Seven Thirty in Tights

Seven Thirty In Tights

April 28th 2013 at Sophiensaele

“Picture the ballroom dance of the future.  Imagine this dance and its consequences are the result of an intense physical dialogue between dancers – an interaction of distinct group decisions in which all react to the impulses of the others and have to find answers in a split second.  Now imagine this dance was a political practice.” - from the program

I saw another piece by Frédéric Gies several years ago and I had the same problem with this one as I did that one.  He adds too many other elements to the stage space that the physical actions lose value or I can’t tell what he values about them.  The last performance had explicitly stated BMC exercises paired with music by Madonna and a large rug like object hanging from the ceiling upstage.  I don’t have or remember the program notes from that piece, so I can’t say what Gies’ goal was in juxtaposing those elements together.

With this piece, he wants us to picture the ballroom dance of the future.  The dance we see is a group tuning score about decision making and reacting to others, i.e. improvising.  By asking us to view a type of event that is very much of the present (group improvisation) as the ballroom dance of the future, is he saying that in the future scored group improvisation will be a rigid codified form of dance.  Looking at another form of group decision making and reacting, the contact improvisation jam, we are well on our way.  Contact Improvisation is all but a codified social dance with defined movements and roles.  But Gies and company were not engaging in contact improvisation, at least not in the normative sense of contact improvisation.  But as they were improvising and coming in and out of contact, the performers in Seven Thirty In Tights could be viewed as engaging in contact improvisation.  After all who determines the tools used in a performance – the doers or the viewers?!!?

For me this piece suffered from a flat ontology.  All elements had equal value.  The physicality didn’t change that much through out the 60 minute plus.  The dancers came in and out of manual contact, dancing alone or facing each other.  There was some change in tempo, initiated mostly by the female all dressed in red.  Well, maybe the elements didn’t have equal value, but I felt that there was so much sensorial noise generated by all the non-dance considerations of the piece, that I couldn’t help but be preoccupied by wondering about the reasons for those elements, thus lowering for the valorization of the corporeal elements.  I tried to enjoy the physical actions of the performers (and there were some well trained people performing whom I have enjoyed watching in other performances) but I couldn’t get past the neon lights, the costumes, the tape on the floor, and the program notes.

The physical practice in the piece was not of the future, so maybe the tights, the lights and the tape indicating the 4^th wall are elements from the future.  But colored fluorescent tubes (a possible Flavin reference?), non-proscenium stage spaces and tights are also not of the future.  So is it then the combination of group real time spontaneous composition with the, lighting, costuming, and staging that create the ballroom dance of the future?  Or is it up to us, the viewers who have read the program to picture the dance of the future, inspired by the elements presented? (Representation, once again rears its ugly head!)

Another element of the program statement that lowered the valorization of the corporeal elements of the performance was the directive to imagine the dance as a political practice.  I felt that in order to do that more fully and in the direction that the choreographer intended I should have attended the lecture by Sylvie Tissot that took the day before I attended the performance.  Was this piece a political practice because it was more improvised than choreographed?  Was this piece a political practice because the individuals were able to make their own decisions within a larger set of considerations?  Political because tax dollars are supporting the work?  Who determines the politics – the doers or the viewers?

In summation – I did see some dancing I enjoyed[*], solo body and group, but the staging and sartorial choices were too aesthetically noisy overwhelming the dancing itself.  The program notes were too generic and could be applied to any dance, performance, or sporting event for than matter.  Maybe instead of generic, I should say open.  But for me the program notes/framing/contextualization were way too open.  Isn’t part of the artist’s job to focus our attention?

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[*] When the group rotated through space along the perimeter of the performance space delineating the boundary between audience and performers.

When the group came to a long diagonal…Doris Humphrey is right!  

When in a long line the dancers changed location within the line.

Energetic Charge

"With an acute sense for the inherent potential contained within ordinary objects and natural materials as well as for the placement of objects within a space, both artists manage to give their arrangements an energetic charge."

The above quote is from the description of an exhibit currently at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin.  I hope to see the exhibit.  I quite like the art in the picture.

What caught my eye in the text is "inherent potential" and "both artists manage".  I do not dispute that ordinary objects have inherent potential.  Some more than others. (a fully charged capacitor, for example.  Or a tub of water atop a large hill.  ha!)

Funnin' aside, I understand that phrase and the drama of space - placement of objects.  What I don't understand is pairing that phrase with "both artists manage to give their arrangements an energetic charge". 

If the objects have inherent potential, then it should be impossible to not give their arrangements an energetic charge.  Just throw them out there, and boom! you're done.  The problem lies with the word "managed".  To me it signals some kind of skill, or ability that imbued the arrangements with energetic charge.  Maybe it's a translation issue.  Maybe the artists unleashed the potential energy creating a static, yet kinetic, arrangement.

It would be more impressive if the artists had used objects and space that have no potential and managed to create energetic charge.  

But...what spaces have no potential?
What objects have no potential?

Or maybe used objects and spaces of great potential and created arrangements of absolutely no charge.

I'd go see that!

Compare and Contrast

and

granted, it could be said that we are looking at apples and oranges as one performance has audience on three sides, live music, and video.  But I would say that these two performances are more alike than they are different.  I am most interested in the spacing, placing, and pacing of the kinespheres and how they differ in the two pieces.

A Few Thoughts on

 After Trio A

Andrea Bozic

HAU 2

19:30 7.12.12

Why did the female performer follow the male performer?

Why did she wear short sleeves and he long sleeves? Is that a reference to the phallus?

Why did she wear Nike and he Adidas?

Why did her shoe laces match her shirt, but this was not the case for the male performer?

Interpretation…always confusing…how are we supposed to know which elements to interpret?  And how? And if the piece is intended to be interpreted at all?

All that aside – The energies of the performers were quite different.  She approached the process of following a video of him following a video of Trio A danced by Rainer with much a much more task-oriented energy.  When I watched him I felt that he was performing personality more than following the process.  His energy was flying out to the audience instead of being channeled into the attempt to following the choreography.

But it is almost irrelevant, in my opinion, that the choreography from Trio A was used.  Any choreography would suffice.  As someone who is interested in the spectrum of deliberation in relation to choreography and improvisation and how a dancer responds to visual input, I am more interested in the process of instantaneous recreation than what the material is that is being recreated than the fact that Trio A was used.  The choreographer was asked to make a new work in relation to an historical piece and she chose Trio A.  Not a bad choice, I say, being a fan of the piece.  Also using such an iconic piece as a reference gives instant gravitas to this piece.

I am more interested in watching the body/mind of the dancer puzzle out the pathways in the moment, giving it the old college try and not commenting on it during it.  For this reason, for me Lito was more engaging, and truer to the spirit of Trio A, than Felix.

Moshpit Simulation

Met a Four

...by using tools from schools of thought that deal in metaphor, we end up constantly looking for metaphor...

discuss

Technique trains instinct

Another definition for Contact

Con -
1. a prefix meaning “with,” “together,” “in association”
2. a verb meaning "to commit to memory" or "to study or examine closely"
3. an adverb meaning "on the negative side" or "in opposition"

4. a verb meaning "swindle", "manipulate", "persuade", or "cajole"

Tact -

1.a keen sense of what to say or do to avoid giving offense; skill in dealing with difficult or delicate situations.
2.a keen sense of what is appropriate, tasteful, or aesthetically pleasing; taste; discrimination.
3.touch or the sense of touch.

CI is like Champagne

Only bubbly white wine

that comes from the region of 

Champagne, France 

is given the name 

champagne.

Contact Improvisation, some people maintain, is more than just a physical practice.  It is a political movement, a way of life, a way to interact with our fellow humans and the world.  Some might even go as far as to say CI is a social modality that can change the world.

Contact Improvisation was not created in a vacuum.  It arose in the United States during a time of great flux and change.  It was a time of great social and political upheaval.  Therefore, the environment in which CI arose is inherent in the form.

If CI is a political/social/gender/economic etc. movement then to truly understand CI one has to come from the same soil that birthed CI.

Therefore, I postulate, only Americans who were born in the '70s or later are fully capable of understanding CI.

Therefore, I postulate, only we, denizens of the United States of America, are able to fully understand what true self determination in the moment is and how to manifest it corporeally.

(it could also be that all the concomitant -isms that people attribute to the physical form of CI have nothing to with it, that it is purely the physical practice and form.  Yes, CI can be a tool for creating those -isms, but it is not those -isms.  A hammer can be used to build a house, but it is not a house.)

A defintion

Improvisation: bodies manifesting and dissolving dynamic temporal-spatial structures according to aesthetic and physical potentialities and proclivities in a planar arena.

Theater vs. Gallery or What vs. Where

If a dance piece is different in a theater than in a gallery, white box vs. black box, how would it change in a movie theater?
in an elementary school theater?
a high school theater?
a college theater?
the art gallery next to the black box theater at the college?
at a theater at a university, a university without a dance major?
in the theater of a university?
in the theater of a PAC 10 university?
in the foyer of that theater?
in the bathroom off the foyer of the theater of the PAC 10 university that doesn't have a dance major?
in a bus stop near that university?
the bathroom at that bus stop?
the bus that just left the bus stop?
the bathroom on that bus?
the Wendy's that bus stops at 3 hours later?
in the parking lot of the gas station?
next to pump number 3?
next to pump number 7 that Henry in a red and green plaid shirt is using to fill his Toyota Tundra's tank?

OK, forget all that.  Let's go back to a traditional performance space.

A sprung bamboo floor on a 15x10 meter rectangle of concrete with radiant heating.  The concrete is 20 cm thick.  Surrounding the dance floor is gravel.  This floor is in a room that has 5 other such floors and each one is surrounded similarly by gravel.  This room has windows on the north and south sides and has an arched roof. The walls are white; the gravel grey; the ceiling silver.  The east and west sides have brown sliding door 4 meters long and 2 meters tall.  Each door has a cement landing and benches.

Maybe this isn't a traditional performance space, but my dream studio.

OK, back to this piece...hmm...how about this - We, in the performance world, shall never make a new piece ever again, but agree upon 1 piece that we will all repeat in different contexts.  Never again will we have to worry about what we will do.  The only question is where we will do it.

P.S.
There are an infinite number of contexts (as there are pieces).
I rather make the pieces than the contexts.

More definitions

Dance is the theater of the object.

Theater is the dance of the subject.

The Essay That Describes Itself

This is the first sentence.  This is the second sentence.  This is the third sentence.  This is the fourth sentence.  This is the fifth sentence.  This is the sixth sentence.  This is the seventh sentence.  This is the eighth sentence.

This is the ninth sentence.  This is the tenth sentence.  This is the eleventh sentence.  This is the twelfth sentence.  This is the thirteenth sentence.  This is the fourteenth sentence.  This is the fifteenth sentence.  This is the sixteenth sentence.

This is the seventeenth sentence.  This is the eighteenth sentence.  This is the nineteenth sentence.  This is the twentieth sentence.  This is the twenty-first sentence.  This is the twenty-second sentence.  This is the twenty-third sentence.  This is the twenty-fourth sentence.

This is the twenty-fifth sentence and the first one of this paragraph.  This is the twenty-sixth sentence.  This is the twenty-seventh sentence.  This is the twenty-eighth sentence.  This is the twenty-ninth sentence.  This is the thirtieth sentence.  This is the thirty-first sentence.  This is the thirty-second sentence.

This is the thirty-third sentence and the first one of this, the fifth paragraph.  This is the thirty-fourth sentence.  This is the thirty-fifth sentence.  This is the thirty-sixth sentence.  This is the thirty-seventh sentence.  This is the thirty-eighth sentence.  This is the thirty-ninth sentence.  This is the fortieth sentence.

This is the forty-first sentence.  This is the forty-second sentence.  This is the forty-third sentence and contains the largest prime number yet in this essay.  This is the forty-fourth sentence.  This is the forty-fifth sentence.  This is the forty-sixth sentence.  This is the forty-seventh sentence.  This is the forty-eighth sentence.

This is the forty-ninth sentence.  This is the fiftieth sentence.  This is the fifty-first sentence.  This is the fifty-second sentence.  This is the fifty-third sentence.  This is the fifty-fourth sentence.  This is the fifty-fifth sentence.  This, the eight and final sentence of this paragraph, is the fifty-sixth sentence.

This is the fifty-seventh sentence.  This is the fifty-eighth sentence.  This is the fifty-ninth sentence.  This is the sixtieth sentence.  This is the sixty-first sentence.  This is the sixty-second sentence.  This is the sixty-third sentence.  This is the sixty-fourth sentence.

This is the sixty-fifth sentence.  This is the sixty-sixth sentence and the second of this paragraph.  This is the sixty-seventh sentence.  This is the sixty-ninth sentence.  This is the seventieth sentence.  This is the seventy-first sentence.  This is the seventy-second sentence and the final one of this paragraph.

This is the seventy-third sentence.  This is the seventy-fourth sentence.  This is the seventy-fifth sentence.  This is the seventy sixth sentence.  This is the seventy-eighth sentence.  This is the seventy-ninth sentence, which will be followed by the eightieth sentence.  This is the eightieth sentence.

This is the first sentence of the eleventh paragraph.  This is the second sentence of the eleventh paragraph.  This is the third sentence of the eleventh paragraph.  This is the fourth sentence of the eleventh paragraph.  This is the fifth sentence of the eleventh paragraph.  This is the sixth sentence of the eleventh paragraph.  This is the seventh sentence of the eleventh paragraph.  This is the eighth sentence of the eleventh paragraph and therefore the eighty eighth sentence.

This is the eighty-ninth sentence.  This is the ninetieth sentence.  This is the ninety first sentence.  This is the ninety-second sentence.  This is the ninety-third sentence.  This is the ninety-fourth sentence.  This is the ninety-fifth sentence.  This is the ninety-sixth sentence and if the author were to use the classic two thirds one third ratio point to have the climax, it would be here.

This is the ninety-seventh sentence.  This is the ninety-eighth sentence.  This is the ninety-ninth sentence.  This is the one-hundredth sentence.  This is the first sentence when proper grammar dictates that numerals can be used according to the Chicago Manual of Style and therefore the 101th sentence.  This is the 102th sentence.  This is the 103rd sentence.  This is the 104th sentence.

This is the 105^th sentence.  This is the 106^th sentence. This is the 107^th sentence. This is the 108^th sentence. This is the 109^th sentence. This is the 110^th sentence. This is the 111^th sentence. This is the eighth sentence of this paragraph, the 112^th sentence, and if you have been paying attention you would know that each paragraph so far has had eight sentences and therefore this paragraph is the 14^th paragraph.

This is the 15^th paragraph.  This is the 15^th paragraph.  This is the 15^th paragraph. 

This is the 15^th paragraph.  This is the 15^th paragraph.  This is the 15^th paragraph. 

This is the 15^th paragraph.  This is still the 15^th paragraph.

This, however, is the 16^th paragraph.  This is the second sentence of the 16^th paragraph.  This is still the 16^th paragraph.  This sentence, too, is part of the 16^th paragraph.  As is this one.  And this one, too.  This sentence, also, has the pleasure of being part of the 16^th paragraph.  This sentence is also part of the 16^th paragraph.  As is this one, the final sentence of the 16^th paragraph.

This is the first sentence of this paragraph.  This is the 130^th sentence of this essay.  This is the third sentence of the 17^th paragraph of this essay. Numerically, this sentence marks the halfway point of this paragraph.  This is the fifth sentence of this paragraph.  This sentence marks three quarters of the way through this paragraph.  This is the seventh sentence of this, the 17^th paragraph.  This is the last sentence of this paragraph.

This is the antepreantepenultimate sentence of this paragraph.  This is the preantepenultimate sentence of this paragraph.  This is the antepenultimate sentence of this paragraph.  This is the penultimate sentence of this paragraph. This is the ultimate sentence of this paragraph which is the final paragraph of this essay, the Essay on Nothing.

Logic determined beforehand

A piece is choreographed if the logic is determined before the piece begins.

Personnel vs. Content

I was just at the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival this past weekend.  Thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Sitting in on a class taught by a friend and fellow Lower Lefter, Leslie Scates, I listened to the discussion at the end of class.  One of the participants brought up the question of personnel vs. idea during the exercise of Number Score.

Usually, during Number Score, the content happening in the work/performance space changes when the personnel/dancers change.

This need not be.

How to train Number Score to focus on shifting personnel but maintaining the content?

Does Number Score inadvertently simultaneously train Jump Cuts?

How to train Number Score and not drop material?

Maybe beforehand determine what the material/content will be...

must investigate (though, I have always had trouble with Number Score.  Not that I think it is a pointless exercise.  I see its value, but I have (almost) never enjoyed it)

Another definition

Art is that which provides no comfort, gain, or reward to its creator.

European English

Due to whatever reasons (that I do not wish to go into), English is the dominant language of communication within the arts in Europe.  Maybe this is only true for dance and performance.  I have more exposure to that world than the worlds of painting, sculpture, etc. (I do not want to say visual art as dance, too, is a visual art).

The English used in the dance art world is slowly evolving to become another dialect.  It is neither the bastard English of the United States or the proper Queen's English of the United Kingdom.  It is becoming its own thing developed by the collective use of non-native speakers and ex-pats.

I became aware, or perhaps more aware, of European English after seeing a performance at HAU 3 in Berlin this past May.  The piece was Pulling Strings by Eva Meyer-Keller.  It is quite an intricate piece, a feat of organization.  Quotidian objects are raised, lowered, and activated, sometimes to comical effects.  My favorite moment was the spinning push-broom.  But I digress.

What caught my mind(eye) was the title - Pulling Strings.  Yes, that is literally what she and her collaborator did.  They pulled strings to activate the objects.  But the phrase pulling strings has a nefarious, manipulative aspect to it.  The phrase conjures up back room political machinations.  I did not see how the piece connected to such an idea.  The description on her website gave no indication that the piece was related to the manipulative meaning of the phrase.  As far as I could tell, Keller was not dealing with that meaning of the phrase, just the literal one.

The use of the phrase pulling strings, in a way, has become pure meaning, a literal phrase.  Does this mean, then, that people who do know that meaning or use of the phrase are saddled with extra context, context or meaning that has nothing to do with the piece?

Another student, who is French, in the SODA program did a piece in which she used several phrases with the word white and several kinds of animals - white rabbit, white horse.  I can't think of other ones at the moment.  She was unaware of the white rabbit of Alice in Wonderland or in the Jefferson Airplane song(also the same rabbit), White Rabbit.  Whenever I hear the phrase white horse I think of that great song by Laid Back, White Horse.  They're Danish, by the way.

My larger question is when a language is used by a non-native speaker how aware of the idioms and cultural context of that language should s/he be?  Can the artist ignore all that and use the language as a context-free tool for expression?  I would think that in a scene that is obsessed with context and dramaturgy, artists would have a greater concern for the use of language.

Or has all context been removed from English in continental Europe?