TALKING HANDS / TALKING FEET no. 1, “Step Time”

IMAGE: Doing TALKING HANDS / TALKING FEET atop Krag Peak, the South WALLOWAS, OREGON This is the first in a series of talks about a new technique central to my New Music, Poetry & Dance performance project, the Circle in the Square. It’s called, TALKING HANDS / TALKING FEET. It is a daily practice, in some ways similar to meditation and yoga, in other ways similar to Alexander technique, and yet other ways similar to a more progressive form of solfeggio. The basic idea is that best and most natural way to learn complex patterns of movement and meaning—whether they be a single poem we wish to learn by heart, rhythmic patterns we’re learning to conduct, long lists of Latin plant names we need to memorize, a melody we’re working, a new language we’re learning, or even mathematical pattern—is to bring them fully into the mindbody by chanting, drumming, and dancing them. Always all three together as one: chanting, drumming, and dancing. And always by ear, without the use of the eyes or notation. At the center of TALKING HANDS / TALKING FEET is a new spirit of learning to listen by becoming aware of listening itself as it is taking place, as well as learning to learn—and teach—in the same way. With this talk, I introduce the idea of Step Time. (We use the word ‘step’ instead of ‘syllable’ simply because it simpler, easier to teach to children, and, of course, self-referential. The word “step” is a single step.) i show how, by doing the same pattern of movement in a poem, with the tongue in speak, with the hands, and with the feet, a natural synergistic energy is generated that makes learning anything much more fun and organic.