An exploration of ‘Stimming’

I’m becoming slightly obsessed with the work and thinking of Xan Dye after listening to them on a Dance Umbrella panel discussion a while back. They’ve developed a series of works under the title ‘Stimming’ which refers to self-stimulating/self-regulatory movements explored through dance. Repetition in a performance or series of dance moves is a form of rest for them. It can be a space for the audience to meet themselves, to daydream. Dye is interested in resisting the need to captivate the audience and always be producing something new. There’s a great piece they wrote about their work on the Siobhan Davies Studios website. 

They work with a range of stimming-dancing scores which I was drawn to including this example:

permission to move

permission to rest

- to play in the space between moving and resting

- fidgety rest? Restful motion?

permission to dance

permission to not dance

- to explore the space between dancing and not dancing

moving with the internal rhythms of thought, emotion and felt sensation.

moving with the external rhythms of the environment – sounds, sights, smells, spaces and those we share with them.

to explore the porous space between inner and outer.

moving to seek out more.

moving to sooth what’s too much.

permission to repeat – staying with what feels good.

permission to shift into something new

- to move into spaces between staying in and shifting out of.

I really like the idea of a score being a set of instructions that might guide a whole performance. What might my score be for in my skin?

All images © Xan Dye