Composure - Part III session 3

July - November 2016

warm up:
-massage/invigorate/activate muscles of another
-which leads into finding a point of shared pressure of rolling/rubbing. we follow this point of contact and through the contact enable movement of the rest of the body/s.

we are both 50% giving and 50% receiving.

new options: 10% giving and 90% receiving OR 90% giving and 10% receiving. both people can shift between these three operating modes. can work in opposing or complimentary modes. This is not an indication of quality or weight or effort but merely a level of how much direction we are receiving or giving.

we must always be receiving direction/guidance through contact
to give well is to receive well
the reception of movement is already a gift of movement
receiving = listening
the partnership becomes one body, one organism (with several parts)

Biosis Duet
we mill and seethe and then
-catch (by a touch and then a melt into partner)
-throw (by calling out a name and throwing our bodies for them to catch)
-grab (by pulling someone into a fall/swivel/lift)

which becomes our Biosis Duet (partnership continues until someone (a lurker) interrupts/replaces/emerges

it's unpredictable (which heightens our focus/engagement)
we are in a trance
the separation is interesting -pull someone into a duet / -push someone out by pressing into the other / -call out name to catch self
the different modes of separation/beginning/ending offer different narratives
lurkers = not totally convinced of their role (aesthetically) but there is an element of suspense (when/how will they enter)
how do we enter - at the 'good' bit or after? hard or easy ? must be with full commitment!

what if the audience was circling as they watched???

Composure - Part III session 2

July - November 2016

Exploration of milling and seething layer groups including catch, throw, grab - increase awareness of the space and encouraging interactions with other shifters with a direct intention.
What happens when we merge these three options? It forms a mode of manipulative movement through which we found these options:
-Biosis Duet
     continual exploration of catch, throw, grab.
     what are the possibilities as an outsider during this interaction. How can we allow the continuation of movement without interrupting the flow. 
-Lurkers on the outside
     heavy engagement without physical interaction.
     Rip the duet apart to keep it together - actively encouraging change and development
-Provide a support as an escape rather than waiting on a 'jump rope' moment

IMPROVISATION
-Exploration of adaptation in regards to the mode of giving 'instructions' - or 'shaping' the shifters
 - this meant a more conceptual approach to direction, layering influences or meaning to existing movement rather than applying a physical change to a shifter
-Used one shifter as an 'informant' for another; Omea expressed an extremely rational explanation to the movement being used, and inspiration/keywords were taken from the dialogue by our shaper and given to another shifter, Cushla, as a movement or conceptual catalyst. This created an externally available relationship between the two performers without affecting their own perception of the interaction

Composure - Part III session 1

July - November 2016

warm up:
-lying, feeling comfortable, pushing, weight into floor, gradually moving to hands and feet then to standing
accessing body/weight/gravity to move the solo body

-connecting one body with another:
-coming together, using eye contact/sense contact then physical contact, transfer bodies together from standing to lying, separate, rise. repeat.
shared movement, reliant movement, reactive movement
-do the same from a distance.
the void between fills with the recollected imagining of the partner

IMPROVISATION:
-used a different (very small) space. this had an unexpectedly strong influence on our interaction with each other.
-used more props -interact with, extend from, relate through
-created story through familiarity with objects -chairs, curtain, piano
-used a specified start time and shaper invited the shifters into the space
-the first time we did not create a 'front' (before or during)

some questions:
-how can we identify how to 'get into' the improvisation? what is my access/axis point?
-shaper struggled to be on the outside looking in because of small space they physically were in the 'performance space' does the shaper need to be out looking in? how can they be in looking in?
-if a small space restricts physical possibilities, how do disregard the limitations to uncover alternate possibilities?

Composure - Part III

July - November 2016

Our intentions/aims/interests/goals for Part III

intentions:
-we will move away from using the words choreographer and dancer. We have replaced these terms with shaper and shifter and will use these to access new modes of creating, until new potential roles emerge.
-we will call our 'rehearsal' a session to move away from the notion that we are repeating movement to get better but rather, are constantly developing our collective practice and growing our personal skill set.

-Dancer is Shifter: they move, offer ideas, drive the piece; taking away the term ‘dancer’ also allows shifters to broaden the spectrum of material they create. -Choreographer is Shaper: they mould, meld, give structure to the piece.

aims in response to our feedback from 2 July showing:
-continue to work towards the option of the shaper being fully immersed in the work
-challenge our way of giving directions
-evolve our range of instructions and the form (physical, conceptual, abstract)
-develop our ability to say no to directions (while still providing constructive work)

interests:
-scene work
-vocal explorations
-structural/spacial design
-investigation
-the grid
-supported movement
-story making

goals:
-increase our improvisational stamina towards an endurance piece!
-individual goals and personal development
-collaborate with fresh shapers

From now, we will write weekly notes and findings from our sessions!

Composure - Part III

July - November 2016

Our intentions/aims/interests/goals for Part III

intentions:

-we will move away from using the words choreographer and dancer. We have replaced these terms with shaper and shifter and will use these to access new modes of creating, until new potential roles emerge.

-we will call our 'rehearsal' a session to move away from the notion that we are repeating movement to get better but rather, are constantly developing our collective practice and growing our personal skill set.

-Dancer is Shifter: they move, offer ideas, drive the piece; taking away the term ‘dancer’ also allows shifters to broaden the spectrum of material they create.

-Choreographer is Shaper: they mould, meld, give structure to the piece.

aims in response to our feedback from 2 July showing:

-continue to work towards the option of the shaper being fully immersed in the work

-challenge our way of giving directions

-evolve our range of instructions and the form (physical, conceptual, abstract)

-develop our ability to say no to directions (while still providing constructive work)

interests:

-scene work

-vocal explorations

-structural/spacial design

-investigation

-the grid

-supported movement

-story making

goals:

-increase our improvisational stamina towards an endurance piece!

-individual goals and personal development

-collaborate with fresh shapers

From now, we will write weekly notes and findings from our sessions!

x

Composure - Part II Showing Images

April - June 2016

Showing/Sharing at the Undisciplining Dance Symposium, University of Auckland, 2 July 2016

opening the piece

photo: val smith

Leah, Reece, Ben, Omea, Sione
photo: Karen Barbour

[Leah at back, directing] Ben, Reece, Omea
photo: Karen Barbour

Reece, Ben, Omea, Elle, Rodney
photo: Karen Barbour

Omea, Sione, Elle, Rodney [Leah + Ben at back, directing]

photo: val smith

entangled group, Reece

photo: val smith

Omea, Sione, Ben, Rodney, Elle, Reece

photo: val smith

Carol Brown facilitating our post-performance reflection

photo: val smith

Composure Part II - Showing

April - June 2016

Showing/Sharing at the Undisciplining Dance Symposium, University of Auckland, 2 July 2016

The Undisciplining Dance Symposium was an incredible gathering of dance practitioners, researchers, performers and creatives from around NZ and worldwide sharing their work as a way of unpacking the term 'undisciplining dance'. People addressed this in regards to education, performance, research, choreography -even in their mode of presentation! For us, this was an exciting context in which to share our work, an undisciplined approach to creating and performing work and in the undisciplined performance structure of informality and collective post-performance reflection.

Our performance was 20 minutes long. Leah began the piece with verbal communication to the dancers who responded physically in relationship with the space and the others. Throughout the piece the 'choreographer' role was transferred between people offering directions for the dancers to fulfill. We could start and stop sound tracks and the piece concluded with an (unfortunately silent!) alarm.

Our audience offered these thoughts/proposals/questions/offerings/possibilities:

cb: interesting inquiry into our modes of decision making = intuition vs choreographic understanding

nm: what if the choreographers were completely immersed in the piece?

    what if the choreographers were outside people, foreign to the project?

    what if the choreographers were the same but directing new people?

el: what is the mode of saying no?

   we have to push past our boundaries, we have to risk take, we have to go to those 'scary moments' -that is where we learn, where we make art, that is where the interest lies for the audience

ae: encouragement to see the process, the raw making rather than the finished product

al: how do we offer the instructions? is it a command / question / offer / suggestion ?

kl: what role can music, or a live musician, play in the live-creation of the work?

We are considering all of these ideas as we move into Part III.

Composure Part II - Showing

The Undisciplining Dance Symposium was an incredible gathering of dance practitioners, researchers, performers and creatives from around NZ and worldwide sharing their work as a way of unpacking the term 'undisciplining dance'. People addressed this in regards to education, performance, research, choreography -even in their mode of presentation! For us, this was an exciting place to share our work, an undisciplined approach to creating and performing work and in the undisciplined performance structure of informality and collective post-performance reflection.

Our performance was 20 minutes long. Leah began the piece with verbal communication to the dancers who responded physically in relationship with the space and the others. Throughout the piece the 'choreographer' role was transferred between people offering directions for the dancers to fulfill. We could start and stop sound tracks and the piece concluded with an (unfortunately silent!) alarm.

Our audience offered these thoughts/proposals/questions/offerings/possibilities:

cb: interesting inquiry into our modes of decision making = intuition vs choreographic understanding
nm: what if the choreographers were completely emmerced in the piece?
       what if the choreographers were outside people, foreign to the project?
       what if the choreographers were the same but directing new people?
el: what is the mode of saying no?
     we have to push past our boundaries, we have to risk take, we have to go to those 'scary moments'      -that is where we learn, where we make art, that is where the interest lies for the audience
ae: encouragement to see the process, the raw making rather than the finished product
al: how do we offer the instructions? is it a command / question / offer / suggestion ?
kl: what role can music, or a live musician, play in the live-creation of the work?

We are considering all of these ideas as we move into Part III.

Composure Part II - Images

April - June 2016

a few moments of our improvisation explorations

Regie, Omea, Elle

Composure Part II

April - June 2016

Our explorations last year were so interesting and informative that we decided to continue working! With a new collection of dancers we began working again, developing our methods of live-composition. We worked with a practice-as-research approach to making choreography, intrigued in our personal and collective modes of live decision making.

We worked once a week within this loose structure;
-task to c/entre the body and the group
-task to create/build our collective language
-task to develop our awareness and our decision making patterns
-1 or 2 long improvisations
-reflection / discussion

The reflection / discussion at the end of each session is where the value of our learning lies. We place a strong emphasis on asking questions of ourselves and of the group ...
what are my preferences/automatic responses?
how can I harness/oppose those instant choices?
what and how am I contributing to the overall piece?
what am I interested in as a choreographer
what is the relationship between choreographer and dancer? (do we need to use different terms!?)
what tools do we need?

Composure Part I - Images

July - September 2015

a few moments from our improvisations

Elle, Cushla, Omea, Sione

Cushla, Omea, Elle, Sione

Ben directing Cushla, Elle, Sione, Omea

Georgia, Cushla, Rodney, Reece, Elle

Cushla, Georgia, Rodney, Mariafelix, Reece, Elle, Sione

photos: Leah

Composure Part I

July - September 2015

Ben and Leah were choreographic partners for our student choreography project in our final year at Unitec. We worked with eight dancers but also incorporated 'the mass' -the rest of the class (16 more dancers)- into the performance.

The practice of Composure emerged during the rehearsal project; initially we were interested in the way the crowd can hide and reveal the dancers/dancing and we began creating large scale group structures for the dancers to move in/around/under. During group showings Ben and Leah directed the rest of the class amongst the dancers' choreographer -it emerged that this direction and response was the most interesting action to watch! And so, we shifted down this path of showing the choreographers direction, developing a method of working that was foreign, exploratory, exciting, and terrifying! Each rehearsal, Ben and Leah began with a task which would lead to an improvisation, usually an hour long, and we concluded with a discussion -what worked, what didn't work, what language were we building and how each of us operated within the improvisation. From the improv and the discussion Ben and Leah would develop the following rehearsal's opening task as a way to continue to broaden our improv skills, build our shared language and open the improvisation. We worked in an immersive, accumulative way and totally trusted the process!

Our performances (six show season) were a 12 minute improvisation. The dancers had three suggestions on a card, their acquired history of moments and interactions, our language, and their improvisational skills. Ben and Leah directed 'the mass', conducted the music operator and shaped the overall piece. The audience saw a large countdown timer, heard some directions/were excluded from others and attempted to make sense of the organised chaos! Our programme notes said: This is live composition, for you, tonight. It will never be done again.

Overall this process was completely successful in encouraging us to work in a trusting, open, non-prescribed way; in encouraging us to explore improvising as a method of both practice and performance; in encouraging discussion/investigation into methods of creation and the relationship between choreographer and dancer; in igniting an interesting mode of working that we wanted to continue after leaving dance school!


List of explorations/tasks/concepts we developed:

-milling and seething [catch, throw, grab]
-investigations [up close, distance, with body]
-x8 highly choreographed phrases
-marshmellow phrase (movement quality)
-duets [separated OR together]
-screaming grotesque faces
-symbiosis (functioning in an old way with a new partner)
-pulling duet
-long drop duet
-CHANGE [focus, level, dynamic, intention, speed, use of body, relationship, resistance, effort, intensity, awareness of others, vocals, performance, influence of sound]
-holding hands
-compose space
-drop [click]
-keys
-G.E. therapy
-MF singing

Opening Notes

Composure is an improvised creative practice that Ben and Leah developed during their student choreographic season in their third year of the Contemporary Dance programme of Unitec’s Performing and Screen Arts department, Auckland, 2015. In 2016, with a revised group of dancers, they continue Composure. As part of the practice the group reflect and discuss at the end of each session; what they've discovered/uncovered/recovered and learnt about themselves as makers/movers and about the process of collectively creating choreography. From July, the beginning of Composure Part III, these reflections will be recorded on this blog. (We'd love to hear comments, thoughts, input from any interested parties!)