Three forms of movement expression
Warning: Technical
Context:
A personal need of mine is to be understood. This has always meant speaking clearly. When I have the courage to express myself there is nothing to hide or be ambiguous about. I want to be seen!
It is also applicable for expression through movement. As a choreographer, I want the audience to understand what I am expressing. This means: every movement must have a meaning. As Schiller wrote, to put it simply, there must be a combination of feeling and form for something to be great art. And to find this, there must be clarity.
Concept:
Three forms of physical expression in movement
I am currently fascinated by the three forms of physical expression. They are a classification of how to communicate through the body and movement. The concept / inspiration comes from Jacques Lecoq, but goes a little further in its associations.
It goes as follows:
What is it? Forms of physical expression and communication. It’s how we create and communicate and they are all powerful. In dance we use all three. They give meaning to what is being presented. They are recognisable and comprehensible. They are all open to interpretation.
My thoughts to the three (with some improvised examples):
1. An image
Gestures like a raised fist, or a hug - the images you see. These images, poses, gestures, posters, magazines, Instagram posts all have a clear meaning. There is a feeling associated with each one and the "a picture has 1000 words" conveys the desired message. The images can come one after the other and are the easiest to understand. They can seem performative and yet contain a clear direct message.
2. A story
Actions that when taken in sequence create a narrative. We are very familiar with extracting meaning from these movements. We observe and interact with people every day and perform these movements as a natural part of life. They are recognisable, traceable and assignable. In a dance context, they can be exaggerated or subtile and still have a clear meaning. The actions themselves have less of a direct message. Observation is necessary to connect the movements. This is relatively easy as humans love to construct stories to events and attach meaning to them. What is happening? What is this person doing? Actions tell you the story of what is happening to the person in front of you.
3. A monologue
Movement in which feelings and emotions are recognisable, the form is less clear. Abstraction - to take away (clarity). Modern dance uses this form the most. It is the expression of a feeling in movement as an insight into someone’s state of being. A moment where time stands still. This relies heavily on the dynamic of the movement to create the feeling. As it is abstract, the meaning of the movement is often open to interpretation. This engages the imagination of the viewer to make sense of what is being presented and can connect with personal experience of this feeling. This type of movement is a way of exploring and expressing depth.
Dance uses all 3 forms interchangeably with the tendency to use abstraction the most. This change can happen within seconds or over longer phrases of movement.
When you watch a dance piece, how many of these forms do you recognise? When and for what purpose are they being used?
Passing the Time update
Putting the finishing touches on the “Passing the Time” duet. It’s all about fine details now. The choreography is set, the intention behind each movement clear. Now over to the dancer in me to express myself. How would I describe this process?
I am building up my physical capacity as we rehearse, discovering new things each time. For me, as a dancer, it’s about exploration and play. The supporting structure - the steps - are set, which allows me to relax and open up to the other parts of performing. My aim is to keep the choreography alive and spontaneous. There is no one way of doing this, and in the beauty of that which is live performance, it can be different each time.
As the choreography begins to take hold in my body, I feel a sense of automation. I stop thinking about the steps and concentrate on how I want to do them. I use my sense of flow and timing to embody the desired feelings. I trust my own inner impulses and follow my feeling of the moment. This is what I love about performing! It is a flow moment for me. Personal. I feel alive, open and vulnerable, that anything is possible!
Performing on stage is exposure. A moment of vulnerability, allowing myself to be seen for who really I am. There is no hiding in this moment. It’s living and I'm am grateful for the experience.
A rehearsal trailer of the duet:
Friday 30st August 19:30
at the Dance Nexus Festival
Bellevue Saal,
Wilhelmstr. 32, Wiesbaden.
Entry by donation
Infinity dance game exercise
Infinite dance game
Description:
To begin, close your eyes and get a sense of yourself and body, the feeling of moment. After 20/30sec, start:
Continually move until time is up
Purposeful stops are allowed, in that they dynamically script the movement.
Task is to keep moving - speed, energy level etc. are freeMove however you want
Always ask oneself: how do I want to move?
All inspiration is possible, people, objects in room, pictures etc. eyes closed/open.
Length of time:
Should be known by only one person. The idea is to give the feeling that the dance will go on forever…
My suggestion is to try about 20 mins.
My experiences:
Getting past critical thoughts such as: what should I be doing? Or how does this look?
Getting past what can I do now (no ideas)?
Lots of play and curiosity
Very strong connection and awareness of physical self and own desires
Let me know your experiences in the comments!
Anxiety and calm
In exploring the feelings for “PTT” and the moment, I had some personal thoughts on anxiety and how it affects me:
From a meditation on calm some observations fit well together. “There is no calm without anxiety.” I catch myself trying so hard to avoid this emotion. There is no calm without boredom either. Another avoid.
From a high energy level of “doing”, to come back down to homeostasis — so necessary to recharge and nurture, the avoidance just pushes it away. It’s missing until the crash, a constant state of being overtired or just the feeling of running on empty but due to life pressures having to continue.
What if I got in touch with my feelings? If I allowed myself to feel anxious and bored. If I could cope with these just a feelings just a bit more. Would the calm flow?
So much of the dopamine world we live in discourages this. And it is fascinating to watch and observe myself, as I am taking time out and really getting a holiday and rest, how much calm, energy and vibrance I feel. There is anxiety for sure. It’s not so far away. The anxiety that I am missing out or not doing things that I should. It’s perhaps a dive into procrastination, a little too far in low energy place, but it’s ok for now. It’s a place where I know I can kickstart myself when I need to.
It’s fascinating observing my children on their school break too. They are so ingenuous with their time. Creative, when they are forced to be bored and have “nothing to do”. It’s such a gift. I love telling them that boredom is a good thing and seeing it come out as such.
My anxiety:
to not be moving at such a fast pace
to be missing out on ?
to feel negative emotions
They are all going to happen anyway. So why avoid them?!
And calm feels great!
PTT Rehearsal video
Here is a video to connect with the notes of my last post (reference Gelis 1+2). It’s the first section of the duet.
What do you feel and see?
Leave me a comment. All feedback is helpful!
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