Theres a piano in the room today and Joe is playing along to our juggling, walking, et cetera.

We start in the most usual way, with our juggling and music, then switching partners and talking, laughing, and catching up. There's more scarf colors today and people chat about family, juggling, or high school musical. When the scarves are collected, we take a walk. Also the usual, taking note of our own space, speed, and time. We walk just for us, then a little bit more for size, remembering to breathe, and changing directions.

We're cooking with what we got. AaaaaAAAAHhhh AAaaahHHHH, our arms go up and around.

The ahing, the arms raising, they're games brewing. Mycah goes--STOP. But don't look at him. just freeze. Freeze, and put on the noses. The game is named now, and it's named, "Don't do it." Playing with body, space, ground, and sky, the game grows and grows... into a Birthday Surprise.

Integrate--come back to reality. As the noses come off, our focus turns to function. What we are doing is not finding endings, but finding middles. Three games come out of the Birthday Surprise. The first, of course, was "Don't Do It." But now there's also, "It's Baked," and "Quiet and Pretty." These become our clown songs.

There's a set of rules for these songs. There must be an entrance, a role call, a hook, chorus, solos, and a big finale. Choreo and harmony are extra credit. We are also given some instructions--we'll split off into three groups, decide who gets what song, and rotate around the spaces we have to take turns cooking--and the group will decide these amongst themselves. 

Solos are the biggest workout, a risk to take physically, vocally, spiritually... in some cases, dramatically. 

What's the difference between an exceptional ensemble and one that's just pretty good? And just to be clear--we are that ensemble. It's decision making. Being able to make decisions as an ensemble, to say that this is what we want. As an ensemble, we decide the order in which to present our songs, with accompaniment by Joe. Afterward, we unpack what the experience was like for each of our trios. We learned of the importance of fine-tuned listening, playing fast and loose with Joe, and finding what works in the process and building around that. 

Next week, Mycah won't be here. How will we make decisions as an ensemble? Are we all on board?

What we want is amazing fun. We have to look for the fever pitch, the riffs that we can use to cook the piece. When we cook, cook, cook, the state begins to take over us. Then, it is being. There is no one right way to undergo this process, but it has to be about your pleasure and joy. This is about your process, and doing your process in front of people.

Cue the outro music, Joe!