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Opening minds to write, using movement
By Francesca Olsen
Hudson Catskill Newspapers
HUDSON - Backstage, before the reading began, culminating eight weeks of creative direction, Dara Lurie, who both wrote the grant for and taught the program, gave direction to her students:
“The main thing is, you’re saying something important,” she told them. “Try it one more time, and connect to the idea and the feeling.”
Fifteen minutes later, Ahmad Garland, Sharece Johnson and Ashley Price filed into Time and Space Limited’s theater, folding chairs in tow, their faces calm and even. It was 6 p.m. and time for “Your Life Is A Reality Show: Teens Read Aloud”, at TSL on Columbia Street in Hudson.
Writer, dance and artist Dara Lurie worked with these students and others over the course of eight weeks to expand their creative process, drawing on meditation, chi-gong stances and breathing exercises designed to clear the mind and educate the self on what’s really going on inside.
“I think the body work really helped to break the ice,” said Lurie. “It takes you out of your head. I think it breaks the tension.”
The students, all in their teens, read their own poems, inspired by exercises done in the program. They read responses to beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “My Autobiography,” delineating their own experiences, dreaming about what their lives might hold in the future and reflecting on the inevitable feelings of being stuck in a place or situation.
“I watch intelligence walk the ghetto,” one line by Sharece Johnson read. “Will these walls ever break? Will I get out?...my success will soon be pride.”
The students also read pieces expressing the subjective point of view, and metaphoric, strong autobiographical poems that answer Lurie’s question of “how would you account yourself to the world?” if given a minute to speak on Oprah.
Lurie told the audience that she worked with her students on “listening, hearing, speaking, and making the language physical.” As a dancer, she said she used to think the two couldn’t be brought together, but found out through experience that they could, and with benefit. “I’m always trying to get people to feel the rhythm of the language,” she said.
To get into this frame of mind, the program sometimes moved to local Yoga studio Sadhana Center for Yoga, in order to do “un-writerly” things like lay on the floor, do some breathing exercises, and clear the mind.
“It did help the breathing, and the writing flowed,” said Johnson. “It was difficult at first, but it grows on you.”
“I thought I was just going to fall asleep, but it brought my imagination out more,” said Ashley Price.
“I’ve always written. It was the meditation that threw me off,” said Ahmad Garland.
After you “clear the gunk” out of your head, he continued, “you can come out with intimate thoughts that are really surprising to yourself.”
Lurie said it wasn’t difficult to get her students to open up, workshop their poems, and open their minds. “This was a group that was pretty ready to speak its mind,” she said. “I didn’t have to look for people’s opinions. They were just there.”
“It’s my first experience out pulling together a project, and I see how many cooks it makes to create a soup,” Lurie told the audience before the reading began. With the idea of putting a youth program together, Lurie found TSL, and she and youth programs director Maija Reed went together to look for funding -- and interest.
“This is a beautiful example of how community can collaborate,” said Reed. “Dara and I came into the schools and met with probably four classes of kids.” United Way of Columbia County, and the Department of Environmental Conservation, worked with Lurie and Reed to secure funding.
HUDSON - Backstage, before the reading began, culminating eight weeks of creative direction, Dara Lurie, who both wrote the grant for and taught the program, gave direction to her students:
“The main thing is, you’re saying something important,” she told them. “Try it one more time, and connect to the idea and the feeling.”
Fifteen minutes later, Ahmad Garland, Sharece Johnson and Ashley Price filed into Time and Space Limited’s theater, folding chairs in tow, their faces calm and even. It was 6 p.m. and time for “Your Life Is A Reality Show: Teens Read Aloud”, at TSL on Columbia Street in Hudson.
Writer, dance and artist Dara Lurie worked with these students and others over the course of eight weeks to expand their creative process, drawing on meditation, chi-gong stances and breathing exercises designed to clear the mind and educate the self on what’s really going on inside.
“I think the body work really helped to break the ice,” said Lurie. “It takes you out of your head. I think it breaks the tension.”
The students, all in their teens, read their own poems, inspired by exercises done in the program. They read responses to beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “My Autobiography,” delineating their own experiences, dreaming about what their lives might hold in the future and reflecting on the inevitable feelings of being stuck in a place or situation.
“I watch intelligence walk the ghetto,” one line by Sharece Johnson read. “Will these walls ever break? Will I get out?...my success will soon be pride.”
The students also read pieces expressing the subjective point of view, and metaphoric, strong autobiographical poems that answer Lurie’s question of “how would you account yourself to the world?” if given a minute to speak on Oprah.
Lurie told the audience that she worked with her students on “listening, hearing, speaking, and making the language physical.” As a dancer, she said she used to think the two couldn’t be brought together, but found out through experience that they could, and with benefit. “I’m always trying to get people to feel the rhythm of the language,” she said.
To get into this frame of mind, the program sometimes moved to local Yoga studio Sadhana Center for Yoga, in order to do “un-writerly” things like lay on the floor, do some breathing exercises, and clear the mind.
“It did help the breathing, and the writing flowed,” said Johnson. “It was difficult at first, but it grows on you.”
“I thought I was just going to fall asleep, but it brought my imagination out more,” said Ashley Price.
“I’ve always written. It was the meditation that threw me off,” said Ahmad Garland.
After you “clear the gunk” out of your head, he continued, “you can come out with intimate thoughts that are really surprising to yourself.”
Lurie said it wasn’t difficult to get her students to open up, workshop their poems, and open their minds. “This was a group that was pretty ready to speak its mind,” she said. “I didn’t have to look for people’s opinions. They were just there.”
“It’s my first experience out pulling together a project, and I see how many cooks it makes to create a soup,” Lurie told the audience before the reading began. With the idea of putting a youth program together, Lurie found TSL, and she and youth programs director Maija Reed went together to look for funding -- and interest.
“This is a beautiful example of how community can collaborate,” said Reed. “Dara and I came into the schools and met with probably four classes of kids.” United Way of Columbia County, and the Department of Environmental Conservation, worked with Lurie and Reed to secure funding.
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