Thursday, March 19, 2009

a system of proposals

hello beauties.
After landing in Bruxelles today right in your arms, i feel i should write some thoughts i had after work. Susanne brought up a good point, one that we can already begin to think about for our meeting tomorrow-no, later today...yes, it's 24 hours i don't sleep....

After establishing this rotating leadership, we now need to find a clear way of letting it flow, so that the group knows where we are going, and that everyone's propositions are considered.
Susanne brought up that we need to find a way of organizing our proposals, and i would add that we also need to hear from everyone who has not clearly led yet, and just see everyone's individual desires.

Yoann will use his mojo to guide us.

i should add:
what has happened until now is that the organization of an event for the group has guided our focus, and this usually came from the initiator of that event. 2 clear examples are when i set up the museum night, found a space, and proposed a clear beginning structure which we then all molded together. In fact, that structure was born from mixing the first FUNCTIONS description of Barbie with a previous MEMORY FRAME that we had done together in November with Didier as a guest musician. Not bad, but i see that it might not always fall into place so well,
so yes,
we need a system.

As for the Namahn Residency, again i have mapped out a beginning point with Hall's The Hidden Dimension, about social organization of space, and this was born together with the Namahn team when we met and talked about WHAT COMMON POINT CAN WE BEGIN TO RESEARCH AS DANCERS IN RESIDENCY IN A DESIGN STUDIO? That's also what went in the dossier to the VGC. Sorry if i haven't been clear with my darting mails until now.

I realize that as we will be working in a dance studio inside a place of business(!!!), sound will surely be something to be very delicate with. Maybe this is why i've been so interested to confront music while we have the perfect space for it--before we are in an environment that might push us to explore with silence more instinctively than being free with sound.

However, I see there isn't enough time to give it the proper depth now, using the viewpoint-like frame set by the author of the Music Lesson, a Spiritual Guide through Music. BUT, good news--this is due to the organic process that we are in now. Which means, if we are onto something, let's really go deep. As I won't be there in April to follow sessions until the day of the Antwerp show, I can only imagine us continuing on the same track we are one now.

So go Barbie go, let's make this "function recipe" as elaborate as we can. Jokers and costumes, gypsy bands or not...

see you soon
d

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Functions

Today we continued work from last week into Landscape work. I introduced the concept of Functions.

In the beginning we did a warm up, squeezing the parts of the body, moving energy and liquids, to increase grounded and weight...For some people this was visible and felt heavy at the end, I realized while doing it that for instance if we project up, while standing position, when people are focusing on feet down, help a lot and finally feels light and not heavy at all.

For the concept of functions we have three new ones: filter, elaboration and mirror, the fourth function is the landscape that now start to be named as "source" and it is the starting point for the piece.

We wanted first to be free moving in space to practice functions but this didn't work so we got directly to the structure and "functions game".Someone has to stay outside, this person gives an order and a function to the group. Always starting by a source function that will be the producer of material. Example:
Boris source-mirror
Dome filter
Ana elaboration
Susanne mirror
Boris start his landscape, continue, Dome filter, then Ana elaboration of the material of Dome, and then Susanne mirror of Ana. Like this we continue until the material reduced so much that it disappears and disolves.
Definition of functions:
Mirror: copy as much as possible, the more similar, in time, space and quality
Filter: reduces material
Elaboration: this is the more open function, can change space and time
Source:landscape provides the material for the piece

Once one piece finishes another source start again and the game start over!!!!

We go for more next week, as we all agree will be nice to go farther with this. I am interested in this work to see different possibilities to create and develop material. Some topics:
Individualities in the same piece
Togetherness
Simplicity
No over production
Dissolving/disappearing
Fluidity

Barbara

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Museum Night Fever



PLUS: performances between 20-21hr & 21-22hr!! (15 mins per performance - See programme on arrival for times)

One ticket provides you entry to all other dance activities in the evening organised by Unik vzw, as well as entry into other museums open for Museum Night Fever. See http://www.museumnightfever.be

Thanks to Charleroi Danses

museum tryout and impressions

i was thinking about the rehearsal yesterday and some thoughts came up.  If you were there in the studio last wednesday, maybe you also felt that the events and actions were easier to see and work with at the raffinerie than in the museum.

When I stepped out, i noticed that a lot of concentration is taken by the space itself, so clarity is essential.  what i mean is that so much is going on already just by being there.  in a studio, the smallest action can be given importance by allowing it and nothing else to happen, thereby bringing a sort of "zoom" on the event.  but this isn't as simple in this space.  we are also writing IN RELATION TO THE SPACE and need to fit the event much more delicately in relation to it's specificity.

this is now a big challenge for us.  how to make choices in relation to the space and ourselves.  here are 2 things i remember thinking when i stepped out that i didn't think about while dancing:
"body as an object on display"
and
"the object looks back" (meaning: the object returns the gaze)

this is something that the space gives us just by being there.  whether we use this imagery or not is up to us.  but it is quite prevalent in that space....

i think one missing element was tuning score or warmup so that we can feel the space, each other, and our bodies before we make composition. maybe hanna has some thoughts on a viewpoints warmup to get us into the space on saturday?....