Jerwood Bank 2007

Today we introduced the idea of using text as a form of code. Similar to the songs, the text can give an external structure to movement, and produces an unexpected drive.

We gave them a piece of Beckett to work with:

‘Enough. Quicker. Quick. See how all in keeping with the chair. Minimally less. No more.’

For this exploration we asked them to use a small amount of their movement material which they had been working on so far. They could apply their own rules to the words, looking at, for example, the punctuation, double letters, syllables, hard or soft sounding words, vowels, and deciding what should happen to the material when these occured in the text.

A text gives more flexibility than a song score: The words can produce the imagery to create the movement; there are infinite ways of making a code; and once the words and movement are put together the quality of the material can change by chosing how say the words in your head.

One or two of the dancers are already using text in their ‘portrait’. We’re hoping that this experiment opens up more avenues of exploration.

A curious week spanning from stresses to silliness…….building up to our first sharing and becoming increasingly precious about material to be shown. Strange how no amount of performance experience seems to take the edge off exposure, especially when there is such personal attachment. But there’s the thing…….there is no expectation other than what we put on ourselves. My moment of realisation post sharing is that silliness and disattachment often prove to be more creatively productive than preciousness – and more fun.

It is overwhelmingly liberating to me to suddenly feel less serious, and I don’t know why it’s taken me this long……..

Everyone has been working pretty much in isolation for over 2 weeks. It’s hard to show your work in progress for the first time and the first feedback session was inevitably difficult.

Each person had quite alot of material to show but, after putting it under the micoscope, it’s now clear that many of the ideas and the resulting movement needs to be challenged and pushed on to another level.

Today we asked them to look at 2 things which were explored through simple improvisations:

1. Detatch the physical movement from the idea or image it originated from
E.g. If the original thought was ‘pushing a ball under water’, the physical exploration would be pushing with resistence and a possible release.

This then, could lead to a freer movement exploration, less tied down by imagery which may now be too restricting.

We then asked if they could improvise, putting the detatched, physical idea into the lower body to encourage a move away from the upper body being the primary vehicle of expression.

2. Identify the physical traits of the material you have, and find the opposite aspect
No character is one dimentional. You can use an opposite to accent or highlight what you want to be seen….

To help with this we asked them to work in pairs. A watches B. A tells B the main physical traits of the material in 2 words. They then find an opposite or contrast. B then improvises with the new physical thought.

Having the showing today was useful.  It now feels like the beginning again. So many times I have felt like I have come back to the beginning.  It was good to really try and do the material to it’s full potential rather then in the corner farting about not really doing it. 

It seems that part of this process is trying to become clearer in your idea/material/internal world, to refine and find it’s essence but at the same time to expand and extend and break the patterns which you’ve set up. 

 I feel the time slipping away, and it seems like we’ve just started. 

Susanna’s clip from the 29th August.
Duration: 33 seconds

Jennifer-Lynn’s clip from the 29th August.
Duration: 34 seconds

Rohanna’s clip from the 29th August.
Duration: 39 seconds

Jia-Yu’s clip from the 29th August.
Duration: 38 seconds