Play Circle at DLWP – Monday 10 February

This month’s Play Circle explored themes of travelling, fluidity, movement, connection and care, inspired by Grandmother Mago, orcas and mass migration over water, relating to the Zadie Xa and Marc Bauer exhibitions.

I’m fascinated with how we first engage with the world through our bodies. It’s how we understand ourselves, meet others, ignite our curiosity and discover new possibilities. Through these sensory connections we meet and interact with others. And play together…

And, that’s exactly how the journey of this month’s Play Circle unfolded…
We started with tending to the detail of our fingers and toes, noticing and expanding, hiding and bursting into the space. We turned upside-down, connected with others in our funny inverted states and travelled around each other, acknowledging and responding to blasts of movement and tentative curiosities, stopping and starting, watching, moving independently and with others.

We moved together with cloth of different textures and marine shades, navigating Grandma Penguin through the sea and reuniting her with Baby Penguin who had been left behind, each child insisting on a cuddle with the penguin family once their watery world explorations were over, sharing in a sense of reassurance and relief.

A large collection of new friends appeared (in the form of soft toys…), with each child and their family group confidently guiding them through their physical and imagined worlds with purpose and care. …sometimes ‘flying’ high, other times cradled or riding on the child’s back, eventually finding a resting place together wrapped in a brightly coloured blanket – and stillness to sleep…

When we interact with ideas and concepts our physical responses emerge quicker than our cognitive brain can acknowledge them, revealing emotional feelings and physical sensations which then become our own in-the-moment story: the story of me, now.

By Anne Colvin

See information about upcoming Play Circle dates here.

Image by Rob Harris

Posted by Caspar Jayasekera on Friday 21 February 2020