(Introduction/performance text for an exhibition called ‘Playground’ held at the Royal College of Art in 2021, one of the first physical exhibitions happening post-lockdown. A celebration of making ‘with’.)

Step in, scootch and make space
come around, everybody
and stand in this oasis of free breathing.
when you step in and start moving 
let go of all the rules you know, for once let yourself unfold
take up as much space as you need 
or become a speck and show me how you float away
Close your eyes, and move in place, move like you like
for once I feel you

I feel you here and now
I see your smiles without the glitches and pauses and set angles
I feel your touch and feel it lingering
like the sound of a little girl running barefoot on marble lingers
like a house that burns pink and smells like the grass after rain
Now open your eyes, and listen, listen carefully to this story, of a man who sat down one day in the open and spoke to nobody in particular but somebody was listening and he said

"There has to be a day when you leap over the fence and reach out to the side where the skies have a hopscotch and you hurl crayons into the sky and jump to anywhere you like
You see there have to be days when slowness is the only constant and warm touch the only communication.
There have to be days when the only way we exist and make is together! "
And he said,
umm,
Oh this thought is suddenly a fluffy cloud in my head

Ah well, this narrator is unreliable you see
all we can do is find a trail of thought  and walk on it till another one amuses us
all we can do is dance along and pray
So Now do as I say,

One clap for the bright light of day
Two claps for the light in us to stay
Three claps for the laden state of play
Put a hand up, I say, and cast a spell
Move the energy, see it in colours, move like a witch drunk on moonlight in the day
One spell to cast all heavy feelings astray
Another spell for the world to make way
And another one so that all mighty music continues to play
Now See the one next to you and the one next to them and look longer at the faces

In the here and now
The absolute present tense
There are no transcriptions now,
And we're grateful 
We'll listen now, listen longer I say
breathe the words in
the madness of collective comprehension
the texture of sweet sound and touch
Smiles and laughs that don’t travel through machines and waves anymore

We're right here
Today
together
And that makes me happy :)