Movement idea to the feeling of overwhelm
Here is an idea that I have found useful to experiment with. Intense physical movement for 5-10secs in moments when I am overwhelmed or stuck.
Recently I have been watching myself, consciously aware of how I am in the moment. I notice that when I feel overwhelmed or stuck, there is freeze in my body. Sometimes it is a moment, but often this feeling/state lingers. Physically I catch myself hardly breathing, my body is still and it's like there is a rock in my stomach. Often the trigger is my thoughts. It's uncertainty about the future, things out of my control, feelings of too much to do, high expectations to meet or that I have to force myself to get something done against my own will.
When I’m feeling stuck/overwhelmed, of all possible physical actions to take, the one I find of most value is a moment of intense movement. I run on the spot as fast as I can with full tension (at an “over the top speed”) for 5-10 seconds. If I can’t run, I imitate the movement in sitting with the same intensity by moving my legs and arms. Though it sometimes it takes a few attempts, the effect of reaching such intensity and holding it for that short period is immense.
I notice the intense action causes feeling to come back into my body. (A small warning: it can be quite uncomfortable.) The feeling of stuck releases… Emotions that I have been avoiding come back into my body and in time clear. (A fascinating study shows the body clears a natural emotional response on average within 90 seconds).
Sometimes it can take a few attempts. As my body becomes present with the movement, the emotions enter and dissipate it is liberating. I am left with a huge amount energy and agency. The restoration of energy and natural flow return providing relief. I have the desire to move and breathe.
The feeling of stuck/overwhelm and its connection to trauma being released through movement, fit well into Peter Levines trauma response theory:
We store trauma in the body because our body was unable to respond to a perceived danger in the moment. Instead of moving to fight or flight from the freeze state, the body gets stuck. This happens if the freeze state is activate for too long. This causes us to overwhelm, not believing in agency to change, escape or beat the situation. It is the feeling of helplessness, things are outside of our control and reaction feels pointless. Levines theory is to create change by reenacting the physical response that was unavailable or missing.
The idea of danger and trauma in our world today is also interesting due to conditioning. In our everyday lives there are few real threats to our existence. Yet small innocuous moments can often trigger us. This is a trigger of memories of past experiences, associations with times we felt in danger. Often overblown reactions and triggers to setback or someones comment act out like a “tantrum”. Again a natural physical response.
Society doesn’t like such reactions and so as children we learn to hold in feelings and suppress them. Our body course wants something else (whether justified or not). The nervous system is far quicker to trigger us than our rational brain can respond. The suppression is the freeze state. It creates a conflict between our natural physical response and the perceived safety and consideration of others. The freeze state leaves us stuck.
To get around this, in conversation it’s easier to respond and work through the moment. Being conscious and aware, we can rationalise, recognise the danger and take a moment before responding- The mindful pause. With a real threat, we can act! Problems arrises when there is not someone or something to react to. Our bodies perception, though irrational is real. Then, turning to a moment of intense movement can help.
Though I connect this idea with feeling stuck, it seems to also work well in other less dramatic states. These states connect to the idea of trauma but to a lesser intensity:
lethargy,
resistance
procrastination
lack of focus
unwillingness
reluctance
emptiness
These states I find I experience more often than I would like. So here I am, running at high intensity on a regular basis!
A picture I have in my mind of the process: the effort of pushing a ball over the top of the hill. The rest takes care of itself….
So if you are feeling a little blahhh, give it a go! See what happens!
More thoughts about this from Nicole LePera: https://twitter.com/Theholisticpsyc/status/1632011612973576192?s=20
Interesting challenges...
I’ll give a little bit of context here about what I am attempting and trying.
I started over a year ago with an exercise called spotlight. It is very simple: everyone stands in a circle. One person enters the circle with a task, eg. to move to the music. They stay until someone else enters who then replaces them. It’s about connecting with yourself (moving to music) and also being seen (entering the circle you are in the spotlight!). It has an element of group feeling and decision making - one decides when to enter. There are many variations of the task, from the person being able to leave voluntarily, adding a second or 3rd person in the circle simultaneously, to specific tasks within the circle to do with movement and tasks for the circle itself. Each variation requires courage and vulnerability to differing degrees.
At the same time I have been also working on ideas to do with presence and connection. Here one task is to hold a dual focus. Explanation: we have both an inner and outer focus. An inner focus being our physical bodies, our emotions, how I feel in the moment and the impulses that arise. An outer focus is mindfully seeing and recognising people and things around us in the room. The combination of both is a dual focus, seeing something and being at the same time aware of how I feel/my reactions. It is always there, but mostly subconsciously.
So I have adapted/combined these exercises to work on presence and connection.
The task is to enter the circle and hold in ones focus a connection to the people around and move to ones own feeling. At the same time the people around are asked to hold the same focus to the person in the circle and in movement react.
Perhaps it is complex… And maybe that is where it is a struggle. Too many layers at once?
What I am surprised by as I set the exercise was the reluctance and the resistance to entering the circle. And I don’t put it in a way that entering the circle is a big deal. It is always a challenge for some, but as I stated above this process has been repeated many times in different variations and I use the experienced level of take-up as my baseline. The resistance I find is to this specific task. My feeling is it has to do with the connection and being seen expressed through a reluctance to enter this space, mentally and physically. It is as if the mindfulness awakens vulnerabilities that are always there, but are ignored and being in touch with them causes a form of social anxiety.
This brings me back to why I find it intriguing. We are actually seen everywhere we go simply by being present, whether it is conscious or not, be it in a cafe, walking down the street or in an interview. So it is intriguing to me, what the difference is…
In front of a peer group, focus on personal awareness, being seen, complexity? Possibly all of them at once? That can understandably be overwhelming.
And it is a divergence from my own feelings where I find the whole situation exciting and engaging. Of course, different people have different feelings and they are very much to be respected! My purpose here is not to overwhelm, but to find the edges. I am doing that, but wary.
"Tanz mit mir!" Reflection!
What was “Tanz mit mir!”?
The best way I can describe it was a personal declaration of love for dance. Yes, that is what it was. It was an evening of all the things that I love about dance, expressed in one experience. Being physically tuned to ones body, moving to music in different ways, living the moment, spontaneous and engaged. This combined with performing and observing dance in a space where ones senses are heightened. It creates an incredible intensity of feeling that causes the exuberance of passion all in a supportive immersive atmosphere. Merging the choreography and dancers personal abilities with the venue of the Schloss made the experience unique. The evening was about being present and living the moment.
It was very also personal. The attributes of the experience as above, are what hooked me as a 6 year old to dance and make it my career. If you haven’t been on stage as a dancer living the experience, in some ways this evening is as close (without actually performing) as you can get… and then some! The some being the lack of need for control, not knowing in advance what will happen and allowing oneself to be vulnerable, let go and be taken on an adventure that is real!
The format of the project has been a dream of mine for many years. I have had a vision to do this kind of interactive immersive piece because it excites me just thinking about it. It is sharing in a personal way with others what I love about dance. The dream itself has evolved and expanded. With the experiences I have now had and the development of my skills in creating dance and it was the right time for me to embark on this concept. What I have learned through the experience is immense.
We had 100 audience members over the 2 shows and from the participation and reaching my goals I can safely say that it was a huge success. 98% of the audience joined in the whole way through and that last 2 percent managed to find in the evening a moment where they overcame their fears and joined (about half way). I don’t think you can get much better than that with an activity that needs people to allow themselves to be vulnerable. It’s a big credit to the supportive nature of the creation and the feeling of the performers who were involved. Seeing the joy and resonance that came out of the people who experienced lived the event makes me so proud and thankful.
This project has been my most fulfilling so far. The size and scope with the number of participants involved and taking on responsibility for the project alone, has been a huge journey with amazing growth. I’ve overcome so much resistance to get it done. It’s not always easy convincing people of something that they have never experienced. From rewriting the concept 5 times after having it rejected because it wasn’t understood, to people who I thought would be interested to come, not making the effort to show up the list goes on and on… there were dancers and musicians who cancelled… but these challenges made the results even greater. I was forced to be unwavering in my belief in the project, open myself to being vulnerable, find new ways of doing things and attract in the right people to get my vision into reality.
Do things that scare you! And this was one. Pushing against my fears is exactly what I needed here and wanted. There was never a moment where I wanted to give up. It was always only a question of how. The trust in my own ability and expansion of my skills has been most fulfilling.
It can be hard breaking new ground, convincing people to believe in a vision that they have never experienced. In an interactive and immersive piece too, there are so many unknowns. A lot of the time through the process I had a feeling I was making it up on the spot, with so many variables in play. This was a blossoming of my creativity - spontaneously making decisions, acting and reacting in the moment, much like the piece itself.
Through “Tanz mit mir!” I’ve found and met new people who were truly interested in my vision, expanded my own network, overcome many obstacles in planning and marketing, created, choreographed and coordinated a 1:45h site specific performance on a large scale (28 performers, away from the luxury and comfort of a theatre), even perhaps found a new audience (about 25% of the audience I knew, where usually in Wiesbaden it is the other way round). All this on a very limited budget, meaning a lot relied on good will.
Thankful I am too, for all the people who believed. I planted a seed that opened the minds of those involved to what is possible and I am thankful for all their support. It doesn’t always take a lot, but being prepared to break new ground needs an openness and trust that is special. The amount of learning, growth and maturation has been immense.
Tanz mit mir! Spoiler...
So I get the question what is “Tanz mit mir!” actually? And perhaps to answer it, I’ll give a short description.
Warning: Don’t read any further if you want a surprise…
“Tanz mit mir!” starts by collecting the audience together (outside the Schloss - German for palace/villa) where a dancer/actor starts a series of games with the audience moving them, placing them, attempting to have them to move in various ways. The audience is then split into 4 groups that then enter the Schloss itself.
Each group is sent to a different room inside the Schloss where a dance experience awaits. The experiences are are a mixture of participation and performance - an offer to participate to move in a simple way which anyone can easily achieve. The participation element captures the essence of the dance presented which - its atmosphere and the moment. This is expressed without words. The second part part of the experience is an immersive performance where inspiration can be found as to where the dance can go. This happens all around at various stages in the sequence.
The audience is then lead from one room to the next. The evening concludes with all the groups being brought to the entrance where a live band is playing and together together they have the opportunity to move freely to live music (and the bar is just around the corner).
“Tanz mit mir!” the interactive immersive dance evening!
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?
—————————————————-
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…