Dance Research, Choreography and Cognitive Science: The
encounter with the Creative Process-Analysis and Proposals for
support of the Creative Choreographic Process in Dance
Nefeli-Niki Oikonomou 511/2005034
University of the Aegean
Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering
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―I believe that action, if it is to be planned at all, must always be planned upon an
aesthetic base‖
Gregory Bateson
―Movement is the mother of all cognition: it forms the I that moves before the I that
moves forms movement‖
Jaana Parviainen
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3
University of the Aegean
Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering
Syros, 2012
Dance Research, Choreography and Cognitive Science: The
encounter with the Creative Process-Analysis and Proposals for
support of the Creative Choreographic Process in Dance
Nefeli-Niki Oikonomou 511/2005034
Supervisor:
Vasilis Papakostopoulos
Supervision Committee:
Vasilis Papakostopoulos
Jenny Darzentas
Thomas Spirou
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Εςσαπιζηίερ:
Αξρηθά ζα ήζεια λα επραξηζηήζσ ηελ νηθνγέλεηα κνπ θαη ηνπο θίινπο
κνπ γηα ηελ ππνζηέξημέ ηνπο, θαηά ηε δηάξθεηα εθπν́λεζεο ηεο
Γηπισκαηηθήο κνπ εξγαζίαο
Δπραξηζηψ ζεξκά ηνλ επηβιέπνληα θαζεγεηή κνπ θ. Βαζίιε
Παπαθσζηφπνπιν γηα ηελ θαζνδήγεζε θαη γηα ηελ ελίζρπζε ηνπ
πξνθεηκέλνπ λα νινθιεξσζεή απηέ ε εξγαζή α
Δπραξηζηψ ηελ θ. Τδέλε Γαξδέληα θαη ηνλ θ. Θσκά Σπχξνπ, κέιε ηεο
ηξηκεινχο επηηξνπήο
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Table of Contents:
Main Text:
PART 1
Entry chapters.................................................................................................................................. 10
Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 10
Organization of Thesis ....................................................................................................................... 10
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 1: Choreography .................................................................................................................... 13
1.1: Historical Context of Choreography: A Brief Overview ............................................................ 13
1.1.1: Choreography as notating ................................................................................................... 14
1.1.2: Choreography as story telling ............................................................................................. 15
1.1.3: Choreography as creating movement to express a personal and universal concern ............ 17
1.1.4: Choreography as making and collaborating ........................................................................ 22
1.2: Choreography today: a brief note of contemporary ideas ........................................................... 30
1.2.1: Kinesthesia .......................................................................................................................... 33
1.2.2: Empathy .............................................................................................................................. 34
1.3: Michael Klien: Choreography as an aesthetics of change .......................................................... 34
1.4: A Choreographic Vision: Deigning the emergence of creativity ................................................ 35
1.5: Art: a disclosure of truth ............................................................................................................. 37
1.6: Dance as ecology of creativity and Body-mind based creativity in Choreography .................... 37
Chapter 2: Some Examples of Chorographical practices ................................................................. 40
2.1: Pina Bausch ................................................................................................................................ 40
2.1.1: Process over Product ........................................................................................................... 41
2.1.2: Exercises that help the performer enter into the dynamic relationship of direct presence .. 41
2.1.2.1: Relationship to audience .................................................................................................. 43
2.2: William Forsythe: Improvisation Technologies ......................................................................... 44
2.2.1: Some Transcripts of Forsythe Lectures............................................................................... 45
2.2.1.1 Lines .................................................................................................................................. 45
2.2.1.2: Complex movement ......................................................................................................... 46
2.2.1.3: Complex Operations ........................................................................................................ 47
2.2.1.4: Approaches ...................................................................................................................... 48
2.3: Jeffrey Gormly: The practice of Flexistentialism and Social Dreaming ..................................... 49
Chapter 3: Dance Improvisation ......................................................................................................... 51
3.1: Dance Improvisation: A ―contemporary‖ tool from the past ...................................................... 51
3.2: Improvisation Techniques .......................................................................................................... 52
3.3: Improvisation and Complexity ................................................................................................... 52
3.4: Self-eco-re-organization, order and improvisation ..................................................................... 53
3.5: Improvisation: A dance of constraints and possibilities ............................................................. 55
3.6: Phenomenology of improvisation and post-formal thinking ...................................................... 56
Chapter 4: Implications of Cognitive Science to Choreography ...................................................... 58
4.1: The illusion of body/mind dualism and the body as a hole in Choreography ............................. 58
4.1.1: Different views of interpreting action and the ecological body .......................................... 59
4.2: Philosophical Implications of the Body-mind and of Body-based meaning: towards a
―Choreography of meaning‖ .............................................................................................................. 62
4.3: Embodied Creativity in dancers: the body as a thing to think with ............................................ 63
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PART 2
Chapter 5: Goal of Thesis-Description of the Research Topic ......................................................... 67
Chapter 6: Understanding the complexity of the problem ............................................................... 70
6.1: The problem domain ................................................................................................................... 70
6.1.1: Getting stuck ....................................................................................................................... 71
6.1.2: Habitual Movement ............................................................................................................ 71
6.2: A case study for further understanding: The Kinitiras Choreography Lab ................................. 72
6.2.1: General information for the Lab ......................................................................................... 72
6.2.2: The Research or the way to gain a better understanding ..................................................... 73
Chapter 7: The Research Methodology .............................................................................................. 75
7.1: Methodological Position ............................................................................................................ 75
7.2: Research Methodology and reasoning of selection..................................................................... 75
7.3: Sample ........................................................................................................................................ 76
7.4: Description of Measurement Techniques ................................................................................... 77
7.5 Process ......................................................................................................................................... 77
Chapter 8: Results ................................................................................................................................ 79
8.1: Action circles, flow charts and artifacts ...................................................................................... 79
8.2: Embodied Thinking .................................................................................................................... 82
8.3: Working modes and efficiency ................................................................................................... 84
8.4: Communicative modalities ......................................................................................................... 96
8.5: Center of Attention of Choreographer and Collapses ................................................................. 98
Chapter 9: Guidelines for the construction of an auxiliary tool for the Creative Process .......... 109
Chapter 10: Discussion-Conclusions ................................................................................................. 115
PART 3
Chapter 11: Examples in the Conjunction of Cognitive Science, dance and Choreography ....... 118
11.1:The Creative Action Theory of Creativity ............................................................................... 118
11.1.1: Geneplore model of creativity: The Act-first account of creativity ................................ 121
11.2: Ivar Hagendoorn: Dance Improvisation Techniques inspired by Cognitive Science.............. 123
11.2.1: Fixed-Point Technique .................................................................................................... 124
11.2.3: Reversals ......................................................................................................................... 125
11.2.4: Conversions .................................................................................................................... 126
11.2.5: Motor Schemas ............................................................................................................... 126
11.2.6: Global/Local ................................................................................................................... 127
11.2.7: Changing the Leading Movement ................................................................................... 128
11.2.8: Merging Motor Control and Perception .......................................................................... 130
11.3: The Choreography and Cognition Project: A Joint Research Project ..................................... 131
11.3.1:The Viewing and Parsing Exercise .................................................................................. 133
11.4: Creative Cognition in Choreography: A ethnographic study .................................................. 134
11.5: The IntuiTweet Project: A phenomenological Method For Dance Experimentation ............. 136
11.5.1: Intuition as a method ....................................................................................................... 137
11.5.2: Relational Aesthetics ...................................................................................................... 138
11.6: Spider Crab Project ................................................................................................................. 139
Chapter 12: Suggestions for future research ................................................................................... 141
References-Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 142
Appendix‘s....................................................................................................................................... 146
Πεξίιεςε ζηελ ειιεληθή γιψζζα ................................................................................................... 146
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Main Text:
PART 1
9
Entry chapters
This Thesis is an attempt to gain a better understanding of the Creative
Process in Choreography and is directed to the creation of guidelines for an auxiliary
tool for support of Contemporary Choreographic Practices. To encounter with the
research questions the exploration couldn‘t be only dance as a separate field. Wider
perspectives were needed and, to that extend, the dance-ontological research was
based on fundamental ontology, as for example the thinking of Martin Heidegger. The
research focuses mainly on the new orientations of dance, which stem up from the
1960‘s and the 1970‘s. In the case of this Thesis, the ―old‖ refers to the traditional
classical dance and the ―new‖ as the explorative practices that encounter dance in a
non- formalistic way.
Abstract
The wider context of the specific research is Dance, Choreography and
Cognitive Science. More specifically it is a multi-directional attempt to examine,
define and analyze Contemporary Choreographic Practices with contributions from
many fields such us Cognitive Science, Systemic Theory, Complexity Theory,
Cybernetics and Philosophy. The concept of Choreography is examined as an
―aesthetic of change‖, a practice of setting relations or setting the conditions for those
relations to emerge and the choreographer is seen as an active agent of evolution that
deals with patterns and structures negotiating intended change within his/her everchanging environment. The goal of the specific Research is the analysis and modeling
of the Creative Choreographic Process and the design of guidelines for a supportive
tool for Creative Choreography. The analysis was conducted throughout the
observation and participation of a 3 months workshop for professional dance
development, Kinitiras Choreography Lab 2011, at Kinitiras Residency Center. In a
general overview, the analysis conducted opens the discussion about possible
problematiques in dance creation and what we know about the creative value of
different working methods. It wishes to better understand what the center of attention
of the Choreographer is in each stage of the creative production, what problems
he/she mainly confronts, in what he/she works and how efficient these methods are
due to their goal. The guidelines suggested direct towards the development of a tool
that aims to assist the Choreographer and not to replace him/her. To conclude, the
domain of Choreography is a rich and evolving arena for research on the nature of
creativity and it has just recently begun the inquiry in its relation with different areas.
Hopefully others, too, will see the value of close observational and empirical study
of artistic creativity and the value of Choreography as an aesthetic experience for
gaining more knowledge about the self and the world.
Organization of Thesis
At the first part of the Thesis the wider context of Choreography is described
and a brief historical overview is given. Also some contemporary definitions inspired
by systemic theory are introduced and examples of Chorographical Practices are
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presented. Furthermore, Dance improvisation, which was used in the case study of
this Thesis, is examined and proposed as an efficient tool for creativity.
At the second part having as a starting point Phenomenology the concept of
embodiment is discussed and issues concerning movement, meaning and reasoning
are highlighted in order to arrive in the concept of embodied creativity, which is
crucial to Choreography. Additionally, the methodology of the Thesis, the analysis
and modeling coming throughout the case study, the results and further discussion are
presented. In this part also, the Thesis is directed to the development of guidelines for
the creation of an auxiliary tool that supports the Creative Process in Choreography.
At the last part, some examples of projects in the conjunction of Cognitive science,
dance and Choreography are given in order to support further research in this rich,
fruitful domain. Each project presents a different element and provides insights in the
field.
Introduction
Body practice and movement are natural needs of human beings and
especially today that the requirements of contemporary society indicate towards a
sedentary way of living the creative working with the body arises as a well promising
alternative. Dance (and Choreography in the same context) is an art that highlights
movement practice and has a variety of forms and styles. Many dance historians have
tried to give a specific definition of dance but none of them has been proved to be
sufficient throughout the years. The variety and breadth of this art reverse every stable
fact and the only general admission that can be made is that it brings human body and
movement in the center of attention. Furthermore, contemporary performances and
discussions extend the meaning and the substance of what a body practice can be. For
example, Ivana Muller, a contemporary choreographer, works a lot with speech and
thoughts and her choreographies are characterized as dance performances as the
―movement‖ of concepts, ideas and emotions are body based and can be
choreographed too. Joseph Jordania recently suggested, that dance was designed by
the forces of natural selection at the early stage of hominid evolution as a potent tool
to put groups of humans in a specific altered state of consciousness. This element of
dance as a potent tool of raising a different state of consciousness highlight its value
as an altered, expanded way of exploring, perceiving and understanding the world.
Dance has a variety of techniques, styles and categories and includes many
different artistic, aesthetic and educational approaches. In regard to academic dance
education, it can be noted that, in the early 1920s, the dance studies (dance practice,
critical theory, Musical analysis and history) began to be considered an academic
discipline. By the late 20th century the recognition of practical knowledge as equal to
academic knowledge led to the emergence of practice research (and practice as
research). A large range of dance courses are available including: Professional
practice (performance and technical skills), Practice research (Choreography and
performance), Ethnochoreology (encompassing the dance-related aspects of:
anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, area studies, postcolonial theory,
ethnography, etc.), Dance therapy, Dance and technology (new media and
performance technologies), Laban Movement Analysis and somatic studies. In
general, when speaking for academic dance training, there are some approaches that
are common in dance history which include: ballet, modern, post-modern and
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contemporary dance. In this Thesis these approaches will be associated with the
discussion.
Choreography is an evolving domain that recently shapes its form as artistic
research, so to say an esthetic experience that leans towards gaining more knowledge
about the self and the world. The last years, the choreographer is seen a designer of
conditions for allowing the emergence of dance.
Image 0.1: Trisha Brown, Revolution
Image 0.2: Ivana Muller, lecture performance
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Chapter 1: Choreography
Throughout the years, there have been a variety of definitions for
Choreography. This first chapter draws attention in two directions: Firstly it examines
some definitions, elements and examples of historical and present Chorographical
practices in order to contribute to a wider understanding of the field. Secondly it gives
some insights to contemporary discussions and approaches to give the wider context
with which the term Choreography will be associated in this Thesis.
1.1: Historical Context of Choreography: A Brief Overview
To open up the discussion of Contemporary Chorographical Practices it is
interesting to note some definitions and uses of the term Choreography throughout the
dance history and highlight some historical shifts that altered the substance of the
Choreographic labor. Throughout the historical overview some brief biographies and
term explanations/definitions will be given in order to frame in a more inclusive way
the context of this Thesis.
In Wikipedia Choreography is defined as ―the art of designing sequences of
movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also
refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation.‖
The Oxford English Dictionary offers two definitions for the world ―choreography‖:
the first defines choreography as the ―art of dancing‖ and the second describes it as ―
the art of writing dances on paper‖. The first identifies all aspects of dance as
choreographic, whether the process of teaching someone how to dance, the act of
learning to dance, the event of performing a dance, or the labor of creating a dance.
The other, used perhaps last time by Rudolf Laban in his Choreutics (1966), specifies
choreographers as those who aim to notate the spatial and rhythmic properties of
movement through the use of abstract symbols. Neither definition seems to depict its
current usage as the act of arranging patterns of movement and elements.
In the eighteenth century Choreography‘s definition as the art of notating
dances gave place for the separation of making, performing and learning dance. This
separation resulted the development of criteria for technical skill and expertise in
dance and also initiated the categorization in dance. This way of thinking about
choreography fell out of use in the nineteenth century and in the start of the twentieth
century choreography reemerged as the process of individual expression through
movement. Since then, the notion of choreography has been expanded, altered,
questioned and it‘s meaning have been proliferating.
To start tracing some roots, though, the world ―choreography‖ initially comes
from two Greek words: choreia, the synthesis of dance, rhythm and vocal harmony
manifest in the Greek chorus, and graph, the act of writing. Also the term is
associated with two other Greek roots, orches, the place between the stage and the
audience where the chorus performed, and chora a more general notion of space,
sometimes used in reference to a countryside or region. While choreia refers to a
process of integrating movement, rhythm and voice, both the other terms name places.
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Some of the first attempts to notate dances draw exactly upon these Greek
roots. Namely, Thoinot Arbeaut‘s treatise on dancing, sword play, and drumming,
Orchesographie (1589), Raoul Auger Feuillet‘s Choreographie (1700), Weaver‘s
translation of Feuillet, Orchesography (1706), and John Essex‘s application of
Feuillet‘s system to English country dances, For the Further Improvement of
Dancing, A Treatise of Choreography (1710). Also in the findings under the title
Orchestra (1618) Johannes Meursius gathered all the references to dance in Greek
texts. So to say, in the English language the term choreography has a shorter life. It
was first used at the end of the eighteenth century to refer back to the practice of
notating dances, instigated when Feuillet‘s Choreographie was translated by John
Weaver (as Orchesography or the Art of Dancing). The term chorography (instead of
choreography) was the effort of Essex to indicate a connection between the newly
invented notation and the well-known sub-discipline of geography. Concentrating on
the study of a region or landscape, chorography developed intensively in England
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a practice of mapping and also
describing and analyzing a locale‘s terrain and inhabitants. Although we cannot know
what motivated each of the authors to name their writings as they did, they all refer to
the same project and signal a complex relationship between process and place, a
relationship that was translated to a written document. Choreography thus started its
life as the act of reconciling movement, place and printed symbol. They saw no
opposition between the written and the live and they weren‘t afraid of potential loss of
some aspect of movement that might not be documentable (the notion of
documentation in dance emerges more in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries).
1.1.1: Choreography as notating:
Inventories, classification and travelling of dance movement
Arbeau‘s Orchesography was organized around a dialogue between
instructor and student that produced the classifications and descriptions of specific
dances. For each dance Arbeau wrote a brief history and a general sense of the
function and feeling of the dance. He, then, identified a basic set of steps with their
musical accompaniment in order to indicate sequence and timing. Feeuillet‘s system
differed in a great extend from earlier attempts to record dances because it broke steps
into constituent parts, posited as universal actions. His notation erased the locality of
dance steps in order to place all dancing on the plane of pure geometry where each
dance‘s details could be compared and evaluated. This kind of conceptualization of a
pure space, capable of being organized only according to abstract and geometric
principles, introduced a reorganization of corporeality as it supported the notion of
centrality that extends outwards in space. It reinforced the bodily experience of
having a center that extends into and moves through the un-marked space. Feuillet‘s
system migrated to England from Weaver, which began to study and apply this
system. He started notating his patron‘s (Court dancing Master Mr Isaac) dances due
to Feuillet‘s system and published a collection of them that stood as an inspiration for
many similar publications to follow. This empowered ―choreographers‖, those with
the ability to read and write the dances, to participate centrally in the circulation and
sale of dances, which became authored for the first time. Dances moved from city to
country across regional and national boundaries, entering a new economy of selffashioning based on hierarchies of sophistication, urbanity and inventiveness (Foster,
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2011). Feuillet‘s notation implied a different status for dance, in which the three
functions of composing, performing and practicing would, over time, became distinct
practices (before they were conceptualized as overlapping).
Image 1.1: Thoinot Arbeau, The Dance called ―La Gaillarde‖ from ―Orchesographie‖
1.1.2: Choreography as story telling:
Authorship, narrative and technique
By the 1740s and 50s, though, the boundaries of choreography as a system for
documenting dancing were evident. Although it helped the transmission of English
social dances, it fell short in preserving the actions of face and arms, the positioning
of dancers in relation to one another, and their interactions. These elements of dance
began to carry more of the dance‘s significance than the footwork and pathways in the
previous notation. As representation of emotions started to appear more in theatrical
performances of dance, audiences lost interest in the body‘s perambulations through
space, and became absorbed with the body‘s capability to paint a picture as it moved
from one gesture and position to another. In 1760 Jean Georges Noverre, composer of
a large number of full-length story ballets regarded Feuillet notation as obsolete and
incapable of capturing stage action, i.e. facial expression and groupings of bodies. He
identified an impressive number of skills that the Dancing Master should acquire:
painting (for its depiction of groups); poetry (for redefinitions of emotions); anatomy
(for how to train dancers); history, music and daily life (for the variety and liveliness
of his characters). The choreographer more and more, became a person that needed to
find a persuasive and visually acute story to tell and combine it with innovative and
appropriate movement perfectly matching to the music.
In the start of nineteenth century, Carlo Blasis, an Italian Dancing Master who
worked in London, identified, also, a set of skills, which reflected this dual
importance of teaching and creating dances. Blasis produced two lengthy studies of
dance, Traite Elementaire Theorique et Praqtique (1820) and The Code of
Terpsichore (1828) which discussed among others the crafting of the plot, the need
for spatial organization onstage and the evaluation of potential stories for use as
ballets. His extensive coverage of composition reflected the new genre of story ballet,
which became very popular, and he was the first to identify the distinctive labor
entailed in creating a new dance. In his work it is the first appearance of the term
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choreography as an art of making dances. The process of composition consisted
largely in selecting and arranging steps combined to one‘s physical appearance,
aptitude and temperament, but it did not refer to inventing new steps. He argued that
the Ballet Dancer, who knew different dances, could use them in order to provide
ballet with diverting innovations and this was combined with the ability to translate a
gripping narrative to danced action. The story was executed with technical brilliance,
defined by ballet‘s criteria and the result would ensure a marketable product and a
successful career. Instead of dance supporting an economy of mutual indebtedness, as
in Arbeau‘s time, dance now offered an opportunity to fashion individualized
commodities for public consumption (Foster, 2011). In story ballet, also, there was a
gendered division of labor: female dancers were more associated with the display of
dance while male dancers, although playing a supportive role onstage, typically
crafted the narratives and arranged the steps (choreographers). As Hegel states the
dance of this period did not evolve from a fundamental medium of expression because
it merely decorated story with movement.
Image 1.2: Carlo Blasis, story ballet
As mentioned before, Choreography‘s legacy as a system of symbols
demonstrating steps (notations) limited the borders of what dance movement is and
gave rise to dance virtuosity. An expert dancer was the one that trained very
intensively with this notated dances and could execute them brilliantly. Since the
steps were specific there was a very certain way to execute them and the dancers
could be compared. Though, instead of supporting variation through the infinite
combination of specific positions and steps, in story ballet, the narrative came to play
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an important role. The task of documenting dance was left to narrative, and
choreography as notation disappeared. The Choreographer arranged already known
steps in the context of a story and the dancers represented a role in the same time
executing movement with great virtuosity. Ballet developed widely as a technique
with very specific requirements and repertoire. In this sense, the term choreography as
notation fell out of use during the end of eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in both
French and English languages.
1.1.3: Choreography as creating movement to express a personal and
universal concern:
Opossition to classicism, Revealing and testing new things, (First
generation) modern dance
At the start of the twentieth century, the term ―choreography‖ came into new
and widespread usage, especially in the US and the UK and it specifically described
the act of creating dance. In the same era, a very important genre appears to the dance
field- that of modern dance. This genre opposes to classical dance from the beginning
and searches a new relationship with art and life, focusing on the fact that dance is
human expression. The strict virtuosity of the 19th century and the traditional hard
training are gradually changing and the new period leans towards the belief that every
expression of the self is an artwork. Three very important personalities influenced in a
great extend the dance community and initiated the searching for new ways of
moving-namely Loie Fuller, Isadora Duncan and Ruth St Denis. They regarded
themselves as artists and not as entertainers of the crowd. Fuller invented a type of
dance that combined lighting, color and fabrics and she liked to utilize scientific
findings in her art as, for instance, electricity. She did not care about movement or the
lines of the body in the scene but she was interested in the creation of optical illusions
and the imitation of physical elements with the help of light. For Duncan dance was a
personal response to emotional and aesthetical stimuli. She believed that everyone
should dance as he/she wishes. As she stated ― her first dance teachers were the wind,
the wave, and the flying of the birds and bees‖ (Sorell, 1986). Affected by the ancient
Greek spirit and nature, she wanted her movement to reflect physicality, the harmonic
dynamic of environment.
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Image 1.3: Isadora Duncan, physicality and nature
Furthermore, St Denis was affected from orientalism and exotism and she
thought of dance as a mystical and spiritual experience. She believed ―that dancing
means to feel as a part of the world‖ and that the unraveling of spiritual beauty
through movement is the natural progression of life and art. She suggested that pure
dance has no boundaries. Even more, she founded the first school of modern dance,
Denishawn, from which the ―first generation‖ of modern dance came up. In this
school studied some of the very important personalities of the 20‘s and 30‘s that
affected dance and Choreography, such us Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles
Weidman.
Image 1.4: Ruth St Denis, orientalism and spiritualism
Martha Graham, one of the students of the school, became a pioneer in
modern dance. She was inspired by Sigmunt Freud and Carl Jung and she focused, in
her way of working and choreographing, in breathing. So to say, her work was based
on a full range of emotion and breath that created the contraction and release of
tension in her movement. She was concerned with how form could be used to convey
a clear social message. Heretic, a choreography of her that was very successful, "was
constructed on a central group from which dancers broke away and returned only to
break away again in a different timing and phrasing." (McDonagh 1970). Graham
chose to emphasize contracted movement and to use movement sparingly leaving the
viewer to draw their own connections. She responded to her political context but
chose to create work that was not explicitly related to that socio-political context
(McDonagh 1970).
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Image 1.5: Martha Graham, contraction and release
In contrast with Graham, another important personality, Doris Humphrey,
wanted to discover beside from her self the ancient laws of the universe. She focused
on working with the influence of natural forces inside and outside the body. For
instance, the influence of wave and air (Water study) the biologic development
(Dances for Women) and the power of gravity. As Graham, she developed her own
technique that was based in natural moves such us walking, running, jumping, falling
and she could give an interesting theatrical result without emotional references. She
believed that ―the body moving gives rise to feelings on it‘s own‖. She speculated that
World War 1 made the artists reevaluate their mission: ―In the United States and in
Germany, dancers asked themselves some serious questions ―What am I dancing
about?‖.
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Image1.6: Doris Humphrey
Though the use of the term choreography as the creating of dance coincided
with the emergence of modern dance, the terminology was not, initially at least,
applied to that genre. As Graham recalls about her training in Denishawn ― I have
never heard the world choreographer used to describe a maker of dances until I left
the school. There you didn‘t choreograph, you made up dances‖. Instead it was first
used to identify the radical innovations in vocabulary and sequencing of movement in
ballet introduced by Nijinsky, Fokine and Diaghilev. Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev
(1872-1929) was a Russian art critic, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets
Russes, which gave ballet a new form. They broke the tradition of classicism and they
embraced innovations from many art forms. They cooperated with cubists, futurists
and surrealists, such as Max Ernst and Joan Miro. Many of the Ballet Russes
productions inspired the use of choreography to describe the blending of classical
steps with other sources of movement. Léon Bakst, artistic director of Ballets Russes,
together with Diaghilev developed a more complicated form of ballet with showelements intended to appeal to the general public, rather than solely to aristocracy.
The interpreters used the ballet steps and movement that have been universally
known; but they, also, introduced the starling dances of their regions and they freely
empolied the oriental and classical. The exotic appeal of the Ballets Russes had an
effect on Fauvist painters and the nascent Art Deco style. The company invited the
collaboration of rising contemporary fine artists in the design of sets and costumes.
Image 1.7: Nijinsky and Nijinska
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Image 1.8: Ballet Russes
In the same era (around 1910) in Central Europe there is one more revolution
in dance introduced by many artists. The central personality of this transformation
was Rudolf Laban, (1879-1958) a pioneer of modern dance in Germany. Mary
Wigman (1886-1973) and Kurt Jooss (1901-79), also, trace their roots and were
influenced by Laban. He was interested in the flow and rhythm of the body as a
defining factor in dance and to the connection of those elements to the spirit of the
dancer. Laban had an amazing capability of observing people and phenomena and he
suggested theories for movement. These theories were an effort to describe, interpret
and document human movement. Even today they are used as a tool by dancers,
actors, musicians, athletes, physical and occupational therapists, as they are one of the
most widely used systems of human movement analysis. His work laid the
foundations for Laban Movement Analysis (LMA)(that comprises of four main
categories-body, effort, shape, and space) and other more specific developments in
dance notation. He always thought about movement and was charmed from kinetic
models (Hodgson, 2001). Mary Wigman became a major contributor and collaborator
in Laban‘s studies. Her interests always pushed toward the more personal entrance to
the world of dance and the goal of her work was to push toward individual
expression. She was interested on establishing strategies for creating movement that
directly evoked feelings rather than pointing at them from the outside. As she says,
―My purpose is not to ―interpret‖ the emotions…My dancers flow rather from certain
states of being, different states of vitality which release in me a varying play of the
emotions, and in themselves dictate the distinguishing atmospheres of the dances…
Thus on the rock of basic feeling I slowly build each structure.‖ (Wigman 1975)
21
Image1.9: Mary Wigman
Whatever was the cause of transformation the word ―choreographer‖ became
very popular and, by the mid 1920‘s, specified the contributions of an arranger of
movement in a variety of genres. As Susan Leigh Foster (2011) notes ―Taken
upenthusiastically by those involved in the new modern dance, choreography began to
specify the unique process through which an artist not only arranged and invented
movement, but also melded motion and emotion to produce a danced statement of
universal significance.‖(pp.45) Also, as John Martin, dance critic of the era, says for
the role of the artist in the period:
―The major purpose of the artist is to make known to you something that is
already known to you, to make you share his revelation of something higher and
nearer the truth, to rob the material symbol of some of its appearance of substance and
disclose the essence, the reality, of which it is a transient representation.‖
Furthermore the use of Choreography to name the creative act of formulating new
movement to express a personal and universal concern was also supported by the new
pedagogy in dance education in universities across the US. By the 1940‘s the
choreographer was one who could synthesize the knowledge gained through the study
of compositional craft with a vision, a process that reinvited for a dance that deals
with universal and personal concerns.
1.1.4: Choreography as making and collaborating:
Connection with society, Post-modern dance and onwards, Fall of
authorship
By the end of World War II, many new choreographers had emerged from the
first generation of modem dancers. These dancers began to break all of the rules that
had been set for them by their predecessors, who had had to establish modern dance
as a respectable and independent art form. This new generation of dancers created
dances that had no theme and expressed no emotion. Among these choreographers
22
were Merce Cunningham, Anna Sololow, Paul Taylor, and Erik Hawkins. So,
beginning in the 1960‘s, the term choreography began to change again due to the
changing nature of dance composition and performance, especially in the US. The
collaboration of Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham (1919-2009) and John Cage
provoked a different perception of dance creation and the relation of dance to music.
The use of ―chance operations‖ and the separation of music and dance challenged the
conception of the art as expressing an inner subjectivity. Cunningham is also notable
for his frequent collaborations with artists of other disciplines, including musicians
John Cage and David Tudor, artists Robert Rauschenberg and Bruce Nauman,
designer Romeo Gigli, and architect Benedetta Tagliabue. Works that he produced
with these artists had a profound impact on avant-garde art beyond the world of
dance.
The collaboration of Cunningham with John Cage allowed the emergence of a
new aesthetic, that indicated that dance and music do not need to depend on another,
but they can co-exist deliberately. Cunningham wanted to develop a Choreographic
Practice that was based in the kinetic integrity of the body, released from the strain of
following the rhythm and melody of the music. His choreographies had no plot, what
might be called "non-representative" dance which simply emphasizes movement: in
Cunningham's choreography, dancers do not necessarily represent any historical
figure, emotional situation, or idea and this was an very revolutionary element since it
questioned the means of artistic ownership and originality. He went back to the
essentials elements of dance and asked from the dancers to find the rhythm that
derives from their own self, from the nature of the kinetic phrase and their muscles
and not the one imposed by the music. Also he ―de-centered‖ the dance scene with the
use of chance operations. For instance, he might roll the dices to decide where a solo
or a duet or a trio will be located in the scene and in what order.
A very important influence for the chance operation was the publication of the
"I Ching," the Chinese book of changes, from which you can cast your fortune: the
hexagrams. The basic principle was to remove one's own intention from the work and
hand that over to the oracle. So to say, where intention is always to some extent
related to one's own tastes and personality, non-intention moves beyond like and
dislike and becomes something more resembling an act of nature. John Cage called
the casting of hexagrams ―chance operations‖ to suggest a deliberate distancing when
using the I Ching solely for the generation of numbers that could be translated into art
(though he distinguished ―by chance‖ from ―at random‖). Cunningham used chance
operation as an actual and strong tool to allow possibilities to emerge. In practice, he
started using it in a choreography that was aparted from solos, duets, trios and
quartets with the title Sixteen Dances for Soloist and Company of Three (1951) and in
Suite by Chance (1953). The latter was the first performance that was created entirely
with the help of chance operations.
23
Image 1.10: Merce Cunningham, post-modernist dance
Cuningham offered a new approach about dance, distanced from the modern
tradition. He believed that every movement can be material for Choreography, every
process could be a valid process of composing and every part of the body can be used.
24
This was something completely revitalizing and gave ground to the multiple dance
revolutions and movements that stem up after the 60‘s.
Facts such as the conservatism of Cold War and the disaster of World War 2
made the next generation search for the revolutionary spirit in art and politics. One of
these first common efforts was the Workers' Dance League that was founded to create
dance for and by the working class to express class struggle. The founding members
of the Workers' Dance League were the Needle Trades Industrial Workers Union
Dance Group, Funiers Dance Group and the Harlem Dance Group. In an issue of
Worker‘s Theatre there is a call for dancers to help the raise of optimism: "In this
period of tremendous historical importance, we call upon all dancers to watch the
march of events and make the dance a means of social protest, a revolutionary
expression of the workers." (Prickett, 1990) Experimentation during this period
attempted to move away from bourgeois aesthetics and adopt a political referenced
aesthetic: conveying messages as directly as possible with physical directness.
Abstract dance was seen as elitist; ballet was viewed as a form of dance whose aim
was merely to amuse its audience and distract people from thinking about themselves
(Pickett, 1990). The members of the League wishing to choreograph followed two
rules: dance about something important to you, and create work so that the audience
could understand the dance's thrust.
At the beginning of 70‘s the political agitations made, also, a variety of
choreographers demonstrate work with political influences/ references and many
artists expressed with their approach political anti-authoritarianism, especially those
participating in Judson Theater movement. Judson Dance Theater was a group of
dancers who performed at the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, New
York City. It grew out of a dance composition class taught by Robert Dunn, a
musician who had studied with John Cage. The artists involved were avant-garde
experimentalists who rejected the confines of modern dance practice and theory,
inventing the precepts of postmodern dance. Important dance artists, musicians and
visual artists who were part of the Judson Dance Theater include: Trisha Brown,
Lucinda Childs, Judith Dunn, David Gordon, Deborah Hay, Meredith Monk, Steve
Paxton, Yvonne Rainer, Carolee Schneemann.
Many artists also, such as Steve Paxton and Anna Halprin started
enthusiastically practicing dance improvisation and because this caused a changing
outcome in each performance the artists started referring to themselves more as
directors and not as choreographers. The new interest also in utilizing movement from
someone or somewhere else, deployed by the Judson choreographers, allowed the
decentering of the artist as genius model of authorship. The various artistic initiatives
reflected a new status for the artist as more craftsperson and the term ―making dance‖
came to signify ―a daily decision to enter the studio and construct movement or to
sequence phrases of existing movement, thus signaling a redefinition of the artist as a
laborer and collaborator who worked with the materiality of movement‖ (Foster,
2011). The movement of Judson was a revolution against the status quo and it was the
first group effort after the Workers Dance League. The themes they presented were
related to the structure of Choreography, the content, the form, the use of time, space,
movement and music being used. Also, they questioned and researched the
relationship of music and Choreography, the costumes, the lights, the use of settings
and objects. Furthermore they were interested on the identity of the dancers, the
number of people participating, the lasting of the rehearsals, the way of teaching a
chorography to the dancers, the response of the audience and the relationship of the
25
choreographies and the dancers with the other arts. The aesthetics of Judson was
purposefully undefined and unlimited and the resulting work had an amazing variety
and diversity. They encouraged the cooperative work through improvisation, the
spontaneous definition and the refined consciousness in the choreographic process.
The most important aspect was the approach that everything can be named and
considered as dance. The work of a visual artist, of a cinematographer or a musician,
for example, can also be considered as dance.
Image 1.11: John LeFan, Nancy Stark Smith and James Tyler in Mariposa Studio,
Contact Improvisation, 1978
Image 1.12: Contact Improvisation-movement with bodies in contact
Steve Paxton, a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater and Grand
Union, started practicing in gymnastics and his later training included three years with
Merce Cunningham and a year with José Limón. In 1972 named and began to develop
the dance form known as Contact Improvisation, a form of dance that utilizes the
physical laws of friction, momentum, gravity, and inertia to explore the relationship
between dancers. It is a system of improvisational movement, based on the relation
between two moving bodies and the results that gravity and friction has in their
movement. The technique, building on the bidirectional trust between dancers, uses
the weight of the performer as a starting point for movement, which as a result has the
close relations of the bodies. Paxton believed that even an untrained dancer could
26
contribute to the dance form, and his interest in the boundaries of movement was
pioneering. He was one of the most inspiring dancers of his generation whose
approach has influenced choreography globally. Paxton describes the body as a
physical machine that can be expressive by nature and the culture around it. Since the
emergence of his first dance Proxy (1961) activities such as walking, sitting, and
eating would preoccupy Paxton‘s approach to movement for some time. He composed
a range of ―non-dance‖(for this period) movement vocabulary that seemed to give
him a relaxed state of being in performance and minimized the differences between
the audience and the performer. In turn his movement vocabulary became fragments
of ―everyday‖ movement mechanics and this held a world of possibilities for
individual potential. Furthermore he utilized the architecture of the human body and
he used objects to emphasize how the body could manipulate itself around different
objects. He was interested in texture, shape, size, and even how the use of animals
influenced or changed his dance vocabulary. In his work, he was concerned with a
variety of contemporary issues such us censorship, war, political corruption, sex and
sexuality in dance. He was a revolutionary to the changing world of dance around him
and his research with movement and the structure of the human body crafted a
different version of what it was to be a dancer. He changed and challenged the aspects
of traditional modern dance, as he believed that the qualitative forms of dance could
be the substance of choreography and that movement in itself can create an interesting
aesthetic result.
Image 1.13: Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith, Improvisation, 1980
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Image1.14: Improvisation
From 70‘s and onwards, as compositional ideas for how to make dances and
subject matters proliferated, the meaning of choreography began for one more time to
transform. The choreographer was considered nor the source of a dance nor the
maker, but a person who assembled and presided over a collaboration. Instead of
forming companies the dancers worked to projects, picking up collaborators to project
driven works. Each project required unique skills, and the choreographers were seen
as the facilitators of the work made. As facilitators they worked with the dancers with
a variety of forms: they asked dancers to invent movement, to suggest new things and
they worked with the distinct set of skills brought by the dancers. The physical
articulation for the execution of the action was of mere importance and what the
center of attention was the cultural resonances of everything conducted.
Choreographers asked questions such us: How do these actions signify identity?
More and more, working as a choreographer started meaning working more
intensively with artists from other mediums, exploring inderdisciplinary modes of
performance between dance and theater, film and video, lighting design, new digital
media, and also working with set designers and sculptors. Choreographers used a
variety of media, based on the principle of ―an organic functionalism‖ in which each
art made a distinctive contribution to the whole. Each medium gave the capacity for
perception expansion and a chance for a better understanding of the world. The
support of integrating the different dancers contributions meant that the creations
were not based in a specific technique, but rather a mixture. Dancers started
practicing/ training many forms and genres, e.g. ballet, contact improvisation, jazz,
e.t.c. to gain the necessary physicality. From this point it is obvious that it was not
enough any more for the dancer to have a trained body but he/she should be ready for
mental challenges, sharing, engagement with the ever lasting learning process and
courage to communicate the creative process in public. Even the audience starts to
reeducate, or at least is encouraged to make a shift from passiveness to active
processing of information.
In the same context, new exercise systems informed by anatomical
organization proposed to train a universal dancing body. Body mind centering,
Release technique, Pilates, Dance Yoga all aim to improve the balance and efficiency
of the body. They are based on the understanding of the body and they are oftenly
28
referred to as Somatics. These practices are essential to Choreography as there is a
need for creative input from both the audience and the dancer and these techniques,
based on physical empathy, can engage the audience in an embodied processing. The
term somatics was established at 1976 from Tomas Hana and includes practices that
concern with the body as experienced from the own person, in the contrast with the
dominating viewing of the body as substance objectively quantified that can be
measured, classified and healed with pharmaceutical medicines. The term Ideokinesis
also, included in somatics, was invented in the decade of ‗70s though the principles of
the method draw their origin from America in the beginning of the 20th century and
Mabel Elsyourth Todd. Her book ―The Thinking Body‖(1937) had a great influence
in the dance community and altered the way of thinking and working with the body as
she highlighted the relationship between thought and movement. Ideokinesis believes
that disciplined concentration in a specific imagery image can improve posture and
movement. Another technique developed was Feldenkrais technique that took its
name from Mose Feldenkrais (1904-85). This one gives importance at the harmony of
the axe head, nape and spinal core and the general harmony of the body. It focuses at
ineffective body practices and habits, it raises the awareness of the body and helps it‘s
practitioners explore which bodily postures fit them best. Least but not least, a
―legacy‖ inherited from this period is also Body-Mind Centering. This is an integrated
and embodied approach to movement, the body and consciousness. Developed by
Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, it started as an experiential study based on the embodiment
and application of anatomical, physiological, psychophysical and developmental
principles, utilizing movement, touch, voice and mind. Its uniqueness lies in the
specificity with which each of the body systems can be personally embodied and
integrated, the fundamental groundwork of developmental repatterning, and the
utilization of a body-based language to describe movement and body-mind
relationships.
These approaches are extremely important though, the variety of approaches
for the body and for choreography at the 1970‘s and 80‘s made the systematic
teaching of composition very difficult. In the 1980‘s there were two main formats in
which composition appeared in universities: as a course called improvisation/
composition, which addressed improvisation as a tool for generating movement
possibilities, or as one called composition/repertory, which was taught by some
instructors as a traditional repertory course or as mixture of the instructor‘s and
students composition studies or as a collaborative process. Due to the request to put
dance in global circulation, professional schools for dance training worldwide have
included a variety of diverse dance traditions. The opening up of choreography to
include research across physical abilities, cultures and ages has created a variety of
hybrid bodies and movement forms that can influence the viewer in many ways.
Nowadays, dance is seen as a range of engagements that produce knowledge about
the body and the world.
To conclude, Choreography shifted throughout the years in many different
directions. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, where the pioneers of
modern dance questioned the relation of dance with the world, Choreography tries to
inform dynamically by the social context and leans towards it‘s improvement or
development.
29
Image 1.15: Contemporary performances, Hofesh Shechter's, Wim Vandekeybuss,
Christian Rizzo
1.2: Choreography today: a brief note of contemporary ideas
As very insightfully Foster (2011) states:
―Now choreography is convening the world‘s dances in order to substitute for
each dance‘s locale commoditized markers of alterity. In these it mobilizes a
universally versatile body capable of mastering any and all traditions of dancing.
Alternatively, choreography holds out the promise to affirm the local‘s connection to
the global, recognizing the specific and intensive physical commitment that any body
must invest in order to ground itself in the world.‖ (pp.72)
The term "choreography" today is oftenly used to refer for a structuring of
movement practice. Choreography, also, can define both the kinds of actions
conducted and their sequence or progression. Nowadays the choreographic process is
not usually authored by a single individual and there is a great variety of how specific
and detailed its plan of activity is. As a practical labor sometimes choreography is
regarded as drawing upon different direction of improvised or spontaneous elements
in dance performance and at other times, it is interpreted as a score or set of principles
that guide spontaneous invention. Designing the broad contours of action within
which differences might emerge, choreography can constitute a plan or score
according to which movement unfolds.
30
Image1.16: Theater Rialto, 15th European Festival of Dance, Lemesos
Dance scholars have demonstrated, also, an increasing concern about dance's
meaning in relation to society and politics. The concept of Social Dreaming has come
to refer to many chorographers of our era that envision Choreography as a way of
understanding, changing or improving society. In the same context, Novack argued
persuasively for dance as a site capable of producing, and not just reflecting, key
cultural values and concerns, including notions of gender, class, and race. Along
similar lines, Randy Martin, Mark Franko, and Thomas DeFrantz have challenged the
notion that choreography operates only in an aesthetic register separated from social
or political realms of experience. Martin has identified choreography's capacity to
bring together bodies and offers, a new vision of what political mobilization might be.
He has also examined the ideological effects of specific choreographic structures.
Aligning dance with labor, Franko enriches choreography with the ability to organize
"the physical potentials and limitations of the human body's movement," and,
consequently, to represent the social and political consequences of a given action.
DeFrantz locates choreography at a nexus of physical and representational events that
includes the arrangement of motion, formulations of gender and sexuality, beauty and
class mobility, and an "unusual nodule of everyday politics". So to say, all three
scholars envision dance movement and its organization as containing and purveying a
politics in society.
In contrast, rather than defining choreography in terms of its capacity to
formulate guidelines for action, Andre Lepecki explores its function as, what he calls,
an "apparatus of capture." Similar to the arguments made by Peggy Phelan concerning
the ephemerality of performance, Lepecki locates the dance in an always vanishing
present and charges choreography with the role of pinning the dance down. It thereby
performs reductively to designate and stand in for only a remaining of the actual
dancing. As Diana Taylor points out, however, this approach forecloses consideration
of the ways that performance endures in cultural and individual imaginaries and how
aspects of its form persist in time.
31
In a series of publications concerning the term S. Foster, has proposed that
"choreography" can productively be conceptualized as a theorization of identity corporeal, individual, and social. She initially envisioned choreography as the
hypothetical setting forth of what the body is and what it can be, based on the
decisions made in rehearsal and in performance about its identity. Each moment of
watching a dance can be read as the product of choices, inherited, invented, or
selected, about what kinds of bodies and subjects are being constructed and what
kinds of arguments about these bodies and subjects are being discussed. These
decisions that are made, however, constitute a kind of record of action that has
duration and makes possible both the repetition of a dance and analysis of it.
Approaching choreography as this kind of theorizing about what a body can
be and do, demonstrates the social, aesthetic, and political aspects of dance.
Subsequently, there is a need for further expansion of choreography to encompass a
consideration of all manner of human movement including a variety of operations.
Choreography and performance should be in constant conversation in the sense that
choreography presents a structuring of cultural values by reproducing similar sets of
values created in other cultural contexts whereas performance emphasizes the
personal interpretation of those values. Choreography connects the systems of
representation that exist in the cultural background inside which all bodies are related.
Both choreography and performance change over time, both move into action certain
semantic systems, and so, they gain their meaning from a specific historical and
cultural context.
Marta Savigliano and Jens Giersdorf have both questioned the viability of
choreography as a ground within which to question and examine not only all kinds of
dances but also the larger choreographies of social action of which they are a part.
Savigliano sees "choreography" as a term implemented as a means of suturing
together the two domains of knowledge production- the social and the aesthetic. Also,
since this left wing modern dance movement, some contemporary choreographers
have continued to explore politically oriented content in their works by attempting to
define identity. Rather than trying to quantify the meaning of dance, Ramsay Burt
suggests that we avoid reductive language that results in conforming to conservative
ideologies about identity and try to open up possibilities for meaning. Burt discusses
post- identitarianism in dance and scholarship as a "move beyond separatism toward
new forms of hegemony and consensus" (Burt, 2000). As he says "a call to think
differently about choreography and performance is a call to excite the intellect and
imagination to go against the grain of dominant discourses of aesthetic appreciation
and find ways of resisting or subvelting the demands of the ideological policemen."
(Burt, 2000)
Furthermore, there is a major discourse of ―liveness‖ in Performance Studies
that advocates an audience's experience of the immediacy of a performer's
corporeality in the moment of practice. ―Liveness‖ constructs the performer and his or
her body as the narrative and does not seek in addition a conventional story within the
action. The lived history and experience of the performer sharing an intimate time and
space with the audience becomes the premise of a shared experience. As Colin
Counsel (2001) says: ―The body of live performance is unique in that the live
performer's emphatic physical presence has the capacity to remind viewers of the
outside of the fiction, juxtaposing the body which is signified, performed, with the
32
real, signifying body of the performer‖ (pp.125). In that sense, recently Choreography
starts to connect closely with two other terms-namely kinesthesia and empathy.
Choreography, kinesthesia, and empathy are inter-related and linked to
construct corporeality in a given historical and cultural context. It is possible to argue
for the existence of corporeal sciences that participate in the production of knowledge.
The notion of economy has also served to illustrate important connections between
dance and other forms of cultural production-Choreography, kinesthesia, and empathy
have been mobilized to encounter them.
The ecological and political crises of our times call out for relating
perspectives and these three concepts have a great amount of common ground or
interest. They relate to many emerging questions such as: how and what do viewers
feel watching a dancer execute a particularly demanding or spectacular movement
such as those performed by the rope dancers of the eighteenth century? How and what
can scholars claim about what viewers might have felt watching another body
performing in some past moment and/or distant place? These epistemological
dilemmas lie at the center of dance studies, but they have equal relevance for the
humanities more generally. As Susan Leigh Foster (2011) questions:
― Are there any frameworks within which to affirm the located and partial
understanding yielded up in the empathetic moment of witnessing another body? Are
there ways in which a shared physical semiosis might enable bodies, in all their
historical and cultural specificity, to commune with one another? Are there techniques
of knowledge production that invite us to imagine the other without presuming
knowledge of the other? ‖
Brief descriptions of kinesthesia and empathy are given below:
1.2.1: Kinesthesia
Kinesthesia was invented in 1880, due to a growing body of research in regard
with the existence of nerve sensors in the muscles and joints that provide awareness
of the body's positions and movements. The meaning of the term was expanded,
abandoned, and revised several times through the twentieth century. In the beginning,
kinesthesia was largely replaced by the concept of proprioception, naming a more
focused system of spinal-level neural arcs that continually adjust for the body's
changing relationship to gravity. Afterwards it was revived by the psychologist James
J. Gibson, who envisioned kinesthesia as a perceptual system that synthesized
information about joint positioning, muscular exertion, and orientation within space
and with respect to gravity. Gibson further posited that kinesthesia assisted in
integrating sensory information from all other systems. More recently it has been
revised to explore how the brain senses bodily movement.
Dance pedagogy and criticism have consistently cultivated understanding of
the existence and importance of kinesthetic awareness. John Martin based his theory
of how dance communicates upon the assumption that viewers actively participate in
the same kinesthetic experience as the dancers they are watching onstage:
33
―When we see a human body moving, we see movement which is potentially
produced by any human body, and therefore by our own . . . through kinesthetic
sympathy we actually reproduce it vicariously in our present muscular experience and
awaken such associational connotations as might have been ours if the original
movement had been of our own making.‖
Martin further
argued that, kinesthetic experience is connected to emotional
experience. Susan Manning and Dee Reynolds identified kinesthesia as a central
component of modernism pursued by early modern dancers such as Isadora Duncan,
Mary Wigman and Martha Graham. Many artists have argued that kinesthetic analysis
as a crucial methodology in understanding cultural distinctiveness in all aspects of
daily life. Kinesthetic analysis can include attending to qualitative dimensions of
movement, such as flow, tension, and timing of any given action as well as the ways
in which any person's movement interrelates with the environment.
Furthermore, Social kinesthetic has been introduced as a set of movement
attributes that make evident the ―deeper affinities between movement and culture‖.
Lena Hammergren focuses on the connection between kinesthetic experience and
cultural values and she utilizes the kinesthetic as a framework for organizing aspects
of physical experience that would help the historian reconstruct performance and
value systems from an earlier time.
1.2.2: Empathy
Invented in the same decade as the term "kinesthesia," "empathy" was
introduced by German aestheticians seeking to describe and analyze in depth the act
of viewing painting and sculpture. They referred to a kind of connection between
viewer and art in which the viewer's own body would move into and adapt aspects of
the artwork. Into its first usage in the English language at the start of the twentieth
century, it also signified a strong physical responsiveness to both people and objects.
Over the twentieth century, however, the term changed and eventually referred in a
large extend to an emotional, and not physical experience.
1.3: Michael Klien: Choreography as an aesthetics of change
Michael Klien is a choreographer and director of Daghdha Dance Company
with PhD in Choreography and Cybernetic Epistemology. Daghdha is a creative
company, developing new models of consciousness, perception, participation and
creativity through their primary activities of dance performance creation, and
choreographic research. Klien states a very interesting point of view for
Choreography that builds upon a systemic realizing of the world. In the core of his
statement one can find an approach to Choreography that is ―life-changing‖ and
invites a holistic encounter within the Creative Process. As Klien (2008) states:
―If the world is approached as a reality constructed of interactions, relationships,
constellations and proportionalities, then choreography is seen as the aesthetic
practice of setting those relations or setting the conditions for those relations to
34
emerge. Choreographic knowledge gained in the field of dance or harvested from
perceived patterns in nature should be transferable to other realms of life. The
choreographer, at the center of his art, deals with patterns and structures within the
context of an existing, larger, ongoing choreography of physical, mental and social
structures, whereby he/she acts as a strategist negotiating intended change within
his/her environment.‖ (pp. 20)
This approach regards the stage as a Laboratory for mind-dynamics and
processes and views the application of the aesthetics of Choreography as a purposeful,
creative and pro-active tool upon reality that healthy disregards the boundaries set by
many fields of human knowledge production. Choreography as described can be
perception and knowledge engaging exploring how individuals can imaginatively
associate aspects of their lives. In that extend, the choreographer can be seen as an
active agent which can design, research, examine, question possible changes within
the world and suggest new associations and possibilities. Or as Steven Valk (2008)
defines the choreographer as ― an architect of a fluid environment he himself is a part
of‖.
Choreography can be an active exploration of the dynamic reality of complex
relations and connections and can be a great ―surface‖ for mapping the complex
experiences and phenomena we are able to understand aesthetically, kinesthetically
intuitively. It broadens the inquiry into creative act within living organisms and thus
invites us to re-examine the notion of order. Order should not be thought of as
something linear but rather, as suggested by chaos theory, cybernetics and complexity
theory, as something non-linear/unfixed and far beyond our control. In the same
frame Choreography should not be thought of just an ordering of processes but the
aesthetic practice of exploring relations and proving conditions for new connections
to emerge. ―Choreography is not to constrain movement into a set pattern, it is to
provide a cradle for movement to find its own patterns.... over and over again…to
prevent a body…whether bound by skin or habits … from stagnation, and enable that
lightness, primal energy and elemental possibility only to be found once relations start
dancing‖ (Klien, 2008).
Furthermore there is an emerging need for dance and choreography to begin
addressing the issues humanity is facing from a more inclusive perspective.
Especially in Western culture, people encounter with art as something totally separate
and distinct from their everyday lives. They go to exhibitions, they see performances,
they admire a painting but without transferring something out of this aesthetic
experience to personal life. But, on the contrary, ―Choreography has moved beyond
the architecture of its stationary historical universe and has emerged as an embodied
act of a human consciousness no longer separate from, but embedded within, the
irreducible, unfathomably complex ordering of the biological world‖ (Valk,
2008,pp.25)
1.4: A Choreographic Vision: Deigning the emergence of creativity
Well so but, after all these definitions, what does it mean to Choreograph?
What is Choreography? It is my belief, that there is no such thing as one answer for
two reasons: a linear approach is rather unable to encompass the dynamicallity of the
field and it is certainly incompatible to a constantly changing, non-stable view of
social arts over time. Having said so, there is of course a need for stating different
approaches and opinions as a starting basis for discussing the direction(s) and the
goal(s) of the field. But it has to be acknowledged, that every ―definition‖ is not
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definite as it is bound to the general social context from which it derives and is
written by a person that acts within this context.
In recent years, members of dance community (e.g. Michael Klien, Jeffrey
Gormly, Steven Valk, Riikka Theresa Innanen) influenced by the fields of systemic
theory, complexity and chaos theory, started to shape a vision for Choreography that
invites for the holistic ―complexity‖ of the world in the field. Such an understanding
stands for a new approach to Choreography as artistic research and dislocates from its
devalorisation as a simple pleasant spectacle. In specific, drawing on holistic theory
anthem (on the importance of element‘s inter-relations and not the elements per se) it
comes out that a person aiming to better understand the complex phenomenon of life
should try to see relations and inter-connections with as much as possible different
approaches. In this view, Choreography stands as an art form of inquiry about the self
and the world researching or utilizing associations and interrelations within a variety
of elements. Everything can be a starting point for Choreography and also everything
can be the way of practicing in order to gain understanding. Two things, though, seem
to be fruitful: first, a research topic, which gives a directionality in everything
conducted and second practice-based work.
But, what does practice-based research mean? Here the person is examined
acting as a hole within his/her environment. A practice activates a moment of
relations across body sense in the environment and therefore is relational, emergent
and actual. The Practice can be anything and as such is not of great importance; what
is important is what emerges out of it (creatively). So practice-based research is
referred to the observed phenomena emerged through practice. Foremost this kind of
research is an embodied practice and therefore is not only of a conceptual/theoretical
manner.
But then, what does it mean to be a Choreographer? For me, a choreographer
is a designer that facilitates the conditions for new movement to emerge. He/she does
not ―create‖ movement to transmit it, in the sense that, creation of movement cannot
happen in a pre-fixed, programed manner, movement ―is‖ and movement ―happens‖.
Asking how movement creation emerges is still an unsolved mystery but, surely, it
occurs in individuals acting in an environment. In essence, the choreographer
facilitates the creative acting of different individual dancers within a share common
context- ground and this can only happen when allowing the unraveling and
development of each identity and personality. Furthermore, the choreographer should
build upon the possibilities and capabilities of each dancer in an inter-exchangable,
democratic way. On the contrary, a choreographer that just wants to transmit his prefixed material of ―highest quality‖ has nothing to do with research and creativity since
he/she just replicates a (always) past and already existent ―linear‖ movement material.
Of course, individuals find creative ways to encounter with everything but this is not
the ―core‖ of creativity, or at least is not the one that is referred to as ―complex
embodied creativity‖. Choreography here stands for a need to better understand this
complex and ever-changing reality and in its effort to do so utilizes a great network of
relationships. This trying to understand (imperfect understanding) doesn‘t involve
control and can only happen in a semi-open context of constantly inter-ex-changing
hierarchies. As Bateson (1972) says "the fact of our imperfect understanding should
not be allowed to feed our anxiety and so increase the need to control. Rather, our
studies could be inspired by a more ancient, but today less honored motive: a curiosity
about the world of which we are part. The rewards of such work are not power but
beauty." So, the choreographer is not the ―enlightened‖ person of a higher hierarchy,
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but an equal member with everyone in the common effort to gain more knowledge
about the world- a designer that facilitates emergence within this thumbing territory
of different ideas, thoughts, concepts, emotions, approaches contexts, situations and
mainly relationships.
1.5: Art: a disclosure of truth
In Heidegger‘s analysis there is a notion closely related with the conception of
the nature of truth in Western thought. Namely, he tries to introduce art as being
considered a matter of aesthetic experience but also related to a disclosure of truth. As
Heidegger argues, Platonic metaphysics informed in a great extend the ground upon
which artworks in Western history are based. Due to Plato, reality is revealed to us
through the distinction between the supra-sensible (ideal) and sensible (material)
realms. As argued by this philosophy, truth is found from the supra-sensible realm of
permanent ideas, from which sensible matter is only a shadow and in, as extended to
art, an artwork is formed matter which allows the supra-sensible to shine through it;
An artwork imitates reality, which is revealed through conception of the right idea; an
artwork is a symbol, an allegory, a metaphor, a representation. (Heidegger, 1991, 1516, 24-26, Luoto, 2002, 45-47, Monni, 2008, 38). As Heidegger examines art is not a
vehicle for representing the contents of the supra-sensible but a disclosure of reality.
Techne denotes a human mode of knowing through which human beings draw physis
(being, the prevalent) to disclose a world- a significant and meaningful circuit of
openness (Heidegger, 1991, 62). Art is the discovering of a new reality, which does
not concern the truth of beings but the unconcealedness of being‘s ―beingness‖. This
has nothing to do with the conceiving of the right idea, but with the secretive
withdrawal of the unknown. A new opening to a reality as a disclosure, which
contains that from which it occurs-the undisclosed.
1.6: Dance as ecology of creativity and Body-mind based creativity in
Choreography
Riikka Theresa Innanen states a very insightful view of dance and
Choreography-as she says ― I view dance as an ecology of creativity, constituted by a
body-mind in motion, interacting with world though a visceral, aesthetic, kinesthetic
and intelligent interface. My aim as an artist is to choreograph conditions for
creativity to emerge – in time, in space - allowing us to see the world and our self‘s
anew.‖ In her work she explores applications of intelligent systems and how they can
contribute to the creations of new approaches in choreography. Her work is based on
somatic dance techniques such as Body-Mind Centering together with strategies that
allow intelligent systems to emerge. Using the metaphor of creativity as an ecology
and development of choreographic methods as evolution, a question is raised-how to
create sustainable ecosystems of art and promote an organic paradigm shift in
choreography so to allow new aesthetics and new processes of thinking to emerge.
Innanen discusses the interesting point of dance as ecology of creativity,
constituted by a body-mind in motion, interacting with the world through a visceral,
aesthetic and kinesthetic interface. So to say, an upcoming need from today's artists is
to be in connection with the world they live in and collaborate with others to create
conditions for creative action to happen- allowing them a new view of their self‘s and
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the others. As Innanen (2011) says ―Currently the question is how creativity can
emerge, sustained and even make to flourish. This seems to require a shift in the
attitudes towards control and authorship in a classically very hierarchical structure in
dance, meaning allowing also the dancer and the audiences to part take in the creation
by contributing with their own creativity, learning skills, opinions and choice making
abilities to the process.‖(pp.2) This proposal of course suggests a very important and
interesting shift from the ―exhausted ‖ representation to a process that helps the
increment of self-awareness. In that sense, the dancer is not doing a fixed dance but
―is‖ the dance and the audience instead of watching is invited to a process of being
moved.
This expanded view of choreography includes the wider realm of the world to
the research- personal relationships, a walk in the park, reading a text, the political
situation, people moving through space- are offering choreographic knowledge and
material and vice versa- they inform what the substance of choreography is. This
potentiates the relation with society and art and allows possibilities to grow-in type,
sophistication and complexity. By this sense, the dance‘s role is renegotiated and
putted in a wider context to be a tool of revitalized thinking, social dialogue and
personal processing.
― Could 21st century dance art really become a kinesthetic art, and how could this
happen? How would the nature of dance art then change? Does choreography have
the potential to break through the audio-visual linguistic reception, which is at the
core of Western art?‖ (Innanen, 2011)
Since the turn of the century, there has been a raise of the need for dance as a
kinesthetic art form rather than a visual one. The artists themselves have an increased
need to allow philosophy and science to influence their work and, in the same context,
the audience has changed. So, if we take into consideration Nietzsche's quote ‖ Dance
as metaphor for thought‖ then we have to reinvent the substance and the ways we
support new ways of dance. And it not too exadurate to say, this path of reinvention
of choreographic strategies has probably a lot to do with collaborating with people
from various backgrounds. This ―contamination‖ is necessary for the expansion of the
theoretical thinking and the development of practical tools for new ways of
choreographing. Furthermore, for the renegotiation of what choreography is and what
a choreographer does, there is need for questioning about what needs to be kept and
what needs to leave. It is more than obvious from the recent dance activity that
performance is not a stable state but a dynamic complex and intelligent system with
the ability to grow. Such concepts have a deep changing effect on both the
dramaturgical structure as well as on the required skills from the performer. The
making of intelligent systems to emerge requires different and additional skills and
knowledge from the dancer as the concept of how dance can be learned and how it
can be performed has be reinvented, renegotiated or repositioned, e.g. It is not enough
for the dancer to have a trained body but he/she should be ready for mental
challenges, sharing, engagement with the ever lasting learning process and courage to
communicate the creative process in public. Even the audience has to be reeducated,
or at least encouraged to make a shift from passiveness to active processing of
information. In choreography the shift is radical because of the need for creative input
from both the audience and the dancer. The use of techniques based on physical
empathy can engage the audience in an embodied processing. Somatic dance
techniques such as Body-Mind Centering, Science Research, and Philosophy of the
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systems and the role of embodied experiences in society can help dance communicate
a process of ―changing the core in order to change the surface‖.
Damasio claims that feeling an emotion is our principle way of becoming
aware of changes in our body state, as our bodies respond to changes in their situation
(both internal and external). Emotions are key component of complex processes of
bodily perception, assessment, internal monitoring, self-transformation, motivation
and action. They are the result of the organism's need to continually monitor how
things are going and to initiate change within itself in response to possibilities of
perceived harm and benefit to the organism. It is hard to imagine something more
important than such an emotional process for our self-preservation and our ability
improve our situation in life. More importantly this happens ―beneath the level of
conscious awareness‖, so by the time we actually feel an emotion, much of the
essential, life sustaining bodily adjustment has already occurred ‖ (Johnson, 2007).
The concepts of kinesthesia and empathy, before mentioned in this Thesis, can give as
an interesting way of exploring these relationships of emotion and body conditions
and can also help us understand what happens when witnessing another body in
action. Choreography can both benefit and be benefited from this research as it can
―dive‖ deeper on understanding the corporeal connections of the social bodies.
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Chapter 2: Some Examples of Chorographical practices
In this chapter some examples of tools, exercises, and methodologies are
presented in order to give some insights in the Choreographic Labor and the variety of
forms that it can have. The presentation of the way(s) with wich some influential
choreographers work(ed), also, aims to support a better understanding of what a
Chorographical Practice might be. Some of the elements were also utilized in
Kinitiras Choreography Lab (case study of this Thesis). This section is fundamental
for a closer examination of the work of the Choreographer.
2.1: Pina Bausch
Philippina "Pina" Bausch (1940 –2009) was a German performer of modern
dance, Choreographer, dance teacher and ballet director. With her unique style, a
blend of movements, sounds and prominent stage sets, and with her elaborate
cooperation with performers during the composition of a piece (a style now known as
Tanztheater), she became a leading influence since the 1970s in the world of modern
dance. In the way she worked one can see a very different way of approaching
Choreography that initiated, inspired and influenced many discussions on
Choreographic Practices.
Image 2.1: Pina Bausch, Café Muller
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2.1.1: Process over Product
Bausch builds on a process of uncovering connections to fundamental ideas
and feelings. She draws on the experience to construct webs of feelings from
connections she uncovers, utilizing the human resources around her. She doesn‘t wish
to go towards a terminating end, but rather concentrates on getting there, exploring
the ways of arriving in existing attitudes and their expression in everyday life. Just as
the rehearsal mirrors the process of probing the world to find our place in terms of
and within it, the performance also mirrors the process of the rehearsal, so that the
audience can approach the piece from the same base of exploration from which the
performers and choreographer started (Climenhaga, 2009). This is a very important
issue because it raises a more dynamic and systemic approach to performance giving
importance to the in between space that allows the emergence of new things.
Exploring how to get there and exploring how people define them selves in the world
opens up a new territory of new potentials. Bausch concentrated on the process as
opposed to the product and this brought a radical realignment of the essence of her
works. While a big part of works is primarily directed at the final outcome of the
performance itself, Bausch‘s work starts with a base of ideas and feelings from which
the developmental process emerges. Following two examples are given to more
clearly realize this essential difference: Ballet and Modern dance both work through
techniques, utilizing a form that might lead to the expression of the practitioner‘s
ideas. The message and the technique are different entities with the second acting in
service of the first limiting in this way the potentials of both. Similarly, on a play,
usually the base structure provided by the script is utilized as a way of uncovering the
heart of the piece, a tool that the director and actors use to get the underlying ideas.
But both these ways, in contrast to Pina‘s work, are oriented to product and limit the
possibilities of emergence (through the engagement with the process). Bausch
uncovers the very heart of the process of dance, the motivating impulse from which
movement begins and, to that extend, her pieces becomes the arrangement of those
moments as discovered in rehearsal from the performer‘s own experience.
2.1.2: Exercises that help the performer enter into the dynamic
relationship of direct presence
In Creative Choreography it is very important for a dynamic and interactive
world to be created for the dancers and choreographers, a world of immediate
presence in which they can explore, question, express themselves instead of a
represented world that comes from a constructed idea of time and space. The
following exercises listed establish a ground in simple presence in time and space and
help to enforce the idea of open response to allow performers communicate with the
world. Upon this base the performers can place evocative images and conduct creative
research. The specific exercises are only a sample and refer to group work but some
elements can also be transferred to work with only one dancer.
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Exercise 1: Grid Work
Illustration 2.1: Grid work
In this exercise a square is set up on stage, with each corner a comfortable
eight paces apart. The group of dancers can be divided into four roughly equivalent
smaller groups and then each group start from a different corner of the grid or a single
dancer can have as a starting point a different corner. The initial step is to enter the
grid from the corners and start walking in time to the music along the following
pathway: 1.Across, 2.Down, 3.Diagonally back, 4.Down the center, 5.Across, 6.
Diagonally back again. Each leg of the journey should take eight paces and
performers should adapt their step to fit the great distance.
This basic pattern gives performers a useful structure to help build awareness and
response in space and time. The parameters are versatile enough to allow for
response, but limited enough to keep people concentrated. Afterwards additional
parameters can be added.
Exercise 1A: Continued Grid Work
Once the basic structure is established, people can enter or exit into the space
on their own, but always beginning at the start and leaving at the end of an eight
count. Performers are asked to stay focused on what the active space needs, entering
when the space demands and leaving when it feels appropriate. This increases the
ability of being aware of the dynamic of the group, which creates a tension in the
performance space. Relationships can be developed as the performers feel the
dynamic tension created at individual moments, through a look or facial expression.
The interactive possibilities emerge naturally from the space information and they are
not fixed or forced. Giving performers a structure with limited variables opens them
up to be able to respond to the subtlety of actual conditions in space and time. The
goal is to create an open structure of awareness that allows for possibilities to develop
as variables are added (Glimenhaga, 2009).
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1B: Felt Response
In this exercise performers can adjust their walk based on felt response. They
are asked to stay in time to the music, but they could walk double time, or with small
syncopations to move about the space. The walks should come from feed back into
the dynamic of the group.
By this work the action invites the audience in by sensivitising the performers
to engage in the present and open their response to an audience. The performance, in
that sense, is not directed out to the people that watch it but it builds on opening a
dialogue and interacting with them.
2: Relationship in space
Here dancers work in groups of three, five or more and they are simply spread
out in the space. They are invited to imagine the air between them as a fluid substance
and that any movement toward or away compresses or expands the space between
them. This helps the performers concentrate on the spatial tensions between them and
gives the chance to respond to movement within a group. Once they are comfortable
with the dynamics of changing relationships in space through this active awareness of
the space between them, they can work within the system, moving more flexibly and
intentionally to alter conditions and react in time.
3: Relationship in Time
The performers are prompted to simply walk about the space in straight lines,
changing directions when they encounter someone else in the space. On a clap from
outside the performance area, the dancers all stop, and on another clap they begin
walking again. Afterwards the performers work to find those moments of stillness on
their own, stopping and starting based on felt response among the group.
Additionally in regard to the exploring and using spatial and temporal
awareness in performance Bogart and Landau include four distinct viewports of time
and five viewports of space. The viewports of time mentioned are tempo, duration,
kinesthetic response and repetition and the viewports of space are shape, gesture,
architecture, spatial relationship and topography. Climenhaga (2009) quotes:
―Performers work to keep an open awareness of their individual action, their
connection to others, and the overall group dynamic along these parameters of space
and time.‖(pp. 103)
2.1.2.1: Relationship to audience
In Creative Choreography the connection with the audience is very important and
many interactive possibilities should be explored and brought into awareness. The
following exercises are designed to open the performer‘s response to an audience.
Exercise 4: Presence
A group of performers is asked to line up all the way upstage facing the back
wall, their backs to the audience. Using peripheral awareness, they walk backwards in
unison at a slow pace and gradually lifting their arms and finally extending through
their body to go up on their toes throughout the walk. By the spatial awareness
43
developed in the previous exercise, the dancers focus on condensing space between
them (as a unit) and the audience. As they reach at the edge of the stage they stop,
they turn in unison, still on their toes and with arms raised above their head. Further
they are asked to lower their heels to the floor and gradually lower their arms while
looking directly out at the audience. This helps to imagine the activated space
between themselves and the audience and maintain the awareness while taking the
directed energy and bringing it to a spatial or time exercise. This exercise raises the
awareness of the dancer for the audience and increases the communicability of the
performance.
5: Interaction
Two performers stand at a distance from each other and maintain eye contact.
They feel the space between them moving back and forth exploring the dynamic
tension of space. Afterwards, one performer assumes a posture and facial expression
referring to a specific emotion, trying to radiate that feeling across the space to his or
her partner. Next one person enters the performance space and assumes a similar
emotional stance, this time trying to express that connection to an audience.
Bausch‘s practice builds upon the creation of fundamental blocks that rely on the
actual people engaged in the event. She asks questions and gives the freedom to the
performers to respond in different ways: through words, a performed image, or a
movement phrase. Each response comes from the individuals and builds on their own
skills and abilities, history, and experience.
2.2: William Forsythe: Improvisation Technologies
William Forsythe (born 1949) is an American dancer and choreographer
resident in Frankfurt in Hessen. He is known internationally for his work with the
Ballett Frankfurt (1984–2004) and The Forsythe Company (2005–present). His early
dance works are acknowledged for reorienting the practice of ballet from its
identification with classical repertoire to a dynamic 21st-century art form, while his
more recent works have further extended his research on the performative potentials
of dance and his investigation of Choreography as a fundamental principle of
organization.
Forsythe has brought about a shift of paradigms in Contemporary dance. The
vocabulary of his choreographies redefines body, space, time, and movement.
Forsythe‘s work over the last twenty years has offered a paradigmatic exploration of
the dialectic of the body and informs dance with new modalities of expression and
new realms of experience for dancers and spectators alike. The ZKM/Center for Art
and Media Karlsruhe cooperated with William Forsythe in 1994 to produce a "digital
dance school" in the form of an interactive computer installation. It consists of some
sixty video chapters in which Forsythe demonstrates and comments on the essential
principles of his motional language. The computer application developed is named
Improvisation Technologies and is a very useful ―tool for the analytical dance eye‖. It
44
is used by professional companies, dance conservatories, universities and institutions
worldwide.
Some of the exercises he proposes are presented below:
2.2.1: Some Transcripts of Forsythe Lectures
2.2.1.1 Lines
Point-Point Line
Imagining lines
In this exercise you start imagining lines in space and in the body. The first example
is point-point line. The dancers imagine they have a line between their fingers and
they can let the line stand in space. They can grab it again and move it in any
direction. Another suggested way is constructing a line using a body part.
Furthermore the performers are asked to raise their awareness about lines and
understand that these lines can be rotated and slide along it self. This bringing into
attention of the line element gives a tool to the dancers to start unlocking movement
creativity.
Illustration 2.2: Imaging lines
Extrusion
The point-point line existing inside the body can also be produced by extruding a line
from a point. And this extruded line can be collapsed, and can project through body
parts. Also a line extruded from the floor can produce the idea of a plane, which can
be flattened and/or rotated and turned.
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Illustration 2.3: Extrusion
Matching
If the dancer establishes his body in some position, or is going through a certain
number of movements, it is noticed that certain positions are established. The
performers are asked to match up a line. The original one can be removed, or can be
matched and rotated.
Bridging
Bridging is a simple construction between two points. For example, the line that is
between the elbow and the hip can be demonstrated by simply bridging it with
another limb as opposed to matching, which is joining lengths of limbs together. The
ways of connecting the two points are explored.
Collapsing points
There are many relationships between points on the body that are not often
acknowledged. This part brings the attention of the dancer to the connections of the
body parts, e.g. between the fingertips and the knee you have potentially a curved line
or a straight line.
Dropping points
This is different than collapsing points together as the points collapse only toward
points on the floor. If the body is perhaps in some relationship to the floor, small
curves and lines could establish themselves between points in the body and the floor
and collapsing points would mean bringing points together on the body.
2.2.1.2: Complex movement
Ideas about extrusion and extension do not usually appear simply and they are part of
more complex series of movements. Performers are asked to familiarize with the
feeling of the coordination of extending and extruding lines and planes, until they
begin to feel this move through their whole body and they can begin to extend and
extrude until the motions become very complex.
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2.2.1.3: Complex Operations
Inclination extension
A part of the body, or a portion of the body, a length, in a particular angle has the
possibility of trajecting itself through space. This inclination, this trajectory, is
determined by torsions in the body. For example, if a dancer finds his/her hand like
this, he/she finds that the natural inclination of trajection of this limb, of this section
here, is this direction here. And this is called inclination trajectory.
Illustration 2.4: Inclination extension
Transporting lines
The dancer can take a line and move this line and shape it in relationship to the body,
or reorient the body, but it stays in relationship to the room, and he/she can move it
wherever he/she likes. So, it either stays in relationship to the body, or it stays in
relationship to the room. The dancer can shift her/his body anywhere he/she likes and
shift the level of this thing also, as long as the original orientation in the room remains
the same.
Dropping curves
Here curved lines are followed to the end of the movement. So if you have a curved
motion, it doesn‘t matter what it is, you follow it to the logical mathetical expansion
of this curve. For example, an arm moving in a direction can actually move out of a
circle and by following the logical progression of this motion, it evolves to something
else and you can develop it till it reaches an end. So you have a motion and you
follow it till it hits a point where it can no longer develop.
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Illustration 2.5: Dropping curves
Parallel Shear
A shear is when two lines that are parallel fold and maintain their relationship. And
you can get, maintain, for example, very common ones, relationships between the
thighs and the forearms, and you can maintain a kind of parallelity with attraction and
repulsion between four different limbs.
2.2.1.4: Approaches
An important element is how you approach the lines. Either you put them inside your
body and slide along them or they exist outside your body, and they can exist
beforehand, and you approach them. You can approach them from under, from the
back, from the top, from the front, with any different slide of any limb you desire.
Angle and surface
The number of approaches for lines extending from the body is probably as rich as the
imagination can grasp. And the ways for approaching these lines also. In a very
formal sense it is important to be precise about the angle of approach and about which
surface of the limb the line is approached with. In other words, I‘m approaching it
from the top of my arms, or the underside like this, or the back, for example. Or the
sides, insides, or the outsides. This makes a lot of difference because the approaches
are not equivalent.
Torsions
The torsions in the arms are an essential part of this section. In this technology the
relationships of the lines are used. For instance, there is a line coming out of my head
here, and you can use this relationship if the line was here. You can imagine the
realtionships to it and also imagine that the arms are having very complex torsions.
And that symmetrical torsions that produce, more and more complex relationships the
more folding is done with the body. Then things become extremely mobile and
complicated. So torsions are very important and should be used always
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2.3: Jeffrey Gormly: The practice of Flexistentialism and Social
Dreaming
Jeffrey Gormly is an author, producer and choreographer. He is interested in
choreography as aesthetics of change, and choreography as a supra-disciplinary
pattern language. Also, he has conducted research about ecological thinking/ecology
of mind, pattern recognition, intuitive framing practices, and cognition. Following a
brief notice of his contemporary practice of Flexistentialism is presented.
As known, our brain is a muscular organ that, through electrical activity,
controls the conscious and unconscious workings of the body and supports mind. To
that extend, as it is also indicated by the so far research, we can increase the
capabilities of our brain by exercise and practice. Jeffrey Gormly formulated a
practice of a Science and Philosophy of Flexistentialism which has a basic, simple
principle that gives a nice idea about the contradictory issue and use of thought in the
Creative Process.
It states that if someone holds in mind a collection of thoughts or ideas, fact or
fiction, uploaded, into the brain in such a way to potentiate the creation of connecting
threads between these ideas the mind will become flexible and will have increased
capacities to hold unrelated notions at once, and increased ability to balance and judge
ideas and their relationships. Even though the brain strains under the weight of these
imporable theses, even if credibility is stretched even to the very limit and beyond,
even if the person fails to hold the extremities of all these ideas in their own mind at
once, given time the mind will become more flexible. These ideas don‘t have to be
scientific truths, but that they exist as possibilities.
This is very interesting because it builds up to a systemic understanding of the
world and draws to the direction of increased complexity through directionality. The
ideas and thoughts are used-without being critically judged- as a basis to spread
threads and connect to the world. As he states: ― we must create and project newly
imagineered realities onto the surface of our experience, to dislodge the rigid
structures of programmed thought. Remember the mind is a muscle-flexercise it. It is
only by expanding the realm of the possible that the accrual will take shape" (Gormly,
2008,pp. 19). A very interesting aspect is that as he describes he organizes ideas in a
structure like topography in space-time, folding landscape at will, making creases to
and in this way making evolution possible.
Furthermore, Gormly works a lot with Social Dreaming. Structural elements
of choreography arise from his experience of Social Dreaming Matrix, as devised by
Gordon Lawrence. Social Dreaming was discovered at the Tavistock Institute of
Human Relations in 1982 by Lawrence, in which he was a member of the scientific
staff and joint-director of the Institute's Group Relations Education Programme (with
Eric Miller).
The purpose of social dreaming matrix is to transform the thinking in the
dreams offered to the matrix, by means of free association, and to become available to
new thought. Participants gather in a broken spiral/snowflake configuration and offer
their own dreams to the matrix. These dreams form a matrix by which the
participants, individually and as a collective, may enter into the unconscious or
infinite and work with raw thinking material that may not be otherwise available to
them. The first working hypothesis is that dreams, dreaming, and dream work is
always inducting us to the tension between the finite and the infinite. Someone will
give an account of a dream at the beginning of a session. Others follow. There is a
49
flow to the dream in that one dreamer intuitively fits his or her dream into the
previous one. The taker will offer a comment on the possible links and connections
between the dreams. The term ―taker‖ is used to describe the persons who are
convening the matrix. Their role is to further the work of the matrix, which is stated in
the primary task: to associate to one‘s own and other participant‘s dreams that are
made available to the matrix so as to make links and find connections.
The seating of the matrix is designed to facilitate this work. The chairs are
arranged in clusters of five to seven, depending on numbers. All the chairs are linked
but are ordered in a pattern, and they all face into the centre of the room. Together the
clusters of chairs represent a star-like shape, a bit like a snowflake when seen through
a microscope. In a matrix of thirty or so participants, there will be about four to six
clusters of chairs. The takers sit anywhere in the matrix.
Dreaming is respected as being a representation of the truth of the images and
proto-thinking that is the infinite, which is in the minds of the participants. A dream
will often be a fragment but, nevertheless, is seen as a potential synthesis. Social
dreaming seeks to explore what the dream may be communicating about the social
and political context of the dreamer. It, also, allows for a multiverse of meanings. It is
possible to produce truth, in multiple forms, without the need for a ―master‖. It is
choreography for participatory democracy that does not require consensus or
agreement. A suspension of already available answers makes a space for new thinking
possible. The action of Social Dreaming is one of communal meaning making. Social
dreaming matrix can be understood to be a collectively imagined equivalent of the
labyrinth of experience or present situation, through which we bring ourselves to an
―expanded common sense‖.
Image 2.2: Social Dreaming, hivenmind Matrix
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Chapter 3: Dance Improvisation
Dance Improvisation from past till today is widely used with a variety of forms. Since
in this Thesis Improvisation was used as a tool in the Case study these section aims to
give a brief description of this way of working. A variety of choreographers use
improvisation as a practice with which they allow material to emerge.
3.1: Dance Improvisation: A “contemporary” tool from the past
Dance Improvisation is a term including many different systems and
techniques with a wide range of objectives. It is used in many dance forms existing
today, including neoclassic ballet to hybrid forms of post-modern and contemporary
dance, contact improvisation, dance theater, physical theater, concept dance and more.
It can be utilized for the training of the dancer, as an exploratory method for selfawareness, as a part in the process of making a new piece or even as part of life
performance. As such, there is a variety of objectives while practicing improvisation
that intervene one another: to explore new ways of moving, to create movement
material, to question the substance of movement or to explore variations of existing
parts of a dance work. In this point, it should be also mentioned that practicing
improvisation can be in regard to performative outcomes and can lead to a
performance or it can be only oriented to personal development. It has to do, among
others, with identifying idiosyncratic patterns and habits, breaking them and moving
in different, surprising ways.
One significant area of Dance Improvisation is comprised of the ‖awareness
techniques‖, that aim to the development of self-awareness, giving the ground to
explore who we are, which are our movement practices, and how we respond to the
environment. Some examples are Contact Improvisation, Body-Mind Centering,
Feldenkrais method, Alexander technique, that were introduce previously in the
Thesis. Also the field of Improvisation can aim to the exploration of compositional
and movement principles and can be oriented to the creation of movement material
for the creation of a dance work. William Forsythe and Trisha Brown, two well
known and inspiring Choreographers have worked in a great extend with this kind of
practices.
Furthermore except from the variety of systems and techniques existing,
which can be used in many stages of the creative process, it might be also helpful to
discuss about Research on Inspirational resources and the providing of an appropriate
design of improvisation for working with people from diversified backgrounds. As
Jurgens (2008) mentions ―The process of communicating an improvisational task to
the dancer is crucial for ―translation‖ by him/her, meaning that this instruction or
information needs to be integrated in the particular system, or form of dance. In other
words, creative strategies for improvisation can work in different dance techniques,
styles and systems, if they are carefully adapted and transmitted clearly ‖(pp.110).
Jurgens (2008) identifies five categories of resources for improvisation: physical
form/sensorial system, perception, conception, volition and consciousness. Though
this categorizing is, of course, artificial and most of the time the practice lies in the
conjunction and interrelation of these elements it is interesting to bring into
consciousness some proposed aspects in order to be able to design specific creative
strategies for improvisation. Each category builds on the previous, and this model can
51
also be used as a base for improvisational training. The first element refers to the
research of our physical characteristics and possibilities and the second is related with
all kind of external information that we receive through our sense organs and can be
used as stimuli for improvisation. Next category focuses on exploring the creation and
use of mental images and concepts based on perception. Furthermore another element
is in regard with research about what motivates action and, more specifically, the
exploration of the will to act on the conception. This part questions which mental
images and concepts can trigger movement responses and why. The last category is
about raising the awareness of the performer about the improvisational process itself
and with his/her ability to make informed choices and decisions.
3.2: Improvisation Techniques
Instead of applying constraints, one can also design rules or techniques for
generating a particular type of movement. An improvisation technique should be
generic in that it can apply to different body configurations and movements. It should
also be specific in that it offers a cognitive shortcut to describing a particular class or
subset of the space of all possible movements. Moving the arms while holding the
hands together would therefore not quite qualify as a technique but generalizing this
idea to keeping two limbs or parts of the body connected would constitute a
technique.
William Forsythe, as mentioned before, has created a wide range of such
techniques and metaphors for generating movements, most of which are now
collected on the CD-ROM Improvisation Technologies. To give an example of a
technique, one can ―draw‖ lines, circles or any other shape with any endpoint effector
in the body: hand, elbow, shoulder, hip, head, etc., or imagine a fence or other
obstacle and then avoid it.
In choreographic discourses, also, an interesting issue has been looking for
sources of movement strategies in the way that movements are processed by the brain.
The idea is that, when made explicit, the implicit properties of the motor system can
be put under conscious control and because these properties are hardwired in the
brain, they may be easily generalized and extended to other movements or body
configurations. For example, it has been shown that, during grasping, the hand
preshapes well ahead of the actual contact with the object. This kind of information
can instantly be put to creative use and provide useful tools to performers.
3.3: Improvisation and Complexity
In recent research it has been suggested that there is an important and
potentially fruitful connection between improvisation and the lived experience of
complexity. So to say, that improvisation and creativity are capacities very useful in
an increasingly unpredictable, complex, and at times chaotic existence.
The concept and the practice of improvisation challenge the traditional ways
of thinking about social science, organization, and action.
Mistakenly, social science, and organization theory in particular, has
historically privileged objective over subjective, rational over emotional, and theory
over experience (Polkinghorne, 1983; Rosenau, 1992). Gabriel (2001) states that we
52
still think of organizations as ―orderly places where people behave in a rational,
business-like way‖.
On the contrary, improvisation emphasizes subjectivity, emotion, the
aesthetic, but also the openness and uncertainty that go against the fundamental goals
of prediction and control so highly appreciated by traditional sciences. A defining
quality of creative improvisation is precisely the generation of the unpredictable, the
unusual, the unforeseen, navigating the edge between innovation and tradition
(Berliner, 1994). In improvisation, a commonly shared goal is to create within an
artistic and social context with the requirements of (both) control and spontaneity,
constraints and possibilities, innovation and tradition, leading and supporting.
Life in a complex world requires the ability to improvise – to deal with, and
indeed to create, the unforeseen, the surprise. Interestingly, the Latin root of
improvisation is improvisus, or unforeseen. Life requires of us the ability to both react
appropriately to unexpected events, and actually generate those events – to act
creatively and innovatively. A jazz musician, for example, both generates novelty, by
making rhythmic, harmonic, or melodic choices that are surprising, and reacts to the
novelty generated by his or her fellow band-members. A piano player might place an
unusual chord behind a soloist in what would normally be a predictable harmonic
progression and this creates a surprise, which can lead the experienced improviser to
find new ways to navigate a song. This kind of creative dialog is at the heart of
improvisation and, therefore, creativity and improvisation might be said to serve a
multiple role: they allow us to adapt in our own way to complex environments, and
they allow us to express our own inner complexity through the performance of our
interaction with the world. But being ―good‖ or widely capable of improvising and
creating needs, also, continuous and conscious practising. To make it more clear, an
example will be posed. For instance, a typical technical ballet class has very strickt
and rigid strucrures. Within the lesson the dancer tries to act, perform in a very
specific way (which is not personal but indicated by the ballet technique) and tries to
express very specific things (that are related with the history of ballet). Of course, the
person is always expressing in a creative way but in ballet this is not the main issue.
On the contrary, an improvisation class asks the participant to find his personal, own
way to move within the environment and his own qualities to express. Practising to do
so increases the capability of adapting and acting creatively in different environments.
So, improvisation is not just a pre-given fact or characteristic of humans but also
needs practice. Also, when someone encounters creativity with the immediate
approach that improvisation proposes has more chances to gain further knowledge
about reality. When confronting with continually altering situations one should adjust
and observe in order to maintain him self and this can be a starting point for gaining
knowledge.
So to say, the concept of improvisation is crucial to the existential reality of
complexity and is, also, important to our capacity to obtaining knowledge about the
world. Thus, it can be very fruitful to conciously practice improvisation.
3.4: Self-eco-re-organization, order and improvisation
Self- organizing is related with constant collapsing, improvising, organizing
and creating within the environment. So creativity, order and improvisation are
closely associated.
53
Disorder, uncertainty, and individual subjectivity are broadly being studied in
the human and natural sciences (Morin, 1994; Ogilvy, 1992, 1989; Polkinghorne,
1983; Rosenau, 1992). Homogenizing, ordered and ordering visions of the universe,
of human civilization, of nature and of progress are being decomposed (Bocchi &
Ceruti, 2002; Morin & Kern, 1999). The sciences of chaos and complexity and the
discourse of postmodernism show us the profound role of disorder, chance,
uncertainty, and contingency in the world (Taylor, 2001).
One of the most interesting shifts in recent scientific thinking, in particular
through the sciences of chaos and complexity, has been a deeper understanding of the
relationship between order and disorder, information and noise. Rather than seeing
order as fundamental and unchanging, we are now seeing an ongoing process of
order–disorder that is the center of self- organization (Morin, 1992). As Taylor (2001)
writes, ―disorder does not simply destroy order, structure, and organization, but is also
a condition of their formation and reformation‖. Self-organization has been defined
variously as making meaning out of randomness (Atlan, 1986), or the spontaneous
emergence of a coordinated and collective behavior in a population of elements
(Gandolfi, 1999). One of the key aspects of self-organization is the creation of order
out of chaos, the integration of elements perceived as disorder into a larger, more
encompassing organization.
Research on creativity has some very relevant things to suggest about order,
complexity and self-organizing. It shows that ―creative individuals are more at home
with complexity and disorder than most people‖ (Barron, 1958). In fact, they have
what is called a preference for complexity over simplicity – they are intrigued by
complexity rather than afraid of it. Creative thought is marked by the active search for
phenomena that destabilize order, that puzzle cognitive schemata and cannot be
immediately understood. Creativity involves constant organizing, disorganizing, and
re-organizing and it involves actively breaking down assumptions, givens, traditions,
pushing boundaries and moving out of comfort zones (Montuori, 2003). Creativity
means questioning things, both inside ours selves and in the world around us, and
constant re-organizing of both cognitive schemata and the creative person‘s activity.
Creative thought seeks to make sense of phenomena that appear to be chaotic, and
seeks to create higher order simplicity – one that incorporates the complex, disorderly
phenomena in a broader, more inclusive, more open perspective. Creative individuals,
as indicated in research, are ready to abandon old classifications, in an ongoing
process of creation and re-creation. Self-organization in creative persons becomes
what Morin (1994) calls self-eco-re-organization, suggesting that the nature of the
organization changes as well, and that it is an ongoing process of self-renewal that
always happens in a context, in an environment, never in isolation and abstraction
(Montuori, 1992). Following Morin, we can think of knowing as an ongoing process
of self-eco-re-organization: Self-, because knowing involves a knower; Eco-, because
a knower always exists in a context, in a given world, Organization, because our
knowledge is in fact organized, often with principles we are hardly aware of, and Re-,
because knowing involves a constant active process of creative exploration and reorganization, and because our organization of knowledge is regularly re-organized
through the process of existence and participation in the world (Morin,1994,
Montuori, 1992, 2003). Knowing arises through the interplay of subject and object
and research into the world and self-awareness become interwoven in a process of
self-eco-inquiry.
Full participatory view suggests that we are embodied and embedded in this
world, not observing it dispassionately with a God‘s eye view from nowhere (Nagel,
54
1989). There is no self without an eco and even if one just observes life, it is always
this person observing it, with his/her history, choices, feelings, relationships. One
cannot reflect on life with a privileged view that transcends all contexts and all
situations, or with the hope of controlling and predicting what will happen, as we
might control and predict the behavior of machines. As Bateson (1972) stated, in
reference to the dream of linear control, ―Life is not like that‖.
Instead life is participation and participation is creation and improvisation,
because life does not occur in a vacuum, it occurs always in a network of interactions, in a constant play of order, disorder, organization and ongoing learning.
Improvisation and the creative process may be viewed as an ongoing process of
learning and researching, learning-in-organizing, as Gherardi (1999) calls it, a
distributed, provisional, embodied process.
But what does this mean to improvise? Surely it does not mean to dance just
anything that comes into the mind, or to choose to do a sloppy job, without being
knowledgeable about the context. To improvise, on the contrary, should mean
something else- namely the choice of thinking dynamically, of embodying
performance in present tense, including observations which could only be made
within the specific context of the moment and with references to events, ideas, and
moods that could not have been predicted before. To improvise means to draw on all
knowledge and personal experience, and focus it on the very moment we are living in,
in that very context (Montuori, 2003). It requires a different discipline, a different
way of organizing thoughts and actions and ―a social virtuosity which reflects our
state of mind, our perception of who and where we are, and a willingness to take
risks, to let go of the safety of the ready-made, the already written, and to think,
create, and ―write‖ on the spot‖ (Montuori, 2003). Furthermore, to improvise freely,
there is a need to be able to let go of worrying about technical dimensions and, thus,
simply create. A good performer can go beyond the point of worrying about the
technicality of movement and can let him self free to enter the creative process.
3.5: Improvisation: A dance of constraints and possibilities
In the popular mind, improvisation is often misunderstood (Sawyer, 1999).
Many times it is thought of as something that was done to face some unexpected
situation and it is not uncommon that the improvised is still seen as something of less
importance. Improvisation for many people, also, can mean that something was
conducted for which there was no pre-established set of rules or that there was a
breakdown in the correct procedure and that things will be right again once the proper
procedures are in place, when the order is restored. Also, one definition of the word
extemporize, a synonym of improvise, in Webster‘s dictionary is that it means to do
something in a ―makeshift‖ manner, which refers on doing something in a crude and
temporary manner.
But this kind of thinking for improvisation as an inferior situation is typical of
dichotomous thinking and replicates an old-fashioned way of thinking about
order/disorder. In a dialogical relationship of order–disorder improvisation takes on a
whole new meaning and shows the potentially generative function of disorder, and its
continual presence in our world, not only in our need to react to external chance
events, but also in our need to create (Gabriel, 2002). Improvisers tell a story – they
are a story (Kearney, 1988). Instead of simply observing the world they participate in
55
it, and create a narrative that, together with other narratives, develops a common
ground of stories. But it is not random, either: the improvisational process occurs in a
context, and it is performed by someone, with a history, with cultural, economic,
political, and philosophical contexts, with perspectives, habits, and eccentricities, with
the ability to make choices in context, which choices in turn affect the context
(Montuori, 2003).
This indicates a completely different perspective and set of values and the
assumption is that there is no one correct way of doing things, nor is there one correct
order. Rather it is plausible to collaboratively create through the interaction of
constraints and possibilities rather than either order or disorder (Ceruti, 1994). There
is a wide tradition of western philosophy that views order linearly and, in that extend,
many dance background that builds upon this assumption. For example, a ―linear‖
choreographer is the one that believes his is the highest in hierarchy among the
dancers and, therefore, should ―transmit‖ his ―valuable‖ knowledge in a linear
manner-I demonstrate, you replicate and learn. But this way of working draws very
far from realizing the world in it‘s complexity- it doesn‘t doubt, question or research
new knowledge but rather replicates old material in a fixed order/hierarchy between
choreographer and dancers. Instead, improvisation involves a constant dialogic
between order and disorder, tradition and innovation, security and risk, the individual
and the group and the composition. A contemporary choreographer that wants to
provide a common ground upon which the different unraveling personalities can
freely develop and create should allow the constant inter-exchange of dance material,
roles and ideas. All dancers with their own identities, personalities, techniques and
ways contribute equally in the choreographic work and are at the same time teachers
and learners in a constant inter-shifting. The choreographer, also, is not of a higher
hierarchy, an ―enlightened‖ person, but an equal member with everyone in the
common effort to gain more knowledge about the world- a coordinator that facilitates
emergence within this thumbing territory of different ideas, thoughts, concepts,
emotions, approaches contexts and situations. Every dancer can be the chorographer
and every chorographer can be the dancer inter-exchangeably. This provides a context
for a collective improvisation, a form of dialog, requiring constant attention,
negotiation, listening (Purser & Montuori, 1994). In creative improvised
collaboration, both the creative process and the creative product are an emergent
property of the interactions. But the dialog, the performance of knowledge, is an art as
well as a science and in the performance, these two are united.
3.6: Phenomenology of improvisation and post-formal thinking
In the research into the phenomenology of expertise Dreyfus and Dreyfus
(1986) shows clearly that experts in any subject achieve a level of proficiency
whereby they are constantly improvising. So to say, they know the rules, but don‘t
think of them as they have developed the ability to act spontaneously and intuitively
without needing to refer to ―regulations‖. They can, also, utilize mistakes as
opportunities and they can do so without even any conscious reflection going on but
rather, with the same pre-reflective way of response. Constraints themselves become
avenues for possibilities (Ceruti, 1994). In musical improvisation, for example, a
genius like Miles Davis would utilize a ―mistake‖ of his, or of a fellow player, to
explore different possibilities (Chambers, 1998). In that sense, in improvisation
performance the dancers immerse in technical aspects of movement to release from
any conscious concern but they also create ―ground-breakingly‖- meaning while
56
having no thought to technicality. They build upon tradition and, in the same time,
they break it in a continual ―spiral‖. Indeed, Nardone‘s research suggests that the key
element of the phenomenology of improvisation is precisely a series of ―dialectical
paradoxes,‖ between immersion in the tradition and taking risks, between standing out
as an individual voice and being supportive of other‘s voices. This makes evident that,
in order to understand creativity and improvisation, the development of a different
way of thinking is needed, one which might be described as paradoxical, dialectical,
post-dichotomous, or complex (Montuori, 2003).
Montuori suggests a reason why improvisation and creativity have been so
problematic in our society – mythologized, pathologized, misunderstood, and
glorified, (Hampden-Turner, 1999; Montuori & Purser, 1995) –which is that
paradoxical phenomena, such as those, are hard to understand because we are not
used to ―thinking together‖ oppositional terms. Instead, we have, culturally and
historically, come to view those as contradictories. We have used to think about these
phenomena in ways that are simplistic, disjunctive, and decontextualized. To give an
example, order without any disordered elements is complete homogeneity but
disorder without any order is chaos, in the popular sense of the word. In his discussion
of complexity theory, Kauffman (1995) implicates the earlier findings of creativity
researchers (Barron, 1990) regarding order and disorder, and generalizes them to all
complex systems. He writes that, ―networks near the edge of chaos – the compromise
between order and surprise – appear best able to coordinate complex activities, and
best able to evolve as well‖ (p. 26). The creative process can be associated with a
dialectic in which in special moments common controversies are resolved or
synthesized.
The creative process appears to have many common elements with the so-called
―post-formal thought,‖ an advanced developmental stage of cognitive maturity
(Kegan, 1982). Koplowitz (1978) writes that ―In post-formal operational thought, the
knower is seen as unified with the known, various objects are seen as part of a
continuum, and opposites are seen as poles of one concept.‖ Post-formal thought
displays characteristics that involve openness, a dialectical process, contextualization,
and ongoing reevaluation, characteristics that they share with the findings of
creativity research, and with Morin‘s ―complex thought‖ (Montuori, 2003). These
perspectives indicate the necessity to dislocate from dichotomous, decontextualizing,
and simplifying thinking and develop capacities for dialogical, contextualizing and
complex thought. Furthermore, developing a better understanding of the controversial
nature of creative thought may allow us to approach creativity and improvisation
more creatively. Dualisms or oppositions prevent us from understanding phenomena
such as improvisation and creativity that according to the research are complex, and
involve cybernetic, repetitive relationships between order and disorder, health and
pathology, constraints and possibilities, and so on.
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Chapter 4: Implications of Cognitive Science to
Choreography
4.1: The illusion of body/mind dualism and the body as a hole in
Choreography
A very important issue in Dance and Choreography since it works with the
body and movement is the way we think of them.
Traditional and ―old‖ views of thinking about the body support a more
dualistic approach, this is to say, they support that body practice and mind practice are
different and independent. For example, a stereotypical belief related with a ballerina
is a person training her muscular system through a certain technique rather her mind.
Indeed, a very big amount of dance education and training is build in the assumption
that practicing the body means only putting in conscious and intentional activation
some muscles. Furthermore, dance expertise comes from repeating these specific
movements within the specific context of a class with a dance master. Ballet, modern
dance and a variety of other techniques give a very detailed description of what is
―right‖ or ―wrong‖, what is appropriate or not, what is the desired outcome and which
is the right process to achieve it. However, there are many problematic situation
arising from this dualistic approach: The first is that while the initial aim of dancing is
to train and practice the body the strict technique classes, by cutting off a very big
amount of possible movement practice, they, on the contrary, limit the variety of
movement conducted. When every day the same and specific muscles are in use it is
not by far to say that the ―body imagination‖ is resting. Another element is that these
limited way of thinking about dance practice also disconnects the dancer from social
reality-this is to say, in the conventional technique lessons the substance and the
material of work is the same and does not change due to environmental information or
from the personality of the dancer. Independently to the social, politic or artistic
situation and the beliefs of the dancer three pirouettes have to be performed without
doubting or hesitating about the purpose. Thus, in this kind of dance, the person does
not involve as a hole to the creative process.
But a variety of research from the fields of psychology and cognitive science
provide evidence that body and mind dualism does not exist and that the body is
inherently embodied. From 1990 the approach of phenomenology gives support to a
different understanding of action and perception. What we call ―body‖ and what we
call ―mind‖ are not two things, but rather aspects of an organic process, so all of our
meaning and thought emerge from the aesthetic dimensions of this embodied activity.
Embodiment indicates the relation between the intellect and physical activity.
58
This philosophical assumption is very important for Choreography also. The
Choreographer in order to work with the ―body‖ he/she should approach it and
understand it in its holism (body-mind) and work with it. The Choreographer should
not care only about some external muscles but should work with the variety of
patterns produced by the person as a hole (external body and the mind). Since body
and mind are not separate, reading a book is body practice/training and can cause
movement. Of course this is not something new. In contemporary performances
dancers do a variety of things that previously were not thought of as dance, i.e., they
might eat, draw, dress, speak and many more during the performance. The substance
and the core of choreography can be everything and can come out of everything. A
walk in the park, a discussion in the street, the reading of a book, the writing of a
poem are all body practices and can provide material for the Choreographic work.
The ―dance‖ situation can emerge out of an incredible amount of things and a dancer
that wants to have a ―trained‖ body should try to experience a wide amount of
practices in order to expand his body abilities. By this sense, every day and every
moment can be an opportunity for gaining knowledge and experience of the world-it
is not even required to go to the dance studio to practice since every day situations
can be a starting point for discovering and practicing/training and expanding the body.
Many artists of this century have challenged the substance of Choreography and have
expanded the meaning of Chorographical Practice in their work. Social Choreography
invites the whole environment to be the ―pool‖ of research and invites dance as a lifechanging experience. Though, still, since there is a big Western philosophical
tradition building upon dualism and rationality there is also a big core of the dance
community that informs its work by this content. For example, there is a big part of
the academic dance education that only consists of strict technical lesson and refuses
to embrace or facilitate an expanded view of the body. Of course, it is not suggested
that having technical lessons is bad but that there is a need for widening the boarders
of dance and Choreography to invite the social reality and the new philosophical
knowledge in action.
4.1.1: Different views of interpreting action and the ecological body
The dualism of mind/body closely associated with René Descartes (1641) has
been rejected for at least six decades ago and many researchers have provided
evidence for the embodiment of mind and meaning. Though, mind-body dualism is
deeply embedded in our traditions, our conceptual systems, our language and is
manifested in our ethical, political, religious practices.
Before the 20th century, in order to study human activity, the Classic Cognitive
Psychology encountered the Body, the Mind and the Environment as three distinct
entities. The Environment was considered independent from the actor and the Body
was thought of as acting in a linear entrance-exit way between the Mind and the
59
Environment. Furthermore, the Mind was considered to be constructing symbolic
representations of the Environment, conducting logical operations and responding to
the Environment. This Classic Cognitive approach failed to take into account many
aspects e.g. the role of emotions in thinking, the role of self-reflection, the role of
body and action in thinking. Thus, it was unable to interpret simple practical issues of
human action. Most referent to the topic, it failed to recognize that Mind is not
equivalent to brain because it is more than a thing, it is a ―process‖.
Illustration 6.1: Body-mind dualism in Classic Cognitive Psychology, D. Nathanael
(2004)
On the other hand, from the 1990 and onwards, the Phenomenology approach
encounters human existence as action and internal interpretation inside the world.
From a philosophical point of view the state of intentionally reflecting due concepts is
a phenomenon of human existence, a way of Being. The state of the transcendental
self results from the archetype of being in the world and the ability of self-reflection.
These two statuses denote a very different relation of the person with the world. The
most important conclusion is that human is structurally embedded in the world as a
psychophysical hole. The conceptual context is not an independent or statistical
parameter in the action of a person. It co-develops dynamically by the person and the
environment. The entity is not the same in a different conceptual concept and, outside
of it, cannot acquire meanings and transmit performances.
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Illustration 6.2: Phenomenological approach, D. Nathanael (2004)
So, in order for a Choreographer to investigate movement and help the
acquiring of new meaning, he/she has to approach the dancer as psychophysical entity
acting in its environment. The Choreographer does not associate only with the body,
defined as a set of external muscles but tries to understand and work also with the
contextual context of the dancer. He/she tries to investigate and identify patterns in
the performance of the dancer and understand better how he/she makes meaning.
Furthermore, disembodied views mistakenly claim that meaning and thought
are exclusively conceptual and propositional in nature and that reasoning and
conceptualization are not intrinsically shaped by the body. On the contrary
propositions are not the basic units of human meaning and thought. Meaning traffics
in patterns, images, qualities, feelings and eventually concepts and propositions
(Johnson, pp.328). The cognitive/emotive dichotomy doesn‘t exist and it rather
inaccurate to claim that real meaning is cognitive meaning of the conceptual sort.
Emotion is very important of how we make sense of the world and there is no
cognition without emotion. An embodied view of meaning seeks the origins of
meaning in the organic activities of embodied creatures in their interaction with the
environment. And so, a Choreographer that seeks meaning in the actions of the
dancers is directed to this embodied view and should, also, bring in the foreground of
investigation these organic processes.
Additionally, Johnson (2007) draws insightfully attention to what he calls ―the
ecological body‖. As to say, there is no body without an environment, no body
without an ongoing flow of organism-environment interaction that defines our
realities. On the contrary, we must think of body and environment in the same way
that we must think of mind and body, as aspects of ones continuous process. As
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Gerald Edelman (1992) has shown, the brain and its body develop into human
corporeality only by the precise kinds of organism-environment couplings, with their
precise temporal sequencing, that mold the neural development of our species. The
Choreographer should also try to raise awareness of the environment and the social
context in which the movement is taking place in order to more clearly investigate
and realize patterns, motives and structures of performance.
4.2: Philosophical Implications of the Body-mind and of Body-based
meaning: towards a “Choreography of meaning”
To make a sum, there are many implications deriving from embodiment view
concerning issues of our identity and our action in the world. Firstly and more
importantly what we call a ―person‖ is a system, an organism with a brain that
functions in a body, a body that interacts with the environment. Furthermore meaning
grounds upon our bodily experience. Our experience of meaning is based on our
sensorimotor experience, our feelings and our visceral connections to our world, and
second, on various imaginative capacities for using sensorimotor processes to
understand abstract concepts (Johnson, 2007). Reason is an embodied process by
which our experience is explored and it is not a concrete thing or a pre-given fact. Our
ability to make meaning, our imagination it tied to our bodily processes and can also
be creative and transform our experience. New meaning arises from and connects
with pre-existing patterns, qualities and feelings.
In that sense this is a major shift in philosophy: the center of attention when
studying creative action in the world is the body in its environment. Understanding
how a person makes sense of the world implies trying to understand the mechanisms,
the structures and the functions underlying the perceiving of sensorimotor experiences
from the environment and it‘s transformation. So to say, the making of meaning
happens due to the imagination and creation capacities of the individual. This
assumption is also important for dance and Choreography in the following respect:
the ontology of dance and Choreography is build upon body and movement (body in
time/space). The Choreographer tries to observe, analyze and investigate movement.
But movement does not occur only in the external body and cannot be fully perceived
and analyzed if not seeing the dancer with his/her emotional and conceptual context
and acting in his/her environment. Furthermore, the goal of Choreography is
traditionally to make new movement/new knowledge- as to say, creativity is the mean
issue. So, the Choreographer in order to trace new movement/creativity he/she has to
examine the way the dancer acts as entity and support him in all aspects of his
activities. The Choreographer not only should be able to trace emotional, conceptual,
social or external patterns of movement but should also be able to support their
emergence. At this point is also, where the parallel roads of Choreography and
Cognitive Science meet. To Choreography understanding creativity is a way to be
able to utilize the outcomes to allow the emergence of new dance; to Cognitive
science understanding creativity is a way to explain human behavior.
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Indeed, many UK universities now recognize that artistic practice, as a field
research to creativity, can constitute a form of research in its own right and there is a
general request for opening the field to this expanded view. It is important to say,
though, that in order Choreography to be a research field there is a need to raise
consciousness of it. Furthermore, Choreography as an expanded research field can be
fruitful in terms of how the audience ―makes meaning‖ while observing other bodies
―making meaning‖ through movement-as to say how embodied creativity works. So,
it not only helps investigate how the person ―makes meaning‖ but, also, how he/she
understands and perceives the other persons making meaning. In this sense,
Choreography can provide a thumbing territory for gaining a better understanding of
the world and, also, help the person raise a wider self- and social- awareness.
4.3: Embodied Creativity in dancers: the body as a thing to think
with
It has been suggested that dancers and choreographers regularly use their
bodies as things to think with and that they spend much of their time thinking nonpropositionally (Kirsh, 2011). When trying to create new movement forms they use
their bodies as a cognitive medium. Just as an artist or musician develops a close
coupling with their tools so a dancer should have a tight control relation between
body-as-tool and body-as-display-medium. Embodiment bears on dance the way
instruments bear on artistic or musical product. In dance, changing the body-as- tool,
say by making parts of it rigid or spasmodic, leads to a change in form and style of
dance. This places the mechanics of the body front and central in the generation of
dancerly movement.
Also, Kirsh (2011) found that both choreographer and dancers rely on imagery
in the visual, somato-sensory, tactile, and motor systems to create novel movement.
Many times the choreographer gives his dancers tasks that require them to shift
between modalities. For example, he/she might ask them to imagine that their bones
are made of firm rubber, or that they should imagine the feeling of being attacked.
The general task usually is to translate those feelings into movements.
One reason to see this process of simulating in one sensory modality and then
translating to another modality as embodied cognition is that it relies on each
modality having its own way of coding input, and ―concepts‖ (and, thus, can
contribute differently). Although embodied cognition, as a scientific expression, has
different meanings, a common element is that cognitive processes are grounded in
modality specific brain systems (Kirsh, 2011). It is known that the way we acquired
concepts through sight, sound, touch, and so on, continues to affect our understanding
of those concepts, long after they have been abstracted from specific senses. For
example the idea of running is abstract but we ground our understanding of that idea
in the physical activity of running, which we experienced when running. Embodied
cognition, then, can be understood as a form of computation, distinct from familiar
symbol manipulation or connectionist computation, where- in parts of the body, or
parts of a sensory system, are used to simulate some process (Kirsh, 2011). By
simulating that process a subject understands it. For example, the mirror neuron
system is sometimes given as an example of embodied cognition because it gives
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insight to how a subject can give meaning to the actions that someone else performs.
By personally simulating in their own motor or visual cortex, the planning and other
processes related to executing those actions themselves they understand what it is like
to perform that action. Thus, when subjects see another person skiing, their brains
respond by activating many of the same parts of cortex as would be activated were
they be skiing themselves.
In dance, the principles of embodied cognition can give insights on how
dancers invent ―dancerly‖ movements. As mentioned before, many times a
choreographer can give a task to the dancers. For example, a task might be to imagine
what it‘s like to have a rigid rod connected to your shoulder. The rod is pushed and
pulled. To solve this problem a dancer works with a partner that stands some distance
away. That partner is notionally holding the rod and moving it. The dancer then
generates mental imagery associated with the movement of the rod. Most of this
imagery will be about the somatic or kinesthetic feelings of being pushed and pulled.
The pattern of somatic or kinesthetic priming these images creates serves to bias the
next somatic or kinesthetic images in the dancers imagination. The priming defines a
weighting function over somatic or kinesthetic image continuations. In that sense,
without a body or neural system capable of image continuations there would be no
causal basis for priming and hence image continuations. It would be impossible to
link or translate a given somatic state into motor movement continuations (Kirsh,
2011). The most important is that a dancer has the capacity to relate somatic or
kinesthetic images to motor dispositions that can be used to help him or her create
interesting movements and also judge their aesthetic quality. By interpreting their
movement through the scope of one or more sensory modalities, they are able to judge
whether the movement looks right visually, feels right somatically and kinesthetically,
or whether it captures a sound right. This form of cognition is both embodied and
non-propositional (Kirsh, 2011).
Another common choreographic task is to ask a dancer to ―paint‖ an outline,
for example a skyline. Dancers would never use their hands alone as the paintbrush
but rather they use different body parts. For example, they might start with their
elbow, continue the contour line with their head and then move to their hip or foot.
This involves several modalities because the visual modality is required to imagine
the outline, and if the dancer has feelings attached to parts of the outline then
whatever modality is tied to emotional feeling will be a factor too. For example, a
dancer may believe that people have jumped off a building so he or she may have a
special feeling about that part of the outline. As the different parts of the body trace
the different parts of the outline the feeling in one of these modalities – somatosensory, visual, emotional -can be used to judge the movement‘s aesthetic value. In
this creative process here there is generation in one modality, mapping to another and
testing in a third.
This suggests that there are two distinct types of embodied cognition: namely
using the body as a medium to think in – dancers don‘t think in words they think
physically, through their bodily form- and using sensory systems as non-propositional
systems to think in – dancers don‘t think in words or propositions, but in visual,
tactile or somato-sensory forms (Kirsh, 2011). It is important to recognize that these
thinking processes are still representational but they are so tied to the properties of the
underlying medium (muscle, tendon and bone, body control mechanisms, sensory
modalities and sensory simulators) that the cost of embodying the representation is
significant. The cost of creating a representation or simulation, of sustaining it and
transforming it depends on the cost structure of the neural system putting in action the
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representation. Accordingly, for a given person it might be easier to run imagery in
his or her visual system than in their somato-sensory system but for another person it
might be easier to run somato-sensory imagery. This might, also, be relevant to the
content of the image.
The idea that the cost structure of cognition changes with the medium of
cognition is central for approaching creativity. In non-propositional systems, where
the structures to be created are not interpreted as being true or false, an ―idea‖ can be
shifted around by moving it from code to code, system to system, each system making
it possible to discover different things. For example, in architecture, a domain full of
image based representations, an idea that starts as a sketch on paper, where certain
issues are worked out, may be transformed when the architect tries to model his
sketch in three dimensions in wood. Each medium teaches the architect something
different. Or a piece of music that sounds one way when played on a violin may
sound quite another way when played on a tuba because each instrument may
stimulate the composer to notice new aspects of his original idea, or to discover new
associations, or new ideas.
As Kirsh (2011) notes ―the special power of embodied thinking in dance, then,
is the power of representation everywhere. If an ―idea‖ can be encoded in one
representational system easily, or worked out easily there, it can then be translated
into another representational system where it might have been difficult to discover
initially. Once encoded in that new representational system, though, it has a form that
carries new possibilities and makes it easier to discover new connections…This is the
huge power of representational systems.‖
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PART 2
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Chapter 5: Goal of Thesis-Description of the Research Topic
The wider context of the specific research is the meeting point of Dance
Research and Cognitive Science. More specifically it is a multi-directional attempt to
view and analyze Contemporary Choreographic Practices with contributions from
many fields such us Cognitive Science, Systemic Theory, Complexity Theory,
Cybernetics and Philosophy. The goal of the specific Thesis is the analysis and
modeling of the Creative Choreographic Process and the design of proposals for a
supportive tool for Creative Choreography. The analysis was conducted having as a
basis the research that took place throughout the duration of a 3 months workshop for
professional dance development, Kinitiras ChoreoLab 2011, at Kinitiras Residency
Center (case study).
At the first part of the Thesis the wider context of Choreography is
described and some issues, terminology and concepts that concern the Research topic
are introduced and discussed. At the second part having as a starting point the
bibliographic analysis the methodology of the Thesis, the analysis and modeling
coming throughout the case study, the results and further discussion are presented.
Also in this part, the Thesis is directed to the development of proposals for the
creation of an auxiliary tool that supports and records the Creative Process in Dance.
The aim is the contribution to the complex process of Choreography from an
analytical point of view and the creation of guidelines for a supportive tool for
Choreography that respects the complexity of the Choreographic Process. The core of
the research is the modeling and analysis of what a Choreographer that engages in the
Creative Process does –an effort to analyze and understand how he/she encounters
with the Dance-Research. The auxiliary tool is designed and suggested with the
anticipation of supporting a process that has an outcome with Perfomative
possibilities.
The material for the analysis and modeling of the Creative Process was taken
throughout the duration of Kinitiras ChoreoLab Autumn 2011.The Lab lasted 3
months and it concluded with a performance that presented highlights of the research.
Video material, interviews and documentation were organized to grasp the evolution
of the ongoing Project and for further analysis through the scope of Cognitive
Science. Additional material was taken to further examine specific issues concerning
the understanding of what a performer does.
The Thesis is in accordance with the view of Dance as an inter-disciplinary
field in which art, science and research are in dialogue. It is in accordance with works
that take into account the three aspects of creative production: concepts, practice and
analysis, which are seen as interdependent in artistic experimentation and growth.
From the point of view of Cognitive Science, the Research derives
background from Phenomenology, which accounts knowledge as a process that
emerges and develops through the engagement of specific, autonomous perpetrators
in specific situations. Phenomenology approach as a method does not aim to replace
human with a logical machine, but aims to support experienced perpetrators by
designing tools that take into account their way of thinking and action.
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Why might Choreography be interested in Cognitive Science?
Understanding the functioning of the brain has always been a key research
issue. Neurocognition, cognition and other fields examine how we think and how
perceprtion, movement, memory, as parts of the mind as a whole might interact. The
Research extends from Artificial Intelligence to Clinical trials to brain imaging and
depicts the wide interest to the brain. As Scott deLahunta (2009) quotes ― for the
artists interested in learning new things about creativity, cognitive science presents a
possible pool of insights for both self-knowledge as well as understanding artistic
collaborators, viewers and audiences better.‖
Cognitive science is updating the way we understand ourselves by providing
new aspects of human consciousness, perceptions, emotions, and desires, with great
consequences in the way we encounter the Creative Process. It informes the way we
understand the creation, interpretation, and appreciation of Art. Also, in dance, the
tenets of embodied cognition may explain how dancers invent ―dancerly‖ movements.
In that sense, Cognitive science can provide in Choreography a thumbing territory of
research that enriches the understanding of creativity and meaning making processes
that are very important for the analysis, creation and presentation of movement.
Why might a Cognitive scientist be interested in Choreography?
The research on the embodied mind can not only be one of theoretical substance and
in many cases is necessary for the holism of the body to be examined in action.
Choreography provides a body-based practice of research that involves the body as an
entirety, which can help in the examination of different research questions.
Choreography is a revealing domain to study creativity because the process often lasts
over many weeks and requires both choreographer and dancer to generate countless
candidate ideas, then select and refine them. To clarify the abovementioned an
example is presented above. Phil Barnard, a cognitive scientist, aims to find useful
ways of thinking about the workings of the mind. His research program is focused on
meaning – not only the kind of meaning that is expressed in language and symbols,
but also deeper meanings about the self – living, moving, thinking and feeling in a
complicated social world. In his work at the Cognition and Brain Studies Unit in
Cambridge, Barnard first created models of the healthy mind, and then considered
how things might go wrong in clinical conditions such as conditions of depression,
mania, anxiety, anorexia, or schizophrenia. One characteristic of the cognitive
psychology community is that different groups of researchers focus on particular
areas, for example language, perception, memory, attention, motor skills or emotion.
But Barnard seeks to understand how these individual mental faculties all work
together in a unified mental system. In these clinical cases it is natural to emphasize
unnormal thinking about the self, the world and other people and its emotional results.
Though embodiment and multimodal sensation are an integral part of self-meaning.
The difficulty is that in the scientific study of how people think and feel, any efforts to
understand how bodies relate to meaning typically involve great simplification.
Against this background, Choreography provides interesting research opportunities
for a scientist like Barnard. As he states:
―First, dance is inherently multimodal. In dance performance, thematic
elements are packaged as movement, music and staging, all contributing to the
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viewer‘s emotional and intellectual experience. Secondly, this package challenges the
psychologist's ability to think at the same time about many research topics embedded
in a single rich context. Third, the experience of performing or viewing dance appears
to provide conditions where, at least to some degree, it is possible to separate out the
contribution of abstract senses of self and others from specific thoughts about those
senses. Dance is something that can be performed or experienced without a
continual flow of explicit verbal thoughts. Yet in domains of making dance, notating
it, or discussing it those abstract senses of meanings are translated into verbal
thoughts or graphic notations. Thus, dance and choreography provide a unique
platform for studying, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, how thought
and abstract senses of the embodied self work.‖ (Phil Barnard Presentation, June
2006)
Interdisciplinary research and work in collaboration with artists facilitates the
emergence of a better understanding of the world and can be extremely helpful for the
fields intervened.
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Chapter 6: Understanding the complexity of the problem
6.1: The problem domain
There is a variety of problematic situations that a Choreographer is called to
encounter with in the creative process and many choreographic problems that emerge
while practicing and developing a choreographic work. He/she should be able to
recognize, analyze and interpret the choreographic problems in order to provide
viable solutions that may allow the dance emerge once more.
Many times creative processes falls short of their potential because the variety
of ideas is not managed well. The generative phase of creation may be closed down
too early, or it runs dry from an unexpected reason. The choreographer should try to
develop techniques for keeping the process open longer and for maintaining
substantial variance among the dancers despite the urge for group think and
convergent behavior.
There are many aspects of the creative process that the choreographer should keep in
track. Namely, the following are some examples and points that the choreographer
might be interested in:
A very crucial issue is developing or incorporating the performers personal
signature. Each dancer has a standard repertoire of moves and styles of moving, an
identity. How can they be pushed beyond their personal repertoire? How can the
variety of approaches be incorporated to shape a common ground? How can the
performer develop his/her personal identity within the holism of a group and a
performance?
Another usual request is to be creative for wider time-frames, to stay in a
creative phase at full intensity for longer. Dancers can be creative in bursts that issue
in phrases that last for 20 or 30 secs (Kirsh, 2011). What can a choreographer do to
lengthen a dancer‘s period of creativity from 20 or 30 secs to 60 or even 70 secs?
What can a choreographer do to help the performers enter the creative process more
oftently? What can a choreographer do to help them develop strategies to enter the
dance phase more quickly?
Furthermore, another point of concern can be sustaining creativity in long
term. Typical brainstorming sessions can be successful for a few hours, or
occasionally for a day. What methods can keep a dancer at near peak levels for weeks
at a time? How can he/she in trigger the interest of the dancer and support him/her to
engage with the process?
Lastly, two other common choreographic problems are premature
crystallization and insufficient narrowing. Creativity, usually, requires a period of
openness, followed by winnowing and narrowing of options. Many times ideas that
seem good are accepted before newer, even more radical ideas are proposed. This
causes a significant loss of innovative material and ―traps‖ the dancers and the
choreographer in a prescribed situation. On the other hand, many times there is a coexistence of too many ideas and material, which makes it difficult for the performers
and the choreographer to process. If the choreographer doesn‘t give an adjustable and
well-thought amount of limitations or conditions the performers have a difficult time
directing their research capabilities and it is more probable that the work will not have
any manageable productivity or sense. How does the choreographer find the right
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balance between keeping a process open and closing it? When does a limitation
become unproductive and needs altering? When is the right timing for widening and
narrowing ideas and material?
6.1.1: Getting stuck
A dance performance can be seen, among other definitions, as a journey
through the state space
of all possible movements. In a choreography the dancer,
who can act as a
guide to the audience on this journey, can follow the path set out
by
a choreographer, who has mapped out an itinerary in advance. In dance
improvisation, more specifically, the journey is created on the spot, which can make
improvisation interesting to both dancer and audience.
When planning an itinerary, dancers and choreographers many times face the
same problem as writers and painters before an empty sheet: which movements to
make out of the infinite number of possible movements? How to avoid being
absorbed by the need to appear ―interesting‖ in the performative presence?
Improvisation introduces an additional problem, as the dancers have to make their
decisions on the fly. Furthermore, many times the moment they have made up their
minds, they are confronted by the same problem all over again. Dancers thus face two
challenges. On the one hand they have to structure their movements so as to create a
―meaningful‖ (in the extend that is possible) performance, while on the other hand
they have to avoid ―getting stuck‖ in the same habitual patterns of movements.
6.1.2: Habitual Movement
As a matter of brain processing, habits are computationally efficient as an
action can unfold without requiring every step to be worked out in advance. It is
therefore not surprising that, when improvising, dancers also tend unconsciously to
repeat certain movements. For example, when sitting on the floor, a dancer may
always get up in the same way or she may hold her arms in a particular position. Of
course some dancer‘s habits may constitute a personal style but this is not always the
case. The issue, however, for the choreographer is providing the conditions for a
wider extend of freedom for the dancer: this can mean helping the dancers find,
realize, process and use ways to free them self from a wider amount of existing or
artificial constraints and guiding them towards obtaining awareness of the bigger
extend of choices existing. Also, it can mean helping them develop strategies for
reaching the ―dance state‖ more efficiently. It can be thought as a boarder point where
one can potentially escape prescribed situations, confront with something new and
develop new knowledge.
The French author Raymond Queneau once observed that, ―the classical
author who writes his tragedy according to certain rules he knows is freer than the
poet who writes whatever comes to his mind and who is a slave of rules he does not
know‖. This is an interesting note that highlights the importance of awareness. The
unknown rules to which Queneau refers are the processes through which the brain
comes up with a word, a sentence or a movement. In that extend, it can be suggested
that gaining more insight into these processes, can provide a better understanding of
how to put them in use. This is, also, a very important support that cognitive
neuroscience can contribute to the arts.
According to Queneau, one can be as free as an artist without adhering to the
―classical‖ rules of composition: one can invent his own rules. The design of some
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adjustable and well-thought guiding principles and limitations to the work can help
the Choreographer and dancers to process the research more gradually. One could for
example constrain the use of space by performing with one‘s back to the audience or
improvise around a theme. Transit (1962), by Steve Paxton, for instance, consisted of
a series of movements from classical ballet that were repeated again and again at
different speeds and with changing emphasis. Another example is of Simone Forti,
that is one of the pioneers of such a game-based approach and who during the 1960s
had her dancers interact and move through space according to various game-like
rules.
Of course when the limitations overcome a certain extend the work may
become formalistic and this can probably become a more authoritarian way of
working by the side of the choreographer. When a choreographer over-limits dancers
it more probable that he/she doesn‘t allow the emergence of innovative material but,
on the contrary, contributes only to the development of his own opinion. So the
choreographer should be careful about the timing and amount of limitation applied in
the work and the dancers should also contribute to the questioning of the extend that a
limitation is followed, semi-followed or ignored. For instance, if the choreographer
gives the following limitation: ―we will use only this corner of the space‖, he should
be ―awake‖ to acknowledge to what extend this constrain is creative and also
perceptive to comment and discuss with the dancers (as they experience the limitation
and can give a wider overview)
6.2: A case study for further understanding: The Kinitiras
Choreography Lab
In order to further examine what a Contemporary Choreographer does it was
considered useful to participate in a Choreography Lab in order to witness, document
and analyse specific elements of the work conducted. The Lab had 7 participants but
the main amount of documentation and work came from two dancers of the Lab. The
analysis was conducted upon material collected while observing them working in
order to produce material for a performance. Special issues and topics were further
discussed and examined with the dancers when needed.
6.2.1: General information for the Lab
Kinitiras Choreography Lab was established in Spring 2011 with the unique
aim to open a much needed space for experienced artists to continue personal and
professional development. The Lab had the aim to make available time, space and
mentor support in order for artists to regain a space to question and experiment, to be
able to establish dialogues with other artists, as well as become acquainted with
current debates affecting dance practice today. It also aimed to nurture articulate
practitioners who are able to engage with three aspects of creative production:
concepts, practice and analysis, which are seen as mutually interdependent in artistic
experimentation and growth. The Lab is an important innovation within the dance
sector in Greece as it is designed as a self-contained ten-week MA level module
providing further development under the idea of life-long-learning. Participants
follow a taught-period of five weeks with sessions led by international and high
profile guest artists-researcher. This is then followed by a five-week independent
research time that leads to the creation, management and delivery of an independent
project of artistic research. As part of the skills acquired in the Lab, participants are
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introduced to reflective writing and archiving processes. The outcomes of the Lab are
shown to the general public in a series of presentations and performances in the
Kinitiras Studio. In the Lab there was no pre-fixed material and improvisation was
widely utilized.
6.2.2: The Research or the way to gain a better understanding
The research lasted three months of preparation thought which documentation,
research and presentation were parts of the daily practice of the dancers/performers.
The process of the Lab was about exploring different tasks by improvisation and
keeping the more sustainable parts by choreographing the elements and relationships
of the two dancers participating in the piece.
The two dancers were called to ―go‖ through a certain evolving Practice, once or
multiple times, every day.
The Practice helped the investigation of the emerging questions about connections,
memories (how we re-construct them in presence) and how we make meaning of the
world. The Practice for the two dancers, as developed throughout the Lab, is in three
parts:
The Practice in its final form is as follows:
PRACTICE
ME
Note: before the dancers start dancing they reflect on their self‘s and the other by the
following writing task:
Write 5 things that characterize you
Write 5 things that you like about you
Write 5 things that you dislike about you
Write 5 things that characterize the other dancer
Write 5 things that you like about the other dancer
Write 5 things that you like about the other dancer
Notice: you only have 5 seconds for each question
INFLUENCE FROM THE PAST
Note: The dancers move in two stages- in the first only one of them moves and the
other observes and in the second they both move but not together. They follow the
below tasks:
Task 1: to the dancer No1: Remember the best day of your life and comment on it
kinetically
to the dancer No2-: Observe her, remember all the important details and pay attention
to everything that the other dancer is suggesting
Task 2:
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to dancer No1 : Listen and respond in a bodily way to the comments of the other
dancer upon the best day of your life. Pay close attention.
to the dancer No2: Comment verbally or in a bodily way to what you saw from the
other ‗s dancer best day-say what you imagine the best day was, dance about what
you liked or disliked, suggest a correction to something you didn't like
Notice: when one moves the other doesn't
ELECTRICAL SHARING
Note: in this part the two dancers work together and they can touch, shape, form,
guide, grab or pull each other:
Task 3: Try to live the best day of your life together with the other person
-Support and help your friend dancer to live his best moment and share and
communicate yours with him
Stop dancing
Task 4: Write or draw about what you believe you did in the last part and about what
you believe sharing, supporting and communicating is.
Notice: you only have 10 seconds to write
This Practice was re-formed and re-shaped during the Kinitiras ChoreoLab but
versions of it were followed every day by the two dancers.
Video and verbal documentation was held after each day and the documents were
achieved and analyzed.
A Quote from a dancer during the months of the research
''somehow relevant to what existence is...the electricity flows around the space ...it is
this stream...this stream going around each part of your body...this hope that
something will emerge, something will go higher than you...i can feel the moments i
am open...open to the possibility of total loss, loss of myself, loss of control...these are
the moments i feel electricity passing through my whole body...the moments i feel
suspended, the moments i feel detached, shacked but sure, sure for just listening and
participating to the stream.. "
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Chapter 7: The Research Methodology
There is no one way to practice design methods. As John Chris Jones quotes:
"Methodology should not be a fixed track to a fixed destination, but a
conversation about everything that could be made to happen. The language of
the conversation must bridge the logical gap between past and future, but in
doing so it should not limit the variety of possible futures that are discussed
nor should it force the choice of a future that is unfree."
7.1: Methodological Position
The basis of this Research is Phenomenology and therefore is a Interpretative
(or Interpretive) Research. It build‘s upon the assumption that social reality can only
be understood through social constructions such as language, consciousness and
shared meanings. The variables are not predefined and human sense-making is
explored in naturalistic settings.
7.2: Research Methodology and reasoning of selection
The main methodologies of this analysis are Field observation and Case study
because there was a need to observe the Choreographer and the dancers in their
natural surrounding/environment in order to analyze how they work. The participation
in Kinitiras Choreography Lab 2011 at Kinitiras Residency Center (Case study)
helped in order to see and further understand the Choreographic labor and the creative
process in action. More analytically, the Research Process can be divided in two main
sections: the Analysis and Modeling of Creative Choreography and the formation of
guidelines for the development of an auxiliary tool for creative performative
practices.
In the first section the analysis can be categorized in three stages due to the work
conducted:
1.Reconition of the problem, research in the problem domain and the possible
deviation from the research issue
2.Closer understanding, definition and construction of the problem domain
3.Phase of Analysis, Testing, Modeling
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In the second section the analysis can be categorized in two stages:
1.Research in the direction of the suggestion of possible solutions
2.Testing, evaluation and close examination of elements of the suggestions
Furthermore, for the closer understanding of the Choreographic work Semistructured interview, Bibliographic review, Qualitative and Quantitative analysis of
documents were utilized. Firstly, the bibliographic review and the Semi-structured
interviews with the participants of Kinitiras ChoreoLab Autumn 2011 further
expanded the clearer interpretation of the problems and the goals of the field. They,
also, helped understand specific ways of working and objectives of the
Choreographer. Notebooks and diaries of the Process from the participants were
analyzed and archived in effort to make more aspects of the field emerge and gain
more insights in their way of thinking and working. In general, all information
gathered during the Lab (video, text, e.t.c) was processed qualitatively and
quantitatively. This supported the identification of interesting elements but, also,
assisted the naming and measurement of specific findings.
The effort for analysis and modeling of the Choreographic labor was the
starting point for the creation of guidelines for the auxiliary tool. Additionally, two
methods were utilized: Brainstorming and Semi-structured interview. The reason for
this selection was, at the same time, the opening of the spectrum and the design
towards the needs of the persons involved in the creative process. This contributed to
the selection of the proposals that were closer to their goals by relating the findings
for the core of the problem with feedback from the performers.
7.3: Sample
The sample of the Research includes the 7 dancers of the Kinitiras ChoreoLab,
the Mentor of the Lab and the guest Choreographer‘s that helped the Creative
Process. All the dancers were female and the ages ranged from 23-32 years old giving
the opportunity to observe a variety of differently aged performers. All the dancers
have studied in a professional dance school (5 in Greece and 2 abroad). Two of them
had Master in a dance-related topic and three of them had participated in intense
workshops of further dance education. They all had performing and working
experience that varied from 4 to 10 years and experience of ballet, modern and
contemporary dance that varied from 5 to 25 years. Additionally, each had knowledge
of other dance practices (yoga, capoeira, body-mind centering, jazz) and knowledge
of contemporary chorographical practices. The choreographer mainly analyzed had
professional dance training and, also, extended music education. She had Master in
Chorographical practices and wide knowledge of anthropology.
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7.4: Description of Measurement Techniques
The data captured and used in the analysis fall into five categories. Jointly
they comprise a documentation of the entire creative process.
1.Video: Each day before the start of the working session the camera was turned in to
rec mode in order to grasp the choreographer and the dancers while participating in
the Creative process. This was very helpful for the analysis and general overview of
the creative process and the analysis of communicative modalities.
2. Field notes: Notes on movements, interactions, and tasks of each day were taken
during the entire process. The field notes helped to organize and annotate the video
archive and gave more specific insights in the conducted work.
3. Choreographer interviews: The choreographer was interviewed after each
working day about the process-the duration varied from 5-20 minutes according to the
needs. Interviews helped understand better her thoughts, attention and the problems
that she encountered with. Many days the choreographer was asked to explain her
goals for the day and describe what actually transpired. The interview was open ended
and many times the conversation turned to basic questions concerning choreographic
choice, objectives, values, tasks, imagery, etc.
4. Dance interviews: Two dancers were interviewed some of the days. When
appropriate, the dancers ―danced‖ their answers to specific questions about the day‘s
activities. This was especially helpful when the day‘s activities required the dancers to
visualize, or use other sensory imagery, to help create movement ideas. Also, it
helped to understand better how they worked with the Choreographer.
5. Diaries and notebooks: Copies were taken
of written artifacts used by the
dancers and choreographer in the process. These notebooks and diaries helped solve
problems, record ideas, and remember movements and phrases.
6. Photos: During each session photos were taken in order to be able to investigate
closer issues of performative presence and to trace the development of specific
―phrases‖. They also helped to understand and discuss with the choreographer issues
of ―flow‖, body posture and collapses of the dancers during the creative process.
The data collected were archived and organized in order to help the analysis.
7.5 Process
The goal was to collect data of the creative process in dance, to create an
archive of that process, and try to analyze the methods and outcomes. The dance
group worked for three months in order to create a performance that took place at 21st
and 22st of December of 2011 in Kinitiras Residency Center (the rehearsals started at
October 4th). At the first two months the rehearsals were 4 times each week and the
last month each day (except from some occasions). Every working session was filmed
and afterwards an interview with the choreographer was conducted. The two dancers
were interviewed in a total of ten times during the three months. Each day filed notes
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and photos were taken during the process and each month notebooks and diaries were
asked from the two dancers and the Choreographer to be copied. After each session
all material was archived and processed to make the appropriate links, i.e. this note
refers to this video.
In general, the data collected helped to closer understand problematiques in
dance creation and test the creative value of different working methods. They, also,
supported a wider realizing of what the center of attention of the Choreographer was
in each stage of the creative production, what problems he/she mainly encountered, in
what she worked and how efficient these methods were due to their goal.
Image 7.1: Choreographer and dancer in the Kinitiras ChoreoLab
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Chapter 8: Results
The observation and participation to the Kinitiras Choreolab led to a modeling
of the activity of the Choreographer. Namely there was an effort to analyze what the
Choreographer did while preparing material for a final performance, what his
attention was in each stage and what problems she faced. There were four
Choreographers participating in the Lab, but the main analysis material comes from
the closer observation of one of them.
8.1: Action circles, flow charts and artifacts
Firstly, the Choreographer seemed to direct her efforts within 3 action circles
with distinct but inter-connected goals. Namely her efforts were unraveling around
practice (Preparation and Practice circle), creativity (Creative Process circle) and
documentation (Documentation, Analysis, Performance). This seems, also, to be in
accordance with Contemporary Choreographic Practices that indicate that the artist
should engage with all three aspects of creative production: concepts, practice and
analysis.
Illustration 8.1: Action circles in Kinitiras ChoreoLab
In the Preparation and Practice phase the general goal of the Choreographer
was the preparation of the dancer (increase of kinesthetic, empathetic response) for
creative embodied work and the formation of the Practice that will allow the
chorographical material emerge. In the second phase (Creative Process) the goal was
the emergence of autonomous, independent choreographic material that helps gaining
more knowledge about the self and the world. The Choreographer named such
material as the one in which body, the space, the sound context, the other bodies are
inter-connected and inter-related in the time frame in a way that engages
communication and demonstrates ―flow‖(as presented in the book Meaning of the
body). In the third phase (Documentation-Analysis-Performance) the goal was to gain
a better understanding/ overview of the process, unravel the Choreographic work and
communicate/ share insights of the Research with others. The intention of the
chorographer was to document, process and analyze insights of material and share it
with the wider community.
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To gain an idea of how things proceeded in a time-linear manner, the
following flow charts are given for each phase. They depict the time-sequencing of
things that the Choreographer and the dancers did, i.e. first they selected a general
context of the research and after the selected a mode for approaching it. The
flowcharts are as follows:
Phase 1:
Phase 2:
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Phase 3:
Additionally a sample of artifacts (tools) that the Choreographer used during
her work were identified for each stage of the process and are given below. Some of
them will be further discussed in the following analysis.
Phase1: Preparation and Practice
Artifacts:
Forsythe improvisation technologies, Body Mind centering exercises, Exercises for
the release from personal kinetic ―manierism‖, Exercises for the release from
limitations, Exercises for the sharpening of perceptiveness and creativity, Exercises
for development of the ability of immediate response and connection with
environmental stimuli, Exercises for the preparation for the creative process,
Common diary-paper of dancers, e-mail, phone, Personal practice of each dancer
(Yoga, stretching, running, e.t.c), Relational exercises, yoga group stretching
Phase 2: Creative process
Artifacts:
Practice/Tasking, Rotating (tasks) among dancers, Observing/‖Commenting‖ and
Interrupting among dancers, Shape, guide or do movement together with the other
dancer, Expansion of pre-shaped material, Expansion of personal pre-shaped material,
‖Music dance-scapes‖, Combination
Phase 3: Documentation-Analysis-Performance
Artifacts:
Key points, Space fragmentation, Testing, Notes and sketches, notebook, pen, Tripod,
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Camera, video/rec, rewind and pause operation, Computer, drawing, pictures, Storage
memory of camera, Common Blog account, Blog entries, Movie Maker/ Split and
Add operation, e-mail, Shared calendar/schedule
Image 8.1: Shared calendar/schedule for dancers and Choreographer in KCL
8.2: Embodied Thinking
A very interesting finding is that dancers used very often their body as a thing
to think with. This is also supported by other similar research (Kirsh, 2011).
Throughout the process the dancers and the Choreographer relied heavily on body
image or senses in order to think and be creative. So to say, embodied cognition was
noted in two directions. Firstly, dancers didn‘t think in words they thought physically,
through their body form-using the body as a medium to think in. Also, dancers
thought in visual, tactile or somato-sensory forms-using sensory systems as nonpropositional systems to think in. To exemplify this, following three examples are
given.
First of all, many times during the process the dancers were called to observe a
movement and create their own based upon that. The dancers used the images of the
other‘s dancer body/movement as a thing to think with and they started building
―meaning‖ in a non-proportional manner. Not only did they think ―through‖ the body
of the other dancer while practicing but also they ―inherited‖ movement qualities
from each other and they were able to understand each other more in a kinetical
manner (they used words less frequently in their everyday interactions). They came to
know what fast/slow, easy/extended is from the perspective of the other person. So to
say, they started building a ―kinetic code‖ through which they could co-ordinate and
understand each other better. They started knowing each other by the image of each
other moving. Furthermore, when they started moving they didn‘t think, ―the other
performer did three steps in front with the right arm up and so I should do…‖- in
other words usually they didn‘t conceptualize the movement (in words) in order to
proceed. Rather, they started thinking and creating directly upon the perceived body
image or sense. For instance, when a performer was asked to say what she was doing
she said ―the other dancer did like that (display of movement) and so that took me
towards more like this (display).‖ So to say, they directly thought ―with‖ the body
image.
Another example is, also, the formation of the Practice. The Practice was a set
of tasks (not instructions) that helped the dancer explore and unleash creativity due to
the research questions (an example of a Practice that was formed in the Kinitiras
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Choreolab is given in chapter 6.2.2). The practice didn‘t have to be something
―interesting‖ or extreme, rather it could be something very common and simple. The
Choreographer started by having in her mind a research topic, for instance how do
memories re-construct by presence. Then she started to have some ideas of tasks that
could help the Research and test them ―in action‖. She practiced the tasks to see what
sensorial modalities get more referent and possible problematic situations. This
testing process was continued because she wanted to have a ―body sense‖ of what the
dancers experienced while doing the tasks.
Illustration 8.2: Process of formating Practice
The very interesting point is the contribution of this ―body- sensorial‖ picture to the
verbal articulation and formation of the Practice. While testing it the Choreographer
perceived an image of how it feels to do the tasks and this informed and ―widened‖
the research topic. So to say, she used her sensory experience as a tool to think further
the Practice. For instance, if she wanted to test how and when different parts of the
body are inter-connected or coordinated she might start with a Practice like ―do a
movement and let it continue to every part it feels intrigerred by it‖. When trying it
out she came up with a question or bodily finding/ feeling, i.e. some body parts felt
like a branch of a bigger ―wire‖, and this affected the research direction. Then the
Practice would come out like ―imagine you have big wires that send electricity
throughout your body ‖-this is associated with what ―she felt‖, an effort to translate in
words a present body sense and image. Thus, she processed the Practice in a bodilysensorial way-she thought of it with her senses without using words.
Also, the audio was edited in an interesting kinesthetical way. Usually she
took a piece of music that the dancers performed and edited in a way that will help the
dancers. But she defined what is helpful and what not due to her personal
sense/experience of dancing in such a sound context, i.e. ―i will prolong this part of
the music because dancing at this rhythm feels like ―this‖ (display) and ―this‖ might
help the dancers connect with memories‖. Many times the dancers and the
choreographer received a very different sense of music but, she directly thought of the
transformations for the song by her image of how it ―feels‖ to dance in such sound
context (and this directed her choices).
Furthermore, a very important element is that the dancers had the ability to
relate somatic/kinesthetic perceptions to movement in order to help them create
interesting movements and also judge their aesthetic quality. By translating their
movement through the scope of one or more sensory modalities, they were able to
judge how the movement looked visually, how it felt somatically/ kinesthetically, or if
it grasped the sound. This form of cognition is both embodied and non-propositional.
For instance, the dancer knew that a (―good‖ or ―bad‖) movement looked like ―that‖,
and felt like ―this‖ and appeared like ―that‖ related with this sound.
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Image 8.2: Dancer in the ChoreoLab
8.3: Working modes and efficiency
In this part of the analysis there is an effort to analyze the ways of working
that the Choreographer utilized in the different stages and understand more about their
value and efficiency.
At the first stage, the Choreographer used a variety of exercises established in
the dance field to increase the kinesthetic and empathetic sensitivity of the dancers
that seemed to be a pre-requisite for entering to the creative process. This preparation
was considered important for two reasons: setting things ready for mere creativity to
emerge and connecting to physicality. So to say, the ―tool‖ that dancers use in their
work is in constant interaction with the world and so this entry procedure helped the
raise of attention in their bodily processes and interactions. For example, a piano
player doesn‘t need to ―prepare‖ intensively the piano in order to start playing with it
because the piano is not dramatically affected by the environment. But the dancer
―carries‖ his tool everywhere and, in order to sharpen it‘s capacities for creative work,
time, concentration and effort is needed to reduce environmental ―strains‖, ―noise‖
and inefficient habits. In the Lab, usually at the beginning the dancers warmed up
initially by themselves and afterwards in a group manner due to co-ordination of the
Choreographer. This warm-up seemed to be very fruitful for the dancers and their
presence was very different afterwards. Though it has to be noted that while the
Choreographer needed to be sure that everyone is properly warmed-up she also, on
the contrary, needed to be sure that they don‘t spend to much time before getting to
the creative process.
Image 8.3: dancer in the ChoreoLab
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Furthermore, at the second stage (Creative Process) the key point of interest
for the Choreographer was how to provide the conditions to allow the emergence of
creativity. As described in the problem domain (chapter 6.1) the dancers find it hard
many times to over-come habitual movement patterns and move in a more innovatory
way (preferring technicality instead). The Choreographer did many shifts throughout
the duration of the Lab in order to provide a ―rich field‖ for the dancers. Namely, 7
ways of working with the dancers were identified:
1) Practice/Tasking:
The Choreographer gave the dancers tasks though which they unraveled their
research, i.e. imagine you are a piston moving back and forth. The choreographer in
this way assigns a ―choreographic problem‖ for the dancers to investigate and
typically, these problems or tasks require the dancers to create some sort of mental
imagery, i.e. the dynamic and kinematic feel of being a piston moving back and forth.
Often, the way the task is posed requires the dancers to invent an image or scenario
for themselves. The choreographic problem is to use this imagery in some way to
create a virtual structure that they are then able to relate to in a ―choreographically‖
interesting manner.
2) Rotating (tasks) among dancers:
Here the dancer witnesses the other dancer doing his/her task or his/her own
Practice and then ―comments‖ kinetically upon it. This way of working is very
interesting as it makes the dancers create a structure based on the movement
perception from the other dancer. So to say, the dancers used the other dancer‘s body
image to dance. This is related with what Kirsh (2011) in his research calls body as a
tool. For instance, a dancer witnessed the other dancing the piston task and afterwards
did the same task. The dancer used the image of the other dancer dancing the piston
task as a structure or a tool to create her own performance. It was very interesting that
when the dancers ―rotated‖ had far more ―richer‖ qualities and diversities in their
movement and this way of working that the Choreographer utilized was found to be
very fruitful.
3) Observing/”Commenting” and Interrupting among dancers:
Here the dancer witnesses the other performer dance but can also
intervene/interrupt and comment verbally or kinetically in what he/she does. After the
interruption the other dancer continues till he/she is interrupted again. In this way of
working it is interesting that it is more dynamic and it utilizes, also, the modality of
words. It combines mental imagery coming from the other dancer‘s body and
movement images again from the other dancer. It was observed that this way was
more mentally engaging and dynamic and helped the dancers be more productive.
4) Shape, guide or do movement together with the other dancer
Here each dancer can touch, grab, shape or guide the body of the other or they
can move in collaboration. The Choreographer here asks the dancers to utilize each
other‘s body to move. This, at the beginning was uncomfortable for the dancers as
85
they couldn‘t predict the movements of the other dancer but after a while they could
communicate better in a ―bodily manner‖ and with far better qualities.
5) Expansion of pre-shaped material
Here the Choreographer presents a movement phrase (shaped by him from
video material of the dancers) and asks the dancers to build upon it. Usually this
occurred in days that dancers felt less innovative and needed more feedback. In this
way of working the Choreographer thinks ―through‖ the bodies of the dancers to
shape the material and gives it to the dancers. After the dancers think ―through‖ the
body of the Choreographer to create movement. The interesting element is that this
inter-exchange happened very naturally and without causing problems, rather, it
seemed very normal for the dancers to think non-proportionally. Also, in order for the
Choreographer to remember the sequence of material she created, she used a weird
combination of words and sketch, i.e. ― at 1-2-3-4 hands up folding like a rope‖
together with an abstract sketch of this movement.
6) Expansion of personal pre-constructed material:
The dancer re-views in video a dance-phrase that she has done and after
comments kinetically upon it. The differences from the previous are two: firstly there
is no live presentation of the pre-constructed material (no direct physical learning of
the pre-shaped material) and, also, the Choreographer does not edit the material of the
video. He just presents a part of it to the dancer and asks her to comment kinetically
upon it. This usually occurred when a movement material conducted seemed very
interesting and there was a need for revisiting.
Image 8.4: Dancer and Choreographer in the ChoreoLab, re-viewing video material
7) “Music dance-scapes”
The performer chooses a music song of his/her choice and dances towards the
―landscapes‖ created by it (but not following it rhythmically). This was often used to
highlight the connection of the dancer with the musical context and ―enrich‖
emotional references (usually the dancers were emotionally intrigerred when hearing
their best song). This was considered the less efficient way of working because many
times the dancers were entering ―representational‖ mode (i.e, if the song is sad I
dance sadly) without using the images emerging by the song creatively.
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In order to see which working mode that the Choreographer utilized was more
efficient 10 times of application of each mode (10 minutes each) were analyzed. Of
course, it is very hard to define what is productive and what is not but a more general
approach was adapted. Here the efficient is the mode that when applied helped to the
generation of more choreographic ideas (as defined by the Choreographer and the
dancers) that were further utilized. For instance, if from the application of
Practice/tasking 10 times, 6 ideas emerged then the efficiency is 60%. More
specifically, Rotating tasks among dancers was found to be very productive (80%)
and this, also, supports the benefits from embodied creativity. The Shape and guide
mode (50%) was less productive at the first times of application but after it appeared
more efficient. This is because the dancers needed to get used to each other in this
immediate interaction before starting to create. The least creative was the ―musicdancescapes‖ and this seems to relate, as beforementioned, with the entering in a
representational mode from the performers. So these modes were used as artifacts to
allow the emergence of choreographic material. But more importantly, many times
they occurred at the same time, i.e. tasking while, also, hearing at your best song
(―Music dance-scapes‖), or in a dynamic interaction, i.e. two times rotating and 3
tasking within a working session. It was noted that the shifting between those modes
helped the dancers be more creative and acquire more movement qualities. Namely
this mode was considered the most efficient- 90%. The Choreographer never relied to
the linear application of one way of working, i.e. rotating, but she shifted through the
modes and this seemed to help the dancers ―enrich‖ their material. Thus this way of
working is proposed as successful in this analysis.
Illustration 8.3: Efficiency of working modes used from the Choreographer
For instance, one combination that the Choreographer gave once was the
following: (dancer 1): imagine you walk a street with no end (task), (dancer
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2):observe, comment and interrupt to what the other dancer does (dancer 2) imagine
you walk to the street that the other dancer did (rotating) and shape, guide or do
movement together. The dancers had to go through the modes at once (without
stopping). By combing these elements, she made it more possible for new dynamics
to emerge and she, also, contributed to the engagement and interest of the dancer to
the process.
Illustration 8.4: Example of combination of working modes
Furthermore, in regard with the Documentation-Analysis-Performance circle,
the Choreographer wanted to grasp, process and share insights of the research.
Firstly the Choreographer documented through the process many things and in
different ways as seen in the table (8.1) below. In order to document she used a
variety of tools, such as notebook, computer, video camera e.t.c.. Though more
important is how successful or unsuccessful was the way of documenting due to it‘s
goal.
Table 8.1: Documents and way of documenting
To further understand this, 4 rehearsals were analyzed and it was discussed with
the Choreographer what she was trying to document in each stage and a relevant mark
of fulfillment (how closely each mode depicted what she wanted) for some of these
modes was agreed, as seen in Illustration 8.5. For instance 5/10 it means that these
mode was satisfactory but not perfect. More oftendly the center of her attention was to
document movement material that was very important for her work and the afterwards
processing. Before the beginning of the session the camera was always put in rec
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mode. This seemed to be a relatively successful way of documenting (5) what she
wanted (movement) but a lot of tonalities, qualities and perspectives were ―lost‖ in
this mode. A very important factor for perceiving and analyzing a performance is the
immediate performative presence that aparts from very slight, detailed and elegant
movements of body parts and usually this small movements are the ones that make
the material more personal. So to say, the video was unable to document all of that
even if it served in a fulfilatory extend its purpose. Also the video filmed only from
one perspective and many movements were not documented if something or someone
appeared in front of the camera or if the dancers moved elsewhere in the stage.
Additionally the dancers felt more uncomfortable in the presence of the camera and
they worried more about their image while dancing. Thus, sometimes they avoided
doing some movements that they would otherwise do. In order to cover some of the
loss in documenting movement she also used image (3), text (2) and sketch (2) in
order to grasp more refined qualities or notate movement sequences of mere interest
(and that were harder to be re-traced in video). But in general, the documentation of
the movement was not achieved with its proper depth and breadth. This finding is also
in accordance with the discourse in the dance community about documentation of
movement and the recent research project IMK Lab/ICKamsterdam – Emio Greco |
PC, that is also posing the issue. Furthermore, to do movement analysis (i.e. report the
specific placement, tonality, dynamic, plane, direction,e.t.c. of each body part in a
posture or movement) she used text (2) and sketch (3) but this did not help a lot
because when she re-viewed the drawing or writing within a different time frame she
perceived a very different sense of the movement and could not absorb and retrace all
the elegant qualities of it because a big amount of information was missing. These
elegant features could not be notated with text (great reduce of information) or sketch
(less information than the one needed).
Illustration 8.5: Efficiency of way of documenting towards the needs of the
Choreographer
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Image 8.5: Sketches of the Choreographer
Though the most problematic documentation she wanted to do was the ―on spot‖
commentary. Many times the Choreographer wanted to document a comment about
the movement that the dancers where doing and which derived from the direct
kinesthetic experience of the performance. The problem was in two directions: firstly
while looking at the paper she lost a part of the performance of the dancers. As Kirsh
(2011) mentioned dancers can be creative in bursts of 20 or 30 secs. In that sense, the
time delayment needed for writing in a notebook and looking at the paper made the
Choreographer unable to have continuity in her observation. Also for noting the
commentary she usually wrote the minute in which it referred, in order to be able to
trace it again, i.e. ―01:34: zoi and eleni do a very interesting combination that….‖. But
to do so, she had to stand up and look at the camera to find the time of the video and
that caused time delayment, also. As the Choreographer noted she would like to have
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the possibility to comment verbally ―on spot‖ when the dancers are performing
without having to interrupt the process of observing. Of course, this can happen with
voice recording but there are two problems: The first is that the dancers will get
―deconcentrated‖ if the Choreographer starts talking for them while they are dancing
and, especially improvisation, is vulnerable to external disturbances. Secondly, what
is central is not the commendation it self but the combination of the commendation
with it‘s referent movement ―phrase‖, i.e. ―I like the use of the spine and the
continuous neck release‖ together with the moment that the dancer is performing so.
She could have had the verbal commentary together with the moment if she spoke
closely to the video camera but she wanted to use the videos for many reasons, i.e.
blog publication and she didn‘t want the sound context to have comments. Also, the
performers would be deconsentrated by the commentary.
Image 8.6: Choreographer and notes
Furthermore, in order to more efficiently process the material that the
Choreographer has documented she did two things: archiving and edit.
Firstly, the Choreographer needed to archive material, in order to be able to trace
its historical evolution. For instance, in order to be able to re-visit easily movement
material she had folders for each rehearsal or she had a folder with material from a
specific movement phrase, i.e. she had a folder named ―eleni in the playard‖ with
edited small parts of video with a choreographic symbol that was revisited from eleni
and seemed to relate with a childhood memory of her. Or when righting her
commentary she noted above, for instance, ―eleni dancing pulling task at 16.09‖. The
problem with the archiving was that many times she had, for instance, to copy twice
or more a video in order to put in the ―14.08‖ folder and in the ―eleni in the playard‖
folder which was inefficient in terms of economical use of memory space and many
times unpractical for re-tracing the material. For instance, some times it took long till
she could find the video she was searching for among all the folders. Also, many
times because she wanted to have an archived text on the notebook with it‘s video
corresponding it took her long to write an entry- archiving note before start writing,
i.e. ―eleni and zoi working at sensitivity task in 19.09, second time part 1‖. So, this
was problematique also.
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Table 8.2: Archive and way of archiving
Furthermore, she needed to edit material. She mainly edited movement,
writing and audio material and to do so she used different programs (windows, movie
maker, sound booth) and applied different actions (cut, merge, abstraction, e.t.c.). For
the videos, usually the criterion was the esthetical impact of the movement (which
relates with the identification of movement ―phrases‖) and for the text the relevance
to the topic of the research. Also the audio was edited in an interesting kinesthetical
way as described before. In general, the main problem, in regard to the efficiency of
editing, was that she needed to be able to edit video material quicker. She didn‘t need
a lot of special effects and actions but she needed to be able to apply split and merge
operations in the videos and produce a new one quickly so the dancers don‘t have to
wait to see the outcome.
Table 8.3: Edit, tools, main criterion and actions of Choreographer
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To continue, another triggering point is that of analysis. She had 4 ways of
working in order to analyze a movement material or concept for her work: namely,
video re-viewing, note- reading, conceptual thinking and combination of them. She
hardly ever (10%) analyzed a movement material only by thinking conceptually
(abstractly) but she also needed the display of body movement in the same time (nonproportional thinking). So in order to analyze the documented and archived material
the Choreographer needed simultaneous display of different information. This was
many times problematic. For instance, to analyze a video with movement material she
needed to have the ―on spot‖ commentary, the exact content of the Practice for that
day and sketches with movement sequences that she needed to pay attention to. But
because these were in different places (computer, camera, notebook) it was harder to
do. The most important, as also described before, was the ability of simultaneous
projection of movement and ―on spot‖ commentary because these comments, deriving
from the immediate, kinesthetic performative presence, were valuable for her
understanding of what was going on. So to say, they have to be viewed by the
Choreographer together with their movement reference in live action.
Table 8.4: Ways of working in order to analyze
Table 8.5: Examples of need for simultaneous display
In the reflective material, which was uploaded to the blog, ideas, concepts,
thoughts and emotions were presented together with movement (video) and images.
The Choreographer found hard at some times to write in the blog about things for
which she would normaly apply a full body display. For instance, it is weird to write
in the blog «the moment the right hand of eleni was twisted and her pelvis was up to
zois shoulder....». In a normal interaction she would say «the moment eleni did»...and
full body display. In general, in the blog (sharing with the community) she was
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mainly interested to present the evolution of the research (findings, development of
tasks and questions), insights of movement material that had more aesthetical impact
and emotions and thoughts for this bodily process.
Illustration 8.6: Kinitiras Choreography Lab blog
Another key point was the moment of the performance. Since improvisation
was used, and since there was no pre-fixed material the Choreographer had to coordinate different aspects. On the one hand she had the technical aspects (light
technicians, musicians, audience spot) and on the other hand the specific requirements
for the research of each dancer. But the dancers had to unravel their improvisation in
the performance without interrupting each other and without having a technical
problem. She solved this with three ways:
1) Key points: she putted some cues so that the different dancers could coordinate. For instance, when the guitar starts you should start finishing your
task.
2) Space fragmentation: see defined site-specific information for each research.
For instance, you will not cross this line or you will dance within this square.
3) Testing: She asked the dancers to test a lot of times ―in action‖ the
combinations agreed so they could have a better sense.
What appeared to be best was the combination of these modes because: if only
key points were put, the performers would have the issue of probable hitting on
another; if only space fragmentation was applied, the dancers wouldn‘t know how
to co-ordinate in the time-frame; and without testing, it wouldn‘t be easy to
―sense‖ the coordination and trace problems. So this combination of these three
ways was considered efficient and helpful for the dancers.
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Illustration 8.7: Artifacts for the performance
Image 8.6: Pictures from the performance of Kinitiras Choreography Lab, 21.12.2011
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8.4: Communicative modalities
Furthermore, another noticeable point is the way that the Choreographer and
the dancers communicated in the different stages. It was found that the Choreographer
communicated with her dancers in diverse physical ways. This is also in accordance
with the findings of Kirsh (2011) in a similar research. Each way of communicating
carried specific information for the dancers. Some are obvious: she talked, gestured,
used her own body to display what was to be done, and moved to a position to explain
something. Some of the communicative mechanisms, though, are non-obvious and
uncommon outside the dance domain. For instance, touching a dancer can be used to
physically reshape a posture or movement. Its function is more corrective than
denotational. If force is applied to a body, even gentle force, its purpose may not only
be to ―describe‖ a structural shape or a body dynamic, but it also aims to cause the
dancer a change in the way she moves, feels, or even thinks. Several factors operate at
once: the touch must be exactly at the right time and place if it communicates a
feeling, such as fatigue, anger, or physical distress, the touch needs the right
dynamics; and if it communicates a position then the touch must be appropriately
corrective, marking the extension of
a limb or the direction the body should be
moved in.
In a physical context such as dance, where the structures being created are
the dynamics of form and position, it is natural to see touch used as a tool for
sketching, shaping or correcting. Furthermore while discussing a movement sequence
(phrase) the Choreographer usually utilized words for longer periods (i.e. ― I say
about the part were you start jumping…..till you reach the wall‖), full body display
for shorter sequences and video display usually to demonstrate the whole
performance. Another interesting way of communicating was drawing-the
Choreographer used at times sketches in order to report a nice movement or to note a
movement sequence or to demonstrate in the dancer an example of how to move. The
sketches depicted key positions of body parts in order to be able, for the dancer, to
understand the movement. So to say, the body was presented abstractly with the
spine, head and toes only. Though it is not clear if the dancer perceived the movement
sequence in the same manner with the Choreographer. There were, also, modes of
communication that were less obvious, especially with sound. Sound for
communicating rhythm is almost universal: ―One, two, three; one, two, three ... ‖. But
sound to communicate form, feeling, or ―quality‖ is less familiar. The Choreographer
sometimes offered corrections, or communicated some aspect of dynamic form by
calling out phrases such as ―Niahh uh oom‖. This kind of sounds has been called
―vocalization‖ (Kirsh, 2011). The goal of vocalization was usually aiming to give an
example of a dynamic, a sequence progression or a feeling. Moreover, because dancer
and choreographer were invariably in close proximity when vocalizing, the use of
vocalization often led to further interaction. It is usually a move in a sequence of
multi- modal interactions.
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Table 8.6: Vehicles carrying information and information carried
Table 8.7: Communicative modalities
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In general the communicative modalities utilized were words, dance, video,
music, touch, vocalization, image, draw and text. But the most important element
observed was that there was emergent communicative meaning arising because
multiple modalities, such as words and full body dance, video and vocalization, were
used at once. In the following table (8.8.), there is a display of 1.5 hour period of
rehearsal and the duration of different modalities in use. It is notable that many of the
channels overlap. Regularly the choreographer combined words with dancing, touch,
and video. Sometimes he sketched a movement in a paper while talking and at the
same time the speed of his writing with the use of vocalization were trying to transmit
the dynamic, rhythm, quality and space coverage of a movement. So, in general, the
dancers and the Choreographer relied for their communication in many modalities in
dynamic exchange.
Table 8.8: Communicative modalities in interaction
8.5: Center of Attention of Choreographer and Collapses
Another point of interest for this analysis was the center of attention of the
choreographer during the process-where she focused at, what she was looking or what
problems did she have.
The specific Choreographer worked a lot with video and many times
demonstrated to the dancers sequences that they conducted in order to discuss
interesting elements and approaches, or comment on movement trajectories and
qualities. But what did she pay attention to in order to identify movement phrases?
To identify movement phrases (―phrasing‖) the Choreographer paid attention to the
combination/structuring of:
 Quality, tonality, dynamic, tension, rhythm of movement
 Planes, directions and use of space
 Extensions of body parts
 Pauses and momentum
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For instance, if a dancer performed in a more legato mood and afterwards moved in a
more tensed way this indicated that some change has occurred. But it was not these
elements on their own that made her perceive something as a phrase/pattern but,
rather, the way that the dancer combined these elements. For instance, the esthetic
impact of 10 steps with this dynamic and in this plane together with two long pauses
and limb extensions, e.t.c. So to say, she tried to trace the patterns in which there was
a ―momentum‖, an interesting co-ordination of the above elements by the dancer.
Having said so, what the Choreographer identified as a ―phrase‖ sometimes
proliferated from what the dancers thought but the deviation was not important. What
she was interested in was to find movement sequences that ―made meaning‖ even if
they were cut from all the other movement material. So to say, phrases that they could
stand as independent entities and they ―made sense‖ even on their own. In a more
general overview, the Choreographer monitored the emergence of these
choreographic entities. She paid attention to the dance ―phrases‖/sequences conducted
and their development through time. Research points were re-visited and renegotiated by the dancers and certain ―dance‖ moments started to have meaning. The
Choreographer tried to trace these emerging choreographic ―cells‖ and create a
pattern through which the dancers could ―navigate‖. After 1.5 month of rehearsals the
dancers had some specific elements emerging in their improvisations and the
choreographer tried to work with these patterns to help the dancers acquire a more
―clear‖ voice when improvising. To do so, she worked a lot with movement
demonstration (actual and video). The discussing, video re-viewing, and reexamination of movement phrases and their emerging emotional bonding not only
enriched the meaning of choreographic symbols but also made it possible for the
choreographer to navigate through the dancers improvisation. More and more, she
could understand and make meaning about what was going on during the
improvisation. In general, for the emergence of symbols duration and repetition were
very important as only through continual engagement it was possible for the dancers
to enrich with meaning the mental and body images they had.
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Illustration 8.8: Emergence of Choreographic symbols in the creative process
Image 8.7: dancers of the ChoreoLab
Well so, but, what was in general the center of attention of the Choreographer
while watching the dancers practicing/performing? It was noted that she was
interested in:
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•
Engagement of the dancers to the research plan
•
Non-habitual or pre-planed/pre-fixed movement
•
Mental engagement
To get this information the Choreographer used reference points some of them
more obvious, some of them less frequent. For example it was easy to understand
that the dancer did not ―get stuck‖ in habitual movement by the non- reappearance
of movement with same quality, tonality, dynamics, e.t.c.. But, how could she
understand the engagement of the dancer to the research plan? For this she relied
in many facts, among others to the emotional response to movement and to the
responsiveness of the dancer. When the performer was in ―research‖ mode there
were particular movement that started to have an emotional substance and, also,
the performer was more vigilant to changes.
Table 8.9: Attention of Choreographer while watching the dancers and reference point
of the choreographer to get the information
But, even harder, how did she understand if a performer is mentally engaged while
dancing? For this, 3 factors seemed to be very important: eyes, tonality and pauses. Eyes
transfer a very big amount of the on-going mental processes and they are a point of
reference for performative presence. The eyes that the choreographer described as the
one‘s indicating ―flow‖ of movement and engagement were the eyes that presented
―emptiness‖. ―Emptiness‖ means that they eyes look everywhere but they don‘t
concentrate somewhere specific. They are like wide ―empty‖ cavities that are boarderly
informed of every information in the space. Usually when the dancer is moving they are
following the movement in a natural, 3-dimensional way and with no-spoting or stucking
to specific points of the space. In this way the dancer is more perceptive to mere visual,
incoming information.
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Illustration 8.9: Eyes as indicators of mental engagement of dancer in the creative
process
She, also, gained information for mental engagement through tonality. The tonality of
the muscular system of a performer is very indicative. Usually the ―flow‖ tonality is the
one that has a ―rhythm‖ that coincides many qualities without abstracting the attention of
the viewer. Last but not least, pauses are very crucial also. Usually when the dancer is
mentally or emotionally participating she does pauses that seem to mean something and
have an unexpected duration and place. So to say, when there was ―flow‖ in the creative
process it was observed that there was an unintentional but ―insightful‖ and meaningful
use of pauses.
Image 8.8: Dancer of the ChoreoLab
Furthermore, a great part of the choreographer‘s labor was to identify problems while
seeing the dancers and try to facilitate solutions. The perceiving of the problems was
crucial in order for her to realize when shifting in the way of working is needed. To
better understand this 12 videos of improvisation where analyzed together with the
Choreographer in order to spot collapses of the dancers and see what the Chorographer
monitored in regard with the problems. Interestingly the prevalent reasons for the
dancers going out of flow were the music context (17.5%) and the mental condition
(17.5%). Dance is traditionally closely bounded to music and even if a performer is
dancing in silence the noise background is also influential. Indeed throughout the video
the dancers went out of flow because of music many times, for example, when a more
fast song entered. The Choreographer worked a lot with the relationship that the
performers build with the musical context and in order to do so many times music
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display, music archiving and music editing were needed. Furthermore, due to the mental
condition, many times it was easy for the dancers to enter a more ―fulfilatory‖,
impersonal mode rather than participate in the research mentally and emotionally. Many
times, especially for experienced technical dancers, it is easy to rely on just moving some
external body muscles. But the Choreographer needs to find ways not only to enrich
mental participation but also to facilitate mental communication with the dancer. To
solve the problem of mental participation many times the Choreographer used a variety
of modes to intriguer the dancers. Many times she had discussions with the dancers,
other time she altered the tasks, some times she asked the dancers to write in a paper
their thoughts about the other dancers, two times she brought a poem and some times she
practiced with them release contact improvisation (―to tighten the bonding of the
dancers‖ as she said).
In regard with the less frequent reason for collapsing as identified by the
Choreographer, insecurity about how something appears to the audience appeared as the
least frequent reason (9.5%). This probably has to do with the preparation work and the
Body-Mind exercises that ―strengthen‖ the performative abilities and that gave them
more tranquility.
Another important finding from the video analysis is that dancers were creative and
demonstrated flow in bursts of few seconds, i.e. at video 2 from 02:29 till 02:49. This is
in accordance with similar research findings (Kirsh, 2011). It, also, indicates that the
Choreographer should be very perceptive an observatory in order to perceive and work
with this bursts. She had to observe close and be very attentive to the evolution of the
performance.
Table 8.10: Predominant Reason of collapsing (for the dancers) as decided by the
Choreographer and percentage of appearance in the video analysis
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105
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Illustration 8.10: Collapses, interesting points and ―flow‖ of dancers in the creative
process (video analysis)
So, the Choreographer most of the time in his work should observe. Observing
is very crucial for perceiving and understanding the kinesthetical qualities and the
undescribable (in words or videos) physicality and immediacy of the dancing body.
But, also, the Choreographer needs to document many things in order to monitor the
evolution of the process and conduct research. What was found is that, while working
documentation and observing overlapped and dislocated the attention of the
Choreographer. So to say, many times she lost part of the performance in order to
document something. Following there is an analysis of a 1.30 hour rehearsal which
indicates the predominant center of attention of the Choreographer trough the process
(after video report of the rehearsal and discussion with the Choreographer). Within
the rehearsal the Choreographer had three main things on mind: communicate with
the dancers, observe them dancing and document emerging elements. Though
communication did not overlap with the other elements, observing was continually
overlapping with documentation. In her effort to notate things she lost part of the
performance. For instance, at the beginning while watching the dancers she stood up
and looked at the camera because she ―wanted to be sure that the perspective of the
video was right and could record all movement‖. Afterwards, while looking the
performance, she would stop watching to write in the notebook or the computer. What
was important was not that she was writing but that the center of her attention was at
―how to document part of this physicality‖. Of course, she could have just observed
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the dancers and then worry about any documentation but, since the context is artistic
research, the Choreographer needed to hold ―evidence‖ of the process. So to say,
there were many things that emerged from the immediate kinesthetic, empathetic and
interactive experience of the performance that could not have been documented in
another timeframe. In result, the Choreographer‘s center of attention was shifting
making it impossible to acquire continuity in observation.
Illustration 8.11: Center of attention of the Choreographer
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Chapter 9: Guidelines for the construction of an auxiliary
tool for the Creative Process
In this section, after the analysis conducted, some guidelines are proposed
towards the development of an auxiliary tool that helps towards the creative
choreographic production. So to say, this tool (system) helps the choreographer
conduct artistic research and provide the dancers the conditions through which the
―choreographic material/dance‖ will emerge. This tool does not, in any mean, wish to
replace the Choreographer but it aims to support him in his work towards allowing the
emergence of new movement.
The system should:

Support the “carrying” of information in as many ways/modes as
possible
Choreography as artistic research tests, questions and transmits insights of
knowledge about the self and the world. So information is very central to
Chorographical Practices. As known, transmitting of information can be very
problematique and people always search tools to do it efficiently. The system
should facilitate the ―carrying‖ of information and provide as many
alternatives as possible (audio, text, video, image, e.t.c)

Support multimodal input and output (image, video, audio, text, e.t.c.)
In the same context, the system should be able to receive different modes
of input and be able to support diverse modes of outcome. For instance, it
should be able to receive a video, an image, a text but also be able to project
the before mentioned.

Be able to document, as closely and detailed as possible, the holism of
the performative presence of a body in movement (qualities, tonalities,
eyes, different perspectives, e.t.c.)
As mentioned before, a dance performance is a ―rich‖ kinesthetic
experience that aparts from a wide variety of movement qualities, tonalities,
face expressions and slight details that can be viewed from the spectator by
many different perspectives. Also these elegant differences indicate the
personal identity of each performer and give to the presentation a unique
character. The system should try as possible to grasp and document this rich
experience in its full depth and breadth because the Choreographer builds, in a
great extent, upon it.

Take into consideration and integrate in it’s communicative
modalities the kinesthetic, corporeal way of perceiving information in
which dancers and choreographers rely heavily
Perceiving and transmitting information can be a very complicated thing.
Especially for dancers that try to exchange body/ sense images communication
becomes sometimes even harder. As mentioned before, dancers use their body
as a thing to think with. The designing of a supportive tool that assists them
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should take into account this way of thinking and include embodied-based
communicative modalities. Gestures/movement of hands, face expressions,
vocalization, body postures/images are in common use among dancers and,
thus, the system should integrate them in the interaction with the
Choreographer.

Be able to document, in great extend, in a corporeal basis (embodied,
non-proportional, non linear thinking)
Except from interacting with the Choreographer in a corporeal basis the
system should also be able to document aspects of corporeal thinking. The
Choreographer should be able to report gestures/movement of hands, face
expressions, vocalization, body postures/images e.t.c.. For instance, a small
example of this is emoticons. They note a feeling without using words.

Support the immediacy of the phenomenon of performance (very
quick and efficient interactions with the Choreographer in the parts
needed)
As mentioned before, the dancers can be creative in bursts of 20 and 30
secs and performance is a very immediate phenomenon. The Choreographer
observes very closely and should be able to process and note things coming
out of the performative process very quickly. The system should support the
parts that demand form the Choreographer quick action, i.e. quick appearance
of elements that help him note.

Allow the simultaneous use of many modalities (audio, text, image,
video, et.c.) while documenting and processing and the simultaneous
projection of this information in one unison
The Choreographer as he/she thinks uses together different modes in
combination (table 8.4,8.6 from analysis). The system should provide the
opportunity for reflecting with different modalities and, also, support the
simultaneous projection of material form different modes. For instance, a
video material from the dancers together with text, image and sound.

Not disturb the dancers while working
Dancers need to concentrate in their bodily processes and many times they
find it hard to get ―in flow‖ while working. The system should not interrupt
the dancers in any means while they are performing.

Be as quite and “transparent” as possible to the dancers while in
action
Besides from the concentration, the dancers need to feel ―relaxed‖ in order
to be more creative. When they feel they are being watched and reported all
the time they tend to be less innovative. The system should be a discreet
presence in the process that does not ―block‖ the dancers. Also, noise
interruptions can be annoying and they should be prevented.

Be able to re-demonstrate/project easily and quickly all material
The Choreographer in her/his effort to communicate needs to demonstrate
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quickly parts of information, i.e. a video with the performers dancing. The
communication and thinking conducted are very immediate and, thus, the
system should support him/her to do it fast and efficiently.

Support “phrasing” and “on-spot commentary” the time of the
production of a movement material and afterwards (and without
disturbing the dancers)
As described, the Choreographer works a lot with the identification of
―phrases‖ (units of movements) or elements and the commentary upon them.
The choreographer should be able to indicate and document a ―phrase‖ while
the dancers are performing and, also, be able to reflect on it while it is
happening. Of course, the system should support the choreographer to conduct
―on-spot commentary‖ without annoying the dancers, i.e. if he/she needs to
speak the dancers should not hear him/her. It should be noted that the
documented ―on spot commentary‖ should be immediately linked with it‘s
reference phrase by the system. For instance, if a Choreographer says,―I like
the diverse qualities here‖-this should be saved together with the identified
phrase of acting so.

Keep track of the Practice development (namely it should keep track
of the practice, the goal and the evolution stages)
The Choreographer needs to keep track of the evolution of the Practice so
he/she can link the present work and findings with the previous research
questions and directions. He/she needs to know what was the substance, the
goal and the development of the Practice each day. The system should assist
him to do so.

Be able to document thoughts, concepts, ideas of dancers and
choreographers easily, quickly, efficiently and in many ways
The Choreographer oftendly has momentary insights of ideas, concepts
and thoughts. The system should provide easily and efficiently the opportunity
to the user to express in many ways.

Be able to save and archive material dynamically
The material documented should be saved and archived in a way that will
allow the Choreographer to trace it easily. A dynamic way of archiving will
facilitate him/her to organize the work conducted and will prevent the
duplication of information (i.e. the same video in different folders)

Support easy and dynamic processing of all information, material
Also, as the choreographer combines information in order to analyze
(60%, table 8.4), the system should provide opportunities for easy and
efficient access and display of information from different modes.

Be able to archive in many ways the material through the wish of the
choreographer
It is crucial that the Choreographer can trace quickly and effortlessly
insights of this research. The system should provide opportunities and
indications for analytical archiving due to the preferences of the
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Choreographer, e.g. archiving due to date, dancer, project, e.t.c

Be adjustable to different environments
As dance groups many times work in different places and projects the
system should be able to adjust in diverse places.

Be easily transportable
As mentioned above, rehearsals and performances can take place in
different environments and the choreographer should be able to transport the
system easily.

Be semi-autonomous and semi-automatic
On the hand, the Choreographer is the person deciding the actions and
processing to be done. On the other hand, the system can work in parts
autonomously and automatically to assist the work.

Be able to conduct part of the documentation semi-autonomously and
semi-automatic
The system should support him/her by doing part of the documentation
semi-autonomously and semi-automatic. For instance, always note the date,
time and duration of a rehearsal.

Be available and easy to use to a wider audience possible
The dance filed, more and more, is expanding to include people with
diverse backgrounds, culture, abilities and knowledge. The system should try
to be available for use for as many people as possible and not exclude this
diversity. Different people should be able to benefit from this system. For
instance, if a Choreographer is not fluent with the use of technology (if the
system includes technological parts) it should provide opportunities for
amateur use also. Or if a choreographer has any kind of special need (i.e.
colorblindness or like Merce Cunningham arthritis) the system should be
designed, in the extend possible, in a way that can provide him/her also the
ability to use.

Be self-explanatory in it’s function as possible
The system should not require from the Choreographer to read long texts
or spend a lot of energy to understand how the system works. The design of
this tool should ensure that information is presented in an efficient and helpful
manner that assists the user understand without long effort.

Respect the environment and support ecological use
The production, action disposal of the system should not harm the
environment. The materials used should be able to re-cycle and there should
not be any un-ecological friendly outcomes. But even more, the system should
support ecological use. For instance, if electricity is needed the system should
support balanced use and prevent overconsumption (i.e. sleep mode).

Support physicality in the interaction with the Choreographer
The interaction with the system should be natural and try to simulate, in
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the extend possible, the interaction with a human so it can make the
Choreographer feel more comfortable and calm.

Be able to provide in great detail specific analytical features (planes,
direction, skeletical analysis, e.t.c.) of an “occurring”-live or conceived
body posture or movement
Many times the Choreographer needs very specific information for a body
posture or movement in order to be able to analyze it or re-produce it. The
system should be able to (grasp and) analyze on request an ―occurring‖-live or
conceived body posture or movement in its fullest possible details (planes,
direction, qualities, tonalities, skeletical analysis, e.t.c.)

Be able, while documenting movement, to trace the spot of the dancers
and adjust in case of their displacement so they can be the center of
attention
The Choreographer should not interrupt his/her observation process in
order to assure that the dancers are in the center of documentation from the
system. Dancers move around the space a lot and the system should be able to
adjust to render them as center of the documentation.

Support the choreographer demonstrate a specific movement
sequence or body posture that he/she might be unable to do
The Choreographer, as discussed in this context, doesn‘t transmit a prefixed personal movement material but wishes to work with the different
backgrounds and abilities of each dancer that can have great deviation from
his/her own. But this doesn‘t mean that he/she should work only with the
things that he/she can do and many times there is a need to demonstrate or
explain a body posture or a movement sequence that he/she is unable to do.
The system should support him/her to demonstrate so. An example can be a
movement generator or a 3d modeling or, even, Lifeforms (a computer
program that is used by Cunningham)

Be able to keep semi-automatically history of information
The system should support the Choreographer to keep track of the
evolution of the process. So to say, it should automatically keep history of
prior versions of documents for which the choreographer has asked to do so.
For instance, if the Choreographer has asked history back up for Practice
material all prior versions of Practice (when a new is processed) should be
automatically saved by the system.

Support dance-group organization features to the Choreographer
The Choreographer usually has to do with groups that can apart from 2 to
50 dancers. Organizing and coordinating different programs and preferences is
not easy. The system should provide features that help the Choreographer
organize the dance team.

Support sharing ideas and material with the wider community
The Choreographer many times needs to share his/her work to get
feedback or find common ground for collaboration, i.e. blog of Kinitiras Lab.
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The system should help public demonstration and sharing of the work. For
instance, it can have the feature of automatic updates and e-mails to a list of
people when a work is given to public view.

Support internet access
Many times the Choreographer needs to see samples of other works, or
demonstrate something from the Internet to the dancers or even make public in
the Web his work. The system should provide him/her Internet access.

Be error tolerant and sustain it-self as possible
All humans make mistakes and the system should provide the opportunity
for error- recovery actions. Also, the system should be able to up-date it-self
semi-automatically without requiring the constant attention of the
Choreographer.

Provide indications of efficient use
The Choreographer should be informed for the efficient use of the system.
Thus, the system should provide such information to reassure him/her for
successful action.

Support sound editing and creation
Most of Contemporary performances don‘t use already existing songs but
the sound context is created due to the needs of the research. Therefore, the
system should allow the Choreographer to edit or create sound contexts.
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Chapter 10: Discussion-Conclusions
Today Choreography is a very dynamic and evolving field that, with it‘s
substance as artistic research, relates and informs from an expanding number of areas
and knowledge domains. The Choreographer is not a passive creator of pleasant
spectacles for elitistic consumption but, rather, a person that questions, researches or
suggests new relationships, possibilities and dynamics for society. In his/her effort to
do so is actively participating in the three aspects of creative production: namely,
concepts, analysis and practice. He/she actively collaborates and co-develops with the
dancers in order to gain more insights and knowledge about the world.
In a general overview, the analysis conducted in this Thesis opens the
discussion about possible problematiques in dance creation and what we know about
the creative value of different working methods. It wishes to better understand what
the center of attention of the Choreographer is in each stage of the creative
production, what problems he/she mainly confronts, in what he/she works and how
efficient these methods are due to their goal.
In the Kinitiras Choreography Lab three action circles were identified:
Preparation and Practice, Creative Process and Documentation, Analysis,
Performance. The Choreographer participating in this research utilized 7 ways of
working in order to make shifts and facilitate diversity in the work. Each contributed
in a different manner but what seemed to help more was the combination of those
modes in inter- exchange. Thus, the shifting within a variety of working modes was
considered successful (efficient) in this analysis.
Also, an important finding was multi-modality in communication. The
Choreographer communicated with the dancers with many physical ways. Many
modalities were used in an unexpected and unusual manner while trying to
communicate in the different stages. But, even more, it was observed that there was
emergent communicative meaning arising because multiple modalities, such as words
and full body dance, video and vocalization, were used at once. It was noted that the
dancers and the Chorographer changed between modalities more frequently than most
people do (in every-day interactions). Also it was found that, most of the time they
used their body as a thing to think with and they though non-proportionally, as also
supported by other research (Kirsh, 2011). So to say, they relied heavily on body
image and movement to be creative. It is, also, suggested (Johnson, 2007) that, this
physical, embodied way of thinking helps the ―widening‖ and ―enrichment‖ of the
abilities for perceiving, interpreting and understanding new elements within the
environment.
Furthermore, documentation overlapped and dislocated many times the
observatory process of the Choreographer, causing an important problematique.
Observing is very crucial for perceiving and understanding the kinesthetical qualities
and the undescribable (in words or videos) physicality and immediacy of the dancing
body. But, because ways of documentation, as of today, are unable to grasp this
undescribable kinesthetic ―richness‖ of performative presence, documenting was the
center of attention many times, disturbing the flow of choreographer‘s observation.
Documentation of movement has been a big discourse in the dance field and a recent
research project IMK Lab/ICKamsterdam – Emio Greco | PC is also raising question
within this context.
In regard to the processing and analysis of the material the Choreographer
needed to be able to view simultaneously material from different modalities and many
times this was hard to be done in a practical manner. The Choreographer hardly ever
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relied only to conceptual thinking in order to analyze but also needed other
references, i.e movement material. For instance, the choreographer needed to be able
to view comments on the movement of the dancers ―on spot‖ (that she had taken
while they were dancing) together with the video movement correspond of this
―phrase‖. Also, another issue is that she wanted to have quick access to the chronical
development of some elements. For this, she developed different ways of archiving
the material but this was considered inefficient (uneconomical memory use and
unpractical).
In regard with dancers, it was found that during the improvisation they were
creative in bursts of small time frames (a few seconds). This indicates that the
Choreographer should be very perceptive and observatory in order to perceive and
work with this bursts and it also tenses the need for analytical work and multi-modal
support. As to say, the Choreographer relies on the identification of movement
patterns (bodily, social) to design the foreground for new possibilities.
The analysis of this Thesis concludes with the formation of guidelines for the
development of an auxiliary tool for the creative choreographic production. This tool
aims to help the Choreographer in his work of conducting artistic research. This tool
does not, in any mean, wish to replace the Choreographer but it aims to support him
in his work towards allowing the emergence of new movement.
Furthermore, in regard with the limitations of this research it can be noted that,
the analysis and modeling conducted cannot refer to every definition of Choreography
existing but, rather, examined Choreography in the form that was applied in Kinitiras
Choreography Lab (namely artistic research). Also, in order to be able to support
more rigid results further measurements are needed in a longer time frame and in a
different context.
To conclude, the domain of Choreography is a rich and evolving arena for
research on the nature of creativity and it has just recently begun the inquiry into its
relation with different areas. Choreography can expand in it‘s essence as artistic
research and can act as an esthetic of change that invites the hole realm of social
reality to be a ground of questioning.
Hopefully others, too, will see the value of close observational and empirical
study of artistic creativity and the value of Choreography as an aesthetic experience
for gaining more knowledge about the self and the world.
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PART 3
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Chapter 11: Examples in the Conjunction of Cognitive
Science, dance and Choreography
The following section discusses research conducted in the cross-section of
dance, Choreography and Cognitive Science. It both raises awareness to some
elements of movement and action and also reviews upon interesting fruitful
connections of art and science. This chapter wishes to provide insights in the field to
suggest further research towards creativity in the conjunction of Cognitive science
and Choreography.
11.1:The Creative Action Theory of Creativity
Since Choreography concerns with creativity it is interesting to present
insights of Cognitive Science on creative action-which is essential to the
choreographic labor. The way an innovative thought and action emerge has always
been a mystery and there is a variety of research in regard with this topic.
Furthermore, this example is given in order to review upon efforts of modeling the
Creative Process.
As the majority of models for creative thought and creative activity indicate,
thought is normally the precursor of action. As to say, we think first, and then we act.
In that sense, the general assumption is that creative activity is preceded by and is
dependent creative thought. This chapter, in contrast, argues for the reverse and it
presents a model developed from Peter Carruthers (2008) according to which creative
thought is always preceded by, and is dependent upon, creatively generated action
schemata.
In present Cognitive science, Creative human thought and activity is
challenged with two issues. The first is the modeling of the creative process itself and
the goal is to understand how innovative ideas are produced. The second challenge is
to outline the mental architecture underlying creative thought and action. Assuming
the existence of some sort of mechanism for generating novel ideas, the problem is to
understand how that mechanism fits into the overall ―flow chart‖ of the mind,
interacting with the environment in a way that fruitful beliefs and actions can emerge.
What seems as an emerging question, is an architecture that can allow what can be
called as ―Geneplore‖ (for ―generate and explore‖) models of creative cognition
(Finke, 1992; Finke, 1995; Ward.,1999). As suggested by many studies, there is a
need for a way for a creative idea generator to be put in a wider set of inferential
systems in such a way that the context of a new idea can be developed and evaluated
before that idea is believed, adopted, or put into practice.
It is widely accepted that creative cognition presupposes a capacity to
entertain, and to reason with, hypothetical scenarios, or suppositions (Harris, 2000;
Carruthers, 2002; Nichols and Stich, 2003). This is because exploration requires a
capacity to process an idea and work out its consequences before that idea is accepted,
while it is still merely in a hypothetical stage. A very interesting model of
suppositional reasoning is provided by Nichols and Stich (2003), in the course of their
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account of the cognitive architecture underlying childhood pretend play. They
propose that creatively generated suppositions are held in a working memory system
(which they label the ―possible worlds box‖) where those suppositions can be
elaborated. The contents of the possible worlds box can be filled out using any of the
subject‘s existing beliefs and those contents are also available to any of the subject‘s
inferential systems that normally operate on beliefs, producing new beliefs from old.
The contents of the possible worlds box are provided to some sort of evaluation in
which is decided whether or not the initial supposition should be accepted or
implemented in action. This is usually referred to as the ―thought-first‖ account of
creativity and is a general assumption for many cognitive scientists working on
creativity.
Though, in contrast, Carruthers (2008) proposes that the representations
produced by the supposition generator are activated and rehearsed action plans or act
schemata. He refers to this as ―act-first‖ account. As he proposes creative action can‘t
be reduced to creative thought, and at least some forms of creative action aren‘t
preceded by a prior creative thought. He, also, states that it is unacceptable that there
should be two distinct and independent sources of creativity – one for action and one
for thought- which builds upon body-mind dualism. His work is an attempt to
demonstrate how creative thought can be explained in terms of creative action,
utilizing known mechanisms, including a well-established system for the mental
rehearsal of action, and a cognitive architecture for global broadcasting of sensory or
quasi- sensory (imagistic) states. Also in his work discusses a very interesting
example, which is, also, very relevant to the topic of this Thesis. As he says:
― Consider a jazz musician who improvises a series of variations on a musical
theme. Or consider a dancer who extemporizes a sequence of movements that she
may never have made before (and may never make again). These are undoubtedly
kinds of creativity. But they seem to be forms of creativity of action, rather than
creativity of thought. For the novel movements appear to be made ―on-line,‖ sometimes extremely swiftly, and without prior reflection or planning—or at least without
prior conscious reflection or planning.‖ Against this last state one can argue that jazz
and dance improvisation do involve planning − only the thoughts involved occur
unconsciously- but this view is not supported for many reasons. Firstly, it is to say
that someone executing a novel sequence of notes on the saxophone, for example, or a
novel sequence of bodily movements in a dance, doesn‘t just play those notes, or
make those movements. Of course, the performer might have names and/or concepts
for actions (―E flat, followed by F, followed by C flat‖ and so on) but, more
importantly, will, also, choose a precise length for each note, or a precise speed for
each movement, for which there is no name-and probably no concept. Likewise
he/she will add a precise timbre to the playing of the note, or a precise articulation to
the movement and these actions cannot be captured fully in any sort of propositional /
conceptual description. In fact there is a great amount of evidence for saying that
skilled action-control has a non-conceptual (or at least an analog) aspect, just as
perceptual contents are partly non-conceptual or analog in nature. A percept of the
precise shades of red in a rose-petal has a fineness of grain that escapes any
conceptual description that one might attempt to impose on it, and that is prior to the
application of any concept and, likewise, a precise movement or sequence of
movements, too, has just such a fineness of grain and partially non-conceptual
character (Carruthers, 2000, 2008; Kelly, 2001). In that sense skilled creative action
cannot be fully explained in terms of the creativity of thought and, even if there are
conceptual thoughts that precede the action, they cannot fully determine it.
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In the previous example of jazz improvisation, Berliner (1994) outlines a
number of different strategies and heuristics that jazz improvisers will adopt to guide
and frame their performance. But even so, the particular notes and phrases that they
play on any given occasion will often surprise them with the power of discovery.
Thought, creative action can always be referent to creative thoughts that are indexical
in form. So a dancer‘s thought that precedes a novel set of movements might be, ―I
shall move my arms thus while moving my legs so‖. But what, on this account, stands
for the content of ―thus‖ and ―so‖? Since the thought precedes the action, those
indexicals can‘t be grounded in a perception of the movement in question. So the only
remaining possibility is that the contents of the indexicals in a movement-determining
thought are given imagistically. However it is very hard and un-ecological that every
creative action should be preceded by such creative thought. There is evidence that
images of movement are themselves caused by activating the appropriate motor
schemata and, so, it is not by far to say that these schematas can be sometimes set in
action directly, without first being used to construct an image. Moreover, creative
actions can be very fast. So to say, a jazz improviser can be playing at full speed,
piecing together and recombining previously rehearsed phrases and patterns, when he
suddenly finds himself playing a sequence of notes that he has never played before,
and which surprises him (Berliner, 1994). For example, Charlie Parker was famous
for being able to play his improvised solos at amazing speed – some of them at 400
beats per minute (Owens, 1995). And even though his solos were mostly composed
out of arrangements and re-arrangements of formulaic fragments it is obvious that
there was no time in which to form a conceptually-driven but fully detailed imagistic
representation of each such music fragment before activating the motor schema for it.
Carruthers (2008) provides evidence that actions can be creative without prior
creative thought. When a jazz improviser is surprised by the sequence of notes that he
hears himself play, this is evidence that he didn‘t have a prior expectation that he
would play just those notes. The creative thought preceded the action must have
occurred within some sub-system that is cut off from access to broadcast perceptions
(in this example, of sound). Though, the suggestion that there exists such a subsystem has nothing to support it and, so, it can be suggested that not all creativity
reduces to the creativity of thought. At least some forms of creative activity would
appear to be spontaneous, occurring in the absence of prior creative thought.
Furthermore, it is suggested that all creativity reduces to the creative
generation of action schemata (Carruthers, 2008). Sometimes these schemas are used
to bring about novel actions directly and sometimes they are use to generate visual or
other images, which are globally broadcast in the manner of perceptual states
generally (Baars, 1988, 1997). Also, it is known that almost any activity or cognitive
process can be conducted in haste, utilizing just the resources that are normally
involved in that activity or process itself and this can be also implied to creativity.
So, the view that all creativity reduces to the creative generation of action schemata
enables us to envision how creativity might evolve quite easily by exapting and
utilizing mechanisms that were already in place, having evolved initially for other
purposes.
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11.1.1: Geneplore model of creativity: The Act-first account of
creativity
Suppose that a capacity for creative generation and activation of action
schemata were taken into consideration and then everything would be in place for an
act-first account of creative cognition to operate. A creatively assembled action
schema is activated and rehearsed, giving rise to an imagistic representation of the
action in question and this representation is then broadcast to the various inferential,
belief-generating, and motivational systems which further elaborate and evaluate it.
Act-first account of creativity is how action can give rise to thought (Carruthers,
2008). As so, for the mental rehearsal of an action schema will give rise to an
imagistic thought representing the action in question, occurring at a point in the
overall architecture of the mind where it can be further elaborated by inference, give
rise to emotional reactions, and enter into our practical reasoning (see Illustration
11.1). So this will be a thought that is caused by a creatively generated and rehearsed
action schema. If a comparison is made between Illustration 11.1 and Illustration
11.2, which are used to represent an act-first version of the Geneplore model of
creativity, it can be observed that the working memory system can be identified with
the iterated global broadcast of perceptual images, taking shape in the light of
interactions between those images and the subject‘s beliefs, and utilizing any
inferential resources that are normally available to process perceptual input. And the
evaluative system can be identified with the responses of the emotional and
motivational systems when they receive the globally broadcast images as input. This
evaluative system is depicted in Illustration 11.3(using the version defended in
Damasio, 1994, rather than Schroeder, 2004).
Illustration 11.1: Two visual systems with back-projecting pathways, P. Carruthers
(2008)
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Illustration 11.2: Action based creative cognition, P. Carruthers (2008)
Illustration 11.3: Mental rehearsal and somasensory monitoring, P. Carruthers (2008)
There are good reasons to think that perceptual and quasi-perceptual
(imagistic) states are globally broadcast to a wide range of inferential systems for
forming memories, for creating new beliefs and emotions, and for practical reasoning
(Baars, 1988, 1997, 2002, 2003; Dehaene and Naccache, 2001; Dehaene et al., 2001,
2003; Baars et al., 2003; Kreiman et al., 2003). And, also, good reason to say that
motor-schemata can be used to create and transform such visual images (Kosslyn,
1994; Turnbull et al., 1997; Ganis et al., 2000; Richter et al., 2000; Kosslyn et al.,
2001; Lamm et al., 2001). Even more, there is evidence for thinking that a limited
capacity to reason with suppositions in the form of mental rehearsals of potential
actions might have long pre-dated the evolution of human beings (Carruthers, 2008).
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What humans have, in addition, is a will to generate such rehearsals creatively and
there would, therefore, only have needed to be a small evolutionary benefit
developing from creativity, in order for the novel will to generate suppositions that
aren‘t so directly related to the actual environment to emerge. The act-first account
sketched above builds upon the cognitive architecture according to which the mind
already contains a capacity for action rehearsal. Motor schemata can be activated in
suppositional mode, for the purpose of testing the consequences of actions.
An act-first account of creative cognition provides with a interesting account
of the way in which the Geneplore model of creativity is actualized in the mind, for
the most part utilizing systems and capacities in which there are good reason to
believe in. As suggested the processes of action production will generally proceed
from an abstract – often highly schematic – representation of a desired behavior,
through progressively more concrete and fine-grained implementations of that schema
(guided partly by details of the context), until issuing finally in a fully detailed action.
To conclude this chapter, the bottom line is this: the Act-first account of
creative cognition has many strengths, and there are many respects in which it has
advantage over the standard thought-first account.
11.2: Ivar Hagendoorn: Dance Improvisation Techniques inspired by
Cognitive Science
Ivar Hagendoorn studied econometrics, philosophy and literature and he then
turned to dance and research. In 2001 he was a visiting scientist and artist at the
University of Southern California, where he continued his research into the cognitive
neuroscience of dance improvisation. His work and research have been presented at
festivals and conferences around the world. He has developed several improvisational
techniques inspired by the study of the motor system some of which will be presented
below.
One technique takes experiments on interlimb coordination from the
laboratory to the dance studio. Another technique, termed fixed-point technique,
makes use of the fact that one can change which part of the body is fixed in space. A
third technique is based on the idea that one can maintain the action, as it were, by
―reversing the acting limb.‖ All techniques target a specific capacity of the motor
system and as such may inspire new psychophysical experiments. The present
approach to generating movement merges dance improvisation with insights from
cognitive neuroscience and biokinesiology.
As a choreographer, Hagendoorn is interested in all issues concerning motor
control and motion perception. The essence of his approach is the formulation of
high-level techniques for generating movements of one or several bodies while taking
into account the workings of the motor system and the principles of aesthetic
experience as implied by the properties of the visual system. These techniques can be
regarded as tools for solving the problem of ―which move to make next‖ and, as such,
they require the exercise of both cognitive and motor abilities. Following there is a
description of some of these neuroscience-inspired improvisation techniques:
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11.2.1: Fixed-Point Technique
Many of the improvisation techniques discussed relate to the representation of
space. As to say, the brain accommodates a multiplicity of sensory and motor spaces
supporting perception and action rather than a single, uniform representation of space.
Senses give the material upon which the brain constructs a representation of space and
facilitate the ability to track the position of the objects according to the body. The
brain builds on information delivered by the senses. In order for one to reach for an
object visual information about its location and information about the position and
orientation of the body have to be combined with information about the position of
the hand relative to the object, its estimated size, weight and use. Or in other words, to
determine the location of an object, the brain constructs a world-referenced
representation of space based on information delivered by the senses to guide a
movement towards it. This information is then transformed into a frame of reference
with the relevant part of the body at the origin (Hagendoorn, 2003). It has been shown
that these two frames of reference have a neural correlate in the brain. It was found
that that if a neuron fires when a particular part of the body is touched it also becomes
active when an object appears near that part and even when looking in a different
direction. The receptive field of some neurons in this brain area therefore appears to
be tied to a part of the body.
Both external objects and parts of the body are, or can be, represented in terms
of intrinsic and extrinsic frames of reference and, since this distinction is hardwired in
the brain, Hagendoorn (2003) suggests that drawing on it cognitively may be a matter
of ―rewiring.‖ So to say, the position of every body part can be described with respect
to any other part of the body and within a world-centered frame of reference
This dual conception of space forms the basis of a technique that makes explicit use
of the ability to switch between multiple frames of reference; and is called ―fixedpoint technique.‖
The first thing to observe is that there is capability of fixing an intrinsic
relationship between two or more parts of the body and maintain that relationship
while moving across extrinsic space. For instance, we can stretch an arm and walk
around, squat, lie down on the floor, etc., while keeping the arm stretched -that is,
while maintaining the intrinsic relationship between arm and chest. By extending an
arm to a point in extrinsic space, the intrinsic relation between the arm and the rest of
the body is changed. For example, stand up holding the right hand to the chest
(Illustration 11.4.a). Now extend the right arm forward as far as possible, while
maintaining a parallel relationship between hand and chest, meaning that the wrist has
to become progressively more flexed (Illustration 11.4.b). To re establish the original
relation between body (chest) and hand, there are essentially two possibilities: either
reverse the movement by bringing the hand back to the chest, or walk towards the
hand while flexing the elbow and wrist joints (Illustration 11.4.c). In the first instance
the body is fixed in extrinsic space; in the second, the hand. (Hagendoorn, 2003)
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Illustration 11.4: Fixed-point technique, Stand up, holding the right hand to the chest
(a) Extend the arm (b) To re-establish the point of departure, bring the hand to the
body (return to a) or bring your body to your hand (c) (Photos Ivar Hagendoorn,
Dancer: Ester Nazijl)
Furthermore, this way of alternating the parts of the body that are held fixed in
intrinsic and extrinsic space can be a ―pool‖ of creativity. What dancers become
aware of and learn as they practice this technique is that there will always be another
intrinsic relationship that is kept constant across different body configurations and
how to take advantage of it by varying the relationships that are changed or kept
constant. There are, also, many ways to enrich this technique so the performers can
have a strong tool to enter the creative process.
11.2.3: Reversals
A branch of fixed-point technique, and one that has become a technique in it
self, is called ―reversing the acting limb,‖ or ―reversals‖ for short. In this technique
instead of moving a part of the body to act upon another, e.g. bring your mouth to
your hand, you reverse the initial acting part and you bring the other part to the first,
e.g. your hand into your mouth. Even though the example just given may sound
artificial, in our everyday lives we sometimes perform reversals. For example, if a
glass is too full, we bend forward to sip at it before bringing it to the mouth or when
we want to bring the food to our mouth when eating we usually also adjust our head
and body except from our hand.
The general idea of the technique can be easily extended to other parts of the
body. If, for instance, you move your right hand along your left arm, you can
―maintain the action‖ or its purpose by reversing the acting limb and moving your left
arm along your right hand. In the first example the hand brushes the arm, in the
second the arm brushes the hand. Furthermore, the applying of this task can entail
more complicated auxiliary movements. For instance, if you first move your right
hand all the way from your left shoulder along your arm to your left hand and then
―reverse the acting limb,‖ fixing the right hand in extrinsic space, you are forced
either to squat or to bend forward.
Also, the interesting scientific outcome of this technique is that it relates to
what in the motor-control literature is known as motor equivalence. It has been found
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that if, during pinching with the thumb and index finger, movement of the thumb is
restrained, for instance by a bandaid, its reduced mobility will be compensated for by
the index finger (Hagendoorn, 2003). This suggests that this form of compensation
relies on proprioceptive feedback, whereas the reversals of this technique require an
understanding of how two parts of the body contribute to an action and, also, an
understanding of the spatial relationships within the body and of the body in relation
to extrinsic space.
11.2.4: Conversions
A well-known observation in the motor- control literature is that it is difficult
to conduct in the same time two controversial tasks, e.g. to rub one‘s stomach while
patting one‘s head. To analyze this phenomenon, known as dual task interference,
biokinesiologists distinguish between the temporal and spatial aspects of both
movements. Within the spatial domain, a further distinction can be made between isoand anti-directional movements, between two different trajectories, e.g. circles and
lines, between differences in size, e.g. small and big circles, and between differences
in orientation, e.g. when one arm is in front of the body and one to the side. Finally a
distinction can be made in the use of identical or different end effectors, for example
both hands versus hand and foot.
These laboratory tasks constitute a technique called ―concurrent repetitive
bilateral movement‖: concurrent, because it involves simultaneous movements of
more than one limb, repetitive, because the movements are cyclical and bilateral,
involving two sides of the body (Hagendoorn, 2003). In motor control experiments,
the emphasis is on measuring the interference during the repetitive performance of
two trajectories but what is most interesting from the perspective of dance
improvisation is the switching between two modes, e.g. changing from small clockwise circular movements with the right foot and both hands to a large counterclockwise circle with one arm and small lines with the other hand and foot.
11.2.5: Motor Schemas
A useful concept in the study of motor behavior is that of a motor schema,
which is an abstract representation of a prototypical movement sequence, for example
an arabesque. It refers to the pattern or the structure of a movement sequence rather
than giving a full description of its dynamics. Furthermore, motor schemas can be
either simple or complex and are recursive in that they can be decomposed into
smaller schemas down to the level of their neural foundation or alternatively
embedded in or combined with other schemas to form a new higher- order schema
(Hagendoorn, 2003). It follows that new schemas evolve as instances of existing
schemas or, in the words of neuroscientist and computer scientist Michael Arbib,
―They start as composite, emerge as primitive schemas‖.
While this has been proposed to understand how we learn and exercise any
movement, the concept, also, provides a powerful tool for generating movements.
One can either start with a composite sequence, decompose it into smaller segments
and then recombine them into new sets or, else, start with a set of small schemas and
combine them into larger schemas, whereby the individual schemas can also be
transformed.
Hagendoorn presents some very interesting performative examples of the
application of this technique in action. Namely, this approach has been an essential
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element of William Forsythe‘s works Self Meant to Govern (1994) and Eidos:Telos
(1995). Self Meant to Govern is based on a collection of some 130 movements and a
number of associative rules for combining them. Firstly, there was a naming of each
one of the 130 movements, e.g. book, ball, pizza, zebra. The dancers could then jump
from one word to another and they could also take the last letter of one word as a cue
for a movement starting with that letter: ―wash‖ could thus be connected with
―honey‖. The stage design for Self Meant to Govern added another dimension.
Distributed over the stage floor were several clocks with letters instead of digits,
which the dancers could use to find a word/movement. Finally, any given movement
or position could remind a dancer of another movement from the vocabulary and,
thus, this position could be connected with another movement from the vocabulary.
Everyday routines, choreographed phrases and interesting sequences from
previous sessions can be used, among other things, as an infinite action vocabulary.
Also, at any moment in a performance, a dancer can isolate a sequence and
subsequently perform a series of variations on that movement. In 2002 Hagendoorn
developed a set of transformations that extend any given movement or position to a
virtual ―family‖ of related movements and positions. Namely, she created an Internet
project in which a database of movement sequences inspired by the sign language
used by option traders was coupled to financial data collected in real time from the
Internet. The actual signals consist of movements of the hands and arms only and the
aim underlying this dance project was to transcend reality while retaining the
systematic nature of the original motions. By using a small number of elementary
movements, positions and transformations, the ability to give an accurate description
of each movement/position and create a ―generative grammar‖ for their
recombination emerged. For example, a movement could be performed while
standing, kneeling or squatting, the spine could be bent or straight, leg or finger could
be upward, downward or sideways.
11.2.6: Global/Local
One of the most powerful techniques addressing the sequencing and layering
of movements is ―Global/Local‖ (Illustration 11.5). Local movements are defined as
movements that take a small region in space and relate to what in Cunningham
technique are referred to as isolations. Global movements are movements that extend
into space and usually involve the whole body or outstretched arms or legs.
Furthermore, what counts as global or local is in part defined by previous and
subsequent movements, and that is what this technique addresses. By switching from
global to local movements and vice versa, a dancer has a tool for structuring his/her
improvisation.
Interestingly, this has, also, an impact on the audience: attention is ―ex- panded‖ or
―contracted‖ in space. Having on mind how the visual system responds in this respect,
a dancer can use pauses and different qualities of movement in a ―meaningful‖ for the
audience manner. For example, the performer can freeze into a pose, slowly stretch an
arm to the side, freeze for a few seconds and then open the hand. The audience‘s
attention is fixed in the arm during the second freeze since it is the last moving limb.
The opening of the hand narrows attention down to the hand and moving a foot can
suddenly shift attention to another location and part of the body.
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Illustration 11.5: Global/Local. By switching between ―global‖ and ―local‖
movements a dancer/choreographer can bring structure to a dance while
simultaneously expanding or contracting the audience‘s attention. From left to right:
―local‖ movement of the hands; from top to bottom: ―global‖ movement of leg
(Photos: Ivar Hagendoorn. Dancer: Lia Poole)
11.2.7: Changing the Leading Movement
An essential feature of ―fixed-point technique,‖ ―reversals,‖ ―conversions‖ and
―global/local‖ is the ability to switch among elements and this technique specifically
addresses switching from one limb or direction to another. It was inspired by the
observation of the tendency of the dancers to continue a movement in the direction of
the leading limb or movement. For example, if an arm is extended in a certain
direction you can often tell that the rest of the body will move in the same direction.
The ―Changing the leading movement‖ or, else, the ―going against the logic of
the movement‖ entails moving one limb in one direction and then moving another
limb in another direction (Illustration 11.6). In that sense, the motion switches from
right arm to left shoulder to left leg, etc. ―Changing the leading movement‖ may of
course become a logic in itself. So to say, a dancer can alter how he/she changes the
leading movement and replace it with ―continuing the leading movement‖.
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Illustration 11.6: Changing the leading movement. Move a different limb or part of
the body in a different direction at every step. (Photos: Ivar Hagendoorn. Dancer:
Ester Natzijl)
This technique derives from the conceptual distinction between leading and
residual movement introduced by William Forsythe and the idea that, within a
composite movement, one limb can be ―prioritized.‖ A movement can be seen as a
task assigned to a particular part of the body and, in order to perform the movement,
that part has to be combined with the present configuration of the body. In every day
situations, auxiliary or supportive movements are required to conduct a complicated
task, e.g. grasp an object that is far away. These movements are only one example of
―residual‖ movements, which can also follow from the movement of the leading limb
without serving any function. For example, consider the simple task of bending
forward while standing up (Illustration 11.7). If the arms are left loose, gravity will
cause them to remain in a vertical relation to the ground, which will result a rotation
in the shoulder. But bending the spine changes the position of the arms relative to the
rest of the body and the idea is that when bending forward one can ―develop‖ or
―prioritize‖ some of these ―residual‖ movements.
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Illustration 11.7: Leading and residual movement. Starting from (a), if the task ―bend
forward‖ is strictly applied to the back or spine, gravity will cause the arms to rotate
in the shoulders, as in (b). To prevent the arms from ―falling forward,‖ an additional
force has to be applied to keep the arms tight to the body (c) (Photos: Ivar
Hagendoorn. Dancer: Lia Poole)
11.2.8: Merging Motor Control and Perception
The brain, except from controlling movement, it is also where visual stimuli,
for instance dance performances, are processed and transformed into an aesthetic
experience. In that sense, the response of a viewer when watching the resulting
movements (i.e. the viewer‘s brain) can be taken into account when designing a
technique. For example, a characteristic of the visual system is that it anticipates the
trajectory of a moving object. As Hagendoorn (2003) speculates, the congruity
(relation) with and deviation from this internally generated, anticipated movement has
an emotional correlate, which, within a proper framework, can be called aesthetic.
Congruity between the actual and the simulated movement, in this context, refers to
grace and beauty, while deviation to the Kantian notion of the sublime. As a result of
taking into consideration this natural tendency of the brain, for example by ―changing
the leading movement,‖ the brain can be put on the ―wrong‖ track and make it harder
for the viewer to follow the movement.
Furthermore, the brain also enjoys patterns and this is why decomposing and
recombining a movement can be a successful technique/tool. For example, by
performing a movement first in one orientation and then in another somewhere else
on stage, a dancer can cause the brain of the viewer to perceive both novelty, e.g. a
different angle, and familiarity, e.g. a similar movement. In that sense, one can see a
pattern evolving in space and time.
To conclude, learning and practicing the above mentioned techniques requires
a form of understanding and this distinguishes these processes from pure motor
learning, e.g. classical ballet training. While practicing these tools, not only are the
motor skills improved, but the understanding of the concept behind a technique is also
strengthened. For instance, the more a performer practices fixed-point technique, the
more aware he/she becomes of intrinsic and extrinsic space. These techniques
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therefore merge cognitive and motor faculties and raise interesting questions about
using knowledge of brain mechanisms in performance.
11.3: The Choreography and Cognition Project: A Joint Research
Project
A very interesting research in the cross section between Cognitive Science,
Dance and Choreography is the Choreography and Cognition Project. This Project
began a few years ago as a discussion between choreographer Wayne McGregor and
Scott De Lahunta about finding new ways of understanding the choreographic process
that might lead to alternative creative and collaborative approaches to making dances.
The starting point was the common interest in artificial intelligence, but the project
led to exploring potential insights into the choreographic process that might emerge
from the interdisciplinary research context of cognitive science. The Project had three
main objectives intended to establish the conditions out of which specific lines of
enquiry or starting points could emerge. The first was to seek connections between
choreographic processes and the study of movement and the brain/ mind that are
scientifically and artistically interesting. Another topic with which the research was
associated was to integrate the participation and contribution from the scientists into
the fabric of the choreographic process while maintaining the integrity of the modes
of looking and questioning pertaining to their respective research areas. Additionally
another objective was to start formulating specific research methodologies from
individual interests in the context of the creative choreographic process.
Within the Project a variety of experiments were conducted in order to test
research question by the variety of scientists and artists participating. Namely, Alan
Wing and Kristen Hollands (Sensory and Motor Neuroscience Centre, University of
Birmingham) took as their starting point a broad set of questions such as: what frames
of reference are dance movements controlled in? Are the movements guided in space
with respect to features of the room or with reference to the midline of the body?
What are the crucial sensory systems for describing these frames of reference? How
might selected disruptions or perturbations help to test this? The way of investigating
these questions was that four dancers learned and performed a movement sequence
passing through three arbitrarily selected spatial reference points around the body.
They were recorded performing these sequences using an optical motion capture
system that records the timing and position of movement in a three dimensional space
at a very high degree of resolution. Various disruptions or perturbations were given,
e.g. performing with eyes closed and different parts of the body, at different speeds, in
reverse and with mirrored and rotated reference points, etc. The collected data were
utilized toward discovering possible benefits, such as increasing the scientific
understanding of how movement is planned and executed or offering an improved or
enhanced understanding of how to encourage artistic variability of movement and
expand movement vocabularies. Furthermore, Dr. Rosaleen McCarthy (Department of
Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge) was also interested in the notion
of disruption, but from a different point of view from Wing and Hollands. She
explored the cognitive ―toolkit‖ of each of the dancers in order to understand better
the communication taking place between choreographer and dancer in the context of
the choreographic process. Her research was in regard with the following questions:
how does the choreographer stimulate the dancers‘ creativity along the desired lines?
How do they understand what he says? Is creativity assisted or hindered by any
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tensions in communication? As a mean of approaching these questions she set up
some simple dual task experiments with the dancers using imagined movement. She
asked the dancers to imagine a short known movement sequence and timing them
without any interference and then asking them to imagine the same phrase while
performing varying tasks, e.g. haptic/ spatial, verbal/ spatial, static visual, etc.. The
data were gathered in order to be useful to McGregor in communicating movement
generating exercises differently to his dancers; i.e. what sort of instruction/ stimuli he
might choose to give and in what order, etc.
To continue, Tony Marcel and Phil Barnard (Cognition and Brain Science
Unit, Cambridge) initiated that larger sequences of movement are constructed from
smaller units. This makes it possible in the creative process to pull sequences apart so
that components can be recombined. The intension was to investigate what the
perceived units of movement would be in an experimental setup. Questions raised
were: Would perceived units differ for different kinds of viewers? Would perceived
units differ for sequences generated under different instructions, for example lower
level instructions (passing through points in space) versus higher level instructions
(verbal/ emotional)? To gather experimental measurements in regard to these
questions, they asked McGregor to give the dancers two different types of exercises to
generate very short movement phrases. These phrases were videotaped and from these
recordings a total of eight were selected for viewing and ―unitizing‖ by McGregor and
the ten dancers. They recorded their individual responses (lengths and numbers of
units) in data collection forms, which have since undergone a preliminary analysis.
Based on the perception of the dancers of what a single unit is, some of the initial
results gave interesting indications about how different types of instructions for
generating movement material can be compared in relation to perception. Though the
experiment is quite analytical and only in regard to limited scope movement
sequences, interesting questions emerged from observing at the results about what is
and isn‘t noticeable, and this could also contribute to the collective making process.
Furthermore, Alan Blackwell (Computer Lab, University of Cambridge) examined the
cognitive dimensions of design and notation systems in collaboration with a research
community who adopted analytic methods from a range of fields including
experimental psychology and design research. He collected notebooks and scores
from McGregor and four of the dancers and used some of these analytic methods to
try and discover where they might experience the limitations of these design tools.
The aim of this project is to see how McGregor might improve on the use of notations
in the context of his creative process.
Part of the abovementioned experiment was the research about what's in a
phrase, conducted by Scott deLahunta and Philip Barnard involving the
choreographer Wayne McGregor, several dancers from his company and
psychologists from the Cognition and Brain Science Unit of the Medical Research
Council in Cambridge.
The study involved the design of a Viewing and Parsing Exercise that asked
from the choreographer and dancers to use a software program to repeatedly view a
series of short movement sequences and to ‖parse‖ or divide these sequences into
smaller units of time; leaving it up to them to determine what a ‖unit‖ was. This leads
to the discussion of the potential of tool- supported observation to stimulate modes of
thinking about analysis of movement with or without verbal articulation and suggests
the possibility of closer interaction between watching, analyzing and making dances.
It is also an example of how can Cognitive Science can contribute to the discourse
about choreographic issues such as phrase formation.
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11.3.1:The Viewing and Parsing Exercise
In this exercise four dancers from the company generated eight short
movement sequences following two sets of specific instructions provided by Mc
Gregor. Four sequences were developed following a set of points in space instructions
and the other four from instructions that were graphic and image based. First created
and set by the dancers, each sequence was performed immediately three times and
videotaped; with one performance of each sequence was selected for the viewing
exercise. The eight selected sequences varied in duration and were digitized in a video
format-this made it possible to control playback. In addition, the movie information
window gave the time of the current frame in action, and there was no soundtrack in
order to leave only motion cues for the viewers.
After this digitation, Mc Gregor and the ten dancers were shown the sequences in a
procedure that had two stages. Namely, in the first stage they were asked to
familiarize themselves with the sequences being randomized separately for each
viewer. In the next level they had to deal with each piece in four passes. In the first
pass, they were asked to watch again the sequence without pausing. In the second
pass, they had the possibility to pause the action or move about the sequence with the
player controls. Furthermore, in the third pass they were asked to divide the sequence
into units of their own choosing and on the fourth pass they were asked to review and
confirm their unitization.
Both qualitative and quantitative results of the abovementioned experiment
reveal a wide variation of how temporal and spatial organization can be grasped from
the different dancers. The products also reveal generic themes of inherent analytic
ambiguity in the very nature of parsing and uncertainties in what is and isn't
communicable. Like William Forsythe described, the task for the dancers gave the
possibility for different modes of watching\analyzing and reviewing movement with
or without verbal articulation. The tool also contributes in opening the discussion of
grasping different attributes by changing perspectives and facilitating communication
about what a choreographer might be seeking within the making process.
Perhaps most interesting is how the viewing exercise might be related to
discussions of what constitutes a dance phrase; in regard to watching, analyzing,
thinking and theorizing about dance practice and dance composition. Janet Adshead
argues that to develop a theory that more robustly supports the variety of extant
choreographic practice we should get closer to the detailed structure of dances by a
―variety of means‖. What is interesting to observe in this experiment is that the
parsing exercise provides an unusual means of looking at the detailed structure of
movement. The exercise reveals sources of variation whose respective role are open
to classification, evaluation and debate. As Scott De LaHunta (2005) mentions
―Rather than focusing on the significance of isolated features, inter-relationships or
patterns across sources and levels of variations (ideas, intentions emotional correlates,
movement attributes and granularity of temporal scaling) may emerge as the most
fertile ground to prosecute such debates‖. Also, seeing patterns of potential theoretical
significance in the domain of contemporary dance could ultimately prove to be helped
by the use of empirically grounded notations. In a wider extend, this experiment calls
for a closer relation between watching, analysis and making of dances. The question ―
what's in a phrase‖ invites the wider discourse of the substance of dance and also the
way we research, analyze or talk about dance making and chorographical practices.
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To sum up in regard with this interesting project, the data collected from all of
these sessions is still being analyzed and published papers are anticipated. What this
project has effectively demonstrated so far is that a radical cross-fertilisation of ideas
using shared research approaches can enhance innovative thinking in both
choreography and cognitive science; and that connections can be discovered and
sustained between choreographic processes and the study of movement and the brain/
mind that are both scientifically and artistically interesting. In this example, on one
hand, many interesting questions are raised and, on the other hand, we can witness
how art and science can be crossed in order to approach some researchative questions
by different point of views.
11.4: Creative Cognition in Choreography: A ethnographic study
David Kirsh, a cognitive scientist from the University of California
coordinated a lengthy ethnographic study of the making of a dance by a major
choreographer and demonstrated how translating between different sensory modalities
can help dancers and choreographers to be more creative. As he says, contemporary
choreography offers a window onto creative processes that relies on utilizing the
power of sensory systems. Dancers, also, use their body as a thing to think with and
their sensory systems as engines to simulate ideas non- propositionally. To understand
the choreographic process he videotaped all scheduled interactions between
choreographer and dancers during the time they worked together (over thirty
workdays) to create a new dance that premiered at a dance venue in London. Some
outcomes from the research conducted provide very interesting insights to the field
and are extremely relevant to the topic of this research. As Kirsh (2011) mentions
bodies, sensory systems and artifacts each constrain different energy landscapes of
possibilities and the trick is to know how to utilize their comparative value.
In his work with sensory simulators he found that, sensory simulation can be
used as a filter on goodness and that regularities in experience have trained our
sensory systems to ―expect‖ certain pathways. These pathways become primed
whenever states that lead to them are activated. Because our senses encode different
aspects of the world each is informative, containing bits of information that others do
not, and hence each sensory system supports different priming pathways. Events that
seem ―natural‖ or obvious in one sensory system may seem unnatural or completely
unobvious in another and we can think of this on analogy with numerical
representational systems. In the somato-sensory system, a dancer may immediately
recognize graceful movements but what feels graceful, however, may not always look
graceful, since the encoding of a movement in the visual system is so different than its
somato-sensory encoding. This is even more obvious taking into consideration
impossible movements: what the motor system judges as impossible may be quite
different than the visual system.
One potentially interesting consequence of this account is that it explains how
humans can think non- propositionally-how they can think in their sensory systems.
Namely, they simulate outcomes, and they control the simulation process in nonpropositional thought much the way that they control propositional thought by
controlling auditory images of linguistic elements.
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Moreover, because of the different encoding properties of sensory systems
dancers are able to reach ―conclusions‖ in some sensory systems that are hard to reach
in others. It is sometimes easier to think in one modality than another and Kirsh
(2011) believes that when a dancer visualizes an object and then transforms the visual
experience into a movement what he/she first tries is to draw creative insight from a
visual solution before moving to a bodily solution. Dancers visually imagine
themselves slithering before feeling themselves moving and then finally moving. So
to say, they transform between sensory media.
Furthermore, the choreographer with which Kirsh cooperates relies heavily on
this sort of modality translation to stimulate movement ideas in his dancers. He does
this in two ways: First, he personally utilizes a broad range of modalities to
communicate with his dancers – modalities to direct or guide them and, second, he
assigns them ―choreographic‖ tasks that require imagining scenarios or processes and
then translating these into interesting movement. This is already sonification, as a
vehicle for shaping movement. The choreographer also uses tactile and kinesthetic
imagery as a creative stimulus, either by touching the dancers and then asking them to
draw tactile or kinesthetic conclusions from the dynamics of his touch, or by speaking
to them, and assigning each a cognitive task that requires them to gather their tactile
and kinesthetic imagery abilities. This second method of assigning tasks is a general
technique of inventing new shape through cross-modality problem solving. To further
understand it‘s application below an example is given from a dancer participating to
the study.
Image 11.1: This is the bell shape a dancer told she was imagining herself to be
moving. She said it was very heavy
In one task it was observed that this dancer (Image 11.1) conjured the visual
image of a massive bell gonging. She then transformed that moving image into a new
structure, the kinetic feel of moving body parts as if those parts are connected to the
heavy bell, or perhaps the feeling of rocking the bell. The dancer seems to be
comparing the feel of the body movement to the visual or perhaps conceptual
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structure of wrapping one‘s hands and legs around a heavy bell and moving it, with
respect to it‘s inertia. This is very interesting for what it shows about using
visualization to unleash individual creativity.
Choreography is a revealing domain to study creativity because the process
often lasts over many weeks and requires both choreographer and dancer to generate
countless candidate ideas, then select and refine them. The choreographer
participating in this research utilizes most of the times modality translation as a
generative technique. He often assigns his dancers tasks that require them to imagine
what something feels like kinesthetically, or to imagine what something would look
like, or smells like, or feel like in an emotional sense, and then to translate this to
movement. At other times he communicates with his dancers non-linguistically and
relies on their ability to translate his gestures, touches, sounds or sights to movement
relevant forms. As Kirsh (2011) says this appears to be a very successful method for
creativity because it utilizes the power of multiple representation systems. As to say,
translating between different sensory modalities can help dancers and choreographers
to be more creative.
11.5: The IntuiTweet Project
A phenomenological Method For Dance Experimentation
This research is a nice example in the context of Social Choreographies, which
contributes to the fields of Phenomenology, Dance and Choreography. The
belowmentioned research is in the crossing of philosophical and artistic research,
providing a series of phenomenologically informed methods. Philosophical reflections
upon relational aesthetics (Rancciere, Bourriaud), method and intuition
(Deleuze,Bergson) are set in the context of the IntuiTweet project in dance and social
media.
This project discusses the issue of disembodiment and superficiality in social
networking by exploring the convergence between movement improvisation and
various forms of social media (Twitter, TwitPic, YouTube, Facebook). The research
is situated at the meeting point of design and dance, aims to explore intuition as it
emerges and it may be applicable to design methodologies. It is embedded in a
broader initiative called ―Intuition in Creative Processes‖, a Helsinki based
collaboration between dance researchers associated with the Theatre Academy and
designers from the Media Lab of the University of Arts and Design. IntuiTweet
project has the specific aim of accessing movement intuition in daily life through
mobile networked media devices, and then extrapolating this into choreography.
Phenomenologically it addresses the spaces between bodies and digital media, in the
tensile space of kinesthesia.
In the project there is an attempt to speak of the convergence between artistic
creation and design innovation, not in a sense of conflating these fields but finding a
point of shared territory, the place where the methods and process of art and design
are more fluid diseregardly to their different vocabularies. As Suzan Kozel (2010)
notes ―Dancers will be familiar with the studio practices of improvising, devising and
rehearsing (note that these are verbs with direct connection to the body), while
designers are more comfortable with the synchronous activities of experimentation,
construction and iteration (note that these are nouns referring to objects or processes).
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Dancers and artists freely use the term creation, while designers may be more at home
with the term innovation. One of the reasons why phenomenology is an increasingly
compelling alternative to existing methods for production is because it does not
inhabit one side of the dichotomy between art and design; hence it appeals to a newer
generation of designers and artists, those less interested in preserving unhelpful
dualities who look to other disciplines for inspiration‖. These perspective of
―contamination‖ or conjunction opens up a really wide variety for dance, design,
phenomenology and research and it is becoming a ―need‖ in the artistic and scientific
community.
Furthermore, Embodied Imagination and Intuitive Improvisation are two
methods deriving from philosophical methodology of phenomenology, more
specifically Maurice Merleau-Ponty. They build up to the acknowledgement that
design is increasingly concerning with embodied methods and that artistic research is
expanding to crossover with other disciplines. IntuiTweet has the goal of
demonstrating that any new technological phenomena can be used in many ways and,
also, to open the way for unprecedented embodied usage of social networking
platforms. The research asks if it is possible to emphasize physicality and depth,
movement and intuition, in a cultural phenomenon that is characterized as noncorporeal.
11.5.1: Intuition as a method
The Intuitive Improvisation method is in the category of kinaesthetic or
affective design and it has been discussed in many ways, including the interpretation
of phenomenological intuition from Jacques Derrida. He's description of intuition as
immediate and direct follows with the assessment conducted through the method and
especially the challenge of whether it is associated with the ego at the expense of
―animals and organs other than the fingers‖ (Derida, 2000, pp. 190-193).
As Bergson states intuition is a method that presupposes duration and it is suggested
to question the conditions of a problem to lead in a more proper posing of what the
problem is. Applied to the question of social media, the problem becomes not the
exploration of sufficient functionality or bandwidth for the mobile devices, but the
fact they don't reflect the broad range of our corporeality and interconnected lives.
For the particular performing of this method there are primary and secondary
instructions:
Primary Instructions
The step by step implementation of this method is as follows:
a) take a moment to listen to your body and notice a movement intuition or sensation
b) code it into a Tweet of 140 characters or less
c) send it to other participants via Twitter
d) when a Tweet is received, improvise it immediately or with a time lag (hours or
days)
e) notice how it has morphed in your own body over time and through space-time
f) re-code it into a fresh Tweet and re-send it to be received and improvised once
more
Secondary Instructions
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If you choose, you may use the camera on your mobile phone to generate a
VideoTweet, either an image or a video that imbues a kinesthetic quality. This can be
sent via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) or posted to TwitPic or YouTube.
View images/videos posted by others and improvise the kinesthetic quality received,
re-image and re-post this movement.
The phenomenological orientation of the abovementioned method supports
also that ―a person's perceptual apparatus constructs meaning while and through
living in the world, at the same time as intersubjective relations determine the
experience of a body‖ (Kozel, 2010). Also, what this research cleverly highlights is
that, if seeing the self as a lived body between subject and object then the mobile
devices are part of this understanding. Furthermore, the suggestion that one self is decentered raises additional importance to social relations. ―Design Methodologies that
take into account the life experience of potential owners of hypothetical products are
relevant to the participatory dimension of Intuitive Improvisation, while more overtly
kinesthetic or affective approaches to design that make us entirely reconsider our
approaches to technological devices in our lives and to one another are also
consistent‖(Kozel, 2010).
11.5.2: Relational Aesthetics
The IntuiTweet questions principles of Relational aesthetics in relation with
current participatory performance and design practices. Namely it builds upon the
idea that intersubjectivity is not just the context but is the work itself and that art is a
state of encounter. In that sense, relationality is strongly relevant to social practices
using mobile media and by this means the design is not directed to interactive systems
for use in social settings, because the intersubjectivity is the system. As Nicolas
Bourriaud (2002,pp.103) states about the artists ‖by creating and staging devices of
existence, including working methods and ways of being, instead of concrete objects
with hitherto bounded the realm of art, they use time as a material‖. In that extend, as
mobile media are the objects we use to enact our daily lives we can see that that our
habits and our working methods are all the creative output of our design processes.
Extending this argument, as Ranciere mentions, human sensory perception plays an
important role in the dynamic construction of aesthetics or aesthetics is a
―redistribution of the relations between the forms of sensory experience‖ (Ranciere,
2009, pp.14). In the same context, embodiment, creativity and sociality are set on a
same ground, disregarding unnecessary divisions between art and design, objects and
subjects.
As Kozel mentions ―Relational Aesthetics permits a role for the ephemeral
within projects such as IntuiTweet. The real content of this project cannot be
documented directly because it occurs in the body of each participant and is
stimulated by exchanges with others. We can only obliquely access these affective
and kinesthetic states through language or images. The outputs act as pointers to the
fleeting and ever-changing qualities of being.
To conclude, this research has brought up an effective method for integrating
corporeal experience into social networking with the use of dance improvisation and
building upon the principles of phenomenology. Also, the series of TweetScripts can
provide material for choreography or set a base for a participatory performance.
Intuitive Improvisation can inform a critique of aspects to Relational Aesthetics and
discuss modes of relationality that deal with participation and imagination. As
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Deleuze emphasizes intuition as a method operates with precision, and more
specifically ‖intuition is neither a feeling, an inspiration, nor a disorderly sympathy‖
(Deleuze, 1991) The abovementioned research is a nice example in the crossection of
choreography, design, art, that phenomenologically unravels part of the paradox and
opens up the fields for further discussion and research.
11.6: Spider Crab Project
This project was conducted with the collaboration of cognitive scientists,
mathematicians, dancers and choreographers and is an interesting example of possible
outcome from the intersection of the abovementioned fields.
The project is part of an investigation called Emergent Objects within the University
Leeds. It uses performance-based techniques to create a robot that promotes dance
improvisation with people. The semi-autonomous system developed in this research
offers a model that can be transferred for planning in relation to collaborative
performance, but the actual design process can benefit the Performative techniques
and approaches. A major influence on this research is the concept of "objectile" of
Deleuze-the object becomes a fact, always in process of realization through
interaction (Deleuze 1993). This affected the development of the robot as, also, the
quality of interaction, the conduct of the design process and the commitment to a
process that has only one final product but is always open. The main objective of this
system is gaining the feeling of immediate interaction so to say there must be a
constant feeling of giving from the robot and continuous response to movements of
the dancer. The theory of "hermeneutic spiral" of Trimingham in which the research
questions and theoretical frameworks redefines gradually through cycles of action and
feedback (Mc Niff et al, 1996) were the basic principle for the development of
Spidercrab.
Each end of SpiderCrab consists of four parts with relative proportions that
react based on the Fibonacci series, connected with links that combine radial and
lateral movements. The intent is that the dancer can adjust the focus in each part with
a scale of one to six. Also the robot is intended to provide liquid architecture in the
sense that it changes shape according to human activity. The important thing is that
SpiderCrab interaction is designed due to the quality of motion and not on some
aesthetic pose, such as, for example, the pose arabesque. This is a very interesting
because it links the discussion that took place prior to this research that places value
on quality and not the form and the external view of the body.
About their experience, the dancers that interacted with the robot say that, the
process is not different from that which occurs when learning dance with someone
else, especially in the context of improvisation that one learns about the preferences
of others and discuss a way to work together. Also they commented that the
interaction with the system increased their dance vocabulary and that the new form of
extended partner expanded their improvisational repertoire.
About research choices made for the experiment is worth mentioning that, as
an embodied discussion, improvisation is emergent, autopoietic and unpredictable.
The emergence is a component of complex systems and the science of complexity is
emerging concept itself (Robertson, 2007). As it doesn‘t have the quality of systems
that are far from thermodynamic equilibrium point, the SpiderCrab is complex in that
it is a closed system that performs multiple, autopoietic and unpredictable behavior.
139
Further research and cultivation of the software by researchers is suggested in
order for the robot to become less frequently "boring" for the dancers (as it is semiautonomous rather than completely autonomous). All these help us understand the
great benefits that can arise from the intersection of technology, cognitive science,
design and dance, which can be directed towards supporting human activity. The
developers explain that the Spidercrab is important because of its potential
applications. The PCI (School of Performance and Cultural Industries) had already
received interest from teachers who believe that it may have use in interactive
teaching and in the medical field, in which could be used to examine the motion.
Additionally it can help dancers practice in a different way and in an unexpected
manner, which allows the enrichening of their kinetic vocabulary.
Image 11.2: SpiderCrab Project
140
Chapter 12: Suggestions for future research
To conclude, the domain of Choreography is a rich and evolving arena for
research on the nature of creativity and it has just recently begun the inquiry into its
relation with different areas. Also, the distributed memory is part of what makes
dance creation an appropriate territory for studying distributed creativity. It can be
fruitful in research on the nature of distributed creative cognition, on multi-modal
instruction, and phenomena of group attention, mental imagery and interactivity.
Choreography, also, is changing and expanding in it‘s essence as artistic research and
can act as an esthetic of change that invites the hole realm of social reality to be a
ground of questioning.
Hopefully others, too, will see the value of close observational and empirical
study of artistic creativity and the value of Choreography as an aesthetic experience
for gaining more knowledge about the self and the world.
141
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Appendix’s
Πεπίλητη ζηην ελληνική γλώζζα
Πεπίλητη
Απηή ε δηπισκαηηθή είλαη κηα πξνζπάζεηα λα θαηαλνεζεί θαιχηεξα ε
δεκηνπξγηθή παξαγσγή ζηε ρνξνγξαθία θαη θαηεπζχλεηαη ζηε δεκηνπξγία
πξνδηαγξαθψλ γηα έλα βνεζεηηθφ εξγαιείν γηα ηελ ππνζηήξημε ησλ ζχγρξνλσλ
ρνξνγξαθηθψλ πξαθηηθψλ. Γηα λα αληηκεησπηζηνχλ ηα εξεπλεηηθά εξσηήκαηα ε
εμεξεχλεζε δελ ζα κπνξνχζε λα είλαη αλαθνξηθά κφλν κε ην ρνξφ σο μερσξηζηφ
ηνκέα. Δπξχηεξεο πξννπηηθέο απαηηήζεθαλ θαη, θαη πην ζπγθεθξηκέλα, ε ρνξννληνινγηθή έξεπλα βαζίζηεθε ζηε ζεκειηψδε νληνινγία, φπσο γηα παξάδεηγκα ηε
ζθέςε ηνπ Martin Heidegger. Ζ έξεπλα εζηηάδεη θπξίσο ζηνπο λένπο
πξνζαλαηνιηζκνχο ηνπ ρνξνχ φπσο απηέο αλαδχζεθαλ απφ ηε δεθαεηία ηνπ '60 θαη
'70. Σε απηή ηε δηαηξηβή, ην «παιαηφ» αλαθέξεηαη ζηνλ παξαδνζηαθφ θιαζζηθφ ρνξφ
θαη ην «λέν» ζηηο δηεξεπλεηηθέο πξαθηηθέο πνπ αληηκεησπίδνπλ ην ρνξφ κε έλαλ κε
θνξκαιηζηηθφ ηξφπν.
Τν επξχηεξν πιαίζην ηεο ζπγθεθξηκέλεο έξεπλαο είλαη ν ρνξφο, ε ρνξνγξαθία
θαη ε γλσζηηθή επηζηήκε. Πην ζπγθεθξηκέλα, ε εξγαζία απηή ζηξέθεηαη πξνο
δηάθνξεο θαηεπζχλζεηο ψζηε λα εμεηάζεη, λα θαζνξίζεη θαη λα αλαιχζεη ηηο
ζχγρξνλεο ρνξνγξαθηθέο πξαθηηθέο κε επηξξνή απφ δηάθνξνπο ηνκείο φπσο ε
γλσζηηθή επηζηήκε, ε ζπζηεκηθή ζεσξία, ε ζεσξία πνιππινθφηεηαο, ε θπβεξλεηηθή
θαη ε θηινζνθία. Ζ έλλνηα ηεο ρνξνγξαθίαο εμεηάδεηαη σο «αηζζεηηθή ηεο αιιαγήο»,
κηα πξαθηηθή πνπ ζηξέθεηαη ζηελ αλαγλψξηζε/ εθαξκνγή ζρέζεσλ/ζπζρεηίζεσλ ή
ζηελ αλαγλψξηζε ησλ ζπλζεθψλ πνπ επηηξέπνπλ ηελ αλάδπζε λέσλ ζρέζεσλ. Ο
ρνξνγξάθνο αληηκεησπίδεηαη σο ελεξγφο πξάθηνξαο εμέιημεο πνπ εμεηάδεη κνηίβα θαη
δνκέο, δηαπξαγκαηεπφκελνο ηελ αιιαγή κέζα ζην ζπλερψο κεηαβαιιφκελν
πεξηβάιινλ. Ο ζηφρνο ηεο ζπγθεθξηκέλεο έξεπλαο είλαη ε αλάιπζε θαη
κνληεινπνίεζε ηεο δεκηνπξγηθήο ρνξνγξαθηθήο δηαδηθαζίαο θαη ν ζρεδηαζκφο
πξνδηαγξαθψλ γηα έλα επηβνεζεηηθφ εξγαιείν γηα ηε δεκηνπξγηθή ρνξνγξαθία. Ζ
αλάιπζε βαζίζηεθε ζηελ παξαηήξεζε θαη ζπκκεηνρή ελφο ρνξνγξαθηθνχ
εξγαζηεξίνπ 3 κελψλ, ην Κinitiras Choreography Lab ζην Kinitiras Residency
Center. Σε κηα γεληθή επηζθφπεζε, ε αλάιπζε απηήο ηεο έξεπλαο αλνίγεη ηε
ζπδήηεζε γηα ηα πηζαλά πξνβιήκαηα ζηε δεκηνπξγία ρνξνχ θαη ην ηη μέξνπκε γηα ηε
δεκηνπξγηθή αμία ησλ δηαθνξεηηθψλ κεζφδσλ εξγαζίαο. Δπηζπκεί λα θαηαιάβεη
θαιχηεξα πνην είλαη ην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ηνπ ρνξνγξάθνπ ζε θάζε ζηάδην ηεο
δεκηνπξγηθήο παξαγσγήο, πνηα πξνβιήκαηα αληηκεησπίδεη θπξίσο, πάλσ ζε ηη
εξγάδεηαη θαη πφζν απνδνηηθέο είλαη νη κέζνδνη πνπ ρξεζηκνπνηεί ζε ζρέζε κε ην
ζηφρν ηνπο. Οη πξνδηαγξαθέο πνπ πξνηείλνληαη ζηνρεχνπλ ζηελ αλάπηπμε ελφο
βνεζεηηθνχ εξγαιείνπ γηα ηνλ ρνξνγξάθν πνπ επηζπκεί λα ηνλ εληζρχζεη ζηελ
εξγαζία ηνπ θαη φρη λα ηνλ αληηθαηαζηήζεη. Δλ θαηαθιείδη, ε πεξηνρή ηεο
ρνξνγξαθίαο είλαη έλαο πινχζηνο θαη εμειηζζφκελνο ρψξνο γηα ηελ έξεπλα ζηε θχζε
ηεο δεκηνπξγηθφηεηαο θαη κφιηο πξφζθαηα άξρηζε ηελ έξεπλα αλαθνξηθά κε ηελ
ζρέζε ηεο κε ηα δηαθνξεηηθά πεδία θαη θιάδνπο. Δλδερνκέλσο θαη άιινη, επίζεο, ζα
δνπλ ηελ αμία ηεο ζηελήο παξαηεξεηηθήο θαη εκπεηξηθήο κειέηεο ηεο θαιιηηερληθήο
δεκηνπξγηθφηεηαο.
Αξιοζημείυηα Αποηελέζμαηα
146
Ζ παξαηήξεζε θαη ε ζπκκεηνρή ζην Kinitiras Choreolab νδήγεζαλ ζε κηα
κνληεινπνίεζε ηεο δξαζηεξηφηεηαο ηνπ ρνξνγξάθνπ. Γειαδή, ππήξμε κηα
πξνζπάζεηα λα αλαιπζεί ην ηη έθαλε ν ρνξνγξάθνο φζν πξνεηνίκαδε πιηθφ γηα κηα
ηειηθή παξάζηαζε θαη πνηα ήηαλ ε πξνζνρή ηνπ ζε θάζε ζηάδην. Υπήξραλ ηέζζεξηο
ρνξνγξάθνη πνπ ζπκκεηείραλ ζην εξγαζηήξην, αιιά ην θχξην πιηθφ αλάιπζεο
πξνέξρεηαη απφ ηελ ζηελή παξαηήξεζε ελφο απφ απηνχο.
Πξψηα απφ φια, ε ρνξνγξάθνο θάλεθε λα θαηεπζχλεη ηηο πξνζπάζεηέο ηεο
κέζα ζε 3 θχθινπο δξάζεο κε δηαθξηηνχο αιιά αιιεινζπλδεδεκέλνπο ζηφρνπο.
Γειαδή, νη πξνζπάζεηέο ηεο εθηπιίρζεθαλ γχξσ απφ ηελ πξαθηηθή (θχθινο
πξνεηνηκαζηψλ θαη πξαθηηθήο), ηε δεκηνπξγηθφηεηα (θχθινο δεκηνπξγηθήο
δηαδηθαζίαο) θαη ηελ θαηαγξαθή/παξνπζίαζε (θαηαγξαθή, αλάιπζε, ηεθκεξίσζε,
παξάζηαζε). Απηφ θαίλεηαη, επίζεο, λα είλαη ζχκθσλν κε ηηο ζχγρξνλεο
ρνξνγξαθηθέο πξαθηηθέο πνπ ππνδεηθλχνπλ φηη ν θαιιηηέρλεο πξέπεη λα δεζκεχεηαη
θαη κε ηηο ηξεηο πηπρέο ηεο δεκηνπξγηθήο παξαγσγήο: ηδέεο, πξαθηηθή θαη αλάιπζε.
Σηε θάζε ηεο πξνεηνηκαζίαο θαη πξαθηηθήο ν γεληθφο ζηφρνο ηνπ ρνξνγξάθνπ
ήηαλ ε πξνεηνηκαζία ηνπ ρνξεπηή (αχμεζε ηεο θηλαηζζεηηθήο
επαηζζεζίαο/αληαπφθξηζεο) γηα δεκηνπξγηθή ελζψκαηε εξγαζία θαη ν ζρεκαηηζκφο
ηεο πξαθηηθήο πνπ ζα επηηξέςεη ηελ αλάδπζε ηνπ ρνξνγξαθηθνχ πιηθνχ.
Φξεζηκνπνίεζε κηα πνηθηιία αζθήζεσλ θαζηεξσκέλεο ζηνλ θιάδν ηνπ ρνξνχ, νη
νπνίεο απμάλνπλ ηελ θηλαηζζεηηθή αληαπφθξηζε ησλ ρνξεπηψλ, θαη θάλεθαλ λα είλαη
πξνυπφζεζε γηα ηελ είζνδν ζηε δεκηνπξγηθή δηαδηθαζία. Απηή ε πξνεηνηκαζία
ζεσξείηαη ζεκαληηθή γηα δχν ιφγνπο: εηνηκάδεη ην έδαθνο γηα πεξηζζφηεξε
δεκηνπξγηθφηεηα θαη ζπλδέεη ηνπο ρνξεπηέο κε απηφ πνπ είλαη γλσζηφ σο physicality.
Δίλαη ζεκαληηθφ λα θαηαλνεζεί ζε απηφ ην ζεκείν φηη, ην «εξγαιείν» πνπ νη ρνξεπηέο
ρξεζηκνπνηνχλ ζηελ εξγαζία ηνπο βξίζθεηαη ζε δπλακηθή αιιειεπίδξαζε κε ηνλ
θφζκν θαη έηζη απηφ ην ζηάδην εηζφδνπ βνήζεζε ηελ αχμεζε ηεο πξνζνρήο ησλ
ρνξεπηψλ ζηηο ζσκαηηθέο δηαδηθαζίεο θαη ηηο αιιειεπηδξάζεηο ηνπο. Παξαδείγκαηνο
ράξηλ, έλαο πηαλίζηαο δελ ρξεηάδεηαη «λα πξνεηνηκάζεη» εληαηηθά ην πηάλν
πξνθεηκέλνπ λα αξρίζεη λα παίδεη επεηδή ην πηάλν δελ επεξεάδεηαη δξακαηηθά απφ ην
πεξηβάιινλ. Αιιά ν ρνξεπηήο «θνπβαιάεη» ην εξγαιείν ηνπ παληνχ θαη, πξνθεηκέλνπ
λα νμχλεη ηηο ηθαλφηεηεο ηνπ γηα δεκηνπξγηθή εξγαζία, ρξεηάδεηαη ρξφλνο,
ζπγθέληξσζε θαη πξνζπάζεηα ψζηε λα κεησζνχλ νη πεξηβαιινληηθέο «επηβαξχλζεηο»
θαη νη αλαπνηειεζκαηηθέο ζπλήζεηεο. Σην ρνξνγξαθηθφ εξγαζηήξην, ζπλήζσο ζηελ
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αξρή νη ρνξεπηέο πξνζεξκαίλνληαλ κφλνη ηνπο θαη θαηφπηλ νκαδηθά κε ηνλ
ζπληνληζκνχ ηνπ ρνξνγξάθνπ.
Ενζώμαηη δημιοςπγικόηηηα
Δπίζεο ζην ζηάδην απηφ, ην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ήηαλ ν ζρεκαηηζκφο ηεο
πξαθηηθήο κε ηηο δπλακηθέο αλαδηνξγαλψζεηο θαη επαλαζρεδηαζκνχο ηεο. Ζ πξαθηηθή
είλαη έλα ζχλνιν εξγαζηψλ/παξνηξχλζεσλ (φρη νδεγίεο) πνπ βνεζνχλ ην ρνξεπηή λα
εξεπλήζεη θαη λα δηνρεηεχζεη ηε δεκηνπξγηθφηεηα ηνπ/ηεο ζχκθσλα κε ηα εξεπλεηηθά
εξσηήκαηα (έλα παξάδεηγκα κηαο πξαθηηθήο πνπ δηακνξθψζεθε ζην Kinitiras
Choreolab δίλεηαη ζην θεθάιαην 4.2.2). Ζ πξαθηηθή δελ έπξεπε λα είλαη θάηη
«ελδηαθέξνλ» ή αθξαίν, αιιά ζα κπνξνχζε λα είλαη θάηη πνιχ θνηλφ θαη απιφ.
Παξφια απηά , ε πξαθηηθή έπξεπε λα δηεπθνιχλεη θάπνηα ζηνηρεία- ζπγθεθξηκέλα ηελ
ζπζρεηηθφηεηα (relationality), ηελ επηθαηξηθφηεηα (actual) θαη ηελ αλάδπζε. Ο
ρνξνγξάθνο άξρηδε έρνληαο ζην κπαιφ ηνπ έλα εξεπλεηηθφ ζέκα, γηα παξάδεηγκα, πψο
νη κλήκεο αλαδηακνξθψλνληαη απφ ην παξφλ. Καηφπηλ αλέπηπζζε κεξηθέο ηδέεο γηα
ηηο εξγαζίεο/παξνηξχλζεηο πνπ ζα κπνξνχζαλ λα βνεζήζνπλ ηελ έξεπλα θαη άξρηδε
λα ηηο εμεηάδεη «ελ δξάζεη». Πξαγκαηνπνηνχζε ηηο εξγαζίεο/παξνηξχλζεηο γηα λα δεη
πνηεο αηζζεηεξηαθέο κνξθέο είλαη πην ζρεηηθέο θαη πνηεο είλαη νη πηζαλέο
πξνβιεκαηηθέο θαηαζηάζεηο. Απηή ε εμεηαζηηθή δηαδηθαζία ζπλερίζηεθε ζε φιν ην
εξγαζηήξην επεηδή ε ρνξνγξάθνο ήζειε λα έρεη κηα «ζσκαηηθή αίζζεζε» απηνχ πνπ
νη ρνξεπηέο δνθίκαδαλ θάλνληαο ηηο εξγαζίεο.
Τν πνιχ ελδηαθέξνλ ζεκείν είλαη ε ζπκβνιή απηήο ηεο ―αηζζεηεξηαθήο
ζσκαηηθήο εηθφλαο‖ ζηε ιεθηηθή άξζξσζε θαη ην ζρεκαηηζκφ ηεο πξαθηηθήο. Όζν
δνθίκαδε, ε ρνξνγξάθνο αλέπηπζζε κηα εηθφλα γηα ηελ αίζζεζε πνπ έρεη θάπνηνο
θάλνληαο ηηο εξγαζίεο/παξνηξχλζεηο θαη απηφ ελεκέξσλε θαη «δηεχξπλε» ην
εξεπλεηηθφ ζέκα. Αιιά, ην ζεκαληηθφηεξν είλαη φηη, θαηά ηελ πξνζπάζεηα ηεο λα
αξζξψζεη ηελ πξαθηηθή γηα λα ηελ «δψζεη» ζηνπο ρνξεπηέο δελ πξνζπάζεζε λα
κεηαηξέςεη ηηο ελλνηνινγηθέο εξεπλεηηθέο εξσηήζεηο ζε ιεθηηθνχο ζηφρνπο αιιά,
ζπλήζσο, πξνζπαζνχζε «λα κεηαθξάζεη» ή λα απεηθνλίζεη ιεθηηθά απηφ πνπ έγηλε
αληηιεπηφ δηακέζσ ηνπ ζψκαηφο ηεο απφ ηελ παξνχζα αηζζεηεξηαθή εκπεηξία ηεο.
Γηα παξάδεηγκα, εάλ ήζειε λα εμεηάζεη πψο θαη πφηε ηα δηαθνξεηηθά κέξε ηνπ
ζψκαηνο δηαζπλδένληαη ή ζπληνλίδνληαη άξρηδε κε κηα πξαθηηθή φπσο «θάλε κηα
θίλεζε θαη άθεζε ηελ λα ζπλερηζηεί ζε θάζε κέξνο πνπ επεξεάδεηαη απφ απηήλ».
Γνθηκάδνληαο ην έβξηζθε κηα εξψηεζε ή αηζζεηεξηαθφ εχξεκα, π.ρ. κεξηθά κέιε ηνπ
ζψκαηνο έγηλαλ αηζζεηά ζαλ έλαλ θιαδί ελφο κεγαιχηεξνπ ―θαισδίνπ‖, θαη απηφ είρε
επηπηψζεηο ζηελ εξεπλεηηθή θαηεχζπλζε. Σηελ έπεηηα πξνζπάζεηα ηεο λα αξζξψζεη
ηηο θαηάιιειεο ιέμεηο ην έθαλε κε αλαθνξά ζε απηήλ ηελ εκπεηξία. Καηφπηλ ε
πξαθηηθή ζα δηακνξθσλφηαλ θάπσο ζαλ «θαληαζηείηε φηη έρεηε κεγάια θαιψδηα πνπ
ζηέιλνπλ ειεθηξηθά ζήκαηα ζε φιν ην ζψκα ζαο» - απηφ ζπλδέεηαη κε απηφ πνπ
«αηζζάλζεθε», κηα κεηάθξαζε ζε κνξθή ιέμεο κηαο παξνχζαο ζσκαηηθήο αίζζεζεο
θαη εηθφλαο.
Τπόποι επγαζίαρ και αποδοηικόηηηα
Δπηπιένλ, ην ζεκείν θιεηδί γηα ηε ρνξνγξάθν ήηαλ πψο λα παξέρεη ηηο
ζπλζήθεο γηα λα επηηξέςεη ηελ αλάδπζε ηεο δεκηνπξγηθφηεηαο. Όπσο πεξηγξάθεηαη
θαη ζηνλ πξνβιεκαηηθφ ρψξν (θεθάιαην 4.1), νη ρνξεπηέο ην βξίζθνπλ δχζθνιν
πνιιέο θνξέο λα ππεξβνχλ ηνπο ζπλεζηζκέλνπο ηξφπνπο θίλεζεο θαη λα ρνξέςνπλ κε
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έλαλ πην θαηλνηφκν ηξφπν (θαη πξνηηκνχλ ηελ ηερληθή άλη‘ απηνχ πνιιέο θνξέο). Ζ
ρνξνγξάθνο έθαλε πνιιέο κεηαηνπίζεηο ζε φιε ηε δηάξθεηα ηνπ εξγαζηεξίνπ
πξνθεηκέλνπ λα παξέρεη έλα «πινχζην ηνπίν» γηα ηνπο ρνξεπηέο. Σπγθεθξηκέλα, 7
ηξφπνη δνπιεηάο κε ηνπο ρνξεπηέο παξαηεξήζεθαλ:
1) Ππακηική/Tasking:
Ο ρνξνγξάθνο έδηλε εξγαζίεο / παξνηξχλζεηο ζηνπο ρνξεπηέο κέζσ ησλ νπνίσλ
δηελεξγνχζαλ ηελ έξεπλά ηνπο, π.ρ. ―θαληαζηείηε φηη είζηε έλα έκβνιν πνπ θηλείηαη
πέξα δψζε‖. Ο ρνξνγξάθνο φξηδε θαηά απηφλ ηνλ ηξφπν έλα ―ρνξνγξαθηθφ
πξφβιεκα‖ γηα ηνπο ρνξεπηέο θαη, ηππηθά, απηνχ ηνπ είδνπο ηα πξνβιήκαηα απαηηνχλ
απφ ηνπο ρνξεπηέο λα δεκηνπξγήζνπλ θάπνην είδνο λνεηηθoχ θαινινγηθνχ ζηνηρείνπ,
π.ρ. ε δπλακηθή θαη θηλεκαηηθή αίζζεζε ηεο χπαξμεο ελφο εκβφινπ πνπ θηλείηαη πέξα
δψζε. Σπρλά, ν ηξφπνο πνπ ε εξγαζία / παξφηξπλζε ηίζεηαη, απαηηεί απφ απηνχο λα
εθεχξνπλ κηα εηθφλα ή έλα ζελάξην. Τν ρνξνγξαθηθφ πξφβιεκα είλαη λα
ρξεζηκνπνηήζνπλ απηά ηα ζηνηρεία γηα λα δεκηνπξγήζνπλ κε θάπνην ηξφπν κηα
εηθνληθή δνκή κε ηελ νπνία ζα κπνξέζνπλ λα ζπλδεζνχλ κε έλαλ ―ρνξνγξαθηθά‖
ελδηαθέξνληα ηξφπν.
2) Εναλλαγή (επγαζιών) μεηαξύ ηυν σοπεςηών:
Δδψ ν ρνξεπηήο βιέπεη ηνλ άιιν ρνξεπηή λα δηεμάγεη ηελ εξγαζία/παξφηξπλζε ηνπ ή
ηε πξαθηηθή ηνπ θαη έπεηηα ―ζρνιηάδεη‖ θηλεηηθά πάλσ ζε απηφ. Απηφο ν ηξφπνο είλαη
πνιχ ελδηαθέξσλ δεδνκέλνπ φηη παξνηξχλεη ηνπο ρνξεπηέο λα δεκηνπξγήζνπλ κηα
δνκή βαζηζκέλε ζηελ αληίιεςε ηεο θίλεζεο απφ ηνλ άιιν ρνξεπηή. Έηζη, νη ρνξεπηέο
ρξεζηκνπνίεζαλ ηελ εηθφλα ηνπ ζψκαηνο ηνπ άιινπ ρνξεπηή γηα λα ρνξέςνπλ. Απηφ
ζπζρεηίδεηαη κε απηφ πνπ ν Kirsh (2011) ζηελ έξεπλά ηνπ θαιεί ζψκα σο εξγαιείν.
Όπσο ιέεη, νη ρνξεπηέο ρξεζηκνπνηνχλ ην ζψκα ηνπο σο εξγαιείν/αληηθείκελν γηα λα
ζθεθηνχλ θαη απηφ είλαη κηα ηέηνηα πεξίπησζε. Γηα παξάδεηγκα, έλαο ρνξεπηήο
παξαηήξεζε ηνλ άιιν λα ρνξεχεη ζρεηηθά κε ηελ εξγαζία/παξφηξπλζε ηνπ εκβφινπ
(πνπ πξναλαθέξζεθε) θαη έθαλε θαηφπηλ ηνλ ίδην. Ο ρνξεπηήο ρξεζηκνπνίεζε ηελ
εηθφλα ηνπ άιινπ ρνξεπηή λα ρνξεχεη σο δνκή ή εξγαιείν γηα λα δεκηνπξγήζεη ηελ
δηθή ηνπ απφδνζε. Ήηαλ πνιχ ελδηαθέξνλ φηη, φηαλ νη ρνξεπηέο «ελαιιάζζνληαλ»,
είραλ πνιχ πεξηζζφηεξεο θαη ―πινπζηφηεξεο‖ πνηφηεηεο θαη πνηθηινκνξθία ζηε
θίλεζή ηνπο. Απηφο ν ηξφπνο, πνπ ρξεζηκνπνηήζεθε απφ ηνλ ρνξνγξάθν, βξέζεθε φηη
είλαη πνιχ θαξπνθφξνο.
3) Παπαηήπηζη, «ζσολιαζμόρ» και διακοπή μεηαξύ ηυν σοπεςηών:
Δδψ ν ρνξεπηήο βιέπεη ηνλ άιιν λα ρνξεχεη αιιά κπνξεί επίζεο λα επέκβεη/δηαθφςεη
θαη λα ζρνιηάζεη πξνθνξηθά ή θηλεηηθά ζε απηφ πνπ θάλεη. Μεηά απφ ηε δηαθνπή ν
άιινο ρνξεπηήο ζπλερίδεη κέρξη λα δηαθνπεί μαλά. Απηφο ν ηξφπνο ηεο εξγαζίαο είλαη
δπλακηθφηεξνο θαη ρξεζηκνπνηεί, επίζεο, ηελ επηθνηλσληαθή κνξθή ησλ ιέμεσλ.
Σπλδπάδεη ηα λνεηηθά θαινινγηθά ζηνηρεία πνπ πξνέξρνληαη απφ ηνλ άιιν ρνξεπηή
κε ηηο εηθφλεο ηνπ ζψκαηνο θαη θίλεζεο πνπ πξνέξρνληαη πάιη απφ ηνλ άιιν ρνξεπηή.
Παξαηεξήζεθε φηη απηφο ν ηξφπνο δέζκεπε πην πνιχ λνεηηθά θαη δπλακηθά ηνπο
ρνξεπηέο θαη ηνπο βνεζνχζε λα είλαη παξαγσγηθφηεξνη.
4) Διαμόπθυζη, οδηγία ή ζςλλογική κίνηζη μαζί με ηον άλλο σοπεςηή
Δδψ θάζε ρνξεπηήο κπνξεί λα αγγίμεη, λα αξπάμεη, λα δηακνξθψζεη ή λα
θαζνδεγήζεη ην ζψκα ηνπ άιινπ ή κπνξνχλ λα θηλεζνχλ ζε ζπλεξγαζία. Ο
ρνξνγξάθνο εδψ δεηά απφ ηνπο ρνξεπηέο λα ρξεζηκνπνηήζνπλ ν έλαο ην ζψκα ηνπ
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άιινπ ελψ θηλνχληαη. Απηφ, ζηελ αξρή ήηαλ δχζθνιν γηα ηνπο ρνξεπηέο δεδνκέλνπ
φηη δελ κπνξνχζαλ λα πξνβιέςνπλ ηηο θηλήζεηο ηνπ άιινπ ρνξεπηή αιιά κεηά απφ
θάπνηα ζηηγκή κπνξνχζαλ λα επηθνηλσλήζνπλ θαιχηεξα κε ―ζσκαηηθφ‖ ηξφπν θαη κε
πνιχ θαιχηεξεο ηδηφηεηεο.
5) Επέκηαζη ππο-διαμοπθυμένος ςλικού
Δδψ ν ρνξνγξάθνο παξνπζηάδεη κηα θηλεηηθή θξάζε (πνπ ηελ δηακνξθψλεη απφ πιηθφ
απφ video ησλ ρνξεπηψλ) θαη δεηά απφ ηνπο ρνξεπηέο λα ρηίζνπλ πάλσ ζε απηφ.
Σπλήζσο απηφ γηλφηαλ ηηο εκέξεο φπνπ νη ρνξεπηέο αηζζάλνληαλ ιηγφηεξν
δεκηνπξγηθνί θαη ρξεηάδνληαλ πεξηζζφηεξε αλαηξνθνδφηεζε. Σε απηφλ ηνλ ηξφπν ηεο
εξγαζίαο ν ρνξνγξάθνο ζθέθηεηαη ―κέζσ‖ ηνπ ζψκαηνο ησλ ρνξεπηψλ γηα λα
δηακνξθψζεη ην πιηθφ θαη λα ην δψζεη ζηνπο ρνξεπηέο. Έπεηηα απηνί ζθέθηνληαη
―κέζσ‖ ηνπ ζψκαηνο ηνπ ρνξνγξάθνπ γηα λα δεκηνπξγήζνπλ θίλεζε. Τν ελδηαθέξνλ
ζηνηρείν είλαη φηη απηή ε ζπλδηαιιαγή γηλφηαλ πνιχ θπζηθά θαη ρσξίο πξνβιήκαηα,
αληίζεηα, θαηλφηαλ πνιχ θπζηθφ γηα ηνπο ρνξεπηέο λα ζθέθηνληαη κε-αλαινγηθά.
Δπίζεο, ε ρνξνγξάθνο, γηα λα ζπκάηαη ηελ θηλεηηθή αθνινπζία πνπ δεκηνχξγεζε,
ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε έλαλ παξάμελν ζπλδπαζκφ ιέμεσλ θαη ζθίηζνπ, δει. ―ζην 1-2-3-4
ρέξηα πνπ δηπιψλνπλ επάλσ φπσο έλα ζρνηλί‖ καδί κε έλα αθεξεκέλν ζθίηζν απηήο
ηεο θίλεζεο.
6) Επέκηαζη πποζυπικού ππο-καηαζκεςαζμένος ςλικού:
Ο ρνξεπηήο αλαζεσξεί ζε βίληεν κηα ρνξεπηηθή-θξάζε πνπ έρεη θάλεη θαη κεηά
ζρνιηάδεη θηλεηηθά πάλσ ζε απηή. Οη δηαθνξέο απφ ηνλ πξνεγνχκελν είλαη δχν:
αξρηθά δελ ππάξρεη θακία δσληαλή παξνπζίαζε ηνπ πξν-θαηαζθεπαζκέλνπ πιηθνχ
(θακία άκεζε θπζηθή εθκάζεζε ηνπ πξν-δηακνξθσκέλνπ πιηθνχ) θαη, επίζεο, ν
ρνξνγξάθνο δελ παξεκβαίλεη ζην πιηθφ ηνπ βίληεν. Παξνπζηάδεη έλα κέξνο απφ ην
βίληεν ζην ρνξεπηή, φπσο αθξηβψο είλαη, θαη ηνπ δεηά λα ζρνιηάζεη θηλεηηθά πάλσ ζε
απηφ. Απηφ γηλφηαλ ζπλήζσο φηαλ έλα θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ ήηαλ πνιχ ελδηαθέξνλ θαη
ππήξρε αλάγθε λα δηεξεπλεζεί μαλά.
7) «Μοςζικά σοπο-ηοπία»
Ο ρνξεπηήο επηιέγεη έλα ηξαγνχδη ηεο αξέζθεηαο ηνπ θαη ρνξεχεη αλαθνξηθά κε ηα
«ηνπία» πνπ δεκηνπξγνχληαη απφ απηφ (αιιά φρη αλαγθαζηηθά αθνινπζψληαο ην
ξπζκηθά). Απηφ ρξεζηκνπνηήζεθε ζπλήζσο γηα λα δψζεη έκθαζε ζηε ζχλδεζε ηνπ
ρνξεπηή κε ην κνπζηθφ πιαίζην θαη λα ―εκπινπηίζεη‖ ηηο ζπλαηζζεκαηηθέο αλαθνξέο
(ζπλήζσο νη ρνξεπηέο ―αθππλίδνληαλ‖ ζπλαηζζεκαηηθά αθνχγνληαο ην θαιχηεξν
ηξαγνχδη ηνπο). Απηφ ζεσξήζεθε ιηγφηεξν ηθαλφο ηξφπνο επεηδή πνιιέο θνξέο νη
ρνξεπηέο έκπαηλαλ ζε ―αλαπαξαζηαηηθή‖ δηάζεζε (δει. εάλ ην ηξαγνχδη ήηαλ
ιππεκέλν ρφξεπαλ κε ιππεκέλν ηξφπν) ρσξίο λα ρξεζηκνπνηνχλ ηηο εηθφλεο πνπ
πξνέθππηαλ απφ ην ηξαγνχδη δεκηνπξγηθά.
Πξνθεηκέλνπ λα κειεηεζεί πνηνο ηξφπνο εξγαζίαο απφ απηνχο πνπ
ρξεζηκνπνίεζε ε ρνξνγξάθνο ήηαλ απνδνηηθφηεξνο, αλαιχζεθαλ 10 θνξέο
εθαξκνγήο ηνπ θάζε ηξφπνπ (10 ιεπηά ν θαζέλαο). Φπζηθά, είλαη πνιχ δχζθνιν λα
θαζνξηζηεί ην ηη είλαη παξαγσγηθφ θαη ηη δελ είλαη αιιά κηα πην γεληθή πξνζέγγηζε
εθαξκφζηεθε. Δδψ απνδνηηθφο είλαη ν ηξφπνο, ν νπνίνο φηαλ εθαξκφδεηαη βνεζάεη
ζηελ παξαγσγή πεξηζζφηεξσλ ρνξνγξαθηθψλ ηδεψλ (φπσο θαζνξίδεηαη απφ ην
ρνξνγξάθν θαη ηνπο ρνξεπηέο) πνπ ρξεζηκνπνηνχληαη πεξαηηέξσ. Γηα παξάδεηγκα,
εάλ απφ ηελ εθαξκνγή ηεο πξαθηηθήο/tasking 10 θνξέο, πξνέθπςαλ 6 ηδέεο ε
απνδνηηθφηεηα είλαη 60%. Ζ ―ελαιιαγή‖ (εξγαζίαο) κεηαμχ ησλ ρνξεπηψλ βξέζεθε
πσο είλαη πνιχ παξαγσγηθή (80%) θαη απηφ, επίζεο, ππνζηεξίδεη ηα νθέιε απφ ηελ
150
ελζψκαηε δεκηνπξγηθφηεηα. Ζ Γηακφξθσζε, νδεγία ή ζπιινγηθή θίλεζε καδί κε ηνλ
άιιν ρνξεπηή (50%) ήηαλ ιηγφηεξν παξαγσγηθή ζηηο πξψηεο θνξέο εθαξκνγήο αιιά,
ελ ζπλερεία, εκθαλίζηεθε απνδνηηθφηεξε. Απηφ είλαη επεηδή νη ρνξεπηέο έπξεπε λα
ζπλεζίζνπλ ν έλαο ηνλ άιινλ ζε απηήλ ηελ άκεζε αιιειεπίδξαζε πξηλ αξρίζνπλ λα
δεκηνπξγνχλ. Ο ιηγφηεξν δεκηνπξγηθφο ηξφπνο δνπιεηάο ήηαλ ηα «Μνπζηθά ρνξφηνπία» θαη απηφ θαίλεηαη λα αθνξά ηελ είζνδν ζε κηα ―αλαπαξαζηαηηθή‖ δηάζεζε
απφ ηνπο εθηειεζηέο (φπσο πξναλαθέξζεθε). Έηζη, απηνί νη ηξφπνη
ρξεζηκνπνηήζεθαλ σο ηερλήκαηα γηα λα επηηξέςνπλ ηελ αλάδπζε ρνξνγξαθηθνχ
πιηθνχ. Αιιά ην πην ζεκαληηθφ, πνιιέο θνξέο εθαξκφδνληαλ ηαπηφρξνλα, π.ρ.
Tasking αθνχγνληαο ηαπηφρξνλα ην αγαπεκέλν ηξαγνχδη («Μνπζηθά ρνξφ-ηνπία»), ή
ζε δπλακηθή αιιειεπίδξαζε, π.ρ. δχν ελαιιαγέο θαη 3 tasking κέζα ζηελ ίδηα θνξά
εξγαζίαο. Γηαπηζηψζεθε φηη ε ελαιιαγή κεηαμχ απηψλ ησλ ηξφπσλ βνήζεζε ηνπο
ρνξεπηέο λα είλαη δεκηνπξγηθφηεξνη θαη λα απνθηήζνπλ πεξηζζφηεξεο πνηφηεηεο
θίλεζεο. Σπγθεθξηκέλα απηφο ν ηξφπνο βξέζεθε σο ν απνδνηηθφηεξνο- 90%. Ζ
ρνξνγξάθνο δελ ζηεξίρζεθε πνηέ ζηε γξακκηθή εθαξκνγή ελφο ηξφπνπ, π.ρ tasking,
αιιά έθαλε δπλακηθή ελαιιαγή απηψλ ησλ ηξφπσλ δνπιεηάο θαη απηφ θάλεθε λα
βνεζά ηνπο ρνξεπηέο λα ―εκπινπηίζνπλ‖ ην πιηθφ ηνπο. Καηά ζπλέπεηα απηφο ν
ηξφπνο πξνηείλεηαη σο επηηπρήο ζε απηήλ ηελ αλάιπζε.
Έπεηηα ε ρνξνγξάθνο θαηά ηελ δηάξθεηα ηεο δηαδηθαζίαο θαηέγξαθε πνιιά
πξάγκαηα θαη κε δηαθνξεηηθνχο ηξφπνπο φπσο θαίλεηαη ζηνλ παξαθάησ πίλαθα.
Πξνθεηκέλνπ λα θαηαγξάςεη ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε πνηθίια εξγαιεία, φπσο
ζεκεησκαηάξην, ππνινγηζηή, βηληενθάκεξα θ.η.ι.π. Δλ ηνχηνηο ζεκαληηθφηεξν είλαη
πφζν επηηπρή ή αλεπηηπρή ήηαλ ηα εξγαιεία πνπ ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε ζε ζρέζε κε ηνλ
ζηφρν ηνπο.
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Γηα λα θαηαλνεζεί απηφ πεξαηηέξσ, ζπδεηήζεθε κε ηε ρνξνγξάθν ην ηη πξνζπαζνχζε
λα θαηαγξάςεη ζε θάζε ζηάδην θαη ζπκθσλήζεθε έλαο ζρεηηθφο βαζκφο εθπιήξσζεο
(πφζν πνιχ θάζε ηξφπνο απεηθφληδε απηφ πνπ ήζειε) γηα κεξηθνχο απφ απηνχο, φπσο
θαίλεηαη ζηνλ πίλαθα. Γηα παξάδεηγκα ην 5/10 ζεκαίλεη φηη απηφο ν ηξφπνο ήηαλ
ηθαλνπνηεηηθφο αιιά φρη ν βέιηηζηνο. Πην ζπρλά ην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ηεο
ρνξνγξάθνπ ήηαλ λα θαηαγξάςεη θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ πνπ είλαη πνιχ ζεκαληηθφ γηα ηελ
εξγαζία ηεο θαη ηελ θαηφπηλ επεμεξγαζία. Πξηλ απφ ηελ αξρή θάζε ζπλάληεζεο ε
θάκεξα έκπαηλε ζε rec mode. Απηφ θάλεθε λα είλαη έλαο ζρεηηθά επηηπρήο ηξφπνο (5)
λα θαηαγξάςεη απηφ πνπ ήζειε (θίλεζε) αιιά πνιιέο ηνληθφηεηεο, πνηφηεηεο θαη
πξννπηηθέο ―ράλνληαη‖ κε απηφλ ηνλ ηξφπν. Έλαο πνιχ ζνβαξφο παξάγνληαο γηα ηελ
αληίιεςε θαη ηελ αλάιπζε κηαο απφδνζεο/παξνπζίαζεο είλαη ε άκεζε performative
παξνπζία πνπ απνηειείηαη απφ πνιχ κηθξέο θαη θνκςέο θηλήζεηο ησλ κειψλ ηνπ
ζψκαηνο. Σπλήζσο απηνχ ηνπ είδνπο νη κηθξέο ιεπηνκεξεηεο είλαη απηέο πνπ
θαζηζηνχλ ην πιηθφ πην πξνζσπηθφ. Έηζη, ην βίληεν ήηαλ αλίθαλν λα θαηαγξάςεη φια
απηά, αθφκα θη αλ εμππεξεηνχζε ζε έλαλ ηθαλνπνηεηηθφ βαζκφ ηνλ ζθνπφ ηνπ.
Δπίζεο ην βίληεν ηξαβάεη κφλν απφ κία πξννπηηθή θαη πνιιέο θηλήζεηο δελ
θαηαγξάθνληαλ εάλ θάηη ή θάπνηνο εκθαληδφηαλ κπξνζηά απφ ηε θάκεξα ή εάλ νη
ρνξεπηέο θηλνχληαλ θάπνπ αιινχ ζην ρψξν. Δπηπιένλ νη ρνξεπηέο αηζζάλνληαλ πην
άβνια ζηελ παξνπζία ηεο θάκεξαο θαη αλεζπρνχζαλ πεξηζζφηεξν γηα ηελ εηθφλα
ηνπο ρνξεχνληαο. Καηά ζπλέπεηα, κεξηθέο θνξέο απέθεπγαλ θηλήζεηο πνπ αιιηψο ζα
έθαλαλ. Πξνθεηκέλνπ λα θαιπθζεί θάπνην πνζφ ηεο απψιεηαο ζηελ θαηαγξαθή ηεο
θίλεζεο ε ρνξνγξάθνο ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε επίζεο ηελ εηθφλα (3), ην θείκελν (2) θαη ην
ζθίηζν (2) πξνθεηκέλνπ λα πηάζεη πεξηζζφηεξν εθιεπηπζκέλεο πνηφηεηεο ή λα
ζεκεηψζεη αθνινπζίεο θηλήζεσλ κε πεξηζζφηεξν ελδηαθέξνλ (θαη πνπ ήηαλ δχζθνιν
λα αληρλεπζνχλ εθ λένπ ζην βίληεν). Αιιά γεληθά, ε θαηαγξαθή ηεο θίλεζεο δελ
επηηεχρζεθε ζην θαηάιιειν βάζνο θαη εχξνο. Απηφ ην εχξεκα είλαη επίζεο ζχκθσλν
κε ηελ ζπδήηεζε ζηελ θνηλφηεηα ηνπ ρνξνχ ζρεηηθά κε ηελ θαηαγξαθή ηεο θίλεζεο
θαη ηνπ πξφζθαηνπ εξγαζηεξηαθνχ εξεπλεηηθνχ πξνγξάκκαηνο IMK/ICKamsterdam
– Emio Greco | PC, ην νπνίν ζέηεη επίζεο ην δήηεκα. Δπηπιένλ, γηα λα θάλεη ε
ρνξνγξάθνο αλάιπζε θίλεζεο (δει. θαηαγξαθή ζπγθεθξηκέλεο ζηάζεο, ηνληθφηεηαο,
δπλακηθνχ, επηπέδνπ, θαηεχζπλζεο θ.ι.π. θάζε κέινπο ηνπ ζψκαηνο ζε κηα ζηάζε ή
θίλεζε) ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε θείκελν (2) θαη ζθίηζν (3) αιιά απηφ δελ βνεζνχζε αξθεηά
επεηδή φηαλ αλαζεσξνχζε ην ζρέδην ή ην γξαπηφ ζε έλα δηαθνξεηηθφ ρξνληθφ πιαίζην
αληηιακβαλφηαλ κηα πνιχ δηαθνξεηηθή αίζζεζε ηεο θίλεζεο θαη δελ κπνξνχζε λα
απνξξνθήζεη θαη λα αληρλεχζεη εθ λένπ φιεο ηηο θνκςέο πνηφηεηεο αθνχ έλα κεγάιν
κέξνο πιεξνθνξηψλ έιεηπε.
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Παξφια απηά ε πην πξνβιεκαηηθή θαηαγξαθή πνπ ήζειε λα θάλεη ήηαλ ηα
―επί ηφπνπ‖ ζρφιηα. Πνιιέο θνξέο ε ρνξνγξάθνο ήζειε λα θαηαγξάςεη έλα ζρφιην
γηα κηα ζπγθεθξηκέλε αθνινπζία θηλήζεσλ πνπ έθαλαλ νη ρνξεπηέο. Τν πξφβιεκα
ήηαλ ζε δχν θαηεπζχλζεηο: αξρηθά θνηηψληαο ην ραξηί έραλε κέξνο ηεο απφδνζεο ησλ
ρνξεπηψλ. Όπσο αλαθέξεη ν Kirsh (2011) νη ρνξεπηέο κπνξνχλ λα είλαη δεκηνπξγηθνί
ζε εθξήμεηο 20 ή 30 δεπηεξνιέπησλ. Υπφ απηή ηελ έλλνηα, ε ρξνληθή θαζπζηέξεζε
πνπ απαηηείηαη γηα ην γξάςηκν ζε έλα ζεκεησκαηάξην θαη ηελ παξαθνινχζεζε ηνπ
ραξηηνχ θαζηζηνχλ ηελ ρνξνγξάθν αλίθαλε λα έρεη ζπλέρεηα ζηελ παξαηήξεζή ηεο.
Δπίζεο γηα ηε ζεκείσζε ησλ ζρνιίσλ θαηέγξαθε ζπλήζσο ην ιεπηφ ζην νπνίν
αλαθεξφηαλ, πξνθεηκέλνπ λα είλαη ζε ζέζε λα ην εληνπίζεη πάιη, δει. ―01:34: ε Εσή
θαη ε Διέλε θάλνπλ έλαλ πνιχ ελδηαθέξνλ ζπλδπαζκφ πνπ….‖. Αιιά γηα λα ην θάλεη
απηφ, έπξεπε λα ζεθσζεί επάλσ θαη λα εμεηάζεη ηε θάκεξα γηα λα βξεη ην ρξφλν ηνπ
βίληεν θαη απηφ πξνθαινχζε ρξνληθή θαζπζηέξεζε, επίζεο. Όπσο ε ρνξνγξάθνο
ζεκείσζε ζα επηζπκνχζε λα έρεη ηε δπλαηφηεηα λα ζρνιηάζεη πξνθνξηθά ―επί ηφπνπ‖
φηαλ ρνξεχνπλ νη performers ρσξίο λα πξέπεη λα δηαθφςεη ηελ δηαδηθαζία. Φπζηθά,
απηφ ζα κπνξνχζε λα ζπκβεί κε ηελ θαηαγξαθή θσλήο αιιά ππάξρνπλ δχν
πξνβιήκαηα: ην πξψην είλαη φηη νη ρνξεπηέο ζα ράζνπλ ηελ ζπγθέληξσζε ηνπο εάλ ε
ρνξνγξάθνο αξρίδεη λα ζρνιηάδεη γηα απηνχο ελψ ρνξεχνπλ θαη, εηδηθά ν
απηνζρεδηαζκφο, είλαη ηξσηφο ζε εμσηεξηθέο δηαηαξαρέο. Αθεηέξνπ, απηφ πνπ είλαη
θεληξηθφ δελ είλαη ην ζρφιην κφλν ηνπ αιιά ν ζπλδπαζκφο ηνπ ζρνιίνπ κε ηελ
θηλεηηθή ―θξάζε‖ ζηελ νπνία αλαθέξεηαη, π.ρ. ―ζπκπαζψ ηε ρξήζε ηεο ζπνλδπιηθήο
ζηήιεο θαη ηελ ζπλερή απειεπζέξσζε ηνπ ιαηκνχ‖ καδί κε ηε ζηηγκή πνπ ν ρνξεπηήο
θηλείηαη έηζη. Θα κπνξνχζε λα έρεη ηα ιεθηηθά ζρφιηα καδί κε ηε ζηηγκή εάλ κηινχζε
ζηελ βηληενθάκεξα αιιά επηζπκνχζε λα ρξεζηκνπνηήζεη ηα βίληεν γηα πνιινχο
ιφγνπο, π.ρ. δεκνζίεπζε ζε blog θαη δελ ήζειε ην ερεηηθφ πιαίζην λα έρεη ζρφιηα.
Δπίζεο νη απηνζρεδηαζηέο ζα απνζπγθεληξψλνληαλ έηζη.
Δπηπιένλ, ε ρνξνγξάθνο έπξεπε λα αξρεηνζεηεί ην πιηθφ, πξνθεηκέλνπ λα
είλαη ζε ζέζε λα εληνπίδεη ηελ ηζηνξηθή ηνπ εμέιημε. Γηα παξάδεηγκα, πξνθεηκέλνπ λα
είλαη ζε ζέζε λα μαλαεπηζθεθηεί εχθνια ην θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ είρε θαθέινπο γηα θάζε
πξφβα ή είρε θαθέινπο κε πιηθφ απφ κηα ζπγθεθξηκέλε θηλεηηθή θξάζε, π.ρ. νλφκαζε
έλαλ θάθειν ―ε Διέλε ζην παηδφηνπν‖ κε επεμεξγαζκέλα κηθξά κέξε βίληεν κε έλα
ρνξνγξαθηθφ ζχκβνιν πνπ μαλαεπηζθέθηφηαλ ε Διέλε θαη θαηλφηαλ λα αθνξά κηα
παηδηθή ηεο αλάκλεζε. Ή γξάθνληαο ηα ζρφιηα ηεο ζεκείσλε απφ πάλσ, γηα
παξάδεηγκα, ―Διέλε ρνξεχνληαο ην task ηνπ ηξαβήγκαηνο ζηηο16.09‖. Τν πξφβιεκα
κε ηελ αξρεηνζέηεζε ήηαλ φηη πνιιέο θνξέο έπξεπε, γηα παξάδεηγκα, λα αληηγξάςεη
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δχν ή πεξηζζφηεξεο θνξέο έλα βίληεν πξνθεηκέλνπ λα ην βάιεη π.ρ. ζηνλ θάθειν
―14.08‖ θαη ζηνλ ―ε Διέλε ζην παηδφηνπν‖ ην νπνίν είλαη αλεπαξθέο/αθαηάιιειν
απφ άπνςε νηθνλνκηθήο ρξήζεο ηνπ ρψξνπ κλήκεο θαη πνιιέο θνξέο θαζφινπ
πξαθηηθφ γηα ηελ εθ λένπ αλίρλεπζε πιηθνχ. Γηα παξάδεηγκα, πνιιέο θνξέο ηηο
έπαηξλε πνιχ ρξφλν κέρξη λα βξεη ην βίληεν πνπ έςαρλε κέζα ζε φινπο ηνπο
θαθέινπο. Δπίζεο, πνιιέο θνξέο επεηδή ήζειε λα έρεη έλα αξρεηνζεηεκέλν θείκελν
ζην ζεκεησκαηάξην κε ην αληίζηνηρν βίληεν ηεο έπαηξλε ψξα γηα λα θάλεη κηα
ζεκείσζε αξρεηνζέηεζεο πξηλ αξρίζεη λα γξάθεη, π.ρ. ―Διέλε θαη Εσή εξγαδφκελεο
ζην task ηεο επαηζζεζίαο ζηηο 19.09, κέξνο 1 δεχηεξε θνξά‖.
Δπηπξφζζεηα έλα επηπιένλ ελδηαθέξνλ ζεκείν είλαη απηφ ηεο αλάιπζεο. Δίρε
4 ηξφπνπο πξνθεηκέλνπ λα αλαιχζεη έλα πιηθφ ή κηα θηλεηηθή έλλνηα γηα ηελ εξγαζία
ηεο: δειαδή, αλαζεψξεζε βίληεν, αλάγλσζε ζεκεηψζεσλ, ελλνηνινγηθή ζθέςε θαη
ζπλδπαζκφο απηψλ. Σρεδφλ πνηέ (10%) δελ αλέιπε έλα θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ κφλν κέζσ
ελλνηνινγηθήο ζθέςεο (abstractly) αιιά ρξεηαδφηαλ επίζεο λα βιέπεη θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ
ηαπηφρξνλα (κε αλαινγηθή ζθέςε). Απηφ ζπκθσλεί θαη κε ζπκπεξάζκαηα απφ άιιεο
έξεπλεο (Kirsh, 2011) πνπ πξνηείλνπλ φηη νη ρνξεπηέο ζε κεγάιν κέξνο ζθέθηνληαη
κε-αλαινγηθά. Έηζη πξνθεηκέλνπ λα αλαιχζεη ην θαηαγεγξακκέλν θαη
αξρεηνζεηεκέλν πιηθφ ε ρνξνγξάθνο ρξεηαδφηαλ ηελ ηαπηφρξνλε επίδεημε ησλ
δηαθνξεηηθψλ πιεξνθνξηψλ. Απηφ ήηαλ πνιιέο θνξέο πξνβιεκαηηθφ. Γηα
παξάδεηγκα, γηα λα αλαιχζεη έλα βίληεν κε θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ ρξεηαδφηαλ επίζεο ηα ―επί
ηφπνπ‖ ζρφιηα, ην αθξηβέο πεξηερφκελν ηεο πξαθηηθήο γηα εθείλε ηελ εκέξα θαη ηα
ζθίηζα κε ηηο αθνινπζίεο θηλήζεσλ ζηηο νπνίεο είρε δψζεη πξνζνρή. Αιιά επεηδή
απηά ήηαλ ζε δηαθνξεηηθέο ζέζεηο (ππνινγηζηή, θάκεξα, ζεκεησκαηάξην) ήηαλ πην
δχζθνιν λα ην θάλεη. Τν ζεκαληηθφηεξν, φπσο πεξηγξάθεθε θαη πξηλ, ήηαλ ε
δπλαηφηεηα ηεο ηαπηφρξνλεο πξνβνιήο ηνπ θηλεηηθνχ πιηθνχ θαη ησλ ―επί ηφπνπ‖
ζρνιίσλ επεηδή απηά ηα ζρφιηα πνπ θαηαγξάθνληαλ απφ ηελ άκεζε, θηλαηζζεηηθή
performative παξνπζία ήηαλ πνιχηηκα γηα ηελ θαηαλφεζε ηνπ πεξηερνκέλνπ ηνπ
βίληεν. Έηζη, έπξεπε λα εηδσζνχλ απφ ηε ρνξνγξάθν καδί κε ηελ θηλεηηθή ηνπο
αλαθνξά ζε δσληαλή δξάζε.
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Μοπθέρ επικοινυνίαρ
Δπηπιένλ, έλα άιιν αμηνπξφζερην ζεκείν είλαη ν ηξφπνο πνπ ε ρνξνγξάθνο
θαη νη ρνξεπηέο επηθνηλσλνχζαλ ζηα δηαθνξεηηθά ζηάδηα. Γηαπηζηψζεθε φηη ε
ρνξνγξάθνο επηθνηλσλνχζε κε ηνπο ρνξεπηέο κε δηαθνξεηηθνχο θπζηθνχο ηξφπνπο.
Απηφ είλαη επίζεο ζχκθσλν κε ηα ζπκπεξάζκαηα ηνπ Kirsh (2011) ζε παξφκνηα
έξεπλα. Κάζε ηξφπνο έθεξε ζπγθεθξηκέλεο πιεξνθνξίεο γηα ηνπο ρνξεπηέο. Μεξηθνί
είλαη πξνθαλείο: κηινχζε, ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε ην ζψκα ηεο γηα λα δείμεη θάηη θαη λα
θηλεζεί πξνο κηα ζέζε γηα λα εμεγήζεη θάηη. Μεξηθνί απφ ηνπο επηθνηλσληαθνχο
κεραληζκνχο, ελ ηνχηνηο, είλαη κε-πξνθαλείο θαη αζπλήζηζηνη έμσ απφ ην θιάδν ηνπ
ρνξνχ. Γηα παξάδεηγκα, ην άγγηγκα ζε έλαλ ρνξεπηή κπνξεί λα ρξεζηκνπνηεζεί γηα λα
αλαδηακνξθψζεη θπζηθά κηα ζηάζε ή κηα θίλεζε. Ζ ιεηηνπξγία ηνπ είλαη
πεξηζζφηεξν δηνξζσηηθή παξά επηζεκεησηηθή. Όηαλ δχλακε εθαξκφδεηαη ζε έλα
ζψκα, αθφκε θαη επγελήο, ν ζθνπφο ηεο κπνξεί λα είλαη φρη κφλν λα ―πεξηγξάςεη‖ κηα
δνκηθή κνξθή ή δπλακηθή θίλεζεο, αιιά κπνξεί λα ζηνρεχεη επίζεο ζην λα
πξνθαιέζεη κηα αιιαγή ζην ρνξεπηή ζηνλ ηξφπν πνπ θηλείηαη, αηζζάλεηαη, ή αθφκα
θαη ζθέθηεηαη. Γηάθνξνη παξάγνληεο ιεηηνπξγνχλ ηαπηφρξνλα: ε αθή πξέπεη λα είλαη
αθξηβψο ζηε ζσζηή ζηηγκή θαη ηνπνζεζία εάλ επηθνηλσλεί έλα ζπλαίζζεκα, φπσο ε
θνχξαζε, ν ζπκφο, ή ν θίλδπλνο, ε αθή ρξεηάδεηαη ηε ζσζηή δπλακηθή θαη εάλ
επηθνηλσλεί κηα ζέζε πξέπεη λα είλαη θαηάιιεια δηνξζσηηθή, ραξαθηεξίδνληαο ηελ
έθηαζε ελφο άθξνπ ηνπ ζψκαηνο ή ηελ θαηεχζπλζε ζηελ νπνία ην ζψκα πξέπεη λα
θηλεζεί. Σε έλα θπζηθφ πιαίζην φπσο ν ρνξφο, φπνπ νη δνκέο πνπ δεκηνπξγνχληαη
είλαη ε δπλακηθή ηεο κνξθήο θαη ηεο ζέζεο, είλαη θπζηθφ λα ρξεζηκνπνηείηαη ε αθή
σο εξγαιείν. Έπεηηα, ζπδεηψληαο γηα κηα αθνινπζία θίλεζεο (θξάζε) ε ρνξνγξάθνο
ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε ζπλήζσο ιέμεηο γηα πην κεγάιεο πεξηφδνπο (π.ρ. ―ιέσ γηα ην κέξνο
πνπ αξρίζαηε λα ρνξνπεδάηε ..... κέρξη πνπ θζάζαηε ζηνλ ηνίρν‖), ηελ πιήξε
ζσκαηηθή δηεμαγσγή γηα πην ζχληνκεο αθνινπζίεο θαη ηελ επίδεημε video γηα λα
αλαθεξζεί ζπλήζσο ζε νιφθιεξε ηελ απφδνζε. Έλαο άιινο ελδηαθέξσλ ηξφπνο ήηαλ
ην ζρέδην- ε ρνξνγξάθνο ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε θαηά πεξηφδνπο ηα ζθίηζα πξνθεηκέλνπ λα
εθζέζεη κηα ελδηαθέξνπζα θίλεζε ή λα ζεκεηψζεη κηα αθνινπζία θηλήζεσλ ή γηα λα
θαηαδείμεη ζην ρνξεπηή έλα παξάδεηγκα γηα ην πψο λα θηλεζεί. Τα ζθίηζα
απεηθφληδαλ ηηο ζέζεηο θιεηδηά ησλ κειψλ ηνπ ζψκαηνο πξνθεηκέλνπ λα κπνξεί ν
ρνξεπηήο λα θαηαιάβεη ηε θίλεζε. Έηζη, ην ζψκα παξνπζηαδφηαλ αθαηξεηηθά κε
ζπνλδπιηθή ζηήιε, θεθάιη θαη ηα πφδηα. Βέβαηα, δελ είλαη ζαθέο εάλ ν ρνξεπηήο
αληηιακβαλφηαλ ηελ αθνινπζία θίλεζεο κε ηνλ ίδην ηξφπν κε ηε ρνξνγξάθν.
Υπήξραλ, επίζεο, ηξφπνη επηθνηλσλίαο πνπ ήηαλ ιηγφηεξν πξνθαλείο, εηδηθά κε ηνλ
ήρν. Ο ήρνο γηα επηθνηλσλία ηνπ ξπζκνχ είλαη ζρεδφλ θαζνιηθφο: ―Έλα, δχν, ηξία
έλα, δχν, ηξία…‖. Αιιά ήρνο γηα λα κεηαθεξζεί κνξθή, ζπλαίζζεκα, ή πνηφηεηα
είλαη ιηγφηεξν γλσζηφ. Ζ ρνξνγξάθνο πξφζθεξε κεξηθέο θνξέο δηνξζψζεηο, ή
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επηθνηλσλνχζε θάπνηα πηπρή ηεο δπλακηθήο κνξθήο ιέγνληαο θξάζεηο φπσο «Niahh
uh oom». Απηφ ην είδνο ήρσλ έρεη θιεζεί ―vocalization‖ (Kirsh, 2011). Ο ζηφρνο ηνπ
ήηαλ ζπλήζσο λα δψζεη έλα παξάδεηγκα κηαο δπλακηθήο, ηεο πξνφδνπ κηαο
αθνινπζίαο ή ελφο ζπλαηζζήκαηνο. Δπηπιένλ, επεηδή ν ρνξεπηήο θαη ε ρνξνγξάθνο
ήηαλ πνιχ θνληά ζπλήζσο θαηά ην vocalizing, ε ρξήζε ηνπ νδήγεζε ζπρλά ζε
πεξαηηέξσ αιιειεπίδξαζε.
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Γεληθά νη επηθνηλσληαθέο κνξθέο πνπ ρξεζηκνπνηήζεθαλ ήηαλ ιέμεηο, ρνξφο,
βίληεν, κνπζηθή, αθή, vocalization, εηθφλα, ζθίηζν θαη θείκελν. Αιιά ην πην
ζεκαληηθφ παξαηεξεζέλ ζηνηρείν ήηαλ, φηη ππήξρε πξνθχπηνπζα επηθνηλσληαθή
ζεκαζία εκθαληδφκελε επεηδή πνιιαπιέο κνξθέο, φπσο ιέμεηο θαη πιήξεο ζσκαηηθή
δηεμαγσγή, βίληεν θαη vocalization, ρξεζηκνπνηήζεθαλ ηαπηφρξνλα. Σηνλ αθφινπζν
πίλαθα, ππάξρεη επίδεημε ησλ δηαθνξεηηθψλ κνξθψλ επηθνηλσλίαο ζε ιεηηνπξγία θαηά
ηελ δηάξθεηα 1.5 ψξαο πξφβαο. Δίλαη θαλεξφ φηη πνιιά απφ ηα θαλάιηα ζπκπίπηνπλ.
Ταθηηθά ε ρνξνγξάθνο ζπλδχαδε ιέμεηο κε ρνξφ, αθή, θαη βίληεν. Μεξηθέο θνξέο
ζθηαγξαθνχζε κηα θίλεζε ζε έλα ζθίηζν ελψ κηινχζε θαη ηαπηφρξνλα ε ηαρχηεηα ηνπ
γξαςίκαηφο ηεο κε ηε ρξήζε ηεο θψλεζεο πξνζπαζνχζε λα δηαβηβάζεη ηνλ
δπλακηζκφ, ηνλ ξπζκφ, ηελ πνηφηεηα θαη ρσξηθή θάιπςε κηαο θίλεζεο.
Κένηπο ηηρ πποζοσήρ ηος σοπογπάθος και καηαππεύζειρ
Αλαθνξηθά κε ην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ηεο ρνξνγξάθνπ δηαπηζηψζεθαλ ηα
παξαθάησ:
Δλφζσ παξαηεξνχζε ηνπο ρνξεπηέο δηαπηζηψζεθε φηη ελδηαθεξφηαλ γηα:
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Γέζκεπζε ησλ ρνξεπηψλ ζην εξεπλεηηθφ πιάλν
•
Με-ζπλήζεο ή πξν-ζρεδηαζκέλε/πξνθαηαζθεπαζκέλε θίλεζε
•
Ννεηηθή δέζκεπζε
Γηα λα πάξεη απηέο ηηο πιεξνθνξίεο ε ρνξνγξάθνο ρξεζηκνπνηνχζε δηάθνξα ζεκεία
αλαθνξάο κεξηθά απφ ηα νπνία είλαη πην πξνθαλή θαη κεξηθά απφ απηά ιηγφηεξν.
Παξαδείγκαηνο ράξηλ ήηαλ εχθνιν λα γίλεη θαηαλνεηφ φηη ν ρνξεπηήο δελ είρε
―θνιιήζεη‖ ζε ζπλήζε θηλεηηθά κνλνπάηηα απφ ηε κε επαλεκθάληζε θηλήζεσλ κε ηελ
ίδηα πνηφηεηα, ηνληθφηεηα, δπλακηθή, θ.η.ι.π. Αιιά, πψο θαηαιάβαηλε ηε δέζκεπζε
ηνπ ρνξεπηή ζην εξεπλεηηθφ πιάλν; Γηα απηφ ζηεξίρζεθε ζε δηάθνξεο ελδείμεηο,
κεηαμχ άιισλ ζηε ζπλαηζζεκαηηθή απφθξηζε ζηε θίλεζε θαη ζηελ αληηιεπηηθφηεηα
ηνπ ρνξεπηή. Όηαλ ν ρνξεπηήο βξηζθφηαλ ζε ―εξεπλεηηθή‖ ξνή ππήξραλ θηλήζεηο πνπ
άξρηδαλ λα έρνπλ ζπλαηζζεκαηηθή ππφζηαζε θαη, επίζεο, ήηαλ πην άγξππλνο ζηηο
αιιαγέο ζην πεξηβάιινλ.
Πεξαηηέξσ, πψο θαηαιάβαηλε εάλ ν ρνξεπηήο είλαη δηαλνεηηθά δεζκεπκέλνο
φζν ρφξεπε; Γηα απηφ, 3 παξάγνληεο θάλεθαλ λα είλαη πνιχ ζεκαληηθνί: κάηηα,
ηνληθφηεηα θαη παχζεηο. Τα κάηηα κεηαθέξνπλ έλα πνιχ κεγάιν πνζφ ησλ λνεηηθψλ
δηαδηθαζηψλ θαη είλαη έλα ζεκείν αλαθνξάο γηα ηελ performative παξνπζία. Τα κάηηα
πνπ ν ρνξνγξάθνο πεξηέγξαςε σο ελδεηθηηθά ―ξνήο‖ ηνπ ρνξεπηή ήηαλ ηα κάηηα πνπ
παξνπζίαδαλ ―άδεηαζκα‖. ―Άδεηαζκα‖ ζεκαίλεη φηη ηα κάηηα θνηηάδνπλ παληνχ αιιά
δελ ζπγθεληξψλνληαη θάπνπ ζπγθεθξηκέλα. Δίλαη ζαλ επξείεο ―θελέο‖ θνηιφηεηεο πνπ
ελεκεξψλνληαη νξηαθά γηα θάζε πιεξνθνξία ζηνλ ρψξν. Σπλήζσο φηαλ ν ρνξεπηήο
θηλείηαη απηά αθνινπζνχλ ηε θίλεζε ηνπ κε έλαλ θπζηθφ, ηξηζδηάζηαην ηξφπν θαη
ρσξίο εζηηάζεηο ζε ζπγθεθξηκέλα ζεκεία ηνπ ρψξνπ. Καηά απηφλ ηνλ ηξφπν ν
ρνξεπηήο είλαη πην δηνξαηηθφο ζηηο εηζεξρφκελεο, νπηηθέο πιεξνθνξίεο. Δπίζεο, ε
ρνξνγξάθνο ιάκβαλε πιεξνθνξίεο γηα ηε λνεηηθή δέζκεπζε κέζσ ηεο ηνληθφηεηαο.
Ζ ηνληθφηεηα ηνπ κπτθνχ ζπζηήκαηνο ελφο εθηειεζηή είλαη πνιχ ελδεηθηηθή.
Σπλήζσο ε ηνληθφηεηα ―ξνήο‖ είλαη απηή πνπ έρεη έλαλ ―ξπζκφ‖ πνπ εκπεξηέρεη
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πνιιέο πνηφηεηεο ρσξίο λα απνζπά ηελ πξνζνρή ηνπ ζεαηή. Τειεπηαίεο αιιά φρη
ιηγφηεξν ζεκαληηθέο, νη παχζεηο είλαη βαξχλνπζαο αμίαο επίζεο. Σπλήζσο φηαλ ν
ρνξεπηήο λνεηηθά ή ζπλαηζζεκαηηθά ζπκκεηέρεη θάλεη κηθξέο παχζεηο πνπ θαίλνληαη
λα ζεκαίλνπλ θάηη θαη λα έρνπλ κηα απξνζδφθεηε δηάξθεηα θαη ζέζε. Έηζη φηαλ
ππήξρε ―ξνή‖ ζηε δεκηνπξγηθή δηαδηθαζία παξαηεξήζεθε φηη ππήξρε, επίζεο, κηα
αθνχζηα αιιά ―νμπδεξθήο‖ θαη ζεκαληηθή ρξήζε κηθξψλ παχζεσλ.
Δπηπιένλ, έλα κεγάιν κέξνο ηεο πξνζνρήο ζηελ εξγαζία ηεο ρνξνγξάθνπ
είλαη λα πξνζδηνξίδεη ηα πξνβιήκαηα βιέπνληαο ηνπο ρνξεπηέο θαη λα πξνζπαζεί λα
δηεπθνιχλεη ιχζεηο. Ζ αληίιεςε ησλ πξνβιεκάησλ είλαη θξίζηκε, γηα λα
πξαγκαηνπνηεί κεηαηφπηζε ζηνλ ηξφπν δνπιεηάο φηαλ απαηηείηαη. Γηα λα γίλεη
θαιχηεξε θαηαλφεζε απηνχ ,12 βίληεν απηνζρεδηαζκνχ ησλ ρνξεπηψλ αλαιχζεθαλ
καδί κε ηε ρνξνγξάθν πξνθεηκέλνπ λα επηζεκαλζνχλ νη θαηαξξεχζεηο ησλ ρνξεπηψλ.
Καηά ηξφπν ελδηαθέξνληα νη επηθξαηνχληεο ιφγνη γηα ηελ απψιεηα ―ξνήο‖ απφ ηνπο
ρνξεπηέο ήηαλ ην κνπζηθφ πιαηζίσκα (17.5%) θαη ε λνεηηθή θαηάζηαζε (17.5%). Ζ
κνπζηθή είλαη παξαδνζηαθά πνιχ θξίζηκε θαη αθφκα θη αλ έλαο ρνξεπηήο ρνξεχεη ζηε
ζησπή ην ππφβαζξν ζνξχβνπ έρεη ζεκαληηθή επίδξαζε. Πξάγκαηη θαηά ηελ δηάξθεηα
ησλ βίληεν νη ρνξεπηέο βγήθαλ εθηφο ξνήο ιφγσ ηεο κνπζηθήο πνιιέο θνξέο,
παξαδείγκαηνο ράξηλ, φηαλ έκπαηλε έλα γξεγνξφηεξν κνπζηθφ θνκκάηη. Ζ
ρνξνγξάθνο εξγάζηεθε πνιχ κε ηε ζρέζε ησλ ρνξεπηψλ κε ην κνπζηθφ πιαηζίσκα
θαη πξνθεηκέλνπ λα ην επηηχρεη απηφ απαηηήζεθε πνιιέο θνξέο παξνπζίαζε,
αξρεηνζέηεζε θαη επεμεξγαζία/δεκηνπξγία κνπζηθήο. Δπηπιένλ, ζρεηηθά κε ηελ
λνεηηθή θαηάζηαζε, πνιιέο θνξέο ήηαλ εχθνιν γηα ηνπο ρνξεπηέο λα εηζαρζνχλ ζε
κηα πην ―δηεθπαηξεσηηθή‖,απξφζσπε δηάζεζε παξά λα ζπκκεηέρνπλ ζηελ έξεπλα
λνεηηθά θαη ζπλαηζζεκαηηθά. Πνιιέο θνξέο, εηδηθά γηα ηνπο πεπεηξακέλνπο ηερληθά
ρνξεπηέο, είλαη εχθνιν λα ζηεξίδνληαη ζηελ επηδέμηα θίλεζε θάπνησλ ζπγθεθξηκέλσλ
εμσηεξηθψλ κπψλ ηνπ ζψκαηνο. Αιιά ν ρνξνγξάθνο πξέπεη λα βξεη ηξφπνπο φρη κφλν
γηα λα εκπινπηίζεη ηε λνεηηθή ζπκκεηνρή αιιά θαη γηα λα δηεπθνιχλεη ηε λνεηηθή
επηθνηλσλία κε ην ρνξεπηή. Γηα λα ιχζεη ην πξφβιεκα ηεο λνεηηθήο ζπκκεηνρήο
πνιιέο θνξέο ε ρνξνγξάθνο ρξεζηκνπνίεζε πνηθίινπο ηξφπνπο γηα λα ―αθππλίζεη‖
ηνπο ρνξεπηέο. Πνιιέο θνξέο ζπδεηνχζε καδί ηνπο, κεξηθέο θνξέο ηνπο δεηνχζε λα
γξάςνπλ ζε έλα ραξηί ηηο ζθέςεηο ηνπο γηα ηνπο ππφινηπνπο ρνξεπηέο, δχν θνξέο
έθεξε έλα πνίεκα θαη θάπνηεο άιιεο έθαλε contact improvisation (―γηα λα ζθίμεη ηε
ζχλδεζε ησλ ρνξεπηψλ‖ φπσο είπε). Τέινο, ελ αληηζέζεη, ε αβεβαηφηεηα γηα ην πψο
θάηη θαίλεηαη ζην αθξναηήξην εκθαλίζηεθε σο ν ιηγφηεξνο ζπρλφο ιφγνο γηα απψιεηα
―ξνήο‖(9.5%). Απηφ έρεη, πηζαλψο, λα θάλεη κε ηνλ θχθιν πξνεηνηκαζίαο θαη ηηο
αζθήζεηο body-mind centering πνπ ―ελίζρπζαλ‖ ηηο performative δπλαηφηεηεο. Έλα
άιιν επίζεο ζεκαληηθφ εχξεκα απφ ηελ αλάιπζε ησλ βίληεν είλαη φηη νη ρνξεπηέο
είλαη δεκηνπξγηθνί θαη θαηαδεηθλχνπλ ξνή ζε εθξήμεηο ιίγσλ δεπηεξνιέπησλ, π.ρ. ζην
βίληεν 2 απφ 02:29 κέρξη 02:49. Απηφ είλαη ζχκθσλν κε παξφκνηα εξεπλεηηθά
ζπκπεξάζκαηα (Kirsh, 2011). Δπίζεο, δείρλεη φηη ν ρνξνγξάθνο πξέπεη λα είλαη πνιχ
δηνξαηηθφο θαη παξαηεξεηηθφο πξνθεηκέλνπ λα αληηιεθζεί θαη λα εξγαζηεί κε απηέο
ηηο εθξήμεηο.
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Δπηπξφζζεηα, ε θαηαγξαθή πιηθνχ ήηαλ ζην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ηεο
ρνξνγξάθνπ ζπρλά φπσο επίζεο θαη ε παξαηήξεζε. Ο ρνξνγξάθνο ηηο πεξηζζφηεξεο
θνξέο ζηελ εξγαζία ηνπ πξέπεη λα παξαηεξεί. Ζ παξαηήξεζε είλαη πνιχ θξίζηκε γηα
ηελ αληίιεςε θαη ηελ θαηαλφεζε ησλ θηλαηζζεηηθψλ ηδηνηήησλ θαη ηεο απεξίγξαπηεο
(κε ιέμεηο ή βίληεν) θπζηθφηεηαο θαη ακεζφηεηαο ηνπ ρνξεχνληνο ζψκαηνο. Αιιά
απηφ πνπ βξέζεθε είλαη φηη, ελφζσ δνχιεπε ε ρνξνγξάθνο ε θαηαγξαθή θαη ε
παξαηήξεζε επηθαιχπηνληαλ θαη απνπξνζαλαηφιηδαλ ηελ πξνζνρή ηεο ρνξνγξάθνπ.
Έηζη, πνιιέο θνξέο έραλε κέξνο ηεο παξνπζίαζεο πξνθεηκέλνπ λα θαηαγξάςεη θάηη.
Σηνλ παξαθάησ πίλαθα ππάξρεη αλάιπζε κηαο πξφβαο 1.30 ψξαο πνπ δείρλεη ην
θπξίαξρν θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ηεο ρνξνγξάθνπ ζηε δηαδηθαζία (έπεηηα απφ
βηληενζθφπεζε ηεο πξφβαο θαη ζπδήηεζεο κε ην ρνξνγξάθν). Καηά ηελ δηάξθεηα ηεο
πξφβαο ε ρνξνγξάθνο είρε ηξία θπξίσο πξάγκαηα ζην κπαιφ ηεο: λα επηθνηλσλήζεη
κε ηνπο ρνξεπηέο, λα παξαηεξήζεη ηα αλαδπφκελα ζηνηρεία θαη λα θαηαγξάςεη. Αλ
θαη ε επηθνηλσλία δελ επηθαιχπηεηαη κε άιια ζηνηρεία, ε θαηαγξαθή επηθαιχπηεη
ζπλερψο ηελ παξαηήξεζε. Σηελ πξνζπάζεηά ηεο λα θαηαγξάςεη πξάγκαηα, έραλε
κέξνο ηεο παξνπζίαζεο. Γηα παξάδεηγκα, ζηελ αξρή ελψ παξαθνινπζνχζε ηνπο
ρνξεπηέο ζεθψζεθε πάλσ θαη εμέηαζε ηε θάκεξα επεηδή ―ήζειε λα είλαη βέβαηε φηη ε
πξννπηηθή ηνπ βίληεν ήηαλ ζσζηή θαη φηη ζα κπνξνχζε λα θαηαγξάςεη φιε ηε
θίλεζε‖. Καηφπηλ, θαηά ηελ δηάξθεηα ηεο παξνπζίαζεο, ζηακαηνχζε γηα λα γξάςεη
ζην ζεκεησκαηάξην ή ηνλ ππνινγηζηή. Απηφ πνπ ήηαλ ζεκαληηθφ δελ ήηαλ φηη έγξαθε
αιιά φηη ην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ηεο ήηαλ ζην ―πψο λα θαηαγξάςεη κέξνο ησλ
ηεθηαηλφκελσλ‖. Φπζηθά, ζα κπνξνχζε λα είρε παξαηεξήζεη πξψηα ηνπο ρνξεπηέο θαη
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λα αλεζπρνχζε έπεηηα γηα νπνηαδήπνηε θαηαγξαθή αιιά, δεδνκέλνπ φηη ην πιαίζην
είλαη ε θαιιηηερληθή έξεπλα, ε ρνξνγξάθνο έπξεπε λα θξαηήζεη ―ζηνηρεία‖ ηεο
δηαδηθαζίαο. Δπίζεο, ππήξραλ πνιιά πξάγκαηα πνπ πξνέθππηαλ απφ ηελ άκεζε
θηλαηζζεηηθή θαη δηαδξαζηηθή εκπεηξία ηεο παξνπζίαζεο, πνπ δελ ζα κπνξνχζαλ λα
θαηαγξαθνχλ ζε έλα άιιν ρξνληθφ πιαίζην. Σαλ απνηέιεζκα, ην θέληξν ηεο
πξνζνρήο ηεο ρνξνγξάθνπ κεηαηνπηδφηαλ ζπρλά, θαζηζηψληαο αδχλαην λα
απνθηήζεη ζπλέρεηα ζηελ παξαηήξεζε.
Σςμπεπάζμαηα-Σςζήηηζη
Σήκεξα ε ρνξνγξαθία είλαη έλαο πνιχ δπλακηθφο θαη εμειηζζφκελνο ηνκέαο
πνπ, κε ηελ λέα ηνπ δηάζηαζε σο θαιιηηερληθή έξεπλα, αθνξά θαη ελεκεξψλεηαη απφ
έλαλ εθηεηακέλν αξηζκφ πεξηνρψλ γλψζεο. Ο ρνξνγξάθνο δελ είλαη παζεηηθφο
δεκηνπξγφο επράξηζησλ ζεακάησλ γηα ειηηίζηηθε θαηαλάισζε αιιά, κάιινλ, έλα
πξφζσπν πνπ ξσηά, εξεπλά ή πξνηείλεη λέεο ζρέζεηο, δπλαηφηεηεο θαη δπλακηθέο γηα
ηελ θνηλσλία. Σηελ πξνζπάζεηά ηνπ λα ην θάλεη απηφ ζπκκεηέρεη ελεξγά ζηηο ηξεηο
πηπρέο ηεο δεκηνπξγηθήο παξαγσγήο: δειαδή, έλλνηεο, αλάιπζε θαη πξαθηηθή.
Σπλεξγάδεηαη ελεξγά θαη ζπλδηακνξθψλεηαη κε ηνπο ρνξεπηέο πξνθεηκέλνπ λα
απνθηήζνπλ πεξηζζφηεξε γλψζε γηα ηνλ εαπηφ ηνπο θαη ηνλ θφζκν. Σε κηα γεληθή
επηζθφπεζε, ε αλάιπζε πνπ δηεμήρζε ζε απηήλ ηελ δηαηξηβή αλνίγεη ηε ζπδήηεζε γηα
ηα πηζαλά πξνβιήκαηα ζηε δεκηνπξγία ρνξνχ θαη ην ηη μέξνπκε γηα ηε δεκηνπξγηθή
αμία ησλ δηαθνξεηηθψλ κεζφδσλ εξγαζίαο. Δπηζπκεί λα θαηαιάβεη θαιχηεξα πνην
είλαη ην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο ηνπ ρνξνγξάθνπ ζε θάζε ζηάδην ηεο δεκηνπξγηθήο
παξαγσγήο, πνηα πξνβιήκαηα αληηκεησπίδεη θπξίσο, ζε ηη εξγάδεηαη θαη πφζν
απνδνηηθέο είλαη νη κέζνδνη πνπ ρξεζηκνπνηεί ζε ζρέζε κε ηνλ ζηφρν ηνπο. Σην
εξγαζηήξην ρνξνγξαθίαο Kinitiras Choreography Lab πξνζδηνξίζηεθαλ ηξεηο θχθινη
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δξάζεο: Πξνεηνηκαζία θαη πξαθηηθή, δεκηνπξγηθή δηαδηθαζία θαη θαηαγξαθή,
αλάιπζε, παξάζηαζε. Ζ ρνξνγξάθνο πνπ ζπκκεηείρε ζε απηήλ ηελ έξεπλα
ρξεζηκνπνίεζε 7 ηξφπνπο, πξνθεηκέλνπ λα θάλεη κεηαηνπίζεηο θαη λα δηεπθνιχλεη ηε
πνηθηινκνξθία ζηελ εξγαζία. Κάζε έλαο ζπλέβαιε θαηά ηξφπν δηαθνξεηηθφ αιιά
απηφ πνπ θάλεθε λα βνεζά πεξηζζφηεξν, ήηαλ ν ζπλδπαζκφο ησλ ηξφπσλ ζε
ελαιιαγή. Καηά ζπλέπεηα, ε κεηαηφπηζε κεηαμχ πνηθίισλ ηξφπσλ εξγαζίαο
ζεσξήζεθε επηηπρήο (απνδνηηθή) ζε απηήλ ηελ αλάιπζε.
Δπίζεο, κηα ζεκαληηθή εχξεζε ήηαλ ε πνιχκνξθε επηθνηλσλία. Ζ ρνξνγξάθνο
επηθνηλσλνχζε κε ηνπο ρνξεπηέο κε πνιινχο θπζηθνχο ηξφπνπο. Πνιιέο κνξθέο
ρξεζηκνπνηήζεθαλ θαηά ηξφπν απξνζδφθεην θαη αζπλήζηζην ζηελ πξνζπάζεηα γηα
επηθνηλσλία ζηα δηαθνξεηηθά ζηάδηα. Αιιά, αθφκα πεξηζζφηεξν, απηφ πνπ
παξαηεξήζεθε ήηαλ φηη ππήξρε πξνθχπηνπζα επηθνηλσληαθή ζεκαζία εκθαληδφκελε
επεηδή νη πνιιαπιέο επηθνηλσληαθέο κνξθέο, φπσο ιέμεηο θαη ε πιήξεο ζσκαηηθή
παξνπζίαζε, ην βίληεν θαη ην vocalization, ρξεζηκνπνηνχληαλ ηαπηφρξνλα.
Γηαπηζηψζεθε φηη νη ρνξεπηέο θαη ε ρνξνγξάθνο άιιαδαλ κεηαμχ ησλ
επηθνηλσληαθψλ κνξθψλ ζπρλφηεξα θαη πην εχθνια απφ ηνπο πεξηζζφηεξνπο
αλζξψπνπο (ζηηο θαζεκεξηλέο αιιειεπηδξάζεηο). Δπίζεο δηαπηζηψζεθε φηη, ηηο
πεξηζζφηεξεο θνξέο ρξεζηκνπνηνχζαλ ην ζψκα ηνπο σο αληηθείκελν γηα λα ζθεθηνχλ,
φπσο επίζεο ππνζηεξίδεηαη θαη απφ παξφκνηα έξεπλα (Kirsh, 2011). Έηζη,
ζηεξίρζεθαλ ζε κεγάιν πνζνζηφ ζηελ εηθφλα θαη ηε θίλεζε ηνπ ζψκαηνο γηα λα είλαη
δεκηνπξγηθνί. Δπίζεο, έρεη πξνηαζεί (Johnson, 2007) φηη, απηφο ν θπζηθφο,
ελζψκαηνο ηξφπνο ζθέςεο βνεζά ηε ―δηεχξπλζε‖ θαη ηνλ ―εκπινπηηζκφ‖ ησλ
δπλαηνηήησλ γηα αληίιεςε, εξκελεία θαη θαηαλφεζε λέσλ ζηνηρείσλ κέζα ζην
πεξηβάιινλ. Δλ ζπλερεία βξέζεθε φηη, ε θαηαγξαθή επηθάιπςε θαη εθηφπηζε πνιιέο
θνξέο ηε δηαδηθαζία παξαηήξεζεο ηεο ρνξνγξάθνπ, πξνθαιψληαο ζεκαληηθφ
πξφβιεκα. Ζ παξαηήξεζε είλαη πνιχ θξίζηκε γηα ηελ αληίιεςε θαη ηελ θαηαλφεζε
ησλ θηλαηζζεηηθψλ ηδηνηήησλ θαη ηεο απεξίγξαπηεο (ζε ιέμεηο ή βίληεν) θπζηθφηεηαο
θαη ακεζφηεηαο ηνπ ρνξεχνληνο ζψκαηνο. Αιιά, επεηδή νη ηξφπνη ηεο θαηαγξαθήο,
σο έρνπλ ζήκεξα, είλαη αλεπαξθείο λα απνηππψζνπλ απηήλ ηελ θηλαηζζεηηθή
―αθζνλία‖ ηεο performative παξνπζίαο, ε θαηαγξαθή ήηαλ ην θέληξν ηεο πξνζνρήο
πνιιέο θνξέο γηα ηε ρνξνγξάθν δηαθφπηνληαο ηελ ξνή ηεο παξαηήξεζεο ηεο.
Όζνλ αθνξά ηελ επεμεξγαζία θαη αλάιπζε ηνπ πιηθνχ, ε ρνξνγξάθνο
ρξεηαδφηαλ λα δεη ηαπηφρξνλα πιηθφ απφ δηαθνξεηηθέο κνξθέο θαη πνιιέο θνξέο απηφ
ήηαλ δχζθνιν λα γίλεη κε πξαθηηθφ ηξφπν. Ζ ρνξνγξάθνο ζρεδφλ πνηέ δελ
ζηεξίρζεθε απνθιεηζηηθά ζηελ ελλνηνινγηθή ζθέςε, πξνθεηκέλνπ λα αλαιχζεη ην
πιηθφ αιιά ρξεηαδφηαλ θαη άιιεο αλαθνξέο, π.ρ. θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ. Γηα παξάδεηγκα, ε
ρνξνγξάθνο έπξεπε λα είλαη ζε ζέζε λα δεη ηα ―επί ηφπνπ‖ ζρφιηα ζηελ θίλεζε ησλ
ρνξεπηψλ (πνπ είρε πάξεη ελψ ρφξεπαλ) καδί κε ην αληίζηνηρν θηλεηηθφ πιηθφ βίληεν
απηήο ηεο ―θξάζεο‖. Δπίζεο, έλα άιιν ζέκα είλαη φηη ήζειε λα έρεη γξήγνξε
πξφζβαζε ζηε ρξνληθή αλάπηπμε κεξηθψλ ζηνηρείσλ. Γηα απηφ, αλέπηπμε
δηαθνξεηηθνχο ηξφπνπο αξρεηνζέηεζεο ηνπ πιηθνχ νη νπνίνη, φκσο, ζεσξήζεθαλ
αλεπαξθείο (αληηνηθνλνκηθή ρξήζε κλήκεο θαη κε πξαθηηθνί).
Σε ζρέζε κε ηνπο ρνξεπηέο, δηαπηζηψζεθε φηη θαηά ηε δηάξθεηα ηνπ
απηνζρεδηαζκνχ ,ήηαλ δεκηνπξγηθνί ζε εθξήμεηο κηθξψλ ρξνληθψλ πιαηζίσλ (κεξηθά
δεπηεξφιεπηα). Απηφ δείρλεη φηη ν ρνξνγξάθνο πξέπεη λα είλαη πνιχ δηνξαηηθφο θαη
παξαηεξεηηθφο πξνθεηκέλνπ λα αληηιεθζεί θαη λα εξγαζηεί κε απηέο ηηο εθξήμεηο θαη
απηφ εληείλεη επίζεο ηελ αλάγθε γηα αλαιπηηθή εξγαζία θαη πνιπκνξθηθή
ππνζηήξημε. Γεληθά, ν ρνξνγξάθνο ζηεξίδεηαη ζηνλ πξνζδηνξηζκφ θηλεηηθψλ
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κνηίβσλ/δηαδξνκψλ (ζσκαηηθά, θνηλσληθά) θαη ζρεδηάδεη ην έδαθνο γηα λέεο
δπλαηφηεηεο. Ζ αλάιπζε απηήο ηεο δηαηξηβήο νινθιεξψλεηαη κε ην ζρεκαηηζκφ
πξνδηαγξαθψλ γηα ηελ αλάπηπμε ελφο βνεζεηηθνχ εξγαιείνπ γηα δεκηνπξγηθή
ρνξνγξαθηθή παξαγσγή. Απηφ ην εξγαιείν ζηνρεχεη λα βνεζήζεη ην ρνξνγξάθν ζην
λα πξαγκαηνπνηήζεη θαιιηηερληθή έξεπλα. Με θαλέλαλ ηξφπν, δελ επηζπκεί λα
αληηθαηαζηήζεη ην ρνξνγξάθν αιιά ζηνρεχεη λα ηνλ ππνζηεξίμεη ζηελ εξγαζία ηνπ
λα παξέρεη ζπλζήθεο γηα ηελ αλάδπζε λέαο θίλεζεο.
Δπηπιένλ, ζε ζρέζε κε ηνπο πεξηνξηζκνχο απηήο ηεο έξεπλαο κπνξεί λα
εηπσζεί φηη, ε αλάιπζε θαη ε κνληεινπνίεζε απηήο ηεο έξεπλαο δελ αλαθέξνληαη ζε
θάζε ππαξθηφ νξηζκφ ηεο ρνξνγξαθίαο αιιά, κάιινλ αθνξνχλ ηελ κνξθή ηεο
ρνξνγξαθίαο, φπσο απηή εθαξκφζηεθε ζην Κηλεηήξαο Choreography Labζπγθεθξηκέλα θαιιηηερληθή έξεπλα. Δπίζεο, πξνθεηκέλνπ λα είλαη ζε ζέζε λα
ππνζηεξίμεη πην ζηαζεξά απνηειέζκαηα, πεξαηηέξσ κεηξήζεηο απαηηνχληαη ζε έλα πην
καθξηλφ ρξνληθά θαη δηαθνξεηηθφ πιαίζην.
Δλ θαηαθιείδη, ε πεξηνρή ηεο ρνξνγξαθίαο είλαη έλαο πινχζηνο θαη
εμειηζζφκελνο ρψξνο γηα ηελ έξεπλα ζηε θχζε ηεο δεκηνπξγηθφηεηαο θαη κφιηο
πξφζθαηα άξρηζε ηελ έξεπλά ηεο ζηηο ζπζρεηίζεηο κε ηηο δηαθνξεηηθέο πεξηνρέο θαη
θιάδνπο ηεο γλψζεο. Δλδερνκέλσο θαη άιινη, επίζεο, ζα δνπλ ηελ αμία ηεο ζηελήο
παξαηεξεηηθήο θαη εκπεηξηθήο κειέηεο ηεο θαιιηηερληθήο δεκηνπξγηθφηεηαο.
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