A solitaire dance game about
the strangest part of life
by Jackson Tegu
a Story
You are a naissant being, and you have a history.You lived a
life, and after growing up perhaps you grew old but certainly
you died, and after life you went somewhere else, and after
that perhaps you went somewhere else again, and so on,
and life was short compared to existence’s boundlessness
and you’ve kept changing and growing and forgetting and
remembering and now it’s time for another change again,
time to return to a phase of existence which wraps you in a
body made of liquid and duration. It’s time to be born.
That moment pre-birth is when this game takes place. It
occurs in a liminal space between realities, a place both
womblike and interstellar, a place where past and future are
viscous, a place where thought and emotion are aspects of
movement, where everything is growth.
1
wait, part 3?
There are two earlier games in the
Formalities cycle. Formalities part 1 is a
two or three player partner dance game
about choosing where a newly-deceased
person will spend the next span of their
existence, and Formalities part 2 is a
twenty player movement larp about the
confusion of cultural immersion and the
tension of cultural shift in two of the
dozens or perhaps billions of possible
afterlives. A player of part 3 needn’t have
played either of the previous games.
1. a Story
wait, part 3? Preparation
2. Preparation
3. Opening movement workshop Read all the rules. Turn them over in your mind, seeing if
Setting the space
they’re right for you. If anything feels off or uncomfortable,
4,5. How to play
6. Closing debrief workshop tweak it a little so it fits how your particular mindset,
7. Post-play playspace, and body are today. Read the How to play section
Credits again as a refresher right before you play.

Privacy might be nice. Clear some floor space to move

around, five feet square might be enough but ten by
ten is better.You’ll be moving from one side to another.
Designate one place as the start and another as the place
you’ll end; perhaps end in front of a door or window.

This game has a soundscape, 13 minutes long. Feel free to

listen to it beforehand, or leave it as a gift unopened until
your play of the game begins, whichever feels better.You’ll
need to hear the soundtrack at a comfortable volume, so
set that up adjacent to your play space. The link to the
soundscape is at the end of the Setting the space section.

You’ll need to make up and gather a few things. Some

relate to the person your character is becoming and some
relate to who they’ve been.

Your memories of the afterlife you’ve just departed are fading quickly. Without too much
thought, choose 2 colours that were predominant in the place your character has just left.
You can’t remember what the colours were: perhaps leaves, houses, the sky? You’re not sure.

Make up 3 different sense-memories that your character retains, at least for now, from
their recent afterlife. Already you don’t remember who or what you were except for
the 3 memories around these specific sensations. Make them from your character’s
perspective, using these prompts:
• A sudden change of temperature.
• Something coming toward you, perhaps something large or very close to your face.
• Holding something small and important in one hand.

Gather 4 objects to play with, whose relevance will appear during play:
• Something big to wrap around or drape over yourself (like a towel, blanket, or sheet)
• Something to wave that trails after your movement (like a ribbon or long strip of cloth)
• Something to throw (like a ball, handful of confetti, balloon, slipper)
• Something large which holds its form and is light enough to lift. (like a box, plastic bowl,
watering can, pillow, chair)
2
 Opening movement workshop
Dancing means moving in a way which feels good. From
an artistic perspective, most movement can be designated as
dancing, and so this can be considered a dance game. But
how to dance? The beat and melody offer structure, and you
can do with that structure what you like. Twist around and
only accidentally hit the beat? Dance in heavy slow motion?
Cycle big facial expressions with a flair hand as you roll
your chair forward? You choose what feels right.

In any case, your body will probably be at its happiest playing this game if you’ve
done some stretching beforehand, so just before you play, warm up like this:

Put on a few slow songs that you like, and start to explore movement.
• Explore slow expansions, and then explore fast retractions.
• Explore rhythmic movement, and then explore movement without rhythm.
• Explore tiny movements, and then explore those same movements made vast.
• Explore circular movement, and then explore forward movement.

Stretching and warming up for the game might take

you about 15 minutes, but feel free to adjust that for Hey: don’t skip the
your particular body. Remember that, though literal and movement workshop.
metaphorical births are often accompanied by pain, this is The game doesn’t work
not a game about experiencing pain in your body. If you do without it.
start to notice some pain, thank your body for the warning
and either modify your movement or leave off playing.

Setting the space

Now that you’ve completed your movement workshop, set the space for the game itself:

Strew your four objects around
the space, placed so that they’re
not touching one another. If the
floor is out of reach, use tables,
chairs, and countertops to bring
the objects within reach.
Select some calm lighting from
the options you have available,
likely making a choice other
than bright overhead light. Think
warm, internal, strange, and low.
Cue up the game’s soundscape,
found here:
https://colleenjohnson.
bandcamp.com/album/entrance-
soundscape
While there, see if you can toss a
few coins to the musician.

Begin the soundscape just before

you start playing the game.
3
 your goals
• Abstain from self-judgement.
• Unattach your body from its actual environment.
• Allow yourself to freely ascribe meaning.
• Feel the details of your body’s movement.
• Discover what happens within your mind.
1 of 2

starting play
Close your eyes or open them as you prefer.

Begin at your starting place and move slowly toward your ending place. But of course birth
isn’t linear; so expect to circle back, and to move through some spaces repeatedly.

Start the game using only the tip of one finger as if the rest of you doesn’t exist yet. Perhaps
crouch on the ground. Gradually include more and more of your body in your movements.

ideas for moving

• From your movement workshop: expansive, retractive, rhythmic, arrhythmic, tiny, vast, circular, forward.
• As echoes of your other movements, perhaps on a different scale.
• As led by interactions with the four objects.
• As led by the music.

ideas for listening to the music

Feel the music’s warmth and its coldness. Let its wandering melodies hold you.
Give one of your limbs to a particular sound for a while. Carry one of the
rhythms down your spine. Climb into the music.

interpreting movement interpreting objects

When you discover yourself making an
interesting shape or pattern with your
body, perhaps allow it to represent a huge
emotion in the life-upcoming. See if you
get a sense of what might someday bring
this emotion.
Each of the four objects represents an
opportunity or complication in the life
you’re about to live. As you encounter and
move with an object, see if you can get
some insights of what it represents in the
life-upcoming.

4
 drifting sense-memories
Let yourself occasionally be reminded of the sense-memories from
that previous existence. See if they subtly change as the music
2 of 2 changes. See if one comes to mind when you encounter an object,
or when your body makes a particular shape.

other minor details which don’t need to be remembered to perhaps emerge

• Discover if the two prominent colors from that previous afterlife appear in your mind, and how.
• Remain open to new unknowns.
• Explore stillness.
• Be curious about which emotions are waiting to spill out onto the floor.
• Let feelings from your life outside the game make an appearance.
• Let emotions carry you for a while.
• Let confusion come, and day-dreamyness, and the darkness, and the light.
• Let the game matter.

accidentally forgetting rules

It’s likely that you’ll remember some rules
clearly and others only vaguely. This is to be
expected, and it helps to create the mental
state of the game.

the ending ritual

After the music’s over, or when an ending point has naturally emerged
from your play, arrive in your ending place. Find a moment of stillness
with yourself in any position, perhaps on the floor.

Put both hands down and say, in your normal speaking voice,
“I am born here.”

When you do, that’s the end of the game.

5
 Closing debrief workshop
You’ve just done a big thing.

In those first after-game moments, perhaps find stillness, perhaps focus on breath.

Then, take a moment to get some water and do whatever else your body needs,
and then return to the game space.

Once you’ve returned:

• Change the lighting, making it brighter.
• Move to the middle of the space you played in, identify it, for example
“this is a living room,” and then thank it.
• Hold or touch each of the objects you played with, identify them for
what they are, for example “this is a slipper, this is a blanket,” and then
thank each of them. Perhaps put them away.
• Stretch out each part of your body, perhaps holding each part in turn,
focusing on the sensations of that body part. As you focus on each,
remember that this is your body and not a character’s. Thank your body.
• Then, say your actual name and claim it as your own, and verbally
reaffirm that this is your body and no one else’s, and that you are a
player of games and not a piece in them.

De-roleing can be a gradual process. Perhaps stopping playing this game

will be a breezy experience for you, and perhaps the emotions will
take a while to fade. Our imaginations are very powerful. Our bodies
store emotion easily. But as with any heartache or fear or elation, the
emotions brought by this game will ebb away, returning you to yourself.

In this moment our goal is to arrive in relaxation. If you’ve

not yet arrived, consider a walk, some socializing, a beloved
show, a shower, or a call with someone who’d like to hear
about this interesting game you’ve just played.

At some point after you feel like your de-roleing is well underway, look at the Post-play section.

6
 How do you feel about the play space now?

How do you feel about the objects you used in the game?

How do you feel about the person who was being born?

Post-play How do you feel about the life that person is about to live?

After playing you’ll return
to your life, holding some of
the memories and feelings
and thoughts generated by
your time with the game.
Perhaps you’ll reflect on your
experiences quietly while
walking, or in conversation, or
via a journal, or via artwork.
Here are some starting points:
What lessons do you want to take from your time as them?
What came up for you during play?
What surprised you about what happened during the game?
What was a movement which you particularly liked?
Of your memories of play, do you have: a narrative? Visualizations?
Sense-moments? Premonition annecdotes? Something else?

What would you like to tell that person if you could talk to them now?

Born Here (Formalities part 3)

by Jackson Tegu
Credits
Soundscape by Colleen Johnson
December 2020
this version April 2021

Playtesters: Kelly McInnes, Jessie Rainbow, Arielle Wortman, and Colleen Johnson.

Special thanks to: Andrea, Taylor, Marina, Huntress, Rivka, Leah, David, Kathy, Jory, Ely,Ymr, Fillea, A*, all the sleeping dance scenes,
Ariel, Matt, Grapes, Jana & Tavia, Tim, Graham El, Jonny B, Daniel, SOS, Nina, Símon, Sean, Leonard, Maria, Erica, & Preston.

My eternally newborn patrons include: Adam the Mender, It’s the little things, A*, Bay, Sandbank Diner, Bryant ‘Dante’ Stone, Camilla,
Caspian Gray, Charlie X, Chris Angelini, Clayton Grey, Her Eminence Corrin Elizabeth, Devon Breithart Bazaar Returner,Vice
Telepath Eric Fattig, Evan Silberman, Fred Lott, Madu, Greg Sanders, Harry Lee, Ian Howard, the James with a song in his heart,
Engulfed in James, Jamie ‘Jamie’ Fristrom, Jason Wodicka, Jay Loomis, Jen Ting, Rainbow the Spectromancer, John geary, John Powell,
Jon Bristow, Jon ‘Van’ Robertson, Jonathan Jung Johansen, J. Walton, Josh Laison, Josh T Jordan, June & Mike Garcia, Kadri Lemon-
Friend, Karen Twelves, Kythryn Hymys, The Fuzziest Kitty, A Second Brief Catapult, Laurel Halbany, Lester Ward, Matthew Klein,
Matthew Sullivan-Barrett, Mai-kun, Max Saltonstall, Nina Joy, Literally Patrick Brannick, Prettyboy Paul and the Barrel Gulch Gang,
Paul K, Phil ‘Wiseacre’ Hanley, Rachel Comicbookeater, Rick Dean, Sean Nittner, Shervyn, Sildoenfein, Stras ‘Consulting Designer’
Acimovic, The Fifth World, Tony Dowlbear,Vanessa Geekgirl, The Wylde Sage of Venn,Vincent Baker, Walter German, The Indisputable
Will, The College of Mythic Cartography, and Admiral Yoshi of the Forever Dodecahedron!

A game first conceived of in the heat of summer finally pulled its way into form in the darkest, longest nights of winter. A marvelous
chance to collaborate with Colleen Johnson (of whom I’ve long been a fan), as we each questioned most of what we cared about,
wrestled our inner demons, and repeatedly gave birth to ourselves until we could exchange a video-chat-high-five and each hit upload.

Check out more of Colleen’s deal down at the colleenjohnson.zone

photographsoflightning.com • patreon.com/jacksontegu 7