A Light Grasp

It was a couple of days ago that Jonathan and I last rehearsed. We rehearsed in a much smaller dance studio than we had been and I think that's good since our stage isn't going to be very big. Jonathan said he liked it because there was less pressure to move around the space as much - he was somewhat able to let go of worrying about using space because there was less of it. If you've been reading this blog at all you'll know that we've been working on linking structure to content. We've been curious as to the role of structure in defining meaning and how content (in the form of ideas, images, word phrases) can support structure. This week we also began to layer, what we're calling, characteristics on top of our structure/content. Meaning, we're pre-deciding some facet of a certain section - for example, before we begin a run of the work we know that when we get to Jonathan's solo it will be very minimal, or when we are both playing the guitar it will be a call & response form. Some of the characteristics we worked with are:
- call & response
- minimal
- shifting intensities
- soft dynamics (sustained, light, indirect)
- high density
- simultaneous independence

This creates a certain problem, as it limits the ongoing flow of development that we are working with. The challenge of it is that in a certain run of the work we establish a specific rhythm or relationship; when we then come to a section that has a pre-decided characteristic that is not congruent with what we are doing, what do we do? How do we keep what we've set up and been working on, but also shift into this new landscape? I think this goes a lot to intention and awareness. If we hold that our intention is to stay with what we are doing, without holding on too tight, we can open to the possibility of the new characteristic. It is as if we have a light grasp on what we are doing - not holding so tight it can't change, mutate, or evolve, but not so loose that we just drop it as soon as we're distracted. If is almost a cliche�© of improvisational performance that it is almost distractingly a stream of conscious type of performing. While this is ok in some/many instances, I think it is actually quite lazy in many cases. It is difficult to remember the past, be clear with your inspiration (meaning/content), stay within the boundaries of the structure and fully be awake in the present moment of performing. Obviously, sometimes you can't be in all of that at once, sometimes you're more in one or the other, but, overall, you need to have access to all those elements to create focused, provocative performances. This is our challenge, and even more so with this piece I think because Jonathan and I are breaking apart our normal roles and learning what each other does as well. So, in some ways I think these pre-determined characteristics are helpful in jolting us into the present moment, to remind us to keep coming back, again and again, to exploring this new territory that we're climbing through.