Sneaky Deep Transitioning into 2015: January Second Saturday

HELLO 2015! InterPlay Atlanta gathered together for Second Saturday. (photo by Callahan Pope McDonough)

written by Ruth Schowalter, InterPlay Leader-in-Training

InterPlay Atlanta members began 2015 meaningfully and playfully! Nineteen of us gathered on January 10 for our first Second Saturday of the New Year. Our numbers of InterPlayers are growing!

I'm so thankful for the structure that Jennifer Denning provides for our InterPlay Atlanta community. 2014 was rich with opportunities. In addition to our Second Saturdays, we had deep play gatherings, performance workshops, the Life Practice Program, Leader Training, and the formation of Soulprint Players, an InterPlay performance group.

For our first Second Saturday of 2015, we spent our 90-minute play period together moving, vocalizing, telling stories, witnessing, and noticing using TRANSITION as the theme thanks to the facilitation by Jennifer Denning.

WARMING UP. (photos by Ruth Schowalter)

What a great word, TRANSITION, is! And InterPlay provides so many different ways to "dance" with this word, going deeper into its meaning. Babbling, moving, and vocalizing about times of change in our lives in our InterPlay community illuminated our own lives and that of other InterPlayers!

WAITING FOR WHAT COMES NEXT.

Telling my own stories about times of change--the recent death of a friend; the year 1976 when I went to California for my freshman year of college; and the moment when I "discovered" InterPlay while doing research on improvisation--created a foundation for me to stand upon for 2015. Recognizing and honoring the changes in my life seems similar to preparing the winter soil for planting a spring garden.

Listening to other InterPlayers' stories of TRANSITIONS in either pairs or small groups added layers and dimensionality to my stories of change. In some magical way, it is as if other people's TRANSITION stories become my experience too. My life feels enlarged, and I feel connected to these story tellers in an unexpected warm way. InterPlay is indeed what some describe as "sneaky deep."

FIND A SHAPE. I love the invitation to become aware of another person's shape in the room and to take on that shape. And to do it again. And again. How affirming to see myself mirrored in another person's body. How warming it is to reflect another person's shape. Oh yes, this simple form gives the opportunity to connect and experience empathy. Sneaky deep!

 

What TRANSITIONS are you going through as we begin 2015? Come join us on Second Saturdays and share your stories. Find out for yourself what "sneaky deep" means!