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PROTOCOL+ OPEN CLASS

PROTOCOL — CPPM DAY 1–6 + OPEN CLASS

STATUS: PRIMARY ARCHIVAL CHILD. This note preserves the actual CPPM workshop chronology. It is not a conceptual summary.

DAY 1 — MORNING

First creative task: association with your name

Choose a physical quality that you have so Lloyd can remember your name through that bodily characteristic. Key proposition: connecting meaning to movement. This introduced physical metaphor, simile, and analogy. The exercise establishes: BODY → INFORMATION; MOVEMENT → COMMUNICATION. Do not over-symbolise it.

Warm-up

Lloyd taught several short movement sequences derived from modern/classical dance material. The group faced the same direction, repeated the movement, worked in unison, used counts of 8, and worked with specific music. Purpose: warm the body, stretch, focus attention, and establish rhythmic/physical precision.

Walking in space

Eyes on the horizon; use peripheral vision; body neutral. Fill the gaps and balance the space. Then introduce stop, change direction, go to the floor, get up differently, and increase tempo. This begins spatial and compositional awareness.

Natural walk

Gather in one corner. Walk naturally and unaffectedly across the space. Lloyd repeatedly returns to natural body language, not dancerly presentation.

Spatial relationships

Choose one person to remain close to and another person to remain far from. Composition emerges from relation rather than imposed choreography.

Viewpoints

Circle. Walk in straight lines across the circle. Feed from group impulse. Add stop and change of direction.

DAY 1 — AFTERNOON

Return to walking, group tuning, filling space, and near/far relationships.

Grid framework

Walk in straight lines: no curves or diagonals. Allowed: forward, stop, turn. Later add falling to the floor. Work in silence, with instrumental music, and with music with lyrics. Important Lloyd instruction: “DON’T BE A SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM.” Music exists, but the performer does not have to illustrate it.

Isolated body communication

Two lines face a partner. Investigate what can be communicated through eyes, hands, arms, hips, legs, and the whole body. The partner says aloud what they perceive. This is a central experiment in body language.

Dancing to Joy

Core Lloyd exercise. Music: “BELIEVE” — CHER. Preserve this as a concrete CPPM exercise; do not theorise away the pop-cultural material.

Task recognition

Group 1: “SILLY DANCING.” Group 2: “SKIPPING IN DIFFERENT WAYS.” Each group presents without telling the other the task. Observers guess what the task was. This tests physical legibility: can a task be communicated physically?

Perfume text

Introduction of Perfume Text and a perfume spray bottle. Introduction to actioning, a technique attributed in the protocol to Max Stafford-Clark: assign active/transitive verbs to lines, beats, and units of action. Purpose: clarity, intention, energy, purpose, specificity, and consistency.

DAY 2 — MORNING

Repeat warm-up.

Drills

Skipping, jumping, hitchhiking, high-kick/reverse, step sequence, and combination. New choreography: “RUN BOY RUN.”

Perfume text

First individual work, then pairs. Focus on specificity. Use an outside eye. Important video task: Person A films Person B; Person B watches their own performance and interprets what they actually see. This creates a distinction between intention and visible result.

DAY 2 — AFTERNOON

Continue Perfume Text in pairs. Then individual work with Lloyd, one performer at a time.

DAY 3 — MORNING

Strength-based warm-up: push-ups and sit-ups. Repeat drills and combinations. Return to choreography. Emphasis: concentration; listen; communicating with each other; being “in the work.” Finish individual work on Perfume.

DAY 3 — AFTERNOON

Lecture

Lloyd’s process and verbatim theatre.

Argument recordings

New pairs share recordings of real arguments. Select one.

Whisper / live input-output exercise

Groups of three. Person A whispers into Person B’s ear. Person B says exactly what they hear in real time to Person C. No delay: live input → output. Purpose: develop the ear for verbatim speech.

First verbatim attempt

Hear and reproduce the argument. The first attempt is important because of spontaneous behaviour that may be discovered. Then begin developing the physical life through which this material will be presented.

DAY 4 — MORNING

Warm-up/crossing space. Roll across the floor. Stretch according to bodily necessity.

All fours

Cross the space without the torso touching the floor. Explore different physical configurations.

8 / 8 / 8

8 counts: enter the floor. 8 counts: move on the floor. 8 counts: leave the floor. Repeat 4 / 4 / 4.

Surf rolling

One person rolls/surfs across a tightly connected line of bodies. The group underneath rolls collectively. Develops weight, trust, group coordination, and continuous movement.

Contact improvisation

Rolling in pairs. Back-to-back meeting. Descend using shared body weight. Roll over partner. Rise. Find another partner.

Partner stretch

Use weight and breath. Breathe, relax, receive weight.

Counterbalancing

Explore counterbalancing.

Leaning / story

Lean against a partner. Use body, arms, and gesture to tell a story.

Beer glass

Throw and catch an empty beer glass. Then integrate the glass into leaning and constant motion. Ask what images and meaning the pair can create. OBJECT + PHYSICAL RELATION → DRAMATURGICAL IMAGE.

Trust

One performer has eyes closed; the other leads them through the room. Change.

Lift opportunity

Contact duet. First notice the moment when a lift could occur; do not lift. Second, notice the opportunity and lift only approximately 1 mm. This trains perception before action.

Crossing space with lifts

Lift, take three steps, and gradually return the partner to the ground. Transfer weight progressively. The partner receives weight and becomes lifter.

Verbatim duet arguments

Show work and receive Lloyd’s feedback.

DAY 4 — AFTERNOON

Finish showings. Continue duet verbatim arguments. Present again.

DAY 5 — MORNING

Warm-up. Lloyd shares sign-language interpreters performing “LOSE YOURSELF” — EMINEM. Performers dress in 8 Mile-inspired clothing. Two groups perform the full song through movement, mouthing, and singing/textual relation while the other group observes. Every observer gives one defining sentence about what they noticed. Switch groups. This is important for body language; voice/text/movement; cultural image; and observation. Finish duet arguments.

DAY 5 — AFTERNOON

Task: “DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING.” Two groups: performers and watchers. Performers embody as many different characters as possible. Each new character must be perceptible through a noticeable change in physique. This trains physical characterisation through body quality. Then first interpretations of solo recordings. Continue duo arguments.

DAY 6 — MORNING

Review entire workshop. Select exercises for Open Class. Receive new Lloyd audio recordings: “MISS CAROLINA,” “WOMAN IN BOOKSTORE,” “LOCKER.” Listen during lunch.

DAY 6 — AFTERNOON

Present first interpretations of the new audio recordings. Because of limited time, audition simultaneously. Continue remaining material before Open Class.

OPEN CLASS

Preserve the running order:

END OF PROTOCOL.