The body knows

When I let you see me—when I really yield to it—I stop worrying that I’m weird or not enough. I might even drop my shame—for my desires, my pleasures, and my pain. This is the power for me of moving together, touching each other, speaking, and listening to one another. It is the power of being witnessed. We are social beings, and we can learn to let go into our natural ability to BE together with a few simple tools. We can forge agreements that keep us safe enough to take the risk of being vulnerable together; giving each other the permission to be our authentic selves. We can attend to the sensations and emotions that come through us in each moment in order to better navigate relationship while maintaining wholeness.

I came to this project with a question:  What would it look like and feel like to film naked contact improvisation?  As a piece of art the image struck me as something I’d not seen beyond one or two stage performances.  In imagining the creative experience I recognized it would push me to grow in my capacity for intimacy, in my ability to navigate complex boundaries, and my ability to hold a container for others.  I also saw that it would uncover something about sexuality for me. In retrospect I experience this work as a window to erotic innocence; simultaneously full of sexuality but not directly sexual. It took me over 3 years to complete this film because I needed to grow with it. The power of being naked is that there’s nowhere to hide.