Relation in Time – March 18th

This is the fourth time I have performed Relation in Time. It is the first re-performance of the piece I have not struggled to stay awake while performing with my head bound to my partner’s – hair twisted together. Not that I have been falling asleep in past performances. However, each performance until today I have always lagged in energy over the two-and-a-half hours of having my hair bound, back-to-back with my compassionate partners. In the past three performances I have not just lagged in energy and drifted in thought, but periodically, yet always briefly, I have actually nodded off. This is pertinent when my head is bound to the back of another’s…I can feel my partner’s breath through the touch of our backs and the strain of hair…So, actually nodding off, head briefly bobbing and the consequent jerk of startling awake must be an odd sensation for my partner. It is jarring for me, I can then, only imagine the surprise of one’s head suddenly being tugged aback. However, today, I felt nearly completely present with the body of my partner. We were in union. We communicated via touch. Our backs, breath and hair conveyed subtleties of relationship – slight contact improvisational dances of sharing. Today I felt alive because each moment was an act of communication. We were present, I was awake and my thoughts – poised to the realness of two bodies relating in time – were superficial eddies and barely capable of causing distraction. I did not feel tired for an instant.