- FULL NAME: Deirdre Morris and Daniel Davis

- PHONE NUMBER: +1 505 670 2659 Deirdre

+1 831 325 9591 Daniel

- EMAIL: deirdre@theforgottenbody.com Deirdre

dbdavis@smcm.edu Daniel

- SHORT BIOGRAPHY (400-500 characters) – relevant to the proposal, Symposium theme

Daniel Davis makes interdisciplinary movement-based performance inspired by his fascination with humanity. He has worked with military veterans and non-veterans with EchoTheaterSuitcase project and assisting The Artistic Ensemble of San Quentin. His recent work, On Contentious Grounds was made with students at St. Mary’s College in dialogue with interviews he led in Occupied Palestine, engaging the students’ own experiences of racial profiling, incarceration in the family, and sexual assault.

Deirdre Morris, is an interdisciplinary performance maker and working member of Dancing Earth (Indigenous Contemporary Dance) and Wise Fool New Mexico (physical theatre and circus spectacle). Deirdre’s work draws diverse communities into a creative process that is socially affective and radically generous by utilizing 'story sharing', to bridge personal narratives and collective memory. While Dramaturge in residence with Dancing Earth, she has continued her research on de-colonizing somatic understandings of time and belonging.

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- TITLE OF THE ACTIVITY: Somatic Insights into Performance with Marginalized Groups

- DETAILED CONTENT DESCRIPTION (max. 2000 characters):

Daniel Davis and Deirdre Morris offer a presentation and workshop exploring their research and methods into making performance with marginalized groups. We will focus on how we have navigated making work with populations we are not intrinsically a part of and how insights from various somatic approaches have shaped our processes. We will explore how the creative process is, itself, a process of place-making that builds new communities of radical generosity.

We invite participants away from linear narratives of presentation forms and into a context of food and story sharing - a format that has been integral to Deirdre’s work with indigenous communities. We will seed the dialogue with videos and spoken examples of our work and then open the dialogue to everyone present. We will also do some somatic movement exercises and share some tools that have worked for us through practical example.

Please bring a snack to share.

Some of the themes and questions we will delve into include:

• How can engagement with private wounds transform into medicine as they become a resource for developing trust and content within an ensemble and then are shared with a larger group through the communal ritual of performance.

• How do we avoid appropriation and colonization?

• How do we identify resources - the things that make the process manageable and rewarding for participants? How can the same resources that support the participants contribute to a balanced experience for the audience?

• Methods of Listening: How do we create space in the creative process to hear the quiet voices? To welcome the “disruption” as relevant content? How do we listen with our own bodies and hearts? To listen for what is not said as much as for what is said?

• How can we privilege localized intelligence and tacit or innate knowledge from the body of the ensemble?

• Can the performance be understood as an artifact, creating a window into an on-going process of relationship building?

- SUMMARY OF CONTENT DESCRIPTION AND MOTIVATION (max 400- 500 characters; for publishing)  

Daniel Davis and Deirdre Morris offer a food and story sharing circle exploring experiences and methods of making performance with marginalized groups. We will seed the circle with our stories and then hear from others of successes and challenges working with marginalized communities they may or may not intrinsically be a part of. We will explore how the creative process can be a process of place-making that builds new communities of radical generosity. Please bring a snack to share.

- SHORT BIOGRAPHY (max 60 words for publishing (if co-taught all in all max 60 words)

Daniel and Deirdre met while building a social justice theatre project, through Carpetbag Brigade and Wise Fool New Mexico. They rekindled their connection for devising theatre from personal narratives while attending the University of California Davis for their MFA. Daniel is currently Assistant Professor in the Theatre and Dance Department at St. Mary’s College while Deirdre continues her work as Dramaturge for Dancing Earth Indigenous Creations.

- GENERAL INTERESTS, CODE/KEY WORDS

Somatics, radical generosity, marginalized groups, surrogation, place making, the parachute effect, belonging, tacit/innate knowledge.

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- Participating requirements (for whom is this workshop for?) Folks who have, or are interested in, facilitating performance-making from personal experience within marginalized communities.

- TIME REQUIREMENTS (how much time do you need for sharing?) 2 hours

- SPACE REQUIREMENTS (what kind of space do you require for your sharing? studio size etc)

A space we can have food in and gather in a large circle.

- TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS (what kind of technical support do you require? audio, beamer etc) Video projector with vga or hdmi port; stereo with aux port

- OTHER REQUIREMENTS – comments.

Napkins; big paper and markers;