dance and architecture - sensing and feeling ...

Recently I've been at a lecture evening at the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam (formerly the National Architecture Institute) on 'Bekleidung' such as used by architects following Gottfried Semper (1803-1879) - While Ákos Moravánsky (Univ. Zürich) talked about Semper and his time, Harry Francis Mallgrave (IIT Chicago) brought up the research of kinesthetic empathy* as a vital interest for architects as well - to FEEL a building, rather than merely 'see' it -

After nearly 20 years of dancing in public space, I was very happy that my understanding of literallly dancing with a building (which simply was on a much much slower scale to change/move than me) found an echo here - voilà  * see here and here for more on the subject


(photo: "Sokrates" 2000 / 2001 Rotterdam -  documentation by Cor Kapaan)

Invitation to Secret Dancers - Rotterdam 2011

This coming Friday I get to realize another edition of Elaine Summers' "Invitation to Secret Dancers" as introduction to a neighbourhood-dance event in Het Oude Westen (the old West) a very multi-cultural neighbourhood in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The performance happens in collaboration with the Elaine Summers Dance & Film Archives and is a part of the ongoing project "Elaine Summers Dance Scores", where several of her works from the 1960s until today are collected, together with data on first performers, archival photos, footage etc.
Also, we are honoring the call of UNESCO for the yearly International Day of Dance, this year promoting dance in public spaces ...  
click here for the Dutch blog with more information about participants, photos, and videos


realisation 2010 on the Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam
What keeps fascinating me is that while the dance may appear 'easy' and is designed to be very accessible, it is actually quite a challenge for anyone involved: the dancers have to be very sensitive to the presence of the passing-by audience who they make contact with and invite to dance. They also must maintain an acute sense of actions around them and have a sense for how they can contribute to it.
And any Secret Dancer coming by may still feel like having to overcome barriers of not being used to dance in public, before letting go and happily joining the dance in their own way, rather than simply exercising a prescribed dance routine. (which might, however, be a possible option)

for a wonderful realisation of "Invitation to Secret Dancers" 
by Elaine Summers Dance & Film Co. at CEC Solar 1 in New York, 2005 click here

"Invitation to Secret Dancers" is very clearly an outstretched hand / arm / limb / gesture towards anyone, inviting and enabling them to dance, and potentially encouraging them to find their own dance as they go along. I find that this is an ongoing theme in her work. By originating Kinetic Awareness® Elaine Summers has even developed an entire technique / practice where students are developing just that, under guidance from a teacher - their very own way to move and dance. "Invitation to Secret Dancers" deals with the fifth and final phase of Kinetic Awareness® where after articulation, coordination, speed and tension-levels, the practitioner deals with relating one's own sense of movement to those of others.


Dance Scores
Just like many of the dance scores that Elaine has created throughout her career, I understand this dance as a tool for empowerment, directly in line with other works such as "Illuminated Workingman" or "One and One and One and One". The artistic background is one that practices inclusiveness of all kinds of movement in their own right, from the very start, without giving up either trained or untrained vocabulary, but rather understanding both as being in a continuum, and accepting each for its own potential. Aesthetics become perception again, just like is suggested by the Archaic Greek term 'aisthesis', taking for true, rather than merely a specified design that is accepted as "beautiful" or "desirable".

By interpreting the score for the dance, anyone involved can learn more about the subject of the dance itself. This, too, is very much in line with many of Summers' dance scores - another example could be "Walking Dance for Any Number" where one becomes acutely aware of ways to walk, simply by closely following the instructions.

Doing this dance, I find myself becoming ever more fine-tuned and able to make contact and have possible communication with potential strangers in public space, an issue that I've met with over almost 15 years of producing and performing work in public spaces (see below a first production with "Invitation to Secret Dancers" as part of the series con·sens·us in 2004)
But I also find I become ever more aware and able to formulate possible kinds of choreography that can be included to become a part of "Invitation to Secret Dancers". 

And so on we go ... as Elaine likes to say: Merry Dancing!



uitnodiging aan stiekeme dansers / Invitation to Secret Dancers has been realized with Natalie Dupon, coordinator of Neighbourhood Park Het Oude Westen (the Old West, a neighbourhood in Rotterdam) with thanks to Corrie Kreuk, Culture-Scout Menno Rosier / SBAW, Bernadet van Winden / SKVR and Janine Brall / Studio Yoga Maya. The overall event has been made possible by grants from the Rotterdam Arts Council, Stg. Bevordering van Volkskracht, Alliantie West-Kruiskade, Stadsmarinier, and a large number of volunteers - thank you very much!

prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

worked on this theme in a workshop by Johnny Schoofs at Dansateliers, Rotterdam, February 5th & 6th. Johnny has a 5 week-period to investigate this subject further.

Johnny gave some very simple basic physical exercises to start with and guided us through character-work. the exercises were wonderfully well-chosen, at the same time simple as powerful.
I realized that what intrigued me about the figure of the Faun is not only his perceived masculine energy and lust, but also the melting of different layers between the spiritual / natural, human, animal.
and I did manage to develop my relationship to the Faun in this much further! :-)

we also looked at the original choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. I realized how beautifully it works, between utter containment of the forms and shapes, and the sheer abundance of movement energy that happens in all the elements, including the presence of the performers.(also saw the parallels in shapes that he used in "Petrouchka")

>the choreography calls for utterly feline and kinesthetically trained interpreters to perform, not only on the level of articulation but also of acting and emotion to match in the living moment (compare to my notion of 'sensitive energy')

otherwise the shapes are in danger to become overly rigid & the balance with the ongoing currents of energy, sensousness, lust, interaction, animal level, even spiritual, are lost ...
(as a comparison, click here for the interpretation by Rudolf Nurejev, very different qualities, .... )

animals as well as plants, in my opinion, have no energy to waste.
so even in moments of high alertness, they remain quite still, yet ready to move at any time. Nijinsky's choreography has realized this demand beautifully.

the abundance of the music, its pearly and glittering harmonies and sensuous delicacy, but overall the emotions that it triggered in me were very special to me, also during the workshop. the positive experience resonates with me during these days.

Pelleas & Mélisande / One over Zero
the workshop coincided with an improvisation class that I was teaching the same week as a substitute, again for Johnny Schoofs, at dansdrift in Den Haag / the Hague. we were working on energy levels in articulation, into the space.
in advance I decided that if the one French group member would show up, I'd used the first Act from Debussy's "Pelleas & Mélisande" as a continuous music during the entire evening. she did come and so I used this music...

we ended up with working on the endless refinement and change-ability, again the notion of 'sensitive energy', all the 53 trillion cells of a human body (an image used by Deborah Hay) to actively be mobile and presently engag all the time.
again endless refinement, very well-measured and beautiful interpretations by the participants, at times completely independent from the music, but as yet with a wonderfully theatrical effect.

I realize that I really value this sensitivity that Debussy realised in these orchestral pieces, the variety and richness of harmony and orchestration that he could achieve, even while remaining in the Westernized tonal system.
according to the booklet notes of my CD, when writing the opera, Debussy wrote that he had discovered silence as an ultimate means of expression. (this was at the fin du siècle! - later echoed in e.g. the ZaZen adaptation from Japan and Korea in the U.S. and its link to post-modernism)
he asked his colleague not to laugh at him for this.
instead, all through the opera, the element of silence is not only present in Mélisande's character, but also in the ever ongoing music, with its cadences and peaks, as well as the tenderness that is always present in the sounds.




I see parallels with our cellular awareness and advocate to see beyond 'decadence' and rather accept the fleetingness and ephemerality as a substantial quality of our existence.

it comes as an effect of existence over non-existence, one over zero
this brings the efficiency of any natural phenomenon, whether it decides to waste billions of sperm and egg cells or is reflected in the wonderful sensitivity with which cats or elephants can move and act.
i see this understanding at the heart of any of these 'new' approaches of our era, because it enables movement, and fleeting ephemerality where previously stability was demanded / perceived.
and obviously also in the release work, such as done by Mary O'Donnell and its being at the heart of ZaZen meditation and/or the Kinetic Awareness® work of Elaine Summers...

con-sequences...
this fleetingness of the moment, calls for an ever greater response-ability, and I find that Asian cultures have a lot of this internalized, albeit with at times even more rigid cultural results, to not let the natural balance of the cosmos be distorted by what is perceived as an error or mistake.

as for what makes a classic, the balance / equilibrium of forces, is as present a need in our times as ever, even if we find more and more ways to realize and understand these balances, further and further independent from norms that dictate shapes, patterns etc.

and so we are finding more and more possible options to realise within this given, like e.g. at the Open Dans Festival in 2009 which was a powerful exponent of the ongoing Rotterdam Renaissance in progressive Dance culture...

Open Dans 2009 compilation from Janne Eraker on Vimeo.