Process as Guide
/ process as guide /
what it is
/process as guide/ is an intimate group- self-dialoguing structure and one:one sessions format I developed and am currently leading. We listen, study, and relate to our process and our intuition through shared movement experience, the lens of art, and through language-based communication. It’s a rhizomatic approach to the creative process, to being, to learning, and to each of leading within a group, which opens this model to become expansive and inclusive. By providing the guiding structure and principles, process as guide then is collective and shaped by each individual in the group.
The group meets once a week for two-hour sessions for 6-12 consecutive weeks. At the conclusion, the experience is processed and reflected on through a one-on-one meeting that I have with each participant.
whom is for
The group model desires to serve dedicated, self-identified performance artists who are dissatisfied with current university models and are desiring new, intimate structures for exploring artlife. The more diverse the artist's selves, backgrounds, and ages, the more we all learn.
guiding principles
not knowing and leading.
chaos and intellect.
touch as movement continuum.
mutuality and flexibility in roles.
sensing and reflecting.
feeling one self and feeling one another.
relational consciousness.
symbolic and touchable.
object and subject.
mutual diversity.
attunement, intuition and implicit knowing.
non – linear space and time experience.
cooperative making and dissolving.
These principles continue to draw me to dance and its various voices and practices.
They are at the foundation upon which process as guide built.
A set of agreements I created and assembled, discussed and adjusted each time anew with the group, are holding parameters for our togetherness.
history
I first started to shape this model in 2015 through study groups that were called Boosts for my Qi Gong and Dance students to deepen learned material. Workshops around touch, intuition and improvisation as well as regular one-on-one meetings with various dance people, talking about and guiding their process and intuition were the impetus in 2017 to formatting process as guide. Each relationship informed this model and inspired my desire for mutuality between us in this learning process.
The first group of 6 women I invited to explored process as guide as a study group took place from February 15th until May 15th, 2018 at Domestic Performance Agency in Brooklyn New York. These artists had been participating in my workshops or classes prior and expressed the desire to study and communicate further.
currently
Four artists successfully concluded a two year DIY MFA in December 2022, focusing on new modes of learning and teaching as performance artists. Half of the sessions took place via zoom, the one-on-ones were live.
The seventh process as guide cycle took place at Sunset Space Dance Studio in Brooklyn in March, April, May of 2020.
One group too place through Janet Panetta’s International Dance Dialogues facilitated by Movement Research in October/November 2018.
connecting
If you are interested in hosting or participating in process as guide please contact me directly at melaniemaar@gmail.com
webbing
participants of the first group, as well as some recent graduates:
Laurel Atwell- https://cargocollective.com/laurelatwell/About-Contact
Laura Bartczak- http://laurabartczak.squarespace.com/
Natalia Espinel- http://nataliaespinel.com/
Roxy Gordon-https://www.roxymovement.com/
Amelia Tarpey
Mor Mendel Kat Brown - https://kbmovementarts.com/ Dustin Maxwell - https://www.dustinmaxwell.org/ Grace Carney - https://www.gracecarney.io/
