Introduction to the Movement Section:

And some days it does seem as if one dances oneself into existence with no substance for grounding except the substance inherent in the mystery of Being, and in continuing the Dance. ~Zelda K

Our kinesthetic sense is stimulated by the elements of the natural world. We are inspired by its movements; leaves in the breeze, fireflies dancing through the dark, fire itself, burning in a blaze, clouds drifting or whipping across the sky, plants growing up out of the earth, fish darting in a stream, our mother’s hands upon our face.

The arts of dance, theatre, and performance call upon our kinesthetic sense to convey wordless emotions, and subtle understandings.
For example: recent events of 9/11 have rocked the psychological and ideological basis of folks throughout the US, and across the world. There seems to be an opening in many of us since then, a willingness - or need - to expand and understand our place in the world in new ways. Art is one of the most potent tools we have to express our multiple truths and perspectives in a fashion that is effective, yet non-didactic and non-violent. One of the most simple, and yet powerful, examples I've seen of this recently was a small group of people who, each dressed all in white, walked together, slowly and deliberately, down a crowded street in San Francisco's financial district one afternoon. Seen in the context of the hustle and bustle of the urban street, that simple, non-verbal gesture/performance was immensely effective in communicating what we as culture have become, and how we might begin to change.

ICE member Leif Tellman contributes two articles; one prose piece, musing on a performance piece, 'Rising Beauty', that he was involved in earlier this year, and another on his work using the language of movement to help people integrate the energies inside them with those of the world around them: "Dance Therapy and EcoPsychology".

Anima Mundi is a collaborative partnership between the talented choreographer/dancer Kathyrn Roszak and her artist/musician husband Christopher Castle (who is profiled in both the Sound and Image sections of this issue). This year they produced a multi-media performance of Gary Snyder’s poem ‘Mountains and Rivers Without End’ presented at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre. My review of this event is included here.

Red Earth is another magical creative collaboration, between British artists and life-partners Simon Pascoe and Caitlin Easterby. Working with primal energies and elemental forms like clay, ash, water and fire, Red Earth combines movement, sound and sculptural forms to create profound public rituals to invoke and interact with various healing and revitalizing spirits.

In their 1997 piece, ‘Winterbourne’, commissioned by the environmental group RiverOcean, Red Earth created an incredible healing ceremony for a stream that had been choked by pollution. A series of images from that remarkable performance piece are included here, as well as a description of another Red Earth project, ‘Outcrop’.

Lastly, I have included a report on British artist Stephen Turner’s natural painting/performance piece ‘Tide & Change’, which records the tidal movements in Kent’s Medway estuary (the link between the English Channel and the River Thames). Excerpts from the diary he kept during his 21 days (over the period of one full moon cycle) camping in an abandoned nautical fort in the middle of the estuary are included here, as well as one of the images that resulted from this attempt to capture nature’s patterns directly.