As part of my work for Arts Award portfolio I wrote a review
of Walking Stories by
Charlotte Spencer.
On 24th September 2015 in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park in
London.
The group audio walk, Walking
Stories by Charlotte Spencer is more than what it seems to be.
This piece is about movement, the language of the bodies in space and the choreographed activity to the music outdoors and in green public locations. The participants are also performers and there is an invitation to connect with ourselves and with others.
This piece is about movement, the language of the bodies in space and the choreographed activity to the music outdoors and in green public locations. The participants are also performers and there is an invitation to connect with ourselves and with others.
At the beginning we are given headphones and MP3’s players with
the soundtrack we all will simultaneously follow through the hour-long journey.
This start already made me feel a sense of belonging and as an artist I learned
other ways of encouraging group awareness. A combination between instructions
for physical responses, voice over and commentary encourages us to explore our
senses and rethink about time and space. It is like your mind is tuned into a
different frequency.
The people in the park who are not participating will only see a
group of people walking together, splitting apart in random directions, running
in circles, laying down on the ground, lurking behind trees, piling up objects,
etc. It must be very interesting for those who happen to be there and I wonder
what crosses their minds. While participating, I was really focused in my
experience and on the tasks and I didn’t pay that much attention to the
audience around me. I felt they could be part of the set.
From my experience the trance-like music, the voice over in our
heads and being focused in the behaviour of the body changes the quality of
time. Suddenly I find myself more connected with who I am and immersed in the
nature. I feel I am actually living the actual present and it takes me
somewhere else deep and makes me conscious about matters I never thought
before.
By taking part in Walking Stories, I learned to be more aware of
the people around me, aware of nature, aware of time and how we feel time
passing; noticing and being more conscious of the fact that I am alive, in a
certain place, in a certain time, doing something.
This is an opportunity to make the most of our own individual
impulses as well as to collaborate.
