Tanz mit mir!
How to describe a project without giving too much away? Well it’s always a great question!
Tanz mit mir is an interactive dance project/performance. What does this mean?
I’ve always loved the idea of breaking down the barriers between performers and the audience and this is what I am doing here. It’s taking the performance viewing experience to a new place. In my pieces I try to create an atmosphere which engages the senses. In dance it is through feeling conveyed in movement and its perception by the audience. There is also the atmosphere created in the setting or site where the dance is performed. This itself is not unusual. So the question is how to use these ideas to take it further, more intensive and a little different?
The genre of immersive theatre really interests me. I have been to a few performances and found the experience amazing (If anyone is in London, go see Punchdrunk as they take the genre to a whole new level). It is the idea that a performance happens all around the viewer. The viewer is free to be in the space and the action happens all around them. Each member of the audience has a unique perspective and is immersed - closer to a real life view than a 3 wall theatre. This perspective really heightens the senses as one is surrounded by the action. It does create a little bit of insecurity, but at the same time opens the possibilities of what can happen. Immersive theatre is impressive, yet it still has the audience as a silent participant. The action can be extended to involve the audience, but it in itself it doesn’t take it to the point where one wants to dance.
To get the audience to dance, I needed to create openings and offerings of participation as part performance. In any performance there is a relationship between audience and performers. It is usually that the performers express and audience listens. Yes ,there is an energetic component that flows back and forward (most obvious when the audience applauds) yet convention has it as a very much one-sided relationship. So to develop this relationship and have the audience more involved, without giving them a specific task is a good challenge. In exploring this idea, my realisation is a direct connection is needed, yet to not be forceful, room that each person can be themselves. It is taking part without being the main actor. For dance, this means moving in the room without having the pressure of having to fulfil a role or get anything right. Being able to go as far as I want/can without being overwhelmed. It is also allowing oneself to be guided or lead, still with the space to feel free. Someone there to “hold my hand” and support me in a place of the unknown. A delicate balance! So how do I create this experience while also connecting with dance, what makes it so wonderful and how I can feel free in a spontaneous unknown moment?
Mary Whitehouse the dance therapist pioneer used the phrase: Birds fly, fish swim and humans move. Dance is the extension of movement with feeling. It has many purposes but the main one being self expression. If it is stylised, formed or left free, this inner need to move is always there. Just like a mind wanders when left to itself, give the body time and space and it will become restless. So here is the idea is to connect to ones body through dance. That means not only being surrounded (immersed) in dance but also being physically connected to the event.
Dance being a physical form of expression the next question is how to do this only using our bodies (without words)?
A lot of human connection comes from eye contact, mirroring. Yes we use our language skills, but it is the nonverbal communication that really connects us to each other. Physical presence. You can see this in the digital world of today, the way that text messages communicate but to have a real connection you need to meet in person. And these social skills and physical engagement, even to the point of physical contact (touch) have such a strong connective element. Also the sharing of common goals (moving together) creates a moment of attachment which when desired is comforting. So it is the connection to people that once established allows for spontaneous exploration.
The movement in the piece has been purposely kept simple. All the interactive parts are easy to follow along. There is nothing right or wrong in what one does. This is to provide a secure basis from which to explore movement. How does this movement feel? There is the possibility to extend and expand, but even still it is only if desired. Let’s say the base is something that I can rely on and if I don’t know what to do, go back to.
Using these tools of connection and movement I think I have stumbled upon an experience that makes “Tanz mit mir!” interesting and unique.
I’ll be very interested to hear peoples experiences from the evening. As we have been rehearsing and trying out the ideas, my feeling is there is a point where I want more. Rather than it being enough to have repeated a step a few times, it awakens a desire inside me to explore further. I can’t stand still for long. There is something in the experience that creates a lust for more!
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!
Choreographic and creative Projects
A little update: I am working on a few new projects that are coming up soon.
The first is a school project workshop week. The challenge was to come up with an idea for Teenagers - something current and cool. So my thought was what has been more in vogue the past years with dance than TikTok videos? Well there is a subject and theme. It’s a fun one and definitely I think there is a lot to it, to uncover and learn. TikToks format is a real rabbit hole of creative ideas and movement. To create a video in the format the question that comes is how do you package in a short (30 sec) dance video from one visual perspective with impact? Simplicity, complexity, movement forms, film tricks, wow effect, music, what are you wanting to express, what is your goal, what is attractive, what works and what doesn’t - for the artist and the audience, and what lasts? “Viral” isn’t automatically sustaining… That’s just a start to my thoughts!
The next project is with my LightArtDance group. “Touch” is the theme that I have been exploring with them. It is intense and sensual. Amazing in it’s power and feeling. There are a lot of thoughts to this subject on my blog already and more will follow. The ideas are starting to come together as is the choreography. Also some stage set ideas. Performances are scheduled for September (Sa. 17. and 24.). Though a lot of the work at the moment is organisational, getting in the studio is like a breath of fresh air… I love how the conceptual ideas start growing and take on a life of their own.
Without getting into specifics, in my process I am trying to work out a balance between having structured ideas where I know exactly what I want to express and experiments where curiosity and spontaneity can take over allowing expression to grows. There is a need for both forms and it is always a balance… control vs freedom, growth vs perfection, clarity vs suggestion. Everything has its place and effect!
I do think that in challenging myself to do things each time I have a project to approach the process differently gives me the chance to grow my skills and discover new ways. I am continually inspired by the creation that comes out of the rehearsal… lots to do but on a good way!
The third Project with performances on Fr. 7. and So. 9. October is something that I am really excited about. I received a grant to do an immersive dance piece. It’s titled “Tanz mit mir!” This is something totally new for me and each step that I take gets me hooked even further. It’s a concept that I had to rewrite 5 times to have it understood. All the effort put in and the obstacles that I have to, will have to overcome is making the experience even more rewarding.
The performance is about experiencing dance interactively, connecting with ones inner-self in movement and celebrating/living our inner need to move. It’s about breaking down, in another way, the lines between audience and dancer. It’s about not just watching a dance being performed, but actually being encouraged and having the space to try out movement. A lot of the excitement comes from the spontaneity and presence. Anything can happen and most likely will! It means people are present in the moment, there in the room, with little chance to escape in thought somewhere else, simply because they have a task to perform.
Also what excites me is having doing the performance in the space, instead of onstage. The piece is be set in 4 rooms in a Schoß (villa) where the audience and dancers are on the same level - in the room together. Each of the spaces performed in are unique and naturally create an atmosphere by themselves. The key is to create and experience that engages the senses. There is still a lot to work out here, but I am very excited (word used 4x in this section!) about the challenge!
LAB Workshop
Over 3 sessions I had a lovely experience doing a workshop with 7 women from LAB (Leben Aktiv Bereichern). It was a dance workshop where I could actively explore ideas and movement with women over 65 years old. We called the workshop “Dancing Away The Corona Blues” referring to the return to group physical activity after the limitations of the past years. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the Corona virus I held the workshops outdoors in a park.
I’ve always been curious as to how to work with this age group most effectively. It’s not the first time I have given a workshop for this age group, yet every time I do I am positively surprised and fulfilled by what I get out of the time spent. There is so much life experience there to tap into. The gift of working with people of this age is that they are open to try things out with everyone moving in their own way. They know their limitations physically, yet there is a willingness to take things as far as they possibly can. We all have the same inner lust and desire to move and dance and the passion in this age group is very present and real. They have a freedom that, however they move, it’s authentic and a gift.
The thoughts behind my ideas in the tasks and exercises were on themes of physical awareness, moving in different (dynamic) ways, expressing oneself and ones emotions and interpersonal connection in movement. The tasks were set and the execution was left free for each participant.
It was surprising and beautiful to see them dance and how they passionately engaged themselves. There was a genuine care and respect there in the group and the way their eyes opened up as they moved and came to themselves in the time was very special. We had 2 hours in each session, and 2 hours of movement even with breaks is a lot especially at that age. But there was no stopping them!
I am very thankful for the experience and am thinking of ways that I can continue to expand this in a choreographic setting.
Imagination
How do you imagine? If you were given a picture or scene where are you?
Though this concept is not new, as I work on creative expression and interpretation from roles I see how important the awareness and ability to use the different types of imagination is.
We have two types of imagination, 1st person and 3rd person.
In the 1st person I am in the scene/place picture. I explore the world that I create and imagine. I feel, sense, even take part in it. This type of imagination has a deep inner connection to the inner self, me in the moment. I am immersed, aware of my inner impulses and find my way by feel. As I use this type of imagination it is emotional and alive. I would describe it as intense and real. Yet it does have some limitations. I have only one, my own perspective on the image. As it is based on a feeling of me in a situation, for example in improvisation, I find I am hardly aware of what I am doing physically except for its feel. Remembering steps or organising space around me is very tricky.
In the 3rd person I am on the edge looking in. I have a great view of what is going on. I can sense and transpose myself into the scene, but the emotional feeling content is much less attached and its intensity is low. By being outside, I can organise the space, rearrange, move to different places with ease, and view it from other perspectives. I find this makes it more variable and flexible. Personally I am less affected by what actually happens around me and can affect the scene myself.
Both types of imagination are highly valuable. In the first person I am immersing myself embodying and feeling, working from sensation and experience. This helps immensely with role playing, finding impulses, moving with presence. In the third person I am able to create, sculpture with my mind the world around me, organise and arrange. Depending on your definition of choreography, this is where the third person view excels. Having an overview of a scene, seeing relationships between people and objects and being able to affect and compose like a sorcerer.
They also both have their weaknesses as stated above.
It is important to know which type of imagination you are using when trying to find expression in movement. Dancing a role or feeling is definitely 1st person based. Yet I find there is more to it than just that. Dance is different from acting in that it abstracts ideas. These abstractions can be quick to change from one picture to another, one feeling to another within moments. It is because how we move is less concrete and low in gesture.
A concept from Hermann Schmitz that I find addresses this adaptability for expression is thinking of a picture, feeling or idea in terms of atmospheres. Atmospheres are defined by Schmitz as spatially ‘unbounded, poured out and placeless, that is, not locatable’, they are moving emotional powers, spatial carriers of moods.” In essence, the feeling and sensed emotion of a space based on living moving feeling pictures. My thoughts are the benefits of thinking of atmosphere in imagination would be that I can change from one thing in the scene to another on a sensual level. I feel how it is to be in the moment within my surroundings (real or perceived). I can associate, move from idea to idea (rock - water - leaves) and change, develop the scene with freedom.
A theoretical example: Eg. a rainy day. How could you imagine this?
(just one of many possibilities) 3rd person: you see the rain, dull light, shadows. It’s falling everywhere and there is a softness to the picture. Where a person stands or what part of the picture (the rain) not specified, but say I was to transpose this into movement. I would have the different types of rain, maybe a connection to mud and softness, perhaps that it goes on and is constant and the darkness is something that in my body I would feel and reflect.
1st person: I am present in the scene. I feel the raindrops falling on my body, splashing, wherever I go there is no end to it. Mud squishes under my feet, as I move, I enter shadows and darkness perhaps feeling its weight. I could be the clouds, I could find movement to do with raindrops, splashing.
Atmosphere: The rain is everywhere, it has a damp smell, they dynamic of raindrops and their sound I put into my movement. The dull light I transpose through dampened movement as a development I can embody little streams and pools, change from spreading in the room to a small object like a damp log on the side of a road.
It’s a thought process and something that I am experimenting with.
I would be interested in comments as to how you imagine? What situations do you use different types of imagination?
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Small update to the fantasy of touch solo choreography:
Everyday Touch
The more I work with touch and explore it, the more questions I have!
If you think about what physical contact you had over the last week… When do we touch other people? Who did you touch and what was the context?
Eg.
I gave my son a hug as he left for the day
I held the foot of a student to correct her position in a dance class
I brushed the hand of a parent in passing him a pen
Sometimes touch is intentional, some unintentional. Some moments of touch bring an intimate response, some we pass off as just part of a normal day. Touching others comes down to culture and context. It is a powerful experience and can be very intense.
More questions such as: Is the touch usual or unusual? Does it overstep boundaries or push the edges? Is it desired or rejected?
In itself the act of touch could be seen as an act of violation. Violation of the personal space of another being. I am entering their physical space and therefore their person. Touch is also pretty much unavoidable. If someone wants to touch another person, it takes a lot of effort to evade.
What is it about touch that is so powerful? I come back to thoughts on attachment. Touch is an act of connecting to another being. It stimulates and creates, engaging emotions. By touching someone, we are actively making a choice to bond with that person. At which level we connect can be different due to the situation or person, but all contact is an act of connection.
Attachment has special qualities in itself. It is like a magnet. As with touch we either accept it or reject it. There is very little in-between. Attachment has a space element, a distance to which we feel comfortable. So by touching we are breaching this distance. Maybe this is why touch is so powerful - it comes by closing the space causing an immediate acceptance or rejection response. For example: think of the person you embrace but as soon as the moment (or polite duty) is passed you are quite happy to separate. Or the hug you give and want to hold onto and keep as long as possible (until the magic wears off!).
How can I express this in dance? Well the ideas themselves lead to exploration of physical contact in a sensual, relationship, emotional way. Lots of dance gets lost in the mechanics or technique. What interests is the connection and through that, expression. Evoking emotional responses in humans to portray and express ideas that we all know so well.
If I abstract reality and engage the senses, I can create believable situations where touch is shown as well as experienced. My belief is it will lead to interesting moments of dance.
Touch as a theme brings so much to touch to think about conceptually. More to come…
The fantasy of touch
Task: Look at an object. Imagine how it is to touch this object… What happens? What is the physical reaction in you body? What do you sense?
It’s amazing the power of imagination. How the imagination works. What just thinking about touch does to the body. It provokes a physical sensation that is not currently present. Even though the fantasy of touch is a figment of imagination it has such a realness to it. Furthermore imagination is not fixed by physical limitations, so in many ways it can take the feeling and sensation even further. The magical power of the mind. And once the mind is stimulated in such fashion, through association, the fantasy is able to grow and grow.
My thoughts came to how it is when you have no access to touch. When there is no-one else around? The idea of touching oneself is often seen as taboo, but the fantasy of touching something or being touched?
Do we need touch itself to provoke its feeling? How real or close to the feeling of being touched can we get?
So many questions!
I was using this idea of the fantasy of touch in creating today. Finding expressive movement that comes from fantasising a feeling of touch. Passive touch, of someone stroking your skin, grabbing at your wrists, holding you tight or active touch, the need to move an object, support oneself, lift a hand or grab the space…
Sensations I felt were very real and intense. The flow of movement came and knew where it wanted to go. The creation that came is intuitive, inner impulse based from the fantasy of the sensation of touch.
AM and Choreography
The more I have experimented with Authentic Movement, the more uses I find for it. There are many ways in which it is very helpful and brings amazing results. I guess if I distil them all down the one thing that really stands out, is the connection to inner impulses. Through Authentic Movement I establish a strong intensive connection to my own inner impulses, follow them and use them in various settings. They are like inner urges longing to come out and at the same time I feel as if I am being moved. I feel a deep sense of connection to myself and also as if I have totally let go of control. Something inside of me moves and I go with it!
Why choreographically?
In choreography, a lot of the interesting movement that I see has a genuine authenticity to it. Sometimes it comes from the choreographer directly where you can see them moving onstage, the body of the dancer just a means of expression. At other times, it is the dancer themselves who are so congruent and authentic in their role that a powerful moment is produced. Either way it there is an authenticity in the dance.
From all these thoughts my question is: How can I use AM or AM principles in choreography?
There are of course many ways! Here is one of them…
Before starting I get clear on my theme so that the framework of intent is there to guide me. It’s like creating a shell or an area of containment within which I can explore. This can be based on the music, theme, or intention… Within these parameters, I turn my awareness inside my body, listening to the impulses that come (à la AM) and let myself be moved. What results is authentic inspired movement that follows and arises spontaneously in the moment. These phrases I record on video (or sometimes just through memory). I then watch them, refine them and guide them encapsulating the feeling phrasing, shape and dynamic into coherent dance. The process is a continuous flow following follow these authentic inner impulses.
I have found a few limitations: working with eyes closed (not always necessary but helpful) can make the movement a little smaller. Sometimes the impulses get off track and there is a need to refocus the intent, but these are small problems that are easily overcome.
Really what is created from the process, is a base from which to work.
So here is a beginning of a duet on the theme of touch using these principles…. Fresh and raw!
With Ioulia Kokkokkiou
Music Nils Frahm
Touch
Recently, as a further step in my own personal dance development I have been exploring the theme of touch. It’s amazing, intense and such a wild theme. My feeling is that touch is something that you can only really experience. It is physical, stimulates the senses and evokes many emotions. As I explore the theme in a physical and dance setting, I am continually surprised as to my new discoveries (for me) and how many components to touch there are to unpack. I am also surprised at how little I know and my limited awareness of touch, especially because of how big a part of life it is. It is something that we use and experience every day!
Touch is a basic need. As we enter the world, our first method of sensing where we are is touch. Time spent in the uterus gives over to the warmth of skin. Touch orientates us and is our primary attachment, the first sense we rely on. It is so strong and dictates our first experiences of the world… preverbal, pre-visual. It is connective, stimulates the emotions and transmits to the brain many messages both for us and to others. As we grow, we develop and use our other senses to explore the world, communicate and make sense of all that is around us. We become less reliant on touch, but it remains still the biggest and strongest sense. And I would argue the most intensive.
In dance we are aware of our bodies. A lot of the time we move alone or adjacent to others. Yet in working with other dancers, there is a sense of togetherness when touch is required. A lot of touch in dance, like how much of dance is taught, starts out as mechanical. It becomes function to execute movement especially when one needs to dance together. Yet this, just as producing movement without feeling, hides its greatest potential - to experience, immerse, communicate and express.
Touching is sensual. It communicates. There is intent behind each and every touch. Calming, controlling, playful… Being aware of touch can be likened to experiencing a language. It’s very familiar and intuitive but how much do you really understand? And how aware are you of the messaging when you touch someone or someone touches you?
Touch is also very intimate. It steps over a boundary and into someones personal space. It therefore requires trust. It can close the gap between people when desired or be invasive (when undesired). There is the moment just before touching/being touched which is riveting in anticipation.
Something that I am just discovering and getting my head around is how touch bridges the gap between form and feeling. Look at an object, then imagine how it is to touch this object and be aware of the physical reaction in your body… What happens?
And is all just scratching the surface of what touch is!
A short improvisation on touch with Ioulia Kokkokkiou
Small creative dance exercise
Over the last months I have been exploring the theme of expression and dance for a research project. There are a lot of ideas that may of my very generous peers have given me insight to through interviews.
An exercise that I have created, that I want share, incorporates many of the ideas to do with expression.
Idea: Take a phrase of text… eg. Do you see the stars shining brightly in the nights sky?
Associate: what comes first into mind as you hear the text? (brainstorming like a mindmap)
Improvise: with the idea and associations in mind. Move freely in the space
Follow inner impulses: What inner impulses come as you move? Inner impulses are the need to move, an urge to change ones form often from a feeling place (authenticity)
Observe and evaluate: What you find? What were the impulses? What did they get you to do / how did you feel like moving? What did you like about the movement?
Create phrase: Put the ideas together. Create repeatable movements/a phrase of movement. Set an order. Link them together in a coherent way (one leading naturally to another)
Text: create a text of the movement describing clearly the intention behind each step/idea. what am I expressing?
The exercise is multi-layered. It touches the ideas of Authenticity, Freedom and Intention creatively.
As you attempt the exercise please leave some feedback in the comments below!