12 LED TO NEW WAYS OF WRITING ? by BRIAN THORSTENSON In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org unify strengthen amplify unify strengthen amplify 44 Gough Street, Suite 201 San Francisco, CA 94103 www.dancersgroup.org I HAD BEEN SITTING WITH A QUESTION. What is a play? For a little over ten years writing plays was my main creative expression. I didn’t want to write another play. I wanted to start blank. Start with not knowing. Every character wants something. It’s what I tell my beginning playwriting students. That’s the character’s action. Replace action with need. Replace with desire, with longing. Dante called action ‘a movement of the spirit.’ What was going to move my spirit? I didn’t know. So I sat. I waited. A set of stage directions: Silence. A day? Two days? A week? or three? A year? Yes. Try a year. The phone rings. Or maybe an email?
A Movement
of the Spirit
1 QUESTION AND 5 INVITATIONS
in dance FALL 2022 12
FALL 2022 in dance 13
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