(see here an earlier example from their performance-series)
they managed to arrive at a nearly Cage-ian exchange of energies, whether it was movement of sound or body in the space freely interacting. the reactions went very well towards each other, each of the three performers acted in basic independence but with open responsibly to the other two, including the presence of the audience.
i was a bit missing the inclusion of or at least awareness / acknowledgement of the streets and passers-by outside, because Roodkapje on the Meent has these giant windows which open the enire room towards the street and the people passing by. i find it is such a traditional box-theatre thing to do. however there was one moment towards the end when Sato was slowly turning her head from side to side, acknowledging the cars that we could hear outside.
while I found that the number of audience was perfect for the size of the space and number of active performers, i also had the idea that in a larger city like e.g. New York, there would be simply much more energy concentrated, available, even just as a background against which such a performance could happen.
the state of con·sens·us was come very close to and present internally, although there was the focus inward within the venue, and a larger amount of independence between the performers.
i did write two more or less understandable Japanese haikus, one at the beginning and one at towards the end of the performance, and Sato and her friend Aki were very friendly and encouraging about them.
what got me really interested during the 2nd half was the idea that I should try to continue from where I thought they were, reach a sensorial consensus with my surroundings, and then go into a solo without music or other accompaniments than just what has already been . seeking a point of silence-zero-nothing, a kind of white where all of the sensorializing and calibrating-adjusting-tuning would flow into ONE thing, and to see what could go on from there and happen from that state of being ...
it would have to be a state where individuality would no longer be important, a kind of white energy that has absorbed all the colored movements before, the near-death experience of creating forms.
Hans Zender describes in his book "Happy New Ears" (a quote by John Cage)(1991) how from this near-death experience of art-making, comes the nothingness in which new experience, the experience of purely just being, can once again take place. any following making of forms, from this experience, would be a very different thing and matter. and definitely energy.
Gertrude Stein in her lecture "What Are Masterpieces and Why Are There So Few of Them" mentions a similar thing, namely that a master piece may talk about identity, but that there must be none involved in its creation, because as soon as identity happens, memory comes into play ("you are you because your little dog knows you") and "creation breaks down". this is a very difficult thing for any live performer, certainly a dancer or actor who communicate via their own presence, but possible when we succeed in maintaining this place of identity without interfering the realm where there is none.
just like Zender states that this experience of near-death of art ends the linearity of Western art-development of emancipation from any kind of convention until sensorial perception itself is left to be free, echoes with Mary Overlie's statement of Postmodernism leading into a circular situation where several languages of art interact with each other, without hegemony of any single one over another. (mentioned during her teaching at DANCE UNLIMITED, Sept 2002, not on this website -yet)
being so involved in working a part-time job and making projects with amateurs and communities (Delfshaven Dans! - uitnodiging aan stiekeme dansers) I doubly cherish the presence and opportunity to have these collegues working and living in this city of nearly 600.000 inhabitants to further such specialized concerns and helping me understand and think further in this direction as well - thank you! :-)
Posts
