This work premiered in January 2023 in Los Angeles at G-Son Studios. Original composition by Max Berlin, with live musical performance by Max Berlin, Sophia Bacelar, and Michael Staffeldt.
An extension of the Body Memory Method, You Live In My Spine (YLIMS) will explore not only what is held in the most crucial bone structure in our bodies, but also how we approach dealing with what is there, and whether or not our approach hinders or helps our efforts and connections to each other. Drawing from the research of esteemed scholars Dr. Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps The Score), Dr. Alia Crum (Stanford Mind & Body Lab), and James Clear (Atomic Habits), YLIMS asks the performers and audience alike to consider their body’s memory, daily habits, and mindsets in regards to their perceived pain, both physically and emotionally. As we are considering, at the core, what our body’s experience is, rather than that of our conscious mind, using movement to explore and convey these questions is only natural.
Aesthetically, YLIMS will return to a number of movement motifs which will be interpreted and performed differently by each dancer depending on their understanding of their personal body memory, habits, and mindset. One of the most prominent motifs is the cross-lateral connection of the shoulder girdle and pelvis (the two ends of the spine) as they move in circular, connected pathways which initiate and end movement in the rest of the body, continually stretching and contracting, causing the spine to follow suit. The palms are used as both a symbol of caring, tenderness, and touch as well as over-stimulation, heat, and vulnerability. Sharp lines in the arms and locomotive pathways contrast with the circularity and vagueness of the knees’, hips’, and shoulders’ patterns. In this piece it is rare for the entire ensemble to move in unison, as dancers phase in and out of small communities of thought, drifting between choreographed phrases. At all times, the body is being pulled in at least two directions, sometimes more, mirroring the wildly invigorating yet mundane human task of constantly holding conflicting truths in our minds and bodies in order to make sense of the world.
The structure of the piece will begin with dancers holding seemingly opposing core beliefs about their memories, habits, and mindsets when it comes to dealing with what lives in their spines. As our society often creates harsh dichotomies around “hot” subjects such as diet, exercise, religion, relationships, parenting, etc., the dancers will similarly begin with the belief that their approach is working and others’ approaches simply do not. As YLIMS develops, it becomes clear that no one way works without fail, and that in the stubborn, cultish ways we silo ourselves from others, the more we stand to lose, not gain. Through a mistake-riddled “battle”, so to speak, each dancer eventually comes to the realization that the others on stage have just as much to offer as they do, and the only way to make any real progress is to humbly learn to collaborate or, at the very least, consider other perspectives. It also becomes more and more clear (to the dancers and audience) that all along, while each dancer had intentional and unique approaches and motivations, they were all doing some version of the same set of movements, because they all had the same goal in mind. In the end of this piece, and “in the end” more broadly, the one thing all humans have in common is that we all have a body, which we are merely borrowing from the Earth, and the highest hope we can hold for ourselves and each other is that we can both learn from and give wisdom to our bodies, leaving them better off than how we found them.