Several days ago, choreographer/dramaturge Su-Feh Lee connected me with healing artist Tannis Hugill of Awakening Body Wisdom. I was thrilled to be asked to participate in their research process. The work in progress is a research and collaboration between the two artists, Tannis Hugill and Su-Feh Lee for a studio showing for DanceLab at the Dance Centre towards the end of June.
As I walked into Studio 7 at the Dance Centre, Tannis had stones of different shapes, sizes and colours laying on the floor. The blinds were half-way down and the room had a peaceful almost serene atmosphere. Tannis approached me with a warm smile. I immediately felt put at ease by a natural glow about her blue eyes and grey curls. She gathered the stones back into four piles and changed into a blue turquoise dress that Su-Feh had suggested the colour for her. She began slowly telling a story of a place she was recalling from memory as she picked up a stone. I was enamored by the care and placement of each stone as she selected each and moved them away or together as if organized in a commune. She shared many stories and repeated some in a rocking lullaby, sang and hummed a wonderful tune.
At the end, she asked me which story struck me most. I replied it was the story of a young girl who would not share her stone when asked to but later changed her mind and gave her stone away. Story of family laughing and a child giggling also brought a certain happiness to me. During the time I was there, I was fortunate I took a partial video of her work in progress and each time I listened to even that excerpt of stories I notice something I had missed to explore in her story like the art she was describing on a cave or a certain mood of a memory in time and space. I loved the emotions they conjured up. At times, I felt like I could even close my eyes and just listen to her voice tell the stories slowly drifting in and out of the visual and serene quality that the effect of the stones had on me.
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