Paper Tigers background ideas
Paper Tigers
The concept for my latest piece revolves around the Chinese term: Paper Tigers. The theme resonates with my current experiences of the world around me, creating my desire to delve into this psychological phenomenon, which is notably prevalent today.
“Paper Tigers” examines immature methods of interaction, where individuals are consistently stuck in survival mode, dominated by the mindset of "me, here, now." Think an animal out in the wild, its instincts to survive. It's about peoples inherent quest for control to provide the perceived illusion of safety.
In seeking control, life becomes a zero-sum game: I win, you lose. This scenario pits the aggressor against the victim, embodying the mentality of eat or be eaten, win at all costs. As societal beings, we often resort to projection, manipulation, and deception to achieve this. These are the darker aspects of our primal instincts.
Being in a continuous survival mode often stems from past wounds and trauma. Through this self-examination the piece addresses the emptiness within oneself, a void of connection.
As humans, we have evolved the capacity to be prosocial, to expand our thinking for the greater good of the community and beyond. Fundamentally, survival mode lacks the ability to give the essential care we naturally extend to our tribe—the "family" or community with which we identify.
To establish connection, there's an unending search among individuals in survival mode for external sources of love. There is a general misunderstanding that this love is something they can only give themselves. When stuck in survival mode, genuine connection seems unattainable.
It's a scenario of hunting or being hunted, using different tactics to survive. The piece explores these darker sides of human interaction and their complexities.
Paper Tigers
My next project will be called Paper Tigers. It’s from the Chinese phrase 纸老虎 (zhǐlǎohǔ). It refers to something or someone that appears powerful or threatening but is actually weak or ineffectual (Wikipedia).
It’s an interesting theme - scary but made of paper. Who do you know who is a paper tiger?
Today I had a rehearsal with Verena on a duet. There is a short excerpt in the video below. It’s very raw and unworked. A beginning…
The Noticing Exercise
Recently I have been experimenting with a new exercise. It inspired from the field of Authentic Relating, specifically the Noticing Game.
The exercise is best done in pairs, although it can be done alone.
Two roles: One person moves, the other witnesses.
- Close your eyes and take a minute to come into your body, breathe and be present to the sensations in the moment
- Begin to move (eyes open or closed)
- As you move, vocalise what you are noticing, using the phrase “I notice…”
- As a guide speak every 15-20 seconds or when an impulse comes to say something
- The things that you notice can be on different levels:
- Physical: the body, the room, the light, the sounds etc.
- Mental: thoughts going through your mind, where your attention is
- Emotional: The feelings and sensations that come up as you move
- Relational: The energy and space between you and other things/people
As a guide let the exercise run for between 5 and 10 minutes to start.
After the time is up, exchange about your experience, with the witness starting by expressing what they heard/saw and how they personally felt they heard/saw it.
Then swap roles.
I have had some really profound insights with this exercise both, doing it myself and watching and listening to the reflection of others' experiences. I think it is quite revealing that some people find it very challenging and others find it transformative. There is something very connective, vulnerable magical about the practice that is alive in the present moment.
An attempt to define dance
What is dance?
It’s a question that I often get asked in my classes and here is my attempt to answer it! I find it amazing that for someone who has been dancing for 35 years, including professionally, I struggle to give a clear answer to this question!
Take away the labels that people can identify - ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, ballroom - and what remains? Where is the line between movement, acting, performance and dance? They all use the physical body, connect yet are different.
So how can we define dance?
What I do know…
Dance is a physically expressive art form. I know when I am dancing, and when I see it. It can be formal or spontaneous planned or improvised. Concrete or abstract. To music/rhythm or in silence. I see people in a flow or movement. Grace, flow, movement in the moment.
These elements are a part of dance yet they are in themselves not definitive or all necessary.
So as an experiment to create a dance, I set myself the task to do the thing I am doing but as a dance and analyse what happens?
In turning an everyday task into a dance I notice that:
- I use my body
- I become consciously aware of the movement
- Through this awareness I am also in touch with the physical feeling
- The movement becomes defined and purposeful - an intention, yet often abstract. Whether I get the task done is less important than it is expressed in movement
- It does still express an intention
- There is a combination of movements (it continues) with phrasing to it
- Though defined the movement becomes partially abstract in its form and timing.
In needing further impulses, I found out a text describing dance, “Feeling and Form” by Suzanne Langer from 1953. She has a wonderful view of what defines dance, as she analyses all the different art forms. Quoting Laban and other dance philosophers, she links 4 ideas - form, feeling, the real and the virtual
It’s a mouthful, but here is my summary:
Dance is the physical manifestation of virtual emotions that come from a concrete intention, expressed through the initiation of symbolic gestures in movement.
- the physical (in our case) body - it is “real” as it is needed to dance. It creates a visual form.
- an intention - is also “real”. It can be anything: just to move, to play a part, to express an idea or feeling, to tell a story, or to connect with the music or emotion, but it is clear.
- emotion - is “virtual”, the feeling created in the moment. It is considered virtual because it is not the actual experience of the moment. It is a moment remembered, brought into the present.
- the movement - is also “virtual” as in it is representative or simulated - symbolic gestures. It is not normally the actual action, or only the actual action. It ranges from concrete to abstract, giving form.
An example might be:
Harvesting a field - clear intention, using the body, to convey the message I would simulate the movement (eg. cutting or digging, etc) moving on a scale from concrete to abstract, with the feeling of effort, strain, joy, power, exhilaration, etc.
A wounded soul - the intention to show the pain, the suffering. Using the body with closed introverted movements that simulate the movement of a person in such a state, physical tension of the “pain” which is not necessarily be true to express the feeling.
How does this description of dance help?
In being aware of these four areas, it allows me to create, teach and express through dance and understand what is missing or needs strengthening. It helps me to integrate the dance and make it more wholistic. Less conceptually abstract and more real!
As with any model, there must always be an answer to all four areas.
Anyone have other suggestions or thoughts?
Dependence - New Concept
The next theme that I am going to create a dance project on is: “Dependence”.
It's personal in the way that I think affects everyone.
Text to the theme:
Dependencies - our dirty little secrets. Harmless curiosities, essential needs to self-destructive addiction. Active consumption, like doom scrolling social media, crypto gambling, binge-watching Netflix, sugar, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, all keep us occupied. The craving for pleasure - exciting, omnipresent and easily accessible dopamine hits that draw us in.
Much like drug addicts, we are constantly distracted – whether through thoughts of the activities, engaging in them, or planning our next "hit." For a moment of happiness we engage, fully aware of their effects. Yet we struggle with our dependencies and cannot escape their influence.
In earlier generations, they were harder to access. Modern life has made them cheap and easily accessible. We have sources like our smartphones in our pockets all day long. The first thing we reach for in the morning and the last thing we use at night. We live on a hyperactive plateau, afraid of falling – going full throttle until we crash. Driven by this feeling, we become dependent – the new normal, socially accepted.
What are we running from? And why is it so hard for us to break the cycle?
The dance project is an exploration of our dependencies:
what forms and manifestations exist
how they arise and what function they serve
the damage they cause and the measures we take to satisfy them
Definition:
Dependencies: compulsive physical or psychological reliance on certain substances, behaviors or habits (shopping addiction, gambling addiction, pathological stealing etc.) - Source: (21.09.2024) DWDS. www.dwds.de/wb/Abhängigkeit
The boundaries between enjoyment—such as having an occasional glass of wine in the evening, a piece of chocolate now and then or a shopping experience every few weeks—abuse, habituation and dependency are fluid. [Münchner Merkur, 19.10.2018]
“The reason we’re all so miserable may be because we’re working so hard to avoid being miserable.” Anna Lembke
To get a bit of context about my dependencies, I asked myself the following questions:
- List 5 things that are really uncomfortable to you?
- What causes anxiety in your life?
- What do you do to cope with stress or when you feel overwhelmed?
- Adaptive strategies
- Maladaptive strategies
- What are your dopamine spiking activities? 1-10 how much self control over these do you have?
My answers (popout)
I think my dependencies come from avoidance and escapism. Running away from uncomfortable feelings or problems that I don’t want to feel or deal with. My escape is into social media, news, etc. that just makes my anxiety worse. Anxiety, a feeling that I will be overwhelmed. Do this often enough and patterns and habits form.
Most recently I have been avoiding calm too, trying to keep a high energy level with noise. Dependent on a feeling of needing to be busy (see the post on slowing down) - I turn to social media in my “free time” and breaks. With added awareness, I see how much this affects my being, not allowing myself a moment to breathe and find calm. It was/is destructive and until recently I had little control over it. I did a 4-week social media fast and now every time I look at social media I get a repulsion feeling. Interesting.
Finding calm is so important. It’s a place where I am my best self. A place where I am available to give all my energy and presence to my life and my commitments. So why do I avoid it?!? A very good question to think further about.
As a side note: a couple of interesting ways to gage my stress levels if found are:
- how well can I currently deal with adversity
- how much (as an introvert) do I feel like being socially active
They are interesting because it takes capacity and flexibility to engage in both.
What are your dependencies?
When do they arise?
Slow down
“Just slow down”
As a follow up to the post on Consistency, I’m inspired by the thought of taking things slowly. It’s something that we’re always told to do, but so often need to be reminded of. It’s so easy just to go along with the fast pace of life’s activity. But does it have to be that way?
For some reason I associate constancy with activity and fast pace and I am struggling to work out why? Mental note: doing does not have to mean fast!
There are even whole fables written about this: The tortoise and the hare!!
I believe that to do good work you need to be deliberately slow. Do it with breath. Good work can and often must take time. Consistent in effort and attention, but take time.
The side effect of slowing down is that it allows the possibility to reach a place of calm. Slowing down is the process of being mindful and fully present. I can let my thoughts flow slowly rather than forcing them.
The curious thing is that it is also such a productive place. A place where I can give my best and anything feels possible.
Keep asking myself: “Can I do this any slower?”
Consistency
It's a theme for me at the moment and I’m pleased at how far I have come.
“Professionals are consistent. Professionals simply show up. Especially when they don’t feel like it.”
Inspired by Seths blog: https://seths.blog/2024/09/professionals-are-consistent/
In my life, consistency is about applying myself. It’s the routine that pays off over a long time. It’s getting things done. I leave behind instant gratification and simplicity and put time and effort in to be creative even when I don’t feel like it. Doing the work. Doing something!
Realising that anything is better than nothing has moved me forward. It's amazing how much I produce when I am consistent. How many details come when I am allow them to flow. How much depth in my work that is achieved through applying myself. It could be a sketch or a draft idea. Something that perhaps no one wants to see. Even this post. Good! It’s not about approval. It’s the act of exercising the muscle, the muscle of creation. And through dedication raking up small wins.
The small wins are not dependent or a judgment on quality. The work is also not about being seen. I can decide whether to share the work later. In this safe space of mine, it’s ok to just play. To create whatever I want. It’s a change in mindset from where I have been.
Whether someone like’s my work or not here is unimportant. This place of creation is not about seeking approval. That is an insecure obsession that I always covertly let myself be defined by. And in doing so, trying through others, to fulfil my need for that dopamine hit of being seen. Here, it’s about doing it for me for myself. I enjoy the satisfaction I experience, when I have applied myself. And share with others when I am happy with what I have done.
I find myself getting there lately. I improved my consistency with doing the things I love to do. There was resistance around this for a long time due to the fear. Resistance to start. Avoidance of being judged, reluctance to be vulnerable, perfectionism holding me back. Waiting for a push, waiting for things to line up, only if the “right” opportunity was there, then I would move. Procrastination pure.
Now I am just go. Not waiting for others, or myself to be in the “perfect” place. Now it’s about setting a timer and writing about themes I am working on or getting out a piece of music that inspires me and dreaming up ideas. It’s moving, physically moving, feeling the emotion of the idea. In my mind I am able to fail and in doing so give myself the chance to succeed. But success I now define as simply applying myself, so all I have to do is show up! Turn on the camera and improvise. Find a theme, analyse the music and set a combination. Any combination. Get something out there. Amazing, once it’s started, my mind won’t let it go.My analytical brain is so strong, reorganising or rearranging just comes naturally. It works on ideas even while I am asleep.
In being consistent I have added to my experience. The chance to form my own path of how I do things and what works for me. Through experimentation and repetition I have built up great structures that I am testing and developing further.
A choreographer has to choreograph! A dancer has to dance! A teacher has to teach!
What’s holding you back?