Material
queries
2018/2019:
If the source of the Unnamed Shapes pursuit is physical sensation and physical material, where and who does that come from? If I am not interested in it being solely the product of my own body/experience/expression, and I am not, I need a process that involves other bodies. Obviously. But also not. The translation/transaction between “dancer” and “choreographer” is just, complicated. Both interestingly uninterestingly problematic. Carefully crafting something on one body so often does not translate to a different body – and why should it? But still so frustrating when there are very specific ideas involved. I also want to see real-time choice-making, but within defined structures. Detail and specificity YES, but imposed upon what aspects and how sustained without loss of liveliness? How retained over time (decades now with this conundrum)? And then so much energy spent just navigating the logistics and cost of getting people together consistently.
Even harder now we’ve moved out of Seattle. But the UW bst residency will be a good time to explore - with playful people and workshops with them ahead of time.
OK. So if “choreography” for me is at present primarily navigating problems of people, translation and time (and really, when hasn’t it been?), then I want a process that lets the problems become the material. Lets them become functional coordinates. A bit like the Tuning Score*, where the negotiations are both named and in play.
Need to invent a generative form/process that:
can operate within limited time frames (lighter commitment for dancers, pay/scheduling)
can happen at a distance (living across the state from most)
creates movement material that interests me by accident or by selection (use timer for arbitrary extractions, as well as desire-based selection processes)
can be engaged in fully by dancers of many kinds, ages, abilities, sensibilities
each dancer can invest in imaginatively and physically, with personal memory markers
creates material about which each dancer has opinions and information they can report and/or act upon, and that can be transformed through scoring while still retaining specificity
creates material with clear spatial placement, pathways and orientation that are meaningful and individual to each dancer
allows me, in my own time, to formulate group choreographic arrangements and patterns to propose when we work in residency together
with embedded shaping tools (calls, scores) shared among us all and can be quickly employed in residency/performance
that generates camaraderie and trust among cast and myself through attention, play and shared contribution
is not entirely tethered to/clouded by my biases and preferences, surprises me
teaches me more about what choreography does
Invited to play: Sheri Cohen, Ben Goosman, Lavinia Vago, Will Courtney, Richard Arvey, Fox Whitney, Nan Little, Hendri Walujo, Mary Margaret Moore, Mark Haim, Yiran Wang, Belle Wolf, Amelia Reeber, Emily Stone
*Lisa Nelson’s Tuning Score, as described by Margit Galanter
