Embracing Chaos
Being present, adaptable, and brave in the face of the unpredictable — and how a giant swede can help shape moments of collective magic.
Richard and Ken performing You’re Welcome as part of South East Dance’s Our City Dances Festival, at Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project, 2018. Photo by Zoe Manders.
Working Across Wide Terrain
The past couple weeks have really tested my capacity to shift across different groups of people and adapt to new environments. Alongside my regular technique classes at Chichester University and producing work, I have delivered to teenagers in schools and performing arts clubs, to over 55’s in community settings, to year 1’s at my youngest child’s primary school, to Rise domestic violence charity and JustLife women’s homeless charity. I’ve delivered a Practice as Research lecture on my own work, hosted an Open Doors careers session for Vincent Dance Theatre (VDT), led a multigenerational session at the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP) and professional classes at South East Dance (SED). Next, I need to turn my attention to preparing for a CPD training session that aims to empower a local primary school to deliver their dance curriculum.
So, like many freelancers in the arts sector at the moment, I’m spreading the net pretty wide.
I’ve always worked across an extremely broad spectrum of arts practice, my performance history is a good example of that, but it feels wider than ever, and staying fluid and adaptable feels like a crucial part of my current practice. I wrote my MA thesis on exactly that in relationship to female hormones, so I should be right in my comfort zone.
Entering New Spaces
It’s not easy entering a new place or situation and diving straight into delivery or practice. Your awareness is heightened as you absorb and navigate the new surroundings, and the energy or mood of the people present. You are making constant adjustments to any preconceived ideas or offerings you had planned, needing to stay present and malleable, whilst holding space with a certain degree of confidence and assertiveness.
I can feel my nervous system needs a bit more love and attention when I’m shifting and changing across lots of new groups and settings, but don’t get me wrong, I love it. It’s daunting and thrilling, a little like performing an improvisation where you have a flexible score and a load of acquired knowledge at your disposal.
I really want to celebrate these moments of chaos- they can feel quite magical- and to recognise and reflect on how I have met those challenges.
When Chaos Becomes Connection
Something magic happened at the multigenerational ‘winter wellness’ sessions I led at the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project (BUCFP) on behalf of South East Dance (SED) this month. My brief was to lead ‘gentle movement for centre users of all ages’ and to accommodate parents/carers and their pre-schoolers. BUCFP a brilliant place tucked away in the centre of Brighton. I had made a piece called You’re Welcome with a small group of attendees back in 2018, performed as part of Our City Dances Festival in a back room at the centre; it was small but really special, and the framed slogans they created are still up on the walls.
You’re Welcome, 2018
“…He’s practising some dancing. We do dancing in here too.
…This could go on a while, Would anyone like a cup of tea whilst they’re watching?”
Photo of Ken, by Zoe Manders
Coming back I recognised some of the people I had connected with 7 years ago. Some users have been regulars for decades. Lunch is a special thing- delicious freshly cooked vegan food, suggested contribution £1. The main eating/meeting space is vibrant, bustling and massively inclusive. Along with regulars sitting in their groups I meet a new community of Arabic-speaking women, some mums and babies over by the toys and books, individuals of different ages, genders, backgrounds coming and going, free clothing and food parcels, there is even a raffle at the end of my session!
We clear chairs and tables from the middle, people are still eating around the edges. I have spoken to a few friendly people but I am not sure anyone will want to join in, however the volunteers and BUCFP team are raring to go, so others gather looking intrigued. I put on some music and decide to get stuck in with movement straight away, as trying to create enough quiet to check-in or do anything intimate by way of an introduction feels like an impossibility. Within a few minutes the space is full of people eager to move and play. There are big smiles from the women, and gentle curiosity from the men, language is not a barrier, we just begin moving together, and people participate from chairs around the sides. Mothers join with babies, a heavily pregnant woman, people are coming and going, it’s chaotic and beautiful. I notice a desire to find touch and contact, people begin reaching out for each other’s hands and arms, it becomes a kind of improvised contemporary dance meets social dancing! We learn some simple phrases, they contribute some of their own material, and the playful energy continues until I sense their brains are becoming full about 30 minutes in and we close the session with mindfulness and stretching. Most go back to their comfort groups and wait for the raffle, but some are left chatting to people they have never spoken to despite sharing the same space for years. Someone new even ends up on the table where all the long term regulars meet- barriers have been broken- and they are elated by this anarchy!
Two weeks later I return. It’s completely different. New faces, a different vibe. Towards the end of lunch there is a disagreement in the space and the unrest of one or two individuals is amplifying. I feel a little uneasy as I am about to hold the space and unpredictable levels of conflict are a little triggering for me. I remind myself its ok and that I am really good and experienced at pacifying situations. Everyone is doing a great job of accepting that the situation is not going away, so we just go about bringing joy and playfulness into the space.
I have, however, agreed with the team that we will start by everyone introducing themselves to the group. It’s busy and loud so I need a tactic to cut through the chaos. Thinking on my feet I grab a giant swede from the veg box. This beautiful earthy, weighted presence is exactly what is needed. The stupidity is welcomed and embraced by everyone including those around the edges who become curious as to the meaning and significance of the swede, and it even goes a little way to pacifying the unrest in the room.
Preparing for the Unknown
Yes, my nervous system does need a little more care afterwards, that’s normal, but it’s never about the delivery itself, the people or being present in the actual moment with the peace, joy or chaos that is alive. It is the challenge of preparing for the unknown, being responsible, accountable, and the apprehension of ‘will I respond in the best way (ie. compassionately) to whatever this situation throws at me?’
Across a broad spectrum of arts practice and delivery lies the common need to respond to the unpredictable using care and steadiness- this is both conscious and intuitive. Each setting brings its own social dynamics, histories, and tensions, and I believe my role is to navigate these with attentiveness and care rather than certainty. The value of this practice isn’t in me controlling the room but in reading it, then adjusting to allow space for meaningful interaction- through structured movement, shared humour, or improvised solutions. I’m learning that chaos isn’t incidental but part of the ecology of community practice, and that my role moving forwards is to work with it in shaping how I facilitate these collective experiences.
Here is Jasmina demonstrating this through performing a delicate balancing act…
Jasmina performing You’re Welcome as part of South East Dance’s Our City Dances Festival, at Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project, 2018. Photo by Zoe Manders.
