A performance at the Innesmill Stone Circle, near to Loch-hill, Urquhart, Morayshire on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June 1977 at sunset for six performers.
The performance can be adapted for performance at most stone circles. The audience is invited to gather around the perimeter of the circle, but not within or against the stones themselves. A fire is to be lit in the centre of the circle. Three lines of departure into the surrounding countryside are called for. Three of the performers will continue to walk in a straight line along these lines throughout the performance.
“Our performance is a sculptural dance in which the music is the words we speak and the environment in which we move. In complement to Innesmill’s three large stones we move in sequences of threes. Sunset is a good time for meditation: a time to reflect and a time to look forward. There is not really any beginning just as there is not really an end. There is simply, here, a radiant moment. The earth is our stage and we are ourselves.”
AS NEAR TO SUNSET AS POSSIBLE. START FIRE & SETTLE IN WELL BEFORE AUDIENCE IS READY
1. a,b,c,d,e,f around fire, crouched
2. a,b.c to circle edge positions
3. this sequence:
a) See the …
by the … (freeze)
d) before.
b) Hear the …
at the … (freeze)
e) after.
c) Touch the …
on the … (freeze)
f) now.
PAUSE
4. a,b,c frozen on perimeter, d,e,f rise, speak, crouch to pick up torches
turn and exit, in sequence:
d) Smell the … (exit with torch)
a) gone.
e) Taste the … (exit with torch)
b) here.
f) Sense the … (exit with torch)
c) there.
LONG PAUSE (d,e,f continue to recede throughout performance)
5. In this sequence from circle edge:
a) Are these gnats or stars before me?
Sunbeam that fills my head with red,
Shadows, sunbeams, stars and prism
Tails, all are born on the fine down edge.
(to edge of fire, freeze)
b) Sunned dust hands
Curl your toes thru sand
Standing out in sea
(to edge of fire, freeze)
c) Look, the world reflected
in my fingernails.
Late evening’s air,
the twisted,
turquoise, the breeze
fresh, to run through
field’s blue, around the
stones,
to sunflare
high into
late evening sky
and call
the seagull’s last lark in the blue;
two silver darts – going –
- nowhere.
(to edge of fire, freeze)
SLIGHT PAUSE
6.This sequence:
a) Sun going spoke.
Only just gone on.
(freeze ‘Y’ position)
b) Stone/lonely warm all’s home.
(freeze, ‘Y’ position)
c) Lyric planktonic drifts in
evening’s half.
(freeze, ‘Y’ position)
7. a,b,c drop arms & move out to perimeter performing this:
a) How deep are the eyes of time.
b) Be a mine in tomorrow’s sun.
c) No sighs
The tears of night
Spread out too far
On years of sunlight
8. a looks out & turns to speak while b, c lean on stones, looking out
a) Wood cracks camp fire the plains
at dawn,
but you have worn a fuller cloth than
this,
of toil.
On some it falls with a
befitting grace.
Say you’ve got to go across
the plains, you can’t resist
the charcoal burns,
dawn, the circumcision of girls.
Grasp the
hold this suffering gives because
it’s learnt, and worn,
in grace.
(continues looking out)
c) She has two down-covered dancers
to warm her heart.
(leaning on stone, looking out)
b) He is my standing stone.
(leaning on stone, looking out)
a) You hummed. I looked across
the sky above
the breath of all we build upon
- the clearest night –
bed of tomorrow’s sun.
(looking out)
b) (triumphant) Do not think of anything far.
Open your eyes. We are a star.
(c moves in and crouches before fire as these words are spoken:)
c) Ragged flower
a bee’s powder in your fur orange coat
pillow my only head
today is gone.
9. a, b come to fire in turn, raise hands against flames and speak:
a) How the eyes of time are deep.
b) Be a mine in tomorrow’s sun.
(a, b, c freeze)
10. a turns, walks to perimeter, freeze
11. b turns, walks to perimeter, freeze
12. PAUSE
13. c rises, raises hands against fire:
c) All the sun’s hieroglyphs
are burnt up
and the thin smoke’s
snake
moves inwards again.
Sunned poppy heads in the golden fields
touch the blue, translucent,
tuned.
(freeze)
14. c turns and walks past perimeter along line of f
15. PAUSE
16. b unfreezes and walks along line of e
17. PAUSE
18. a unfreezes and walks along line of d
19. All performers should walk to their horizon
THERE IS NO SPECIFIC INDICATION THAT THE PERFORMANCE IS OVER, ALTHOUGH IT IS EVIDENT AFTER SOMETHING OF A LONG PAUSE
FINISH
<...