Performances

In the performance below I devised an environment for the dancers to travel through as they explored all of the research activities investigated within the first set of tasks. They spend about one minute in each activity, with their final activity being a culmination and a collective piece of choreography developed from the final task. The performance was filmed in Ocean Township High Schools Black Box Theater.

The music chosen did not have any major dynamic changes, as I did not want the dancer's movement to be affected by sound. Music was used more as a timing device for the dancers to know how long to remain in each exercise with the silence within the music geared to guide the dancers into the next task.

As I ponder the sounds of the song, they actually were the impetus for me to decide to manipulate string as string music gave me the inspiration to investigate this material. There was an underlying reason, as there always is, it is just a matter of the connections surfacing to recognize a distinct impression to capture through the lens of interpretation.

For the following performance, I devised an environment for the dancers to travel through as they explore tasks 1, 2, 6 and 8 to be explored from the investigation of the second project. The music chosen was mainly to cue the dancers to progress through each movement study. Spectators for the performance were placed in various areas of the theater from sitting in the seats to standing in the catwalk. The audience had a number of questions both before and after the performance. This was a dance performance like they had never experienced and they were interested to learn how the ideas were inspired.

My choreographic method includes a forming, arranging, making and altering in its process of discovery. Even in the exploration of material, investigating an object with movement something unfamiliar to my dancers and self, we see our movement revisiting our historical body. The movement which is archived in our body continues to resurface. How do we deal with this challenge when seeking to examine new movement possibilities? We tackle this situation just as we would when we are developing a technique. Through watching other bodies and videotapes of unexpected movement possibilities produced during the in-studio inquiry, we re-enact the movement and begin to archive new movement within the body. “The dancer must learn to dance absolutely new and strange movements that are chosen by chance and pitted against their kinetic sense” (Koch 108). Repeating these tasks over and over again we begin to achieve a sense of body memory through our actions, adding to new movement vocabulary. This action can lead us to the idea of an unfamiliar body. As we have spent years dancing in and through our body, we learn to let go of the familiar and raise awareness to opportunities that will allow us to explore foreign ideas in the development and growth within and through our art-making process. “The movements do not belong to a known style or personal preferences. In the process of learning and producing dance from these initially isolated and randomly selected forms of steps, the dancer has the opportunity to experience his or her ‘own’ body and the act of dancing as if for the first time” (Koch 108).

The following performance was inspired through the engagement of artistic research activities with high school students in a discover science class who have no formal dance training. It is through the initial investigation with materials that we began to take a multimodal approach in exploring creative expression which prompted physical thinking. The final performance was developed as the students expressed their overall experience of the investigation with a dance student. She, in turn, embodied her interpretation of their tasks through her movement, interaction in relation to the material of string as the students described, exploring modes of creativity as well as their original examination with the string. “In the process of transcription and showing the transmitted, it becomes transparent how choreographers work; in the juxtaposition, we behold the processes of decision-making, freedom and reduction contained in the creative process” (Klein & Noeth 125).

When the dancer travels into a new space of awareness within her environment, it is here where she is reflecting upon her own creative experience. Connecting her painting activity to her body movement this score was designed by moments inspired from the act of painting. It is flashes captured within and through the senses as the colors were added to the canvas, through brushstroke, the sense of touch with her fingers that she expresses this experience through body language.

Having realized that all the participation leading up to this event has become a part of her story to share through the act of articulation and narration, there is no longer a need to be held within the thoughts confined within the mind as she decides to sweep up all of the string on the floor and use it as one giant brush to design the role of body in space making an aesthetic work of art. It is a personal, internal relationship within the public realm of action the dance takes place. The only members of the audience were those from the science class that took part in the activities.

Afterward, they all expressed to the dancer how they could see the movement that she had incorporated in relation to what they told her in regards to their experience. One girl had commented that when she was pulling and struggling with the string, that was how she felt when she was, “unsure how I could turn the activities into movement through my body and it was as if you expressed that as you danced.” It was reassuring to hear how appreciative the students were to be asked to be a part of the creative process and also that I allowed for their voice to be heard. The students acted like proud directors or parents because they saw how they all played a part in the production process. The project drew upon both our analysis and a multidisciplinary effort and although I would have liked more time to work with the dancer or multiple dancers, this is not the end, but the beginning of new work which will emerge from the evolution of my Practice as Research.

The following performance was inspired through the engagement of artistic research activities with the MFA Candidates at Jacksonville University. As a result of the investigation with materials, creative expression prompted physical thinking through movement interaction and embodied interpretation of the tasks, objects, and images the dance score was composed. “In the process of transcription and showing the transmitted, it becomes transparent how choreographers work; in the juxtaposition, we behold the processes of decision-making, freedom and reduction contained in the creative process” (Klein & Noeth 125). The score connecting the audience engagement in the painting activity to the dancer's body movement was designed by moments inspired by the last three tasks in summer of 2019. It is flashes captured within and through the senses, as the colors were added to the canvas, through brushstrokes, the sense of touch and watching others they express this experience through body language. Interpretation and making sense of visual images of a dancer and objects are for the spectator and for the people to question, who is being moved or moved by what? Or is manipulation created by the duet the dancer is generating with their object(s)/materials in time and space? Having realized that all the participation leading up to this event have become a part of the dancer's story to share through the act of articulation and narration, the dance becomes both a personal and communal relationship within the public realm of action where the dance takes place.

Having a conscious engagement with one’s body, materiality and the sensing of bodies in the environment the dancer becomes both the mover and the moved. As I observe the dancing body, I sense the object is leading the dance. “The conscientious designer does not himself design at all, but rather give the object-to-be a chance to design itself” (A. Albers 1958). Although Anni Albers was speaking of a piece of tangible artwork and I speak of that which is held within fleeting moments of the impermanence of movement, a connection to the awareness of creator as the designer is revealed within the idea of this text. Experience resides within the moment of inception. It is through the lived experience we gain knowledge into interdisciplinary connections and throughout the process of Practice as Research, links developed which became clearly defined.

As the research continues to progress, I would like to rework thread into the main object of manipulation for the choreographic exploration and synthesize a direction connection to symbolism in relation to the common thread humans have on this planet and the paradox of living in both the beauty and limits within the body, (Leavy 2019). It has been said that everything we do has a ripple effect in our life. It is as if we are but tiny vibrating strings connected to each other within the universe. Creative expression through the moving body cannot be separated from our lives. Art embodies our ideas and experiences. Thus, allowing us to explore choreography and make connections to the world around us.