All these exercises fed into the main plexus of the work: that is, to make a Dictionary of Atmospheres. Part of making a Dictionary of Atmospheres was that we were asked to make solo journeys into the desert landscape for a period of time, find 'attractors' and write down everything we observed about each particular 'attractor'. For example; what were the 'Elements' contained in the experience? How did the experience permeate into the body, through the senses? Then later, we were to try and capture that 'Atmosphere' in the body. Tess insisted we be super specific in our note taking in order to anchor the experience. Therefore, we wrote and drew up graphs trying to find a specific description in writing first before taking it into the body. We had to understand we weren't looking for the emotions drawn from the 'attractor', as that is a highly subjective response. Rather, we wanted to know how that 'attractor' - whether it be a spiky desert flower or the right wing of a bird in a line of flight - informed us, with as little emotional or psychological interpretation as possible. What made up its elements? To say the least, it was confusing. What one understands intellectually is very hard to translate into physical movement. What I noticed was how sophisticated we are with cerebral language and yet the language of physical/gestural expression is so clumsy and frustratingly inaccurate most of the time.

The Dictionary of Atmospheres culminated into a short performance on the final day, whereby Tess choreographed some ten of us around a installation space set up by visual artists, Keith (Indiana) Armstrong and Richard Manner.

There were several beautiful performances during the three weeks we stayed at Hamilton Downs presented by artists and performers. The most notable thing about them all was how the landscape dominated the scene. You could never upstages an orange fiery ball of sun sinking into the horizon or the magnificent magnificent MacDonnell Ranges. Not that the sun or the ranges dominated either. It simply enhanced everybody's performances.