weaving Voices 01.04.2025 issuu - Flipbook - Page 82
Getting good at learning how to shift attention around the self,
between the self and another is the basis of a practice of exploring
group dynamics and interpersonal relationships without the need
for words. How do different verbs alter your understanding of the
meaning of attention? Consider your embodied responses to the
following questions: What does it mean to hold attention, to pay
attention, to give attention, to receive attention, to seek attention?
Attention from the Latin tendo also brings with it ideas of stretching,
striving and reaching for. Attending to, also suggests care. Taking
care to ensure that all members of the community are included.
Taking care to provide enough leadership to guide and hold the
direction of travel but not too much to create a stranglehold on the
participants. (TB)
V Vocalising
Part of the agenda for facilitating our week in Leeds was to share
the rich history of weaving songs originating from the workers in the
cotton mills around Lancashire and Yorkshire (two UK regions with
rich histories of cotton weaving) and to do so by vocalising them.
One of our academic colleagues Dr. Tenley Martin is a musicologist
with a particular expertise in folk songs. Prior to the arrival of the
Weaving Voices participants in Leeds, she created a Weaving Songs
Playlist of weaving songs which we sent to the group in advance
of their arrival.124 This action simultaneously acted as a shared
point of collective reference for the group but also an invitation for
individuals to prepare for the week ahead of them and acculturate
by listening to a range of Northern English and Scottish accents. (HB)
I Improvising
Emergent Knowledge developed by David J Grove, is a methodology
for eliciting and utilising a person’s inner intelligence.125 Participants
engage in discovering their own ideas, solutions or actions. The
facilitator respects that each individual has their own solutions.
There are no critiques, judgements, comments or rationalisations
to analyse any of their process or content. “It is about the profound
trust we can have in the truth of each individual’s own knowing” (Jennifer de
Gandt).126 Hannah and I applied emergent knowledge techniques in
our planning for and structuring of the Leeds week which enabled us
to develop more complex understandings of the needs and wishes
of the communities with whom we were working. This process led
us to create multiple spaces where our visiting weaving and voice
artists could practise various modes of improvisation in contributing
to or leading workshops with for example, church congregations
(Mill Hill Chapel),127 refugee groups (Soap Box Leeds)128, people with
dementia129 and people with neurological conditions (Giving Voice
Voice)
130
Leeds). (TB)
N Novelty
There’s a region in our midbrain called the substantia nigra/ventral
segmental area. This is essentially the major ‘novelty centre’ of the
brain, which responds to novel stimuli. When one encounters a
novel stimulus this sets off a cascade of brain responses, activating
several neuromodulatory systems. As a consequence novelty has a
wide range of effects on cognition; improving perception and action,
increasing motivation, eliciting exploratory behaviour, and promoting
learning. The Feldenkrais Method131 facilitates ‘learning how to
125 What is Emergent Knowledge? (n.d.) Clean Learning. Available at: https://cleanlearning.co.uk/about/faq/
what-is-emergent-knowledge [Accessed 22 Sept. 2024].
Improvising sometimes defined in the secular, as an act of ‘making
it up as you go along’, recognises the importance of process and
keeps you planted firmly in the present. Learning to trust and know
how to be in the moment requires experience, confidence and a
belief in the power of organic learning and emergent knowledge.
124 Weaving - Tenley Martin (2023) Open Spotify. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/
playlist/44eyerBNf1eKykyBZzYugo?si=469d82e86c98460e&nd=1&dlsi=afe8ed11c5e34989 [Accessed 21 Sept.
2024].
162
126
Harland, P. (2014) The Power of Six: A Six Part Guide to Self-Knowledge. London: Way昀椀nder, p. 4.
127
Mill Hill Chapel (n.d.) Mill Hill Chapel. Available at: https://millhillchapel.org/ [Accessed 22 Sept. 2024].
128 Soap Box Leeds is an initiative developed by SBC Theatre: Soap Box - Leeds (2023) SBC Theatre.
Available at: https://www.sbctheatre.co.uk/events/soap-box-leeds [Accessed 22 Sept. 2024].
129 A cross community choir based in Leeds: Forget Me Not Chorus (n.d.) Forget Me Not Chorus. Available
at: https://www.forgetmenotchorus.com/ [Accessed 22 Sept. 2024].
130 Giving Voice Choir Leeds is a choir run by Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, which is for people
with neurological conditions and their carers: Giving Voice Leeds (n.d.) FaceBook. Available at: https://www.
facebook.com/givingvoiceleeds/?locale=en_GB [Accessed 22 Sept. 2024].
131 For more explanation of material related to the Feldenkrais Method see:
Move through Life More Easily (2024) Feldenkrais UK. Available at: https://www.feldenkrais.co.uk/ [Accessed
22 Sept. 2024]. What is Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement? (2021) YouTube. Available at: https://www.
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