Passing the Time process continued
To continue, I have pictures in my mind / sources from the internet, scrapbook, ideas and associations of feelings, moments. I also have videos of improvisation to the themes, pictures and feelings that represent authentic movement from me.
Now I prepare the music/analyse it. It’s quite simply listening to music/soundscape, identifying any orientation points and counting the phrases and noting the timecode. I note anything that stands out to identify the phrase, a description of its feeling, which instruments are there, lyrics to the text. This I notate on the left next to the timecode. In a second column I add my thoughts, movement ideas and if there is a combination that comes to mind, choreographic phrases. The choreographic phrases come from both watching my improvisation videos and fantasy as inspiration. It creating a form - a thought process. Impulses from improvisation (feeling) give it a basis, but I find that they are not enough alone to be clear in expressing the idea. This is my process of combining the two - form and feeling.
I end up with each phrase of music having a connected idea behind it. Depth in pictures, feelings, thoughts connected to movement. As the music develops and phrases of movement develop, the idea is expressed. The path/story to the whole piece is always in mind and it is finding a flow in the content to the ideas to express them within the musical number. Here I can add in repeats/adjust the sound scape as necessary (though mostly it fits together!).
The process of notation and visualisation/thought out movement is a large step on the way back into the studio. It is forming a vision of what I am creating with details. In the studio is the process of bringing this vision into reality, trying the movements out.
Through experience I know approximately what works. There are always adjustments and surprises. As I physically move, I realise that a section is way too quick or too slow, moments come and go, there may be need for more rhythm or more pause. The sensation and realisation comes from actually trying out the movement physically. It’s a discovery process, creating an experiene.
If I am dancing myself, I video it again and analyse. If I am not dancing myself then I can adjust and let the movement be interpreted adding dynamic range to increase the clarity.
Notes to PTT choreography. To match with a rehearsal video coming out in a few days…
“Passing the Time” scrapbook
So in filling out the ideas, I turned to some images online. Here is a small snippet of the scrapbook I made. Some inspiration. The pictures evoke feelings mainly. When I look at them, where do my thoughts go? How does my fantasy connect with them?
I use them as imagery to get both different perspectives and closer to the theme. What kind of movement would I associate with these pictures?
Flying, escaping, ticking, dissolving, being in a moment, sucked away with time, stillness and serenity, at peace, freedom in nature, journaling, delicacy, togetherness, support
Then it is back into the studio to work with these feelings. I improvise to them, take videos of the improvisation and see how the imagery comes to life in movement.
“Passing the time” creation
At the moment I am working on a duet for the Dance Nexus Festival at the end of August. It’s been an interesting process so far. I started with a piece of music that inspired me. It was to be the basis for the piece. Then the marketing for the festival required a title. So I was pushed to name the piece without having its details fully established. To do this, I went into the feeling of what I want to express and came up with “Passing the Time”. The naming of the piece suddenly opened up a whole new part to the creation as the feeling of the first piece of music was only partly encapsulated the title.
What do I mean by “passing the time”?
In my head it’s that moment of nothing. The moment between action. The moment where one may have to wait or have nothing to do.
what is this moment?
how does it feel?
and what happens then?
My personal experience says its feeling can be on a wide spectrum. Feelings I came up with:
daunting - anxiety producing
an empty void
frustration, boredom or restlessness
energy building in anticipation of what is to come.
curiosity and play
relaxation
soothe and regenerate
These are the themes that I came up with. And so, to produce and express them in a duet.
My next step was to search for a soundscape to fit the theme and represent its feeling. Through artists I previously had in mind, I came across some music pieces that inspire me. To create an atmosphere and integrate these pieces I’ve been experimenting with sound effects. My first association with time is a ticking clock. It gives that feeling of how time passes - a measurable definition.
The inverse also came to mind - how time stretches. It occurred to me especially in these moments of waiting, some moments can take forever. Others are so fleeting that I never get have the chance to be present or find the feeling I want.
Adding to the musical landscape I have been scrapbooking. It's an immersion process and source of inspiration to look for as many different ideas on the theme as I can find. New perspectives that I haven't thought of, pictures, images, symbols and quotes. The internet is such a wonderful rich place to search right on your fingertips.
Things I have found out / remembered by exploring the idea so far:
It’s amazing how the feeling of time changes. I created a music track which listening to seemed quite harmonious and clear. Get up and move to it and suddenly it feels different.
My aim is to establish a deep connection with the feeling expressed. For example: the pauses and breath needed felt missing as the visual stimulus came into play. A ticking clock when you listen to it is clear after a short while. Yet the nuances of how this feels, expressed and transmitted to a viewer take a lot longer to pass on. Inversely, sections that musically felt ok, suddenly became repetitious and drawn out. Seeing someone move to them, gives a whole other feeling. In the end, experimentation and physical implementation is so important to find how long an idea needs to express itself in full. It all comes down to intuition.
Miss the clarity and you can get a little lost.
As I started working on the idea, I went into the studio and improvised to the music. Sure the music, being an extension of the idea, had the right influence. Yet the ideas expressed in movement lacked clarity. Feeling yes, form no! So back to the drawing board I went to find the form. I find form often comes from a head space. It is thought out and constructed. It gives the ideas clarity, yet is empty without feeling. So what I am searching for is the right mix of form and feeling. To find that sweet spot where both support each other to express the idea together.
This is how far I have come… On with the creative process!
Continued on the next page
Populismus - using dance as a means to express the subject Populism.
As I reflect on the message behind my creation two things stand out. Both were important as I created the piece and both have a very powerful effect.
The first is the body language of populists. It is something that I really wanted to explore and connect with. A lot is said and analysed in regards populists rhetoric. Their words and the simplicity of their slogans as well as their sense of performance and show. The less highlighted yet equally important part, is the power of their physical gestures and the movement they use. These are the bodily symbols of their identity - symbolism, simple and clear. These gestures, captured in photos and icons, send pictures (and now videos in this TikTok age) around the world. They are used to connect with their followers and give physical meaning to their words.
As I started working on the piece, I collected pictures of populists making speeches and photos of them with crowds, looking at their mimicry. No matter what the cause, there are so many similarities in body language in both left and right wing politicians, as well as diverse political movement like Black Lives Matter or Fridays for Future.
Football Fans
BLM
Trump
Sanders
Milei
Greta
My belief is it comes back to the emotionality that is connected to physical posture and its power. I was at a football game two weeks ago and there again you see the same gestures among fans, the connection combined with chanting and attachment that all heighten the emotion!
How do you put these gestures into a dance piece? You use them and bring them to life.
The second thing that stood out: is how populism and its gestures creep up on us.
Context really matters. A gesture in its first instance can be fun, considered an “in joke”. Repeat the gesture often enough and it becomes a habit. The habit can quickly become a part of an identity, a rallying call that then gets assigned a much larger meaning.
Take the moment of a fist pump. It may be a movement you do to express joy at your football team winning. Something that happens regularly. Stand the same fans in front of an opposing group, the same movement becomes a show of strength at a rally. It is also used as a symbol of defiance in standing your ground or a symbol of anger at injustice and fight. The same effect can be seen at political rallies.
A moving example of body language and this effect is a simple march. In being together it can show a group in harmony. In a parade it shows pride and joy. Give it a darker colour and dynamic and it becomes a force to be reckoned with. Create an external threat and it is force of protection. In extreme conformity, one misstep in a march may be the end.
All these movements and gestures feed on our love of familiarity, simplicity and the connection that is created as we do them together.
To the context, the big question is: Who really has control over a movements narrative?
11 words to Populism - Elfchen
Doing a little creative exercise. Eleven words to Populism.
Start with one word, then a second line with 2, third with 3 and fourth with 4. Write populism at the end (11 words)!
Ease
Powerful force
Changes the world
Devours who we are
Populism
or
Verlockend
Welt verändern
Schaffen es gemeinsam
Ein Teil meiner Identität
Populismus
Leave yours in the comments!
Scrapbook - creative process thoughts
A lot of my ideas come from reading. There is so much information out there that is helpful for growth. Just 10 mins a day reading regularly gives me ideas that I can integrate and evaluate. Some fit, some don’t but the effort is worth the time! I especially find inspiration from books with ideas that are sustaining. Anything where I can answer positively to the question: will this information seem important in a few years? If the answer is yes then…
So a small idea, that of course is nothing new but fits where I am at right now: I am doing the preparation for my next project on Populism (more to come as it develops). There are many steps that I am taking here. The idea of what I want to create is pretty concrete. After putting in much conceptual work, I am in a creation phase with the ideas before I get into the studio. It’s a place where it is less about thinking, and more about creating. So by creating, I mean brainstorming all the possibilities on many levels within the framework ie. what are all the variations of the idea, different ways to express it or mix up its elements. What I’ve found in this part of creation, inspired by Adam Grants research, is quantity is key. Some variations I will like, some will be rejected, some will fit, some will be squeezed out. The more there is to choose from, the wider and further I can go.
One thing that helps with generating quantity is something we all did in school. The scrapbook. And these days a digital one! It’s simple really. Not just collecting and writing down thoughts, but a collage scrapbook of interesting pictures, books, videos, ideas, blog posts, dates, anything that has to do with the theme. Collecting them and collating them.
An example: yesterday I found plays by Aristophanes about demagogues with text that inspired me. I was reading through the acharnians and the knights. His text uses Mockery, blasphemy, parody and scatological in his plays about populists. How could I engage with this type of expression in my work? Does it fit? Maybe… The point being here is a new angle that I can use. Perhaps a wide stretch to what I am doing, but also another possibility.
Another example: I have been collecting pictures of Populists and demagogues through history. Their physical expression, poses, gestures, images that we all know, a physical characterisation. Yes, their posture is in my head, but having an example in front of me means I need less imagination (then energy and effort) to reproduce them. I also can use the image as a point of reference to start from to interpret in movement.
A point of observation: in general I think there isn’t too much new to create, there are more new perspectives on the old. This is where I am angling at right now. By using assemblage to create a fresh perspective on something that is present and known. I am connecting the pieces in a different way and drawing on ideas from different areas to present a new perspective.
Präsenz dance creation reflection
Well. It’s been a wonderful journey. So much has happened and I have grown so much in the idea. I started out wanting to explore what presence is and it diverted along many paths, coming around in different directions as I explored and made the piece.
It started as a theme a year ago. Added purpose. Many ideas came and went. Peter Brooks books and also Jacques Lecoqs’ takes were inspiring, as was the whole idea of spontaneous art - Happenings. - things occurring live in the moment. My trip to New York shined some light. I went to a jazz club and listened to a great concert. But it was what happened after the concert that left the biggest impression. In this basement club with room for maybe 100 people max, the musicians did a jam session. The atmosphere was electric, and so in tune, musicians coming and going, improvising, really there in the moment, in tune. It fascinated me. The way that they responded to each other and kept everything going with such quality.
So presence wasn’t just me here in the moment filling the room with my energy, but the response I give to the world around me. Step in Giles Deluxe and his philosophy “Stay in motion, despise conformity, embraces difference, create your own values and identity, make connections, experiment, seek something new.” It all fit so well together to happenings and creating in the moment.
The one thing that I hung onto in conceptualising the project was the need for a goal. A need to create something that has quality, rather than frivolity. And that is what I did. All creation needs a framework, when it is completely free it is just for play and this has a value in itself. In my art, I am creating for a goal to present and connect to others. A completely open result in my opinion would be less directed and of lower quality due to what one can do through repetition reflection and refinement.
The basis for all the choreography and the music in the piece was responding in the moment. The response exercise I posted gave much of the movement. It was even said that most the improvisation looked choreographed. My thought is that is what happens when you have a specific purpose that is not a dream away but ready, aware and receptive - present.
In retrospect this can also be confusing to the audience. I think it is something where it you are not too sure what to make of it. It is at a level where it looks set, but is it? There is a harmony in the moment, connections between the dancers and their movement, yet it is also not directed in a clear direct refined way. The advantage is it grows in the moment allowing for the suspense that live creation has. Something to think about for the next pieces if I choose to go this way.
Writing the concept for funding helped in clearing exactly what I wanted to do with the theme. Of course budgets limited some aspects of the realisation, though I wouldn’t say that much ended up different.
Once I had a clear plan of combining the body and different elements as a major aspect of the theme, the rest fell into place. It was clear what I wanted to do and then it was only working out the details. I think there was much that could have changed, but at the same time staying true to the concept was in itself a task and in the end it all worked well.
There were many firsts for me. Of course in the ideas. I set myself a challenge to work with live music and musicians. I am grateful for the collaboration with Roland and Arne. They were the right two people to have as part of the project. Improvisational wizards, yet able to keep things in enough order for the dancers to dance to. The best of both worlds. As a first experience for me in my creations it worked really well. I now have an experience from which in the future as reference to work from. It’s not that I don’t/didn’t know what to do. It’s about having the confidence, clarity and decisiveness to get quicker to results and know what I want. Also how to express it to them. This experience was very valuable. The energy their music brought to the piece was amazing, and they were so flexible and easy to work with. I’d love more rehearsals to be able to realise more depth and detail, still I was very satisfied with the results. The desire is there to take everything further and I hope to do so when the next opportunity presents itself.
In general the piece for me was about trying out new things and ways of working, connecting with different types of art whether it be musicians or using text in a crossover form. In many ways I have planted seeds that will grow as I make my next pieces. This part of the experience and personal growth has been awesome.
I think another thing I learned is that there is so many different ways to go. So much variety and so many ideas where I really only just scratched the surface of what they could be. Something interesting was that I felt quite sad after the performances finished, struggling to let go of the piece. In searching for answers as to why, it struck me that a lot of the ideas felt like they were just beginning to grow. There is a huge thirst in me to take it all further and develop each part in much more depth and detail. This is something that may happen if the chance presents itself to repeat the project. Let’s see.
Most thankful I am for all the support I received. In some ways this felt like my idea that I was directing. And it was. Though in comparison to other projects this was quite one sided in the conceptualisation. I knew what I wanted to do and implemented it, drawing in the people, the funding, the resources to be a part of it and make it happen.
Sometimes I am inspired by the people and bring their ideas onto stage. This time the artistic vision was was more or less me. Within the framework I integrated the inspiration of others. Much of the movement was created in collaboration with the dancers through improvisational tasks that brought out authentic movement. It all fit within the set framework that I gave. The overarching ideas were mine, the implementation a collaboration.
And here I am, about to embark on a new project that is kind of out of my comfort zone again. And nice so. I love it! Pushing my own edge. Gaining on the experience gained. Do the things that scare you! This next one does… I will put in a lot of effort to realise it and that is exciting. I love things where I don’t really know how they are going to work out, where there are risks involved and where I am challenged to expand and grow. It’s been that way with presence and the new project will be even more so. New areas and themes, ways of expressing ideas. I am challenged to use my knowledge and skills and to build on them. I am challenged to try, fail and reassess. I am challenged to expose myself to things that I don’t know or am not necessarily very good at yet. And this I love. Growth is such an integral part of being alive.
Katharina Bopp, Anna Menzel, Grit Schade and Janin Sameith - Photo R. Fischenick