Team Blog Post – Sophie Brender for Swallowing Clouds

BLOG #1

Swallowing Clouds gives children the gift of a supportive, sensitive space in which they are invited to listen, notice, respond, and express—engaging their full being. The program presents rich, challenging, and beautiful stimuli, and in return, the children offer the gifts of their honesty, curiosity, imagination, feelings, and creativity. It feels boundless! Below are two of many moments from my time as an apprentice facilitator at Swallowing Clouds that have especially highlighted to me some important truths about creativity and connection. 

In the middle of a lively, vigorous warm-up, the children are challenged to move only the right side of their body, then only the left. Then – the challenge to move only half of our faces too! As I attempt to make expressions with only the right side of my face, I notice the impossibility, yet the joy of the task. Laughter mixes with deep focus in the group, as we stretch and connect our minds and bodies in new, unusual ways. We are testing the limits of what our body suits can do! I am reminded that sometimes, all we need is a simple, playful invitation to explore new ways of inhabiting our minds and bodies.

We read a poem, Ordinary Magic, by Erin Robinsong, then ask the children..  What did you see in your mind as you listened? What did you feel? What words stand out? The children feel all sorts of things, from floppy, to sleepy, to sparkly. They see things too – from a face in the clouds to godzilla. We discuss the meaning of the word vast, and many express excitement at the word transform. Any of the childrens’ responses could be the inspiration for a piece of art or an exploration. The sensation of floppy could become a dance solo, and what if the face in the clouds and godzilla had a conversation? What a poem that could be! How about a mural based on the word vast? Throughout the week’s sessions, we move, write, and draw together based on our responses to the poem. The attention we give to each of the children’s ideas and curiosities is the foundation for our creative process. When we practice awareness, interest, and respect for our own and each other’s inner worlds, creativity and exploration can naturally spring forth from what bubbles inside. 

It is my hope that as we (both children and adults) practice attunement, attention, and brave creativity in artistic environments like Swallowing Clouds, children will feel more confident and safe to express themselves creatively in the broader world.

BLOG #2

An alien armchair appetite
Begins a bountiful brew,
Creates a courageous cocktail
Drawn from what we danced and drew.

Ears engrossed in every expression,
Filtering until fabulous formations are found,
Greatness greets us, getting us giddy—
Here our herd howls together as a hound.

Intelligences inside of individuals include
Joking, jumping, jestering too,
Kindness kicking, keenness kindled,
Leaping loops into the language of our lore.

More meanings mash than we can meet,
Newly naming the nameless new,
Outer space octopus orders original hors d’oeuvres—
Plink! We are plating up our playful pie.

Quietly we question the quacks that come through,
Realizing racing and roughness won’t do,
Silently seeing the soaring success,
Of twirling and turning, and counting—one, two.

Uploading unity to our umbrellas,
Vividly veering our valuable vocalizations,
Wonder warriors walking the wave,
X marks the spot in this creative cave.

YES! And yes, and yes, and you—
You Zzzzzz at night, bring us back what is true.

For this poem, I gave myself the structure of moving through the alphabet with each line, guiding the direction of the writing while also allowing lots of room for spontaneity and emergence. Thematically, I thought of my experiences as an apprentice facilitator with the Swallowing Clouds program, and let that inspire the content of the poem. I’ve found that limitations like these—whether through prompts, frames, or constraints—can actually fuel creativity, providing a container to return to and to hold the energy of the creation, within which we can explore freely. I see this in the Swallowing Clouds program. Children are offered creative challenges and ways-in, within which they can be so free!