This research project is a choreographic exploration between the body, its interconnected relationship to the environment and how this connectivity manifests expression. The aim of the research is to examine various modalities that a choreographer can engage with to set bodies in motion through the manipulation of objects. In the act of manipulating objects, string was the material used which functioned as the catalyst for the body to create unintentional movements. As the investigation evolved, methods and materials transitioned to the use of text, drawing and painting in an attempt to explore dance, which is in no relation to actions ascribed to codified technique.

In observing the technique of young dancers, I recognize how this limits their movement choice. I was in search of a way to create a dialogue with the material in order to explore new movement possibilities. As a result of the inquiry, the dancers could break their movement habits in discovering and creating a choreographic score. As the dancers were held within the moment of the choreographic intent and immersed in the movement, material, and its impermanence I found them at times returning to their technique which is deeply rooted within their body.

This semester I worked with non-dancers since they do not carry with them the impressions on their bodies from dance classes and have not been conditioned by codified practices. I expected in turn, their experience would allow for a more pure movement exploration which had not been impeded by the techniques of dance. To explore the choreographic creative potential of the research methodology, movement within space is the base for choreography. Creative thought motivates artistic practice. “In this conception, the materials are not just passive objects to be used instrumentally by the artist, but rather the materials and process of production have their own intelligence that comes into play in interaction with the artist’s creative intelligence” (Barrett & Bolt 30). Practice as Research means to access ones creative thoughts from the research perspective. The movement, materials and how participants engaged with the materiality has become a sounding board in crafting the practice.

Task 5

Writing Name with String with Legs--Movement Exploration

I decided to proceed with task five which was related to a task I created last semester because I wanted to get the students exploring unintentional movement and also reflect upon key concepts and see if I could draw connections to choices that were made with the dancers to the non-dancer. Of course, everyone grappled with balance and gravity, as the object becomes the materiality propelling the body as an object, in turn, the mover becomes an instrument of that which is crafting the movement. Intersubjectivity became present as one by one the students started to sit on the floor moving the string with their leg. Depending on the individuals and space between one another during the study, defined individual choreographic, movement choice.

As I watched the students move and reviewed the video, I reflected on the choices they made and questioned how I would move forward with the investigation. Their movement was very pedestrian. As if I was going to have some great revelation, but I did not, I felt stuck.

Task 8

Share with a Partner

As the students in my school are familiar with Project Based Learning and working with partners, I had them get in groups to share the stories in relation to what they created with a friend? Then I had them work together to create a shared story through their movement, transforming the project into a performance-based learning activity where they became the authors and I become like a member of the audience. Students engaged with the material I was intrigued to find out what their narrative was about. They explained to me when they were dancing tangled up in the string, this represented being confined, and all the little circles leading up to the large one is a “Thought Bubble” where creativity resided. It is when they enter this space they break free and have an open mind to explore creativity. It was at that moment I realized that I am opening doorways for these students that may never have been opened before. I am learning from them as much as they may be learning from me. Imagination sparks creativity. Having skipped a few weeks in between seeing the group. Prompted the following task.

Task 13

Dancer Painting

After all of the initial tasks were explained to Brianne by the group of non-dancers and myself, I thought it was important for her to create her own writing on creativity and painting. Her movement on the canvas was very different from that of the non-dancers. It was as if she was using the colors to dance on the canvas. It is from the act of painting that she then explored art through the movement of her body in the following task.

Project Discovery

The inquiry revealed unexpected knowledge through artistic research activities that I would not have otherwise considered had I not engaged in exercises to prompt physical thinking. At the beginning of this semester, I decided to work with the material of string because of the familiarity I had of working with it in the last term. Through the investigative process, the sense of touch and sharing in the materiality of the investigation, the meaning was constructed and shifted over the course of time as I observed the non-dancers struggling to produce a movement dialogue with the material.

During our exploration, I realized what I had expected to occur did not resonate with all of the tasks examined causing me to search for elemental motives. Through continued analysis, interdisciplinary associations were revealed through subjective experiences drawn from improvisational correlations connected to research aims and objectives. When expected dynamics were not produced through the body connecting to tasks, it transformed the research to explore alternative tasks to stimulate the imagination in hopes that students would start to use their body as a “thinking tool”.

There were many benefits to working with the group of non-dancers in exploring various modalities that a choreographer can engage with to set bodies in motion through the manipulation of objects. Analyzing artistic ways of making meaning contribute to the value of creating visual images as part of the research process in order to understand how the artistic experience can inform the inquiry to prompt movement. “Unanticipated connections can be discovered as an image creates relationships among diverse elements of form and experience bring, which these into a new wholeness” (Leavy 255). This connects creative thinking adding conditions for multiple approaches and perspective in the process of manipulating objects. Visual images add a reflexive response dialogue between the senses and body adding a layer of texture to stimulate movement within and through the body.

In seeking how one may investigate objects to create innovative ways to propel the body into action in order to capture organic movement possibilities, I incorporated the use of text and drawing. “Visual images are unique and can evoke particular kinds of emotional and visceral responses from people” (Leavy 225). Visual art opens up multiple meanings as well as draw practical and intellectual inquiries from materiality. Yet there was still movement resistance with the population of students I was working with. They were not movers and did not feel completely comfortable within their bodies. The movement did not flow, nor was it organic. The artistic approaches to materiality focused on the connections made between the body, the objects, the environment and the bodies within the environment, but something was missing, it was the dancing body. It is the dancing body that is truly able to embody the experimental knowledge where and when experience can exist between the mind and body.

Having a conscious engagement with one’s body, materiality and the sensing of one's body 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 develop which become clearly defined. 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.