Reflections of day two choreography with Sarah Buckingham

So yesterday I worked with Sarah Buckingham another fellow dance student, it was a completely different experience from working with Jess. This was mainly because the process was so different, and much more difficult than I had anticipated!

I put a lot more planning into how we were going to create the movement and so when we got into the studio I had a list of different choreographic tools and exercises. The exercises I chose were from a book on Piná Baush by Climenhaga. I chose these particular exercises because my artistic inspiration comes from the work of Baush, you can’t define her work, it’s not linier or narrative, she makes her audience work, you get an emotional connection to it that is completely individual to the spectator. And this pretty much sums up what I’m trying to achieve with this piece of movement.

So we began by thinking of a vivid memory of a relationship problem, one that caused us great anxiety. We then wrote this memory down, we read it to each other, and then read each other’s out loud. This was very strange for both of us, having someone else read out your personal story was quite uncomfortable and we both found it difficult.

The next step was to map out that story in movement on our own and perform it to each other. When I watched Sarah’s movement I found it really moving and emotional; I knew her story, she was so connected to what she was doing it really translated, I could feel her pain and heartbreak. Both of our sequences were choreographed but still very gestural with a really natural quality to the movement.  Then we taught each other our movement; what really stood out for me was that the way we taught each other instinctively was throughout thought behind the movement rather that describing what we were physically doing. For example I told Sarah; “it’s that feeling when the emotion and feeling really hits you and it gets you strait in the stomach and you just crumble” instead of “do a roll down with the movement lead from a contraction of the centre” which would have been the same movement, but without any emotion behind it. Watching Sarah performing my story made me want to cry, yes it was partly because of my connection to it, but she completely embodied the emotion and made it her own as did I when I did her phrase. Every movement meant something, we didn’t focus on placing or ascetic, we remained true to the emotion. The next step was to mix the two together and it was only at this point did we begin thinking about how we could make this work in the show. I put the music on and we were able to create a very loose structure for I1.

After lunch we did a few different exercises; one working in contact and then recreating the duet as a solo. This also worked really well and when we taught each other our solos we again taught through our emotion and thought process rather than the action we were doing.

What we were able to achieve by the end of the day was a bank of gestures and movements that I/we have a strong emotional connection to. However this is nowhere near complete so I defiantly have learnt a lot about choreographing in this way from today. Firstly working in this was talks a lot out of you and because of this and the importance of staying true to the process and connected to the movement you have to take it slowly. Whenever we started to charge ahead we would have to pull back as we were beginning to make decisions based on aesthetic rather that emotion. So after creating lots of lovely fragments we called it a day!

All of what we did was captured on film and we are going to keep on working on it over the next few weeks. The main things we need to do are develop what we have done, growing it from gesture into something bigger, but keeping that connection. Threading all of the movement together and putting it into the two sections. And we will probably still need some more movement so I need to keep looking for exercises.

I can’t believe that I thought I could do this in a day! It just shows the different in creating work in this way. Last week Jess and I did the whole lot in 5 hours it was so easy and I loved what we did. This week it was so different, it was slow, emotional and made my head spin a bit. I’m excited to keep working with Sarah on it and see where it goes because right now I have no idea what the finished pieces are going to look like!

Planning!

Had a great meeting today with Professor Jon May to come up with a plan to test out the choreography. Its all quite complex and what we want to do is way too much for a Degree, so part of the research and testing will be done after I have finished over the summer.

So to summarise (and this is only a plan noting is set in stone or confirmed yet); The two different choreographic methods are R- representational and I- introspective. And two different levels of anxiety attack 1 and 2 therefore the pieces will be referred to as R1 and R2 and I1 and I2.

There will be three different methods of testing out the two different choreography practices.

Method 1- In the wild

The whole show will be performed on the 27^th January. They will be shown I1 and I2. After the performance we will give a de-brief or post show talk and under each seat will be a one side of A4 questionnaire a pencil a envelop and a sweet.

The whole show will be performed again venue TBC this time with the audience seeing R1 and R2. Once again after the performance we will give a de-brief or post show talk and under each seat will be a one side of A4 questionnaire a pencil a envelop and a sweet.

Method 2- Controlled audience

A audience will be selected and invited to watch the performance (which will run from the start until the second panic attack). Throughout the performance at selected times they will be asked to complete questionnaires about what they are viewing and experiencing.

As well as questionnaires the audience will be filmed by a thermal imaging camera before the level 1 attack, during and after. The same process will be done for the level 2 attack.

Method 3- Judging audience reactions

The audience will be filmed throughout the controlled performances and this film will be isolating the reactions to the attacks, just before, during and after. This film will then be shown to between 7 and 10 judges who will judge the audiences reactions to the performances. The judges can’t know what the audience were watching.

Nb. They can be shown the different dance reactions in lots of different orders.

In the lab (this will be done separately to my PaR after the Easter break)

I will get the whole show filmed from a single long shot which Jon will then use to test out in the Lab. This will include the use of; eye tracker, think out loud-tape record and translate, rating scales...possibility of putting it into the immersive vision theatre so this needs to be taken into account when filming.

What do we think we will find?  

That when watching R1 and R2 they will be very sure of their answers and how they feel about it. Not much of an emotional reaction. Clear thought and articulation of that thought.

When watching I1 and I2 it will be harder to articulate because it will be more emotional and therefore less easy to explain.

Reflections on day one of Choreography with Jess

So up until now I have just had my head stuck in the books researching. So yesterday was the first time I went in the studio to get this project on its feet. I decided not to plan anything for the day, I took in the Breathe Me script just so we could put everything in context, the music, my laptop and my kneepads... My reason for not planning was because I wanted this choreography to be a representation of a panic attach, so I wanted as little thought and emotional connection as possible, the choreography needed to be purely about the aesthetic, ie it needed to look like a panic attack and what I feel when I dance it needs to be minimal.

We worked from 11 till 4 and got a lot done! Working with Jess was great, I love the way she moves anyway and her style of dance. It did feel quite alien to me at first but the more I did a movement I was able to find my way into it and really make it my own. I felt we were able to work really well together creating and choreographing the two pieces I needed. There was no special method really, we looked at the context, listened to the music and pieced some movement together that looked good (and felt good) and that was that!

I really love what we did and right now I’m finding it really hard to imagine having to do this all again next week with Sarah and how it is going to be different/better/more connected. The problem is that I do feel connected to the movement, I think because of my training; which has been about finding a true connection to movement and really speaking through the body and the fact that I feel connected to the character I’m portraying because of my own issues with anxiety and panic attacks.

So how can I feel less connected, do I need to? I have a lot of doubts and worries about how I can make these two pieces different, and if what we created yesterday was a true representation. Did we go far enough? Was it dancy enough? Questions questions question! But I don’t think I will really know any of the answers until I get back in the studio next week with Sarah to create the second lot of choreography.  So between now and then I need to hit the books again and come up with a solid plan for next Saturday, which I think I am going to base on techniques used by Bausch and other post-modern choreographers to draw movement from her dancers that they are emotionally connected to.

So what am I doing....

Basically for uni I have to come up with a dissertation or PaR (Practice as Research) which is the option I have chose. As well as being a Dance student I’m an associate artist with Symbiotic Dance Theatre Company. We are currently reworking a piece called ‘Breathe Me’ which will tour next year, it’s about the relationship of the two characters one of which (me) suffers from anxiety disorder. So I thought why not combine the two in some way so my research can feed into the work I’m doing in the real world.

As an artist I’m really interested in work that can really connect with its audience and this has been something that has really driven all of the practical and theoretical work I have done over the first two years of my degree. After researching into the work of Pina Bausch in my first year I came across a shot section in Lorna Marshall’s book The Body Speaks about the recent discovery of Mirror Neurons in the brain. This really sparked an interest for me and so I decided to use this and other psychological and cognitive research to drive my artistic practice in creating the solo sections for Breathe Me I have to choreograph and perform. These sections are where my character has a panic attack something that you could very easily get so wrong!

So because I’m not a psychologist I managed to find a professor, Jon May from the University of Plymouth Psychology school to help me out and two lovely fellow dance students Jess Mcmunn and Sarah Buckingham to help me out with the choreography. It was really important to get them both onboard as I am going to be creating two pieced. One will be a representation of a panic attack and one will be more of a presentation ie more true to life. So because of this it would be impossible for me to do it all myself without it being really similar.

So these are my research aims...

·                To improve and develop my choreographic practice using cognitive and neuropsychological theory to help me create work that is able to really connect to an audience.

·                To explore through academic and practical research the link between dance and cognition in two parts. Firstly in the creation of movement/ choreography and secondly how the dance then communicates to the audience.

·                To explore the connection between what the dancer feels when creating choreography and what the audience sees and feels when watching post modern dance.

·                To explore and research into how recent discovery in neuropsychology can inform artistic practice.

My questions...

·                Is there a connection between what we feel when creating movement and what the audience see when watching it?

·                As a performer how can I connect with an audience on an empathetic level using neuropsychology and cognition research?

And my main methodological steps...

·                Research into neuropsychology and cognition- relate this to dance

·                Research into devising methods

·                Create the two pieces with the help of two choreographers

·                Perform both pieces in front of a live audience and find out reactions through filming (facial expressions and body language), Thermal imaging cameras and questionnaires.

·                Analyse the results and compare it to what has been previously written on the subject.

 I decided to do this blog for two reasons, firstly because I have to record everything anyway and secondly because I would love to get feedback and suggestions from anyone that is interested in the project, so please get in touch!