I: Hands
This novel custom was paraded at the AVOU summer gathering in August 2023.
Four figures appeared at the front of the dome as the music played. The audience were invited to meet their hands, for motion and play, soundtracked by seductive, groovy, ambient sounds.
Verbal instructions are repeated to help give guidance to the audience..
Narrator: “And now, something about touching hands. This is a segment on brushing skin and touching hands.
The hands:
The hands..
Touching hands as a social practice has been going on for many thousands of years, as tenderness manifest, as a way of coming together. As a means of extending respect. As a dancing method.
Touching fingers, tracing shapes on the other’s palm, touching finger, moving in unison whilst keeping the hands in motion, touching fingers.
Take a look at the edges of the dome. At the edges of the dome you will see a selection of hands.
Behind the hands are real people. They are ready to meet your hands.
The hands over by the dome, are beckoning you. They say come and meet me with your own hands.
The hands wait over at the sides of the dome.
Behind the hands are real people. They ask that you respect them as hands alone.
There’s no need to remove the fabric that drapes them. In the hands there is enough.
They say touch me. They say move with me.
Please, visit the hands at the edge of the dome, and see where it leads.“
Notes on further customs for communion
II: Spotlights for a group
Spotlights are set up in a circle in a dark room under which participants can sit to join the circle. This is a simple form to bring people together – for ritual, for ceremony, for poignancy.
III: Blind-fold dance group
Participants are blind-folded and brought into motion together, dance or just tactile exploration, by a guide.