The Mighty Sand Dance

This week is mostly dedicated to a dance/improvisation/sound workshop which Ilanit Tadmor and I are giving every evening to some 18 dancers, somewhere in Jaffa. On Sunday we worked on melody, on Monday we worked on harmony, and yesterday we worked on rhythm. After working for about an hour an a half on different rhythms, multiplying rhythm, dividing rhythm, polyrhythm (working in different rhythms simultaneously) and the such, we came to the real thing: ignoring rhythm. I then told them of Dune, the desert planet, where huge worms devour anyone who walks with any kind of rhythm on the sand. And then we played it, and I took upon myself a double role – both the thumper, giving an annoying fixed rhythm which should be ignored, and, naturally, the mighty worm. At first the people almost went out of their minds with the effort – try it at home sometime – but they took to it very quickly, and we had splendid unrhythmicality. So now I have my own troop of mighty fremen. Beware!