A widely held concept is that action creates our reality. But looking more deeply can lead one to the understanding that, actually, what is not necessarily perceived through action alone – such as faith, willpower, intention, presence – can be more powerful in creating reality.
‘Gaslighting’ is a situation in which one person has the intention of making another person think that they are “going crazy,” thus cutting them off from their world. This is a situation that leads to confusion, loss of self-confidence and self-esteem, and uncertainty of emotional or mental stability.
The work started through this idea, through the deep and endless pain that was created far from the eye but very close to the heart. Pain that is accompanied by mental and physical projections caused by exposure to predatory energy. And from this pain, we continued to explore that which disconnects me from reality and that which allows me to be present to it.
The choreographic work delved into both an active movement and also one that gathers and mutes the energy, in order to explore somatically how an anchor, certainty, resilience can be created, so that an unconfused knowing is slowly built in us, the one that roots the body to the ground, so that even in times of threat, it doesn’t fall to pieces and remains present in the understanding of reality.
One of the concepts for the healing of trauma was put forth by Dr. Peter Levin. His concept is based on the premise that animals in the wild, despite the many threats to them, rarely experience trauma. They utilize innate internal mechanisms to regulate and release the energy that has been held in their bodies following a threat to their existence.
The tiger takes us to nature, to the space where the body can befriend different forces, to a place where we can become familiar with the range of powers within us, and fill the body with the energy it has to respond to the grip, to the trap, to everything that causes flight. When we embrace the ‘tiger,’ we create space. A space of faith, of intention, an enveloping and protective space. We can growl and silence, shake and internalize, grasp and let go.
On the seventh of October, the unimaginable transition from quiet to hell revealed in a horrifying way what had been hidden from view, what was teeming beneath the surface that shook the reality above it. Even those who saw the signs – most of them women – were met with total disregard and distrust.