Deborah Richardson-Webb / Stirring the Silt

At our orientation day Dave talks about life being like a pond and how we can go through life without disturbing the silt if we choose to.  Or, we can muddy the waters by stirring up the silt with a stick, which prevents it from settling on the bottom for a while.  He says the Natural Change process offers that stick – it’s an invitation.  It’s up to us what we do with the stick – we can stir gently at the top of the pond trying to disturb nothing or we can take the stick and give the silt a good old deep stir!

By way of an explanation of the emotional demands the Knoydart week may hold for me, I tell my students about the pond.  It strikes me as I offer the analogy, that the process of the CPP* degree programme asks the students to do a lot of stirring of their own and they are vaguely amused at the thought of me on my own emotional journey.

I consider my mature pond.  I think it has been well planted over the years but I also allow myself to consider that I may have a sediment or silt problem that has accumulated over time.

As I leave the building on the Friday before Knoydart, I pass a student who smiles broadly and says, ‘Bye and good luck with the stick!’

*BA Contemporary Performance Practice