Not just a change of date for 2025

The sound has probably become very strange, especially if you don't spend much time in there - and not every year. For me, as I am there to listen, to body and everything it never seems odd, and the couple of times that are very loud and sharp, in isolation, never seem it in the whole. 

We can hear the work of the recording and re recording that Lou started (based on the work of Alvin Lucier). Lou last sang in 2012, so her singing with herself has been fading. You will hear what seems like church bells if you listen carefully. Even without singing being added, the bells of the breaks, the birdsong, the door banging, people coughing etc are layered on, we have a record of all the years.

Jake and I have talked over the last year or so about having a new voice, if we do, and there is someone who would do it, it would have to be a singing with Lou, not over Lou, we would need to fold up the years and return to an earlier recording.

So this year we will be stepping back in time with the sound.

We need to see how we feel about it....

So this is to let you know, you will hear more of Lou this year.

...It's making me think I'll get out the trousers I wore from the start until 2012!...

2025: May 23rd not 22nd!

with

small world theatre | theatr byd bychan

untitled holy hiatus 15 ~ 22.05.2023

Untitled Holy Hiatus is not being advertised publicly elsewhere.

I shall send invites out via Facebook and email. RSVP would be appreciated, also if you know approximately what time you might arrive, please let me know

If you have not received an invite and you have been a regular participant and you use Facebook you can send a message via the Untitled Holy Hiatus page. If you know my email then contact me that way. If you know someone who would like to be there please contact me as above. You can leave a comment here if you don't use Facebook.

A maximum of 9 people in the space at anytime. The original was 6, the number has gone up and down...

UHH 14 2022

last year - 2022

It went gently. It was very comfortable and soft. J wasn't in the space as usual as he had a lot of work to do, T was with me for a lot of the time and no one else came. There were no knotty times of thinking too much about what to "do". 

I listened to the sound and the birds outside for 6 hours and think only once did my mind wander very briefly. T thought my movement was more fluid than he had seen. There was a little "play" with him as he walked around the space on a couple of occasions. 

During one on my own time I found myself moving in a very ballet way - lots of arm and sternum - that rather a Qigong way, it is a feeling that comes when doing some ballet but perhaps more people might understand the Qigong similarity!

Contentment was a feeling that came to me afterwards, and had a really good night's sleep. So a fulfilling, regenerative time. I've often thought I might find it difficult being on my own for a lot of the time and not being disciplined enough or something, but it wasn't the case. Perhaps not having done it since 2019 it was useful to not have other people. 

untitled holy hiatus 14 ~ 22.05.2022

 This year year will be by invitation so not open to the public. 

Last year UHH 13 was recorded - and only Jake was there. I was there for a little while - outside of an open window.

Here are some of the images taken by Jake last year.

If you have not received an invite and you have been a regular participant and you use Facebook you can send a message via the Untitled Holy Hiatus page. If you know my email then contact me that way.

thoughts on the morning of May 22nd 2019

It's interesting to see how the performative nature has changed since the first time: it has unfolded into a ritual, a participatory event. No longer are there 2 performers exploring*, but, perhaps, a community created for those 6 hours. And the song, with nothing new added since 2012*, has embedded into the sound of the space.

Then thinking of the different ways of moving for me - the phrase of movement and the following my body: the phrase is performative, it is like a spoken prayer, a song sung. Although it is set it changes and different parts become emphasised, year by year or hour by hour.

Lou’s* last live vocals were in 2012 as she was unable to be there in 2013 as she had recently given birth. And 2014 was her last UHH: she was unable to sing, but her listening and presence were as strong as ever. She spent the last hour or so downstairs with me. At the end we knew we’d done it – we’ve achieved the thing we sought. By then people were coming to meditate or pray, to just be in the space, not to watch.

In 2015 I invited people who used movement as prayer or contemplation to move in the space. Regardless of whether they respond to me in any way, it supports me and has enabled me to continue. I noticed that many of those who were there in stillness had bare feet and were lying down! In 2015 I found myself moving with two people, and last year there was playful interaction with one of those movers – at a moment that I could have crumpled, a moment where I wondered if I could move at all.

After 2 years of UHH Lou and I agreed on a name for what we were doing: an act of devotion.

when we were two