Abstraction
Introduction
'The move from the representational to the symbolic; the process of removing movement from a particular or representative context and (by manipulating it with elements of space, time and force) creating a new sequence or dance that retains the essence of the original.
Dance 11-12 Syllabus copyright NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2009.
A work of art has to be created with the choreographer’s intention to say something, to communicate an idea, or emotion. The carefully selected movement content is an abstraction from actual feelings or happenings to suggest meanings that are significant to the dance idea.
You as the choreographer work with a heavily symbolic art form. Since all symbols are abstractions, creating dances implicitly involves the process of abstracting. Any abstraction contains the essence of an image, feeling or idea and continues to communicate the choreographer’s intent at different levels of perceptions, sometimes more obvious, other times more subtle. Selection is the key. As you select and refine, discard different aspects of your idea, you are abstracting. Often in dance, the danger is that it can be overly literal or too representational, it becomes almost mimetic. You as the choreographer need to use the process of abstraction purposefully.
Abstraction has been described as 'the process of separating inherent qualities or properties from the actual physical object or concept to which they belong' (Readers Digest, 1994).
'The extraction of an essential and recognisable element from an original source is the starting point. The choreographer then needs to alter and add features to it to make it a dance. However, the original should always remain recognisable' Smith-Autard 2000
Let’s use an image of a burning candle, concentrating on two opposing movement qualities, flickering (quick and light) and melting (slow and heavy) the loss of definition and change of shape in the wax motivates changes in the use of space. The drop of wax image allowed for a contrasting use of speed. Disregard the things that cannot be so easily translated into movement such as size, colour and heat. In this example the image of the candle flickering and melting can be abstracted into movement to represent the idea of a candle.
In the information following, an example of a concept/intent has been explored, this is how you could go about researching and abstracting movement based on the idea of being bound.
Example of Contents from a Process Diary
Concept - Bound
Intent - My Core Composition Dance is going to being about being bound, tied together.
Stimulus - The idea of being bound to or by something stemmed initially from a conversation that I was having about Alvin Ailey and the plight of the African American people. The physical restraints that keep one bound, tied up, tied to.
The movie Amistad (1997) provided some interesting examples of being tied together, shackled and bound.
'I looked at the people being bought onto the ship shackled and chained together and then lying on the ships floors underneath and then the more traumatizing excerpts of them bound and being tossed overboard.'
Definitions of the word ‘bound’ and meanings of bound that are more relevant to this dance composition that were researched are outlined below.
- Definition of ‘bound’ from Dictionary.com - tied; in bonds: a bound prisoner, made fast as if by a band or bond: She is bound to her family. Secured within a cover, as a book. Under a legal or moral obligation: He is bound by the terms of the contract. Destined; sure; certain: It is bound to happen. Determined or resolved: He is bound to go. Pathology . constipated. Mathematics . (of a vector) having a specified initial point as well as magnitude and direction. Held with another element, substance, or material in chemical or physical union. (of a linguistic form) occurring only in combination with other forms, as most affixes.
Visual Stimuli
The internet is a great resource for visual inspiration and stimulus. Use a search engine to find images that fit your concept. You can make your search wide by including fewer words, or narrow by being more specific about what you search for. Just by adding ‘dance’ to your concept word, you will get a completely different set of results.
The arms in this picture are bound at the back,
the low level position of the body suggests
subservience & being oppressed.
The legs are bound by the arms and the body
is twisted and contorted.
This shape could suggest being tied up.
The legs in this picture are bound by the arms
and the arms are fixed behind the back.
The twisted look of the torso suggests pain
and anguish also. The lower level again suggests
a sense of being submissive, giving into.
By adding ‘slavery’ to our search terms, we get a set of results that remove us from dance, but give us more ideas that we might be able to explore through dance.
The physical sense of being tied up by rope, tied to a post and being bound.
Low level position of the body lying horizontally on the floor.
The arms are wrapped around the legs and the legs are bent inward, upward, towards the chest (in the foetal position).
The hands are bound by chains.
The hands are an abstraction of what you might use when praying.
Shackles – to bind something or someone, primarily to tie one slave to another, by either the hands or the feet.
Sometimes they were tied together by their throats.