The Glasgow Jam

New Jammers Participant Blog  Entry 2 - 7th June 2015 The second third and fourth meetings have been very positive. In session 2, the underscore offered a gradual start with building arrivals, to the body, to a sense of weight and support within the space, and building to awareness of our possibilities for movement in our own reaches (kinesphere) and then shifting towards interactions with other New Jammers. I find the pace and flow of developing towards the Jam using this method is gradual and unforced and offers pathways  to visit, reject, like, revisit, restart, connect, disconnect… and potentially, within the mind, in a less forced or cluttered way than can sometimes be the case. Getting the chance to Jam together offered a chance for more bonding and this, I felt, helped to deepen the engagement with the group. My attention is engaged with on going developing awareness of the underscore and with the many different approaches to the warm up. Towards sessio...

New Jammers Participant Blog Entry 3 - 21st June 2015 I'm interested in rhythm and repetition, and how they can relate to the unfolding of improvisation. For me, repetition is a way to take movement out of time, and make it a space to inhabit. By doing something again and again, we illuminate the whole structure, laying down trails that give shape to the landscape. When working with another person, repetition means that something doesn't have to work right now, there is less sense of "this isn't setup quite right, but I'll go for it anyway'' because we can relax into knowing the possibility will come round again. Repetitive movements let us trace the movement all the way through our bodies and those we are dancing with, feeling the echoes of action echoing through the skeleton. There are points of coordination, of correspondence. There are equilibria, attractors in movement space which we can circle, again and again, until something tips and we rol...

NJ Participant Blog Entry 3 - 21st June 2015 Today saw my first facilitation. Good. Happy. The New Jammers programme should probably, ideally, be repeated at least every couple of years.   Why? It adds a another layer or facet to the jam scene. Jamming has layers and facets. People bring the layers and facets. There is strength there. The final session of the programme was a jam whereby each new jammer played a part in the facilitation. It was, by account, thought of as successful facilitation in itself. One comment was that the joint facilitation was like a woven texture which was like jamming itself. Perhaps something to repeat. Perhaps a duo or trio should facilitate a jam from time to time. New Jammers. The community is bolstered. Some glue is introduced. Approaches to facilitation, like in jamming, is immensely varied. Dialogue and interaction, as happens in the New Jammers programme would help one to develop the palette of approach...