The Research
Materiality and the Impetus to Create Artistic Expression Through the Moving Body:
A Choreographic Exploration
A Choreographic Exploration
Body movement produces knowledge as the act of inquiry leads to learning. Including myself as a participant in the research, I am able to reflect from a first-person methodology. Focusing my attention on the details in the movement, experiencing embodiment, and understanding how my body works, I observe how one body part affects the movement of another. In focusing my attention on my physical body, I become completely immersed in the moment with my focus on the body; action, space, time and energy are irrelevant to me as I am playing with the material of string to propel new movement possibilities. “What can be articulated about the phenomenological body: that is, the body that understands and expresses itself experimentally through presence” (Kershaw et al. 224). The advantage of working with others in this investigation is my ability to step out of the role of first-person and see through the lens of third-person observation method. Utilizing video of the experience, interview and discussion allow me to view, listen, read and analyze an excess of information in relation to bodies involved in the movement study. The development of my methodology has begun to rely not only on myself but others and their experiences. The discoveries we are making collectively as well as the ones I am making independently through research and inquiry lead to interdisciplinary connections. “I wanted to weave the intuitive voice of the dancer into a descriptive aesthetics, slipping from first-person voice to analytical third-person theory” (Fraleigh 2000).
November 2018
In order to build a relationship between research aims and objectives, key concepts display a connection of ideas to the inquiry in creating methods for experimental studio practice. In reflecting on these concepts, it was relevant for me to develop an awareness of how the concepts relate to established text and practitioners. Existing methods were refined and new ideas explored through the process of active reflection. In striving to work towards the aim of this research, it was imperative that clear objectives were established in crafting artistic tasks with purposeful intentions.
Research Objectives
To analyze the manipulation of materials in order to discover new movement possibilities
Touch is the first sense we develop in the fetus and how we begin to learn about our environment. Heidegger explains, “We come to know the world theoretically only after we have come to understand it through handling. Thus the new can be seen to emerge in the involvement with materials, methods, tools and ideas of practice” (Barrett & Bolt 30). The sense of touch stimulates our imagination, allows us to make connections to memories and the world around us. Stimulating the imagination and senses allow for body responses for the non-dancer prompting movement exploration.
To identify tasks which will propel connectivity and unintentional movement potential within and through the body
In order to identify tasks which will propel connectivity and unintentional movement within and through the body, specific exercises are created, each encouraging the next. ”During the process of gathering and analyzing data, themes emerge, ideas take shape, and meaningful interpretations are discovered” (Fraleigh & Hanstein 23). It may be an abstraction in the form of action that is inspired by tasks in relation to the inquiry, yet its intent is interconnected to the reality of manipulated materiality in order to create the movement pattern or phrase.
To compare in studio tasks with dancers to those of non-dancers
In order to compare the two groups, I had both the dancers and non-dancers explore many of the same tasks. “Rooted in art, ritual and play, dances are creative endeavors that produce (actually bring into being) aesthetic values involving human skill, imagination, and intentionality” (Fraleigh & Hanstein 190). Observing the level of complexity held within movement exploration of the non-dancers, prompted a recrafting of the practice. Adding an element of wonder, the desire for expression and my determination to dig deeper into the realm of the unknown enabled me to weave new threads which represented symbolic passage in developing the research.
To establish a sense of listening to one's body on a phenomenal level
In order to practice listening to one's body on a phenomenal level, a constructive rest exercise is repeated prior to beginning tasks to heighten the awareness of our body senses. “That is, the dance person doesn’t merely analyze bodily action, but puts that analysis into action with her/his own body and studies the actions as a personal affair of motion” (Leavy 255).
To develop interdisciplinary knowledge through discourse
Collaborating with individuals from various disciplines including visual arts and scientist as well as reading a plethora of text. “The researcher considers these interpretations within the context of the existing body of knowledge, advances new theories, and considers the significance of her or his discoveries” (Fraleigh & Hanstein 23). It is through discussions and readings that I gain insight into my research and the elements of my process become guided by transformation. This allows a sharing in the experience as my perception grows simultaneously with my Practice as Research.
Updated April 2019Continued Research Aim
The research this semester aims to examine various modalities a choreographer can engage with to set bodies in motion through the manipulation of sensory stimuli in order to reveal movement possibilities free from technical habits. It is through this exploration that new movement patterns will be explored in and through the body.
Continued Research Objective
Apply visual designs to cue pattern shifts within and through the body of the performer while preserving the embodiment of the image throughout the creative process.
The senses stimulate our imagination allowing us to make connections to ideas, images, memories and the world around us. “If body movement is the object of the image, then body movement will appear imaginatively as a form having no actual existence. This negation will become clear as we proceed to describe the imaginative representation of the body and the body in movement” (Sheets-Johnstone 92). Stimulating the imagination and senses allow for body responses to inspire physical thinking prompting movement exploration.
Identify strategies which intertwine visual art within and through choreography and how this can be used as an analytical or interpretive tool to propel people to view art through various lenses.
Opening the space of performance to an audience, the dance event becomes a part of their world, their reality within the event. “They engage in a process of discovery to uncover the layers of the work so they can truly be interpreters of the work” (Preston-Dunlop & Sanchez-Colberg 17). Visual art can propel people to look at something in a new way propelling consciousness-raising, unleashed by images, where new ideas emerge. In observing, awareness of perception is subjective in relation to individual experience and understanding of the movement is left for individuals to make connections. Meaning-making creates lasting impressions left for interpretation dependent on individual connections made in relation to the experience.
Observe the dancers connection to the objects and materials and to analyze how that relationship transforms aesthetics within the environment.
When individuals are manipulating objects within the environment, the object is at rest and unchanged until acted upon. “If a person can act on objects in their vicinity, so it is argued, can objects ‘act back’, causing them to do or allowing them to achieve what they otherwise could not” (Ingold 7). When an object is being manipulated by an individual this creates movement in the object, causing the body to react to movement in the object creates an unintentional response movement manipulating the individual's action. This includes changes to the object and individual’s speed and/or direction of motion creating unintentional movement possibilities.
To identify movement in creating a choreographic score which penetrates a collection of varied interactions between the materiality of bodies, objects, and their environment.
It is through the observation of in-studio artistic research activities we analyze the manipulation of materials in order to discover new movement possibilities. “The very intention of consciousness to apprehend movement imaginatively means that movement will constitute the object of an image and that it will appear as an imaginative visual-kinetic form” (Sheets-Johnstone 92). Identifying patterns which combine the embodied experience in relation to imagery in and through the body are chosen to reflect connectivity in composing the choreographic score.
July 2019Intersubjectivity: When an individual takes the focus off of their personal task and is aware of others in their environment, they engage in a movement dialogue, through non-verbal cueing. “Body and intersubjectivity meet and intertwine in complex ways through language” (Fusaroli et al. 4). This engagement is determined on individual focus, spatiality and leads to the intra-action between bodies. In analyzing artistic research activities, the development of my methodology has begun to rely not only on myself but others and their experiences. The advantage of working with others in this investigation is my ability to step out of the role of first-person and see through the lens of third-person observation method. I notice myself often engaging in the concept of the intersubjective field with the dancers, as I wish to personally experience the relationship to the shared movement activity.
Inertia: When individuals are manipulating objects within the environment, the object is at rest and unchanged until acted upon. “If a person can act on objects in their vicinity, so it is argued, can objects ‘act back’, causing them to do or allowing them to achieve what they otherwise could not” (Ingold 7). When an object is being manipulated by an individual this creating movement in the object, causing the body to react to movement in the object creates an unintentional response movement manipulating the individual's action. This includes changes to the object and individual’s speed and/or direction of motion creating unintentional movement possibilities.
Materiality: The body as a physical, material body is exposed to a variety of materials within the world. The artistic approaches to materiality focus on the connections made between the body, the objects, the environment and bodies within the environment. “Once objects and subjects symmetrically co-determine each other, it follows that ‘if the status of the object is profoundly changed, so also is that of the subject” (Lepecki 77). The object becomes the material moving the body as an object, in turn, the individual becomes an instrument of that which is crafting the movement score.
Phenomenology: This research is taking a phenomenological approach as the act of dance has the task of studying embodied experiences. Having an awareness of the essence of a lived experience, it is observing through this lens that I study several individuals who have shared in the same experience. Drawing from philosophy, we make meaning from separate consciousness and acknowledge phenomenological communication for interactions with others. “While I cannot know the body of the other as he lives his own unique rhythms and energies, I can know the body of the other as he dances it when we are dancing the same dance. Then we are moving a common presence, bound up together in the rhythm, space and present time of the dance” (Fraleigh 1996).
Spontaneity: In order to identify tasks which will propel connectivity and unintentional movement within and through the body, specific exercises are created, each encouraging the next allowing room for spontaneity. “Movement exploration is spontaneous, and the movements that come forth are unplanned. The process of exploration, however, is guided largely by suggestions that produce fairly brief movements” (Minton 13). It is through the moments trapped within this movement we are inspired to craft further tasks allowing our Practice as Research to unfold and acquire layers in sculpting the choreographic practice in relation to movement.
Updated April 2019