Maya Lila, Bringing Authentic Movement into

Maya Lila Cover Final
2/10/07
09:51
Page 1
creativity, most particularly from a body-based
perspective, for over thirty years. She
pioneered Contemporary Dance in Ireland in
the seventies and eighties and has
consistently experimented with collaborative
art as a professional artist and therapist.
Joan is a Body Mind Centering Practitioner.
She has studied Authentic Movement with
Janet Adler and Voice work with Chloe
Goodchild and Rajeswar Bhattacharya. She
has extensively studied Process Oriented
Psychology (Mindell) and is a Hakomi
Sensorimotor Trauma Psychotherapist.
She now runs a small holistic and creative
centre in Co. Wicklow, Ireland from where she
offers Maya Lila residential training and
practice programmes, Developmental and
Authentic Movement workshops and a private
Maya Lila
The book of Maya Lila images is a most
unusual work of art. The intention is to invite,
you, the viewer, into an experience of Maya
Lila in the same way as if you were attending
a live outdoor performance offering at Gorse
Hill with its accompanying sound effects,
Bringing Authentic Movement into Performance
music, and songs. Since Maya Lila does not
set out to tell a specific story, you may
interpret what you see and hear according to
your own personal stories, and in your own
unique and authentic way. It will deepen your
Bringing Authentic Movement
into Performance
IF WE CAN TRULY HOLD TO OUR OWN INTEGRITY,
RELATIONSHIPS HAPPEN WITHOUT EFFORT
IN TRULY AUTHENTIC WAYS
Maya Lila
Joan Davis has been exploring the nature of
experience if you listen to the CD whilst
browsing through the book.
Maya Lila is a unique contribution to the world
of dance, theatre and arts practice. It is a
research, a life’s work in Joan Davis’s search
for a wholeness of creative expression.
Maya Lila are Sanskrit words loosely
interpreted as ‘illusion’ and ‘play’ respectively.
Psychotherapy practice. Joan has three
Maya Lila invites you to dance with the illusory
children and three grandchildren.
nature of your perceptions intertwined within
a play of life’s dramas.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
JOAN DAVIS
TEL: OO 353 1 2876986
Elmdon Books
Design by Tony Denton
Joan Davis
www.gorsehill.net
EMAIL: MAYALILA@GORSEHILL.NET
WWW.GORSEHILL.NET
Elmdon
Books
The Offering
Joan Davis
Price: £ 40.00
€ 60.00
CD & DVD included with book
ISBN: 978-0-9540117-1-0
Maya Lila
Bringing Authentic Movement into Performance
The Offering
Joan Davis
Elmdon Books
Copyright © Joan Davis 2007
First published in 2007 by Elmdon Books
Evergreen Cottage, Long Lane, Southrepps, Norfolk, NR11 8NL
Distributed by Joan Davis, Gorse Hill, Cliff Road, Windgates, Bray Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
Phone 00 353 1 2876986. Email: mayalila@gorsehill.net Website: www.gorsehill.net
The right of Joan Davis to be identified as the author of the work has been asserted herein in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out
or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and
without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-9540117-1-0
Typeset by Wapple Creative, Shere, Surrey
This book production has been managed by Amolibros
Printed and bound by The Lavenham Press, Suffolk, UK
Grant aided by the Irish Arts Council
Dedication
I dedicate this work to every man and woman who finds themselves in the place of questioning,
“What am I doing here and why am I doing what I am doing?”, and knowing somewhere
inside there is nothing else they can be doing at this particular point in time.
This is where I am, This is what I am doing, THIS IS and can I really accept the THIS IS,
no matter how hard or easy or incomprehensible. I dedicate this work to NOT KNOWING.
3
Foreword to Maya Lila
It has been a privilege to follow the development of Maya Lila over the years. I have been in the unique position of bearing witness to the creative
unfolding of ideas, the clarifying of practice and theory, the flashes of insight and inspiration which emerged through our discussions, as well as
the intense struggle that at times accompanied a work of such complexity and depth.
Joan Davis has shown great commitment to the creative process, with a dedication and extraordinary courage in pursuing her vision,
fathoming its depths and details with utter honesty. They have led to the evolution of a work that is unique, brave and magnificent to
participate in, as witness/audience or performer.
As witness to one of the final offerings in the summer of 2006, I experienced the coming together of community, spirit and nature through the
dancers’ and musicians’ focused presence; within the stunning setting of the coastal amphitheatre created at Gorse Hill, it was a truly joyful
and inspiring experience. Thank you, Joan, for pursuing your questions and your vision until they yielded up their gifts.
Linda Hartley - May 21, 2007
How to Enjoy this Book
Maya Lila is comprised of many layers. This book has been created with the intention of inviting you, the Witness, into your own experience of
what Maya Lila is. I hope you will enjoy the different textures and tonal qualities. The images and stories. The movement and nature.
It is important that you read through the Introduction on pages 4-8 and I suggest that you play the accompanying CD at the start of your
reading and let it continue as you journey through the book. The Faery Tale at the end is a metaphor for aspects of my personal journey, and the
writing of it commenced when I first met my spiritual teacher Satyananda in 2001.
On the DVD disc are two videos from the work in 2003 and 2005 and a DVD from 2006 to add further layers to your experience and enjoyment
of Maya Lila. To deepen your understanding of the work, Maya Lila, Bringing Authentic Movement into Performance, The Process is
a companion book to this one.
4
Introduction
The Longing and the Spirit
Since the time I was about three years old I have wanted to dance. I can remember dancing for my grandpa, curtseying, twirling, rolling and
running, and feeling utterly loved by him as he hummed accompanying tunes and offered me encouragements to smile. Looking back now, I see
I was doing Authentic Movement and that he was an active Witness. My body even now remembers the utter freedom that his loving presence
gave to my random movements and little dramas. Now when I see my young grandsons dance I recognize the beauty of child embodiment and
the unobstructed flow of energy. This to me is the essence of the dancer. The mature body of course requires mastery of itself. To have that
mastery, plus the ability to listen deeply in a way that allows one’s organic nature to manifest, is for me not only the essence, but also the spirit of
the dancer. This is my own body’s longing to reconnect to that simple unobstructed body flow in an unselfconscious way.
My life as a dancer has been a journey inward. I began as a contemporary dancer in 1974 and founded the first Contemporary Dance Theatre
Company in Ireland three years later. We received funding from the Arts Council and for many years performed all over the country. Over time I
became more interested in new approaches to movement such as Authentic Movement, which I studied with Janet Adler in Europe from 1992 to
2001, and Body Mind Centering®, which I studied with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen in the US from 1991 to 1994. In recent times I studied
Process Work, created by Arnold Mindell, arising from my interest in Group Process and the creation of community, and also the Naked Voice,
with Chloe Goodchild, who raised my curiosity and love of sound and the voice.
By the time the Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre closed due to lack of funding in 1989, I had become more interested in exploring the
elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and how we could be in relationship with them in physical ways; how they were inside of us as well as
being outside. The study of Body Mind Centering served to show me a clearer connection to Nature. My body had the same elements inside
it. It was a direct reflection. But what was the dialogue between the inner and the outer?
In order to deepen my understanding I began to offer classes to explore this relationship. During one of these classes we went out to Howth
demesne, an estate in the north of Dublin City.
I will always remember the scene as we walked through the gardens, past the wild garlic and the rhododendrons that were beginning to bloom.
Our senses were filled with the beauty of the colours and the scents and with nature surrounding us. I asked the group to move with the trees. I
was inspired. I witnessed somebody simply sitting in the fork of a tree: in oneness, but not merged with the tree. There was no separation and
yet there was. An essence of separation/non-separation.
Out of these outdoor explorations developed what I named ‘tribals’. These were spiritual retreats I led annually for ten to fourteen days in the hills
of Wicklow. During tribals we lived simply in nature. We created art from natural sources in nature such as wood, stone, bone, earth and leaves.
5
We practised Authentic Movement and witnessing skills in these wild, untamed environments. It was there that I first glimpsed the beginnings of
authentic movement in an authentic environment with authentic objects. I found this to be incredibly beautiful: the movement of people in nature
and the movement of nature itself. I called this work Theatre of the Unconscious.
I had had a glimpse of an expression that I longed for; where all life is present; a long-lost approach to offering art. The act of creating where all
life is present and that comes from some thing or place way beyond the physical or personal self. My longing to share this with the greater
community is what urged me towards ‘performance’.
In the summer of 1999, I led Through Fluid Eyes, a five-week group process that arose from Theatre of the Unconscious explorations in nature,
and Body-Mind Centering explorations of the fluid systems of the body. This culminated in two public performances on a beach in Co Wicklow.
Bringing the movement work from a therapeutic context to a public performance setting brought many questions and criticisms to my attention:
Was this healing or art, or both?
What is the bridge between therapy and art?
How can we offer a performance that is a continual process in the present rather than a product?
What is the movers’ responsibility to the witness audience?
What is the most appropriate container in which to offer this work?
How does authenticity and immediacy get honed and crafted in the moment to become art?
What is the interface between the personal and the collective?
How can I invite the witness audience to participate in a co-creative process, yet maintain the separation needed for this to become a work of art?
There are no definitive answers to any of these questions. The whole process of this work is deeply organic and non-linear. The work appears to
have its own unique logic that is always surprising and unpredictable and not necessarily nameable.
From 2002 until 2006 I systematically worked with all these questions as a research project in Gorse Hill, Co Wicklow, Ireland. This has been a
progression of many years’ work, exploring dance, movement, body, nature, art, therapy, community and spirituality. This work is now called Maya
Lila, both Sanskrit words, Maya, meaning Illusion and Lila meaning Play.
In 2002 I concentrated on creating the container within which to show the Performance Offerings. In 2003 I explored the movement alone. 2004
brought in the work with the Objects and, in 2005, the voice. In 2006 I brought in the spoken word and an integration of all the aspects I had
been working on. This marked a natural ending for Maya Lila research, a pause, a breath, something completed.
6
What Informs Maya Lila
Authentic Movement
1
Authentic Movement explores the inter-weaving of the creative, psychological and sacred through its body-based process. In this work, one
develops kinaesthetic awareness, also known as movement awareness, gaining access and giving creative expression to the inner life through
an approach in which “movement is the personality made visible”. Originally called Movement-In-Depth by its founder, Mary Starks Whitehouse,
the method grew from her roots in dance, Jungian studies, and her pioneering work in dance/movement therapy. Building on Jung’s method of
active imagination, she saw symbolic meaning in physical action.
Authentic Movement is a completely self-directed form in which individuals may discover movement pathways that offers a bridge between the
conscious and the unconscious. Authentic Movement explores the relationship between a mover and a witness, being seen and seeing. In the
therapeutic form, with eyes closed, the mover listens inwardly and finds a movement arising from a hidden prompting, a cellular impulse.
Gradually the invisible becomes visible, the inaudible becomes audible, and explicit form is given to the content of direct experience. The witness
brings a receptive quality of clear attention to the mover. The witness is mindful of his or her inner world of sensation and meaning, judgment and
criticism. The mover and witness together can achieve a level of perception of self and other that evokes deep respect and empathy.
Body-Mind Centering
2
Body-Mind Centering® (BMC) is an integrated approach to transformative experience through movement re-education and hands-on repatterning.
Developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, it is an experiential study based on the embodiment and application of anatomical, physiological,
psychophysical and developmental principles, utilizing movement, touch, voice and mind.
This study leads to an understanding of how the mind is expressed through the body and the body through the mind. The body systems
explored are: muscles, skeletal, the nervous system, the neuro endocrine (glands), the organs and the fluids.
Process Work
3
Process work is a cross-disciplinary approach supporting individual and collective change. It was developed in the 1970s and 1980s when
Dr Arnold Mindell, a Jungian analyst in Zurich, Switzerland, began researching illness as a meaningful expression of the unconscious mind. It is
also known as process-oriented psychology (POP) or dreambody work. With its roots in Jungian psychology, Taoism and physics, Process Work
believes that the solution to a problem is contained within the disturbance itself and provides a practical framework through which individuals,
couples, families and groups can connect with greater awareness and creativity.
1
See www.authenticmovement-usa.com
2
See www.bodymindcentering.com
3
See www.processwork.org
7
The Naked Voice
4
The Naked Voice uses sound and voice as a contemplative, healing and transformative art-form. It is the work of Chloe Goodchild. It is a vehicle
for recognising and expressing one’s true nature without anything in the way. It offers a metaphor for living a fulfilling life. It explores the power of
sound to alleviate suffering, catalyse self-remembrance and bring inner peace, both at a personal and global level.
Maya Lila 2000-2006
Each year, the Maya Lila project has been held at Gorse Hill, a small, secluded, residential centre on the coast of County Wicklow, above the
cliffs, overlooking the Irish sea and the village of Greystones. The setting is one of natural beauty with three tiered gardens, each containing a
variety of plants, shrubs, trees and a log cabin. The main group working-room has direct views over the sea, providing an expansive and
peaceful atmosphere in which to work.
How the Working Group came together
Initially, I had sent an open letter of invitation to various people who had a background in the arts and in movement, describing the nature of the
project and inviting them to participate as residential witnesses for a minimum of one week. Others heard about it through word of mouth. I invited
people to explore some of the questions arising from Through Fluid Eyes and to engage in their own personal research and questions. The project
attracted people from very varied professional backgrounds - therapy, healing, dance, music, visual art, writing and business. There was a diverse
cultural element. One resident came from Germany to stay for two weeks. There was great interest, support and feedback from the international
Authentic Movement community. As well as the people doing their own research, there was a core group of dancers who stayed for the duration
of the research, which initially lasted four weeks. In 2005 and 2006, the work had refined itself enough to be explored over a two-and-a-half week
period. The core group changed slightly each year and in 2005 and 2006 I no longer invited others in to do their own research.
The years are documented in detail and are published as an accompanying volume to this book.
Aims of the Maya Lila Project
The aims of this project, arising out of the questions from Through Fluid Eyes, was to research:
How to create art out of that which is inherently authentic and immediate.
What are the effects of offering a performance that is a continual process in the present rather than a product?
How can we invite the witness audience to participate in a co-creative process yet maintain the separation needed for this to work as art?
I also wanted to explore and reflect on a number of perspectives:
Spirituality - the essence of this work as a spiritual practice.
Group Process - the personal and collective processes, using Process Oriented Psychology as a framework.
Movement & Choreography - the exploration of form and formlessness.
4
See www.thenakedvoice.com
8
In Conclusion
It has taken me the best part of fifteen years to research this project. Other choreographers have an idea and make a piece of choreography,
and I too have made work in that way. What is different about this project is that it stems from the authentic self and the yearning to connect
with that self and to express from that self. It requires a whole other set of skills to present the material arising from that source. The material is
raw and immediate and very unknown. It simply cannot be contrived or placed in choreography and repeated nightly. What gets presented IS
what gets presented. The witness process is at the heart of the whole of Maya Lila.
Maya Lila has very much happened without me doing anything. I’ve tried to let it go several times but it always visits me again and again. It does
not move in any direction that my personal willpower might think it should. When I thought I should have been doing this, that and the other with
it and I was following its truth, it just wouldn’t budge if it wasn’t meant to. I have learned to really trust that now. As to the future of Maya Lila?
I’m awaiting further instructions from the universe.
mes out from nothing
o
c
e
ness
ryon
e
.T
v
e
his
,
t
n
e
is
m
e
tru
t af
ter
the
mo
11
lea
vin
gn
o tr
ace
of yo
ur
self.”
life.”
“Mo
me n
of
joy
yo
g,
thin
me
o so
ou d
“When y
us
ho
u
ld b
od
urn y
o
g
ourself completely, like a
fire
n
bo
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p62 & p107, Shunryu Suzuki
12
The circle represents form. The inside of the circle represents formlessness or unknowingness.
14
15
All the circles and spirals come from the ONE centre.
For me, spirals embody the vast range of universal movement, from particle to galaxy.
17
18
Great art holds the potential to unite people together in a common feeling of appreciation and awe at the beauty,
power, and mystery of the hidden forces of life.
Servants of the Sacred Dream, p219, Linda Hartley
19
THE PLACE
20
21
22
Spirals expressing as a flower.
24
Offerings From The Conscious Body, p124, Janet Adler
25
COMMUNITY
26
SIOBHAN DAFFY, MUSICIAN
MARY NUNAN, DANCER
27
A CORE GROUP
28
EILEEN KEANE, VOCALIST
29
PENNY COLLINSON, DANCER
MAGGIE HARVEY, DANCER
30
JOAN DAVIS, DANCER AND DIRECTOR OF MAYA LILA
31
TA
TANA
eyes
y
n
a
hm
hroug h. A
t
e
e
Is
uc
too m , plodding
g
ing
twirlin
araud
m
lf ying,
,
ing
, glid
g
lds
n
i
d
sli
, wor
d
l
r
o
w
orld.
w.
My W quick slo
es
k
, quic eace com
w
o
l
s
,
of p
Slow
of
ence
g
r
ivers
l
e
s
m
e
e
lik
The
kled
and
sprin
light
r
e
am
Souls
o
o
goss
w
T
d.
er wh
e
h
t
m
o
o
ch
welc
to ea
n
apart
w
h
o
g
n
k
u
er
eno
forev
well
ly
e
v
i
v
ly, on
of
e
sur
n
o
l
place
But
e
h
t
in
to be
g
n
i
ing
long
Meet
d
w an
o
N
and
Now
.
Now
33
WORKSHOPPING
34
35
An expression of how the movement of a spiral felt to one of the dancers.
37
MAKING
The Future of Ritual, p29, Richard Schechner
38
39
40
43
44
46
BONE SONG
I have twenty-six bones in each of my feet
and they meet the two in my lower leg.
My lower leg bones join up with my thighs
and these bones fit inside my two hips
And my hips join the thirty bones in my spine
and so do my twenty-four ribs... I have two false ones...
and my hands join my arms and
my arms join my shoulders
I have two hundred and six bones in my whole body
Short bones, long bones, small bones, big bones
They all have a different job to do inside of me.
Knobbeldy bones, round bones, square bones
Triangular bones
They support me in all my activities.
And they all help each other to walk and run and dance
To twirl and jump and fall
And spin around each other
And they all keep connected
Yes, they all keep in touch
And without them i would just be
A blob on the floor.
47
MOVING WITH OBJECTS
48
49
No better love than love with no object,
no more satisfying work than work with no purpose.
If you could give up tricks and cleverness,
that would be the cleverest trick!
Rumi
The Essential Rumi, Coleman Barks, Harper SanFrancisco, 1997
51
53
54
The left-hand spiral represents the mover and the right-hand one repesents the witness.
Together the relationship looks like the combined spirals.
55
PREPARING FOR AN OFFERING
56
57
58
59
60
62
The teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, p176, edited by David Godman
63
WITNESS AUDIENCE
65
GARDEN ART
66
Body cells expressing as a flower.
67
68
Servants of the Sacred Dream, p228, Linda Hartley
69
70
73
74
75
76
Just another flower!
79
80
81
82
83
“To
give
is
non-attachment;
that
is,
just
not
to
attach
to
anything
is
to
give.”
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p65, Shunryu Suzuki
84
We need authentic artists who can touch us deeply, and in such a way that we feel our connectedness to others,
our shared humanity; and we also need our own artist within, who reconnects us to our own source
when the trials of life have pulled us too far away from it.
Servants of the Sacred Dream, p231, Linda Hartley
85
OFFERING
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
I am
Here
,H
Hello
! Loo ere I am
k! Ov
That’s
er he
the w
re.....
rong
So s
.No
imple
way..
,
.
.
just t
..HER
Head
he sl
E!
. Jus
i
g
t
h
test t
the t
Just
iniest
urn o
the li
f you
ftin
shift
And
of yo
r
you w g of an e
u
r
y
g
e
i
a
l
l
l
id
I am
ze.
see
Here
,
H
Hello
ere I
.
am
95
97
98
100
101
102
103
105
106
107
108
When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity.
Movement is nothing but the quality of our being.
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p105, Shunryu Suzuki
109
111
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p105, Shunryu Suzuki
113
YUPPADOLA SONG
Yuppadola
Wuppadanga
When you have a sora throata
Nin Pinga
Crushanutta
What’s the use in singadorta
Pop a fanta into yanta and it all seems
Real enougha
Pop a fanta into yanta and it all seems Terrorata
Whendifee air eee o sus
Came along and spoke to Moses
He said:
Words of wisdom are no usa
If you can’t creenopadusa
Wasa feebo interata
Effernump Oh Consolata
Well,
Tunka dunka donut posta
And the chestnut we did Roasta
All in all a YUPPALATA
For two pins there’d be sonata
114
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p31, Shunryu Suzuki
115
A Faery Tale
Once upon a time a baby girl was born into the family of a King and Queen.
The Princess was a fiery, feisty and wildly imaginative child, full of mischief and fun... but... everyone in the royal
household worked so hard and such long hours. There was always so much squabbling amongst all its members.
And... there were so many visitors she was required to help with. There never seemed to be any time just for her.
In order to escape her many tasks, she learned to play by herself in the garden. She imagined the trees, stones,
grasses and bushes whispered their secrets to her. She heard twitterings and skitterings, and saw little flashes of light
darting hither and yon and in and out of glistening, gossamer spider webs. She believed she had magical powers and
could save her whole family for she saw they were not happy.
One day she was hiding behind a big bush in the garden in which a blackbird had made its nest. She started to sing a
song and discovered, to her delight, that the blackbird was singing along with her. The little flashes of light became
tiny light-filled bodies. The glistening gossamer cobwebs were wings and the high-pitched twitterings were voices
speaking to her.
“Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? We are the faeries... We are the faeries. Who are you? Who are you?
Who are you?” the voices questioned.
She heard their high-pitched voices laughing, laughing, laughing, spluttering and puttering. She felt herself becoming
all wobbely and bobbely inside as they sang. Ah! What was that? Did you see?
Whoosh and wish and pish and shish
all gone together down the road,
116
not so fast and not so slow.
Not too masht and not too plow.
Whoa, Whoa my mighty steeds. Mighty steeds?
No bigger than peeds.
They danced round and round her as they all repeated the refrain, “Who are you? Who are you?” The Princess
laughed in delight and danced with them. She was soon flying through the air as though she were one and the same
with them. They danced together for a long time and then played chasing and catch the daisy.
Once she climbed high up into the great flowering cherry blossom tree. She breathed in the pink and white flowers
deeply and as she did so her faery friends appeared again. They played together for a while, jumping from blossom
to blossom and finally all settled down. The Princess told them she had had a magic dream, just that night gone by.
“Tell us, do tell us,” squealed the faeries, for they loved magic. And so she did.
“It was wonderful. In this dream I am looking at an enormous dragon and as I look closely, and then more closely, I can
see his coat is made up of glittery fish scales. The more still and quiet I am, the more vivid and brilliant the colours
appear. Then they fade and change and become blurred and I start to do a strange and wonderful dance. Dragon is
smiling and humming a tune for me to dance to and teaches me how to curtsy and to smile. “How, how, how do you
curtsy?” squealed the faeries. “Show us, show us.”
The Princess proceeded to show them how to bend their right leg and to bring their left leg behind it and bend
forward from the waist, and at the same time hold out their skirts and flutter their wings. There was much laughter and
giggling and puttering and more spluttering as some of them fell over and their legs got all knotted, zotted and potted
up in each other. The Princess never felt so happy in her whole life. The faeries became extremely excited and
commenced to fly around wildly. ZZZZZZZZZbb! ZZZZZZZb! Bbbb! ZzzzzzzzZbb!
117
After the curtsy lesson had finished and everybody had picked themselves up off the ground, either from laughing or
falling down, the Princess asked them how she could help her family have this happiness and joy too. The faeries
became very silent. Then they got into a huddle, their voices rising and falling as they discussed the problem.
Eventually they turned to her, their faces serious. “They should all dance too,” they unanimously agreed.
The family laughed loud and long when the Princess gave them the faeries’ message. The King and the Queen told
her NOT to believe in faeries. The Princess had learned from a very young age to obey their rules without question so
she stopped singing her little songs that she knew would bring her faery friends. She stopped visiting behind the big
hedge where the blackbird made its nest. She stopped breathing in the pink and white cherry blossoms. She missed
her little playmates dreadfully and as she grew up, she dreamed of a prince who would come to save her from her very
lonely world.
Eventually, her Prince did come and she sighed with relief. Maybe now she could live happily ever after.
BUT a question she only faintly remembered started to bite hard in her brain. “Who are you?” “Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
She knew she could not be happy until she found the answer. She asked her mother. “Who am I?” The Queen looked
at her in amazement and said, “You are me of course.” She asked her father but he didn’t seem to hear the question
and asked her to make him his usual hot sweet tea and now .
She searched high and low for the answer. She asked her prince husband as they lay together at night. “You are my
wife,” he said. She searched in the corners of her very new kitchen cupboards, in recipe books. Maybe this cake will be
me, she thought, it is so delicious. Or this dinner party for which I can make nine courses for fifty people all on my
own. Or no, no, this is the coat that is me. It is the perfect colour. She searched for the answer in the birthing of their
children and in her attempts to be a mother.
118
And then!... Lo and behold! Abracadabra! Gilly, Gilly, Gilly she became sooooooooooooo silly. She went mad.
Insane.
Her prince husband, the King and the Queen all agreed that she should be locked away so that no one could say,
“She’s from our family.”
The Princess cried and cried and her daughters cried and cried as they took leave of each other. The King and
Queen took the children to live with them in their house...
But...
Inside her locked-up tower, the Princess began to enter realms where ostriches and badgers played together! Where
pigs and horses sat at the dinner table and drank cups of tea and ate chocolate all day long. Where flying was as
natural as walking for humans. Those faeries were back! They commenced to dance round her in circles for days and
nights, and invited her to dance too. She refused. She was too angry with the world. Nothing was fair. Nothing was
right. Nothing was beautiful any more. And, above all, nobody cared. The faeries kept dancing and inviting her in. The
Princess refused them again and again. She kept refusing to join them.
And then, slowly, she felt their gentle and playful energies penetrate her great loneliness. Reluctantly, she started to
dance with them. She danced one circle, then two, then three. Gradually, she remembered how she had loved to
dance, and soon discovered there were no questions about who she was when she was dancing.
Her gossamer playmates were still worried about her and they discussed and debated amongst themselves. “How
was it? How could that be? How could she have forgotten? Was she really going to be all right now? She still
looked so sad and frightened... ” They decided that she should visit Dragon again whom she had met in her dream
of long ago...
119
But...
“I don’t know how to find Dragon,” the Princess said sadly.
Then one of them exclaimed, “We’ll take you to Parchment Woman! Yes, Parchment Woman! She is Dragon’s friend.”
The faeries had often visited her. A very, very old magical woman whose skin was stretched tight over very, very, old
bones. She lived in a cave in the middle of nowhere in the back of beyond, weaving, spinning, spinning, weaving, often
using the dyes of wild flowers to bring out the yellows, blues and reds in the wools and fabrics she made her clothes
from. Indeed, sometimes the faeries weren’t sure whether it was a mouse, a fox, a tree or a bluebell they were talking to!
Now, as well as her weaving and spinning, Parchment Woman loved to make soup and on the day the Princess arrived
she had just cooked the best of chicken broths. The Princess and Parchment Woman sat down to eat it together and
the young woman was surprised at how easy it was to speak openly of her life and her love of dance.
Parchment Woman listened, sucking on the chicken bones and dropping them one by one back into her empty bowl.
She licked each of her fingers very carefully and said, “Yours is the way of the dancer... now do it.”
“How?” asked the Princess.
“Go Home, Look and See,” was the only answer Parchment Woman would offer. The Princess took her leave and
returned to her tower briefly before going home.
For many years she worked hard, looking after her family and her dancing...
120
BUT...
What was the value in this dance she wondered as she cooked the meals and cleaned her home?
She returned to Parchment Woman with this question and after they had enjoyed a lovely lentil soup, the old woman
started to sing
Calla Calla up your nos
Over bush and fire a boas.
Ifyouneedacrumpet bumpet
(1, 2, 3, 4!)
then do your scratchings
And lumpit.
This magical song made them dance together, running in circles, sometimes leaving the ground and turning in mid-air.
One moment they were on the ground, another on the mountain top moving the clouds around and playing hide and
seek with them. Best of all, they climbed up and slid down the rainbows. Oh what joy to be all those colours, and race
round and round.
For a brief moment they stopped in mid-air to catch their breath. Who is this coming up from the end of the rainbow?
It’s Dragon! He breathed even more life and wildness into the dance. This was the purest of ecstasy, the most joyful of
joys, the most satisfying of satisfactions.
The question of value was no longer there...
121
BUT... how was she to live this?
With breaking heart, the princess once again left her family for she knew it was time to go and live with Parchment
Woman in the in middle of nowhere in the back of beyond.
There Parchment Woman taught her to weave and spin the wild grasses, to carve and paint the bones of dead
animals they found on their long walks together. The Princess shared her visions of the magical forms that appeared
to her and Parchment Woman encouraged her to draw and paint them. The Princess dived into cold waters of the
nearby seas and lakes every day, and felt the power of the oceans within herself. She learned to dance with the trees,
the sky, the sun and the moon. She learned of the love of Nature and, most of all, of her own human nature.
After seven years had passed, she was ready to bring her gifts back to those she had left behind. She returned home
once more and as she did so she reached her arms out towards all the people she loved and they gathered in a circle.
One by one they started dancing with her and soon everybody was dancing with everybody else and the faeries were
flying and shrieking with glee.
Dragon and Parchment Woman stood on top of the mountain and watched the celebrations.
And they all lived happily ever after.
123
APPRECIATIONS
My deepest gratitude to my parents Connie and Berk Citron and indeed all my ancestors. Without the addictions, neuroses, the endless
craziness and passions that persisted throughout the generations none of the following would be happening in exactly this way and at this
time and in this place. My gratitude also extends to my beloved children, Debbie, Judy and Leslie Davis and my three grandsons Coby,
Nathan and Noah, for their inspiration and love.
The Arts Council of Ireland provided me with funding over the years that enabled me to risk undertaking this project. I am very grateful for
their award, which honours the need for artists to take the time to pursue their ideas and fulfil their artistic potential.
Satyananda, my spiritual teacher, has helped clarify greatly performance as a spiritual practice and the relationship between form and
formlessness. His advice has helped me see when my ego was involved and when it wasn’t. It has allowed me to let go of ownership of the
project and the performance offerings, and has enabled me to see the true Source of creativity, providing me with the freedom to offer the
performance without expectation of recognition or outcome.
Linda Hartley, author of Servants of the Sacred Dream, has offered invaluable advice and supervision regarding the Authentic Movement
aspect of the work, its presentation in relation to the witness audience and where art fits into mystical practice.
Kate Goodbread, dancer and POP trainer, supported me in relation to the group dynamics of the work, the various ‘edges’ encountered,
and the sentient level of awareness.
Sharon Hogan, actor, has been a tremendous support over the years in exploring these questions with me. I owe her tremendous gratitude
for her support, encouragement and trust in the initial stages of this project.
Regina Rudiger, Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapist, was a wonderful assistant for the first four years of the project. It would not
have been possible to undertake the project without the many ways in which she helped and supported me.
I thank Germaine Fraser for taking over the role in 2006.
Dancers, Mary Nunan, Maggie Harvey, Penny Colinson participated in four of the five years research.Other Dancer Participants were, Nicola
Curry, Jenny Roche, Liz Roche, Regina Rüdiger.
Vocalists, Janice Deller, Eileen Keane.
124
Musicians, Siobhan Daffy and Nicholas Twilley.
The Resident Participants Marion McFadden, Lani O’Hanlon, John Doyle, Berni Divilly, Naomi Brosnan, Jules Heavens, Peader O’hUalllaigh,
Antionette Spillane, Magz Brey, Sharon Hogan, Mary Horgan, Anne Manning, Catriona, Sabine Volkmann, Tom Lane, Helena Aherne, Jackie
Mayer-Ostrow, Ulrika Sprenger, Niamh Ni Lochlainn, Mary Scully, and Fran Burns.
Artists, Marian Mc Fadden and Naomi Brosnan.
All line drawings and Garden Art by Joan Davis.
Advisors, Valerie Citron, John and Gina Mullins.
Photographers, Colm Nolan, Kevin Logan and Leslie Davis.
Video, Sally Ann O’Reilly, Leslie Davis and Colm Nolan.
DVD Photograpic Documentation, Leslie Davis.
Recording of CD for the book Paul Harris, Leslie Davis.
The Witness Audience for their ongoing support in this work.
Tom Lane, Emma Philbin Bowman and Anne Healy wrote the documentation with me and helped collate and sort through voluminous
amounts of information. Nuala Rothery for her grammatical expertise and Rosemary St Leger for her help in making selections for the book.
Catherine Brophy for her help with The Faery Tale.
It would not have been possible to undertake this research without the tremendous good will of fellow artists, friends, witnesses and
community. I sincerely thank them all for the many and varied ways in which they provided support. I also deeply extend my gratitude to all
my teachers, past and present, especially Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Janet Adler, Chloe Goodchild and Rajeswar Battacharya.
Maya Lila Cover Final
2/10/07
09:51
Page 1
creativity, most particularly from a body-based
perspective, for over thirty years. She
pioneered Contemporary Dance in Ireland in
the seventies and eighties and has
consistently experimented with collaborative
art as a professional artist and therapist.
Joan is a Body Mind Centering Practitioner.
She has studied Authentic Movement with
Janet Adler and Voice work with Chloe
Goodchild and Rajeswar Bhattacharya. She
has extensively studied Process Oriented
Psychology (Mindell) and is a Hakomi
Sensorimotor Trauma Psychotherapist.
She now runs a small holistic and creative
centre in Co. Wicklow, Ireland from where she
offers Maya Lila residential training and
practice programmes, Developmental and
Authentic Movement workshops and a private
Maya Lila
The book of Maya Lila images is a most
unusual work of art. The intention is to invite,
you, the viewer, into an experience of Maya
Lila in the same way as if you were attending
a live outdoor performance offering at Gorse
Hill with its accompanying sound effects,
Bringing Authentic Movement into Performance
music, and songs. Since Maya Lila does not
set out to tell a specific story, you may
interpret what you see and hear according to
your own personal stories, and in your own
unique and authentic way. It will deepen your
Bringing Authentic Movement
into Performance
IF WE CAN TRULY HOLD TO OUR OWN INTEGRITY,
RELATIONSHIPS HAPPEN WITHOUT EFFORT
IN TRULY AUTHENTIC WAYS
Maya Lila
Joan Davis has been exploring the nature of
experience if you listen to the CD whilst
browsing through the book.
Maya Lila is a unique contribution to the world
of dance, theatre and arts practice. It is a
research, a life’s work in Joan Davis’s search
for a wholeness of creative expression.
Maya Lila are Sanskrit words loosely
interpreted as ‘illusion’ and ‘play’ respectively.
Psychotherapy practice. Joan has three
Maya Lila invites you to dance with the illusory
children and three grandchildren.
nature of your perceptions intertwined within
a play of life’s dramas.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
JOAN DAVIS
TEL: OO 353 1 2876986
Elmdon Books
Design by Tony Denton
Joan Davis
www.gorsehill.net
EMAIL: MAYALILA@GORSEHILL.NET
WWW.GORSEHILL.NET
Elmdon
Books
The Offering
Joan Davis
Price: £ 40.00
€ 60.00
CD & DVD included with book
ISBN: 978-0-9540117-1-0