Witness—Witnessed
The Christmas season ushers in performances of all sorts: piano recitals, grade school dramas, choral and orchestral events, (Handel’s Messiah), ballet (Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker), community choirs, church plays, festivals of carols, and much more. I invite you to consider two key vantage points of performance: being a witness, being witnessed. How do you witness? This word, of Old English origin, means ‘to see or know by personal experience’. How do we see or know? Imagine yourself at a young child’s first piano recital; then imagine yourself at Celtic Thunder’s Christmas Special. Do you witness these from the same perspective? What influences your process of witnessing? What expectations do you have? How do your expectations affect your witnessing of an event…and even your enjoyment thereof? Can you see/know from an unbiased perspective?Now consider what it is to be witnessed. Say you are with your long-time singing group, offering a show at a local club where you regularly perform. Compare that with performing at a university stage with a musical theatre group you recently joined. In both you are being vulnerable in offering yourself, and they are different…. in many ways. Being a witness and being witnessed happen in all aspects of our lives, not just in performance.
TRY: Here is a practice for you to explore with a friend: A is the mover/the person being witnessed. B is the witness.
A: Being witnessed: Choose an activity in which you would like to be witnessed for about 10-15 minutes such as knitting, skating, playing piano, reading aloud, walking… . BEFORE ‘doing’ your chosen activity, take a few moments to breathe deeply and slowly, letting your body settle and allow your body weight to yield to the support of the earth. Then bring your awareness inward to sense into the nuances of your inner state: how you are feeling, what you are sensing, and so on. Feel the support of your friend who witnesses you with loving kindness. Follow your inner impulses of movement and allow this to take you into your chosen activity. Try to balance your inner awareness with your outer awareness of your activity.
B: Witness: sit comfortably, feeling your pelvis rooted into the chair, feet resting on the earth. Let your whole body breathe deeply. Let your mind rest, quieting mental chatter. Attune all your senses so that you can absorb the experience fully. Let this experience be new/fresh in this time and place. From where in your body-mind are you witnessing? Receive from a place of non-judgment. Witness with kind regard.
After 10-15 minutes, beginning with A, the mover, the one who was witnessed, share for 2 minutes from a first person perspective using sentences starting with “I” . Report on your movement and experience and AVOID judgment statements. Then B, the witness, shares for 2 minutes on his/her observations, using “I” statements. AVOID judgments and interpretations.
Pause for a few minutes to absorb this experience, then change roles.
ENJOY
