Wednesday 10 May 2017
Thursday 7 April 2016
Inquiry: A Choreographic Promenade
Le corps de la graphie
In order to research about the
choreographic process and collaboration, I first decided to focus on the idea
of choreography, as a word, as a concept.
In my opinion choreography is not
just about putting steps together that look visually pleasing. Like in any art
form, the craft of the choreographer requires much more than aesthetics. That
is why I am particularly focused on modern dance, which emerged en masse in the
80’s but can also be traced from the beginning of the twentieth century with
Isadora Duncan and Vaslav Nijinsky for example.
Let’s start with the word: CHOREOGRAPHY
Françoise Cruz wrote Angelin Preljocaj Topologie de l’Invisible,
about the choreographer Angelin Preljocaj. She separates the word in two parts
as you would but poetically reverse it and calls it ‘Le corps de la
-graphie/The body of the –graphy’. Insisting on the idea of writing, Cruz then
goes into the different notation systems and ways of writing dance.
In 2015,
Magali Nachtergael (lecturer in literature and contemporary arts) and Lucille
Toth (dance and literature researcher) decided to research about the links
between dance and literature in a co-written research: Danse contemporaine et littérature, entre fictions et performances
écrites/Modern dance and literature, pathways between fictions and written
performances. In their introduction they also describe choreography
etymologically: khoreia, dance, graphy, writing. From that definition they dig
into the pathways between dance and literature:
‘The word ’literature’ is therefore understood in its large
understanding, free from any catch and that communicates with the unutterable,
in the great tradition of hermetic poetry, an abstract poetry that resist to
meanings and comprehension.’
I find their approach
particularly interesting, it implies a certain poetry of the body, no
embellishment just the ink that a body leaves on our mind.
The text of the body
Nachtergael
and Toth also talk about ‘keeping track of an ephemeral gesture’, which is a
core concept to choreography. In their description they go beyond describing
the notation systems (Feuillet, Laban, Benesh) and go into ‘idiosyncratic writings, sometimes inspired
by semiology and linguistics, like the Improvisations Technologies by William
Forsythe or the body-text by Pina Bausch, that make dance and text meet,
discreetly inviting the text to restlessly reincarnate and reinvent itself in
the bodies’. Isn’t that one of the most beautiful and poetic ways one could speak
about choreography? Although literature
is at the core of this particular research, I find this approach fascinating
and I feel like it could also be applied in classical ballet what do you think?
Perception
A concept that really inspires me
is the one of perception. After seeing two of her pieces live and a lot of
videos, Pina Bausch has definitely managed to trigger my perception. Etel Adnan
describes it beautifully in a text published in a German newspaper Theatre der Zeit in September 2009:
‘Pina Bausch opened the doors of perception to
us using dance, the most magical, primitive and most sophisticated of all the
arts.’
In my interpretation, Adnan means that all the
little things that we perceive have been re-united by Pina Bausch in her work.
The way he describes dance with these three words ‘magical’, ‘primitive’,
‘sophisticated’ values the fact that dance has travelled so much through
history and traditions, it implies its religious aspect through history,
different cultures dancing for different gods. Dance is enriched from its
history and Pina has used that.
Rosita
Boisseau, journalist and critique for Le Monde and Télérama, author and
exhibition manager, wrote Panorama de la
danse contemporaine in 2008. It features a hundred modern choreographers
and their highlights. In her introduction Boisseau talks about the audience and
the idea of perception:
‘There are numerous audience members who search again and
again the access codes to an art that is closer to the irrational than it is to
logic: not to criss-cross an oeuvre but to relish the interstices, where
everyone’s imagination has the freedom to slip in order to blossom. The artist
Marcel Duchamp liked to say that it is the spectator that makes the oeuvre.
Depending on whether they give themselves this right, trust their
perceptions, open without any complex the valves of their subconscious. It is not
just about consuming, but about enjoying inventing our own vision.’
Aspiration
In 2010, The Pina Bausch Foundation publishes this text
about Pina. In my opinion, it says great things about being a choreographer and
how it affects the public:
‘Constantly expanding her horizons, and yet remaining at one
with herself; searching, undeterred, within herself, her dancers, life –what
moves us, who we are, where we live- with so much energy and patience, again and
again, finding, searching anew, examining everything precisely, laughing a lot:
that was Pina.
The pieces are preliminary findings, evidence of her search
expressed directly by the body. Dance. Life. This search has always existed and
will always exist, but what Pina had was the courage to listen to her feelings,
to trust them. That is what she gave –to her dancers, her audience, her
friends.
This courage, to listen to yourself, never giving up: this
is what we want to pass on.’
As an
aspiring choreographer, I feel absolutely inspired by these words. I have
always been so moved by Pina’s way of translating life onto the stage. It makes
a difference when you witness someone’s work that shows their total immersion
within their search (of movement, of life…).
Professional Inquiry
Choreography is about life
translated into the body, it’s about recreating those little things that we
think don’t matter. That weird gesture I do with my fingers when I’m nervous,
the way I use my tongue when I’m focused, The image of a plumb line and gravity
when I do my first plié… the possibilities are endless to make people perceive
their own life within the dance.
This is a
snippet of what I am coming across in my research. All opinions/comments are welcome as
well as all interpretations.
Sunday 20 March 2016
A reflection on Ethics and Professional Practice
Reading about Professional Ethics and Ethics in general
(Reader 5) was fascinating. It is a topic that is so present in every aspect of
our lives. Dance, like any professions,
have its ethical issues and it is, in my opinion, our duty to make sure those
are dealt with.
As a dancer, ethical issues are raised on a daily basis. I
have to be careful to respect the works of art made by choreographers/artists.
If I change a step in a ballet simply because I cannot do it without telling
anyone, how do I know whether the mind behind the work would care or not? I might
be bringing the work to another direction without even knowing. That is why it
is always important to ask the artistic authority, because in theory they would
have the keys to answer the issue.
When a choreographer creates movement, it is easy to steal
vocabulary from other choreographers. Where is the line between copying
(plagiarising) and being inspired by? I personally enjoy seeing a reference to
another choreographer in an artist’s work as long as the reference is obvious,
or mentioned. Claiming someone else’s work as our own is not even tempting. As
a creator, ‘a writer of movement’, where is the thrill when the movements,
phrases that you unveil belong to somebody else?
Another example is the one of personal benefits versus
external individual’s benefits. Some very talented dancers can have down times,
low confidence and injuries which could benefit other dancers’ in their career
and that’s the way a company goes. But creating doubt, a loss of confidence, or
a physical injury on a peer is certainly, in my opinion, wrong. It seems easy
to answer but it actually is not. Human beings are capable of despicable things
to access their selfish desires and we all know that. What we sometimes do not
realise is that it happens on every level. I am career driven, I want to know,
learn, experience as much as I can, I want to be successful… but not to the
price of my conscience and my good will. My peers, my contemporaries are the
people who make me grow and they each have a life with a past, stories,
culture… why would I want to harm a life that is worth the same as mine?
I have vivid memories of the ballet school where ethics were
not respected. Weight loss or gain, other physical aspects of the body and
technique were topics that were constantly brought up in the classroom. Ballet
teachers thought it was okay to tell a teenager that she was ‘fat’ in front of
the whole class. This kind of behaviour can actually destroy a human and I
strongly disagree with it. Honesty is the most important virtue in my opinion
but public humiliation is not. There are ways of being honest without having to
hurt the person but by committing in helping them towards becoming a better
dancer.
There could be many examples of the disrespect of the rules
of ethics in the world of dance. The young generation of dancers that I am part
of is responsible for making a change. I do not want the students of today to
go through what I have been through as some kind of revenge. I think
Professional ethics is about helping others, but also help our selves to
achieve goals, it is a balance between the self and society to make sure that
everyone live in a world where they feel fulfilled without having to compromise
either on our own or other people’s achievements.
What do you think?
Friday 26 February 2016
Shaping my inquiry
Throughout Module 1 I
came to the conclusion that I wanted to explore choreography and
artistic collaborations as part of my inquiry.
Joining the Module 2 group skype was very beneficial and made the
concept of researching a lot clearer.
Concerning this topic, I will be researching in the
following areas:
-Choreographers talking/reviewing their own work
-Other people reviewing/setting a choreographer’s work
-Choreography as a concept, its definition
-Artistic collaborations that involve choreography.
-The ways of documenting choreography
I am particularly passionate about the field of modern dance and wish to know more about different choreographer's creative process so I can shape my own in order to one day put on my choreographies on stage.
I would really appreciate if fellow students could get
involved in my topic, share their experience, knowledge, sources.
Thursday 5 November 2015
The Networked Professional
After re-reading Reader 3 and the additional readings, I
actually found the ideas and concepts of networking and connectivity really
interesting.
Cooperation:
I think, in general, cooperation is vital. Axelrod started a
research about cooperating, wondering about the concept on a personal level and
on a business level. He made up a game, the Prisoner’s dilemma. When should one
be selfish? When should one cooperate? Those are the questions that formed the
starting point of Axelrod’s theory. He found out that the winning combination
was starting with cooperation and ending in imitation, ‘TIT FOR TAT’.
In a way, I feel like we should cooperate to fulfil personal
desires. Sometimes working together with people for a cause that is fair is the
best feeling.
In a business point of view, I’d say that’s when cooperation
really comes into play. Of course, being a business shark is going to bring you
a lot of money and that is no one’s secret, but at the end of the day, is it
money that we really want? Instead of making money on top of people’s back,
businesses should consider primary industries (farming). Ethical businesses are
starting to grow but it is still not enough.
Affiliation:
The idea of affiliation is something that I think affects me
generally in my life. It’s a hard one! First it needs to be balanced, so one
needs to be conscious of the amount of affiliation that one needs in order to
be content. That is already a hard job, and on top of all of that, one can also
be rejected by others (even though one feels like there is some affiliation
there). The idea of the ability to affiliate with people being genetic is quite
interesting. I can indeed relate to my parents and their relations to others in
the way I interact with people. Once one finds their perfect amount of
affiliation, it is full of positive outcomes as one starts to belong (share
views, opinions, being challenged by other’s point of views). Crisp and Turner,
in Essential Social Psychology (chap
11), mention that affiliation also depends on culture and countries. I find it really
interesting as I have lived in 3 different countries. I actually came to notice
that the way to affiliate with people was so different in each of those
countries. I, personally, take time to connect with people but when I am
finally affiliated to them, the outcome is usually a deep, rich and meaningful
friendship.
Social Constructionism:
This concept is almost disturbing nevertheless so
interesting. It makes sense somehow that all our knowledge is built from
interacting with other people and seeing the world as such. Michael Crotty’s Constructionism: The making of meaning is a really good read. It
really opens the possibilities of how to see the world. What I like is that it
makes you doubt about what you know and also makes you realise that each person
has a different ‘knowledge’ that is built on a different social background and
interactions.
Connectivism:
This concept goes hand in hand with the concept of Web 2.0.
Although Siemens’ Connectivism, A learning Theory for the Digital Age was
a challenging read, I appreciated his theory. I am not sure whether I agree
with it fully, I feel like the basic ways of learning (objectivism, pragmatism,
interpretivism) are still more valid. I
feel like Connectivism, although it makes knowledge accessible in a glimpse,
almost restricts the kind of knowledge that one receives. If one is now part of
an Internet community, then the knowledge acquired is usually just meant to be
accessed by one certain community (one’s vision of the world can become
narrow). To me, it somehow limits human interactions.
Communities of practice
As an aspiring choreographer, the Community of practice is a
major concept to me. If I want to put my own work on the stage it is not only
the choreography that matters, in fact it does not matter at all if this one
doesn’t fit with all the other departments involved. I made a list of all the
people that I would need to put on my on show, and the list is quite long. From
designer, to stage manager without forgetting lighting designer and producer …
everyone has a role to play and that is the beauty of art. I want to be a
bridge in between all these people creating beauty around my choreography. And
they are people with whom I need to share a similar vision of art and of the
particular show that I have in mind. It’s no easy task!
To sum up, I think networking is essential in every field,
especially in art. Reading more about affiliation and relationships made me
learn new ways of approaching the world. I cannot wait to use those principles
into directing my own show with my ‘Community of Practice’ (Although I still
dislike the word ‘community’). To me the
thing that makes great art is the mix of different art forms, because it is all
linked, there is no point in staying within our own artistic community. There
is actually not much difference between a dancer, a painter, a comedian … it is
all art. It is all people sharing their souls. The Canadian film director Xavier
Dolan uses that concept as well, he is the linking idea thread of everything.
He surrounds himself with a team of brilliant actors, designers, technicians,
producer …
Networking should only be positive and should not be used to
harm anyone. It’s a shame that all brilliant concepts can become our worst enemies
if not used properly.
Sources :
Axelrod, R. (1984) The evolution of
cooperation. London: Penguin. Serendip (2005) ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’, Available
from:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/playground/pd.html.
Crisp, J & Turner, R. (2007)
Essential social psychology. London: Sage
Crotty. M. (2005) The foundations of
social research: meaning and perspectives in the research process, London:
Sage.
Siemens, G. (2004) Connectivism: A
Learning Theory for the Digital Age
http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm (Accessed 25 July 2012)
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