Touch Reflection
Last week before our premiere of Touch. Here is a little reflection about the piece, process and where we are at.
It’s been an amazing process in that I have extended myself and learnt/tried new things. I put this piece together by creating duets each with a perspective on the them touch. They have a lot in common, yet are quite different. There is a lot of intensity to the sensation of touch and this has been one of the aims to express and explore this. It’s more than a feeling in a way. It’s not an emotion, but it emotes. It is an awareness that is extremely close and personal. So there have been many risks taken in exploring the them and for the trust from everyone involved I am extremely thankful.
The piece itself is always hard to gauge beforehand. It has come together well. I had a vision of where I wanted to go with it, yet it was very disperse. Threading it all together has helped a lot to create a focus and give it even more intensity. The balance is about right. Sometimes I wonder whether there is enough space and time for each idea, but this is often the choreographic conundrum. What to leave in and what to let go of. But any good piece needs different levels so even just using the best ideas can be too much if there is nothing to balance them.
I started off trying to link and connect each piece so one flowed into another. And I quickly realised that this didn’t work. The numbers are too intense and as I watch them, afterwards I need the moment to breathe and let it sink in. This happens in the piece itself and also afterwards. It’s a journey that is emotionally intense and need some time to settle afterwards. I’m very happy with the clarity of ideas, some come out stronger than others. The focus is there. The sensation can always be more, but it is at a great level already (still a couple of runs to go).
I also think quite a bit about how far I and we (LightArtDance) as a group have come. This is the 5th piece that we have done and each time my feeling is we go further and expand what is possible with the group. The choreography is challenging for them yet makable. Their performance is intense with each dancer having their own personality. I must say in working indirectly with Authentic Movement ideas, a lot has come out of the whole process that has been real.
For me as a choreographer I can see my progress and development. I started out back in the day where a 10 min piece with 2 min numbers was a challenge to fill. What movements did I want to put in, how could I express the ideas that I had clearly. These days it seems to be the opposite. The 6 min piece of music is not enough to explore a small portion in detail. I’m left with a feeling of wanting more. In the whole evening I am holding myself back to limit it to 1h (which is anyway about as much as can be taken in by an audience) and in this 1h there are generally too many ideas to fit in/ that are explored. It’s a continual process and I learn from each iteration.
I’m also happy with the risks that I have taken. The theme itself is a risk and could have gone anywhere (touch being very personal). Also the process of working with the material I have (dancers, stage ideas, set). A lot of the time I came into the studio with an open theme and exploration. Spontaneously there and awake to what the process of creating movement with the dancers brings and where the feeling of the moment is going. Construction is fine and I do it a lot, but there are times where allowing a piece to develop takes it somewhere previously unknown. This has been something new to do this kind of thing on such a scale. This time only on occasion have I mapped out the music beforehand. It seems underprepared not to do this, but it also allows an idea to take the time it needs and for me to react to and be inspired and present in the moment. There was a thought about creativity that I read and it went along the lines of intuition only has a chance when we allow our minds to wander and in being open and “underprepared” the space is there for this to happen.
Well this is where we/I am at!