one self together; pull-over; pull-up, as to bring or come to a halt ; to bring or to draw closer; pull-back; pull someone's leg.

push To press upon or against a thing with force in order to move it away. To move some thing in a specified way by exerting force; shove, drive. To push something aside. To push something off the table. To push the door open. To make by thrusting obstacles aside. To push one's way through the crowd. To carry an action or thing toward a conclusion or an ex treme. To depend excessively upon; use beyond capacity. To push one's luck. To use force in moving a thing away; shove. To make one's way with effort or persistance, as against difficulty or opposition. To move on being pushed; a swinging door that pushes easily. Push off; push-on; to press forward; continue, proceed.

remove To move from a place or position. To take away or off. To take off or shed an article of clothing. To move or shift to another place or position, transfer. To take away, withdraw or eliminate. To kill, assassinate. To go away, depart, disappear. The distance by which one per son, place or things is separated from another. To see something at a remove, a distance from the reality of something as a result of psychological detachment or lack of experience. To crit icize something at a remove. A degree of difference, or time, or distance.

remain To continue in the same state, continue to be as specified. To stay behind or in the same place. To remain at home. To be left after the removal, loss, destruction etc. of all else.

replace To assume the former role, position or function of, substitute for. To provide a sub stitute or equivalent in the place of. To restore, return, make good. To restore to a former or the proper place.

shunt To shove or turn someone or something aside or out of the way. Railroads; to shift rol ling stock from one track to another. switch, shift.

shift To move from one place, position, direction etc. to another. To manage to get along or succeed by oneself. Noun a change or transfer from one place position, direction, person etc. to another. A shift in a wind. Mining; a dislocation of a seam or stratum, fault. Agricul ture; in crop rotation, any of successive crops, the tract of land used. Put; pass; change; move; contrivance; resource; resort; wile; ruse; subterfuge; stratagem.

substitute To act as a substitute.

pass To move past; go by. To pass someone on the road. To let go without notice, action, re mark, etc. ; leave unconsidered; disregard; overlook. Pass the preface and go on to the text. To go across or over extreme threshold etc.; cross. To undergo; they passed the worst night of their lives. To go beyond a point, degree, stage, etc.; transcend; exceed; surpass. To cause to go or move onward. To pass a rope through a hole. To live during a portion of time spent. He decided to pass a year abroad improving his German. To live through without tedium, how to pass the time. To cause to circulate or spread. To pass rumors all over the Naval base. To convey, transfer or transmit; deliver. To convey from one person, hand, etc. to another. Please pass the mustard. He passed a remark about every passer-by. To discard, void from the body as excrement. To transfer to a teammate. To go or move onward; proceed. To come to or toward, then go beyond. To pass by. To pass through. To go away; depart. The lightheaded feeling will pass in a minute. To come to an end. To die. To take place; happen; occur. To go by or move past. To go about or circulate; be current. To serve as a marginally acceptable sub stitute; the facsimile is not very good but it will pass. To live or be known as a member of a racial or religious or ethnic group other than one's own, especially to live and be known as a white person, although having some negro ancestry. To undergo transition or conversion. To pass from a solid to a liquid state; bring to pass; come to pass; pass away; pass for; to be ac cepted as; be considered; material that passed for silk; pass-off; to pass-off a spurious Rembrandt on someone. He passed himself off as a doctor; pass-on; pass-out; pass-over; pass wind.

SELECTION OF SLIDES FROM "NORTH EAST PASSING"

Original format: Single sheet, 9-1/2 by 20-1/2 inches, folded twice.

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