Title of the LAB / EG: “Cut the Bullshit”
Facilitation: Rotating
Participants: Noa, Anya, Kaisa, Olha, Barbara, Charles, Dan, Inna, Antonia, Natasha, Elina 

Inquiry / Short Description :

The statement “Cut the Bullshit” appeared as one of the short written proposals strewn on the floor, during the first ECITE session for determining common research interests. None of the participants of this group wrote this statement, but we were all attracted to it for individual reasons. We worked together over 2 days in two 4 hour sessions overall, with a tentative interest at the end from some of the participants to develop this further as a performance group exploration. 

What Happened / Any Gems to Share? :

Our first discussion centred on sharing what attracted us to the statement, what we might term as “bullshit” and perhaps may be involved in ‘cutting’ ‘the bullshit’, or ‘our bullshit’. 

We alternated between score-based jam sessions related to these questions and verbal sharing, spending about equal time on both. 

Terms that arose in connection with our personal interpretations of “bullshit”: 

Simplicity/Simplifying
Honesty
Pure Physicality: No Extras
Clarity of Communication
Sustainability
Noticing Manipulation
Transparency Around Power Dynamics and Structures Fakeness
How am I Bullshitting Myself / Bullshitting Others?
Being True to Myself as Opposed to Meeting Expectations Dancing the “Getting Real” / the “Being Real”
Adding Only What Supports the Situation
Making No Excuses
Preoccupation with Thinking and Judgement
Being Mindful
My Assumptions About Knowing: How Do I Know Anything? 

Conclusions:
Anything engaged in fully becomes no longer “bullshit”. The perception of “bullshit” arises from a resistance to a situation.
The exhortation to cut the bullshit resulted in a sense of freedom.
Engaging in “impro-mind” instead of following rules.
What is perceived of as “bullshit” is sometimes what is real, so it is necessary to resist the temptation to ‘skip’ over it.