Playback, Privilege and Remembering Those Not Here

Sunday was a special Playback session with our core Healing York group. Practicing for the first time at the historic York Friends Meeting House on West Philadelphia Street, we enjoyed the cozy and seemingly sacred space and the sense of support it offered our work and play.

After being away from the forms for so long, we took time to reacquaint ourselves with the basics -- sound and motion, stillness and our bodies. After a round of "what the body wants - pass the warmup" and some lead-follow games (Colombia Hypnosis and the Blah Muscle), we dove into sharing about "what's been big."

A theme quickly emerged around people who are "close to us but far away," both in distance and in terms of raw privilege. In our first story, Greg shared about an attempt to find solidarity and connection with a prisoner -- and how this had gotten very complicated and problematic. In our second story, Roshne shared about the experience of watching a close relative live through the painful disintegration of her native Zimbabwe. Helplessness, struggle and guilt were all underlying themes working as we played each story out.

As we closed, Greg expressed a new sense of clarity about his situation... and thankfulness for that. And we joined together in the worshiping place of Friends to stand in silence, remembering those who didn't enjoy the luxury of playing their stories.  One by one, we called out their names.

Earl.

Jashawn.

Carol.

Ziyad.

Play became Life. Life became Art. Art became Real.

We were grateful for the opportunity.

chris fitz