Dreaming forward, we outlined some qualities that Moving Text should have :
Organic – each moment must evolve from the moment before
Cumulative – each moment must contribute towards the whole
Dynamics - the way each moment is expressed should arise from versatility and variety
Meaning Enhanced – each moment should be imbued with as aspect of the meaning
Spontaneous vs. Rehearsed – even when the movements are choreographed, they should arise from a spontaneous process and continue to have a spontaneous sensitivity to the text – they must not become fossilized routine.
Planning the workshop process ahead, we highlighted some factors that we hope to explore :
Familiarity - how does prior familiarity with the text influence the dancer’s instinct?
Sensitivity – how does that dancer’s sensitivity to linguistic nuance affect the process?
Tempo of reading – how much does the reader’s tempo influence the dancer?
Emotional dynamic - how much does the reader’s emotional expression influence the dancer?
Analysis – how does the process of analyzing the text change the dancer’s approach t moving?
Sound design – how does another layer of aural signs affect the dancer?
Text structure – how does the structure of the text as it is printed affect the flow of the movement?
Text flow VS Body flow – from line to line, text can jump, disjointedly even; while the body needs to flow from one move to the next – what is the compromise?
Struggle VS Suspense VS Surprise – what strategies are there to create a dramatic tension between the movement and the text?
??? How is a dancer responding to text different from responding to lyrics in a song ??? Lyrics are wedded to the song’s music, and to a dancer, their meaning is less influential than their musicality. You rarely find a dancer choosing to follow the meaning of the lyrics over and above (or even in contrast to) the music! |
Thinking ahead to Sze Min’s contribution as a sound designer, we discussed some of the differences between spoken text and sound design :
Sound | Text |
People respond to sound on a more primal level, subliminally even | Requires more understanding and processing |
However layered, sound is still received in a more direct way | The more layered the writing is, the more alienating it can appear |
More creative freedom, since it is more abstract – can be expressed in many ways | More prescriptive – must be delivered with clarity and accuracy |
Mimetic design can evoke specific images/sensations; but abstract design functions more primally/subconsciously | Text evokes images/sensations directly, through descriptive language |
Non-practitioners may find it harder to remember specifics | Audience retains the text and its meaning more |
Aural journey may not be clear to follow | Embodies a clear journey, whether narrative or thought-process |
Planning ahead, we proposed a process for each text we will explore :
Cold Improvisation – Aiden dances to an unseen text with no delay, while Jon reads with neutral expression
Slight delay – Aiden allows more processing of what he hears as he improvises
More emotive – Jon reads with more expression, providing dramatic clues
Warm improvisation – after discussing the text, Aiden improvises again with more understanding and anticipation
Specific themes – Aiden improvises with focus on expressing a certain theme as chosen by the team
We discussed some categories of text that we hope to explore, so we can discover different approaches :
Narrative
Emotive
Soliloquy
Descriptive
Abstract
From the range of 11 texts provided, Sze Min, James and Jon selected “Maybe Not Me” - a soliloquy in the form of a poem – emotive but tracing a process of ratiocination, arriving at a conclusion. It was originally written as part of a poem-cycle White Sails Over Blue Blue Sea.
Aiden was not told which poem was chosen, and he had not been shown the texts beforehand.
Maybe Not Me And i see me looking at what is not quite me not my eyes not my ears not my hair not my hands someone else’s feet neck thighs touched by another body’s fingers the skin not really mine the muscle unfamiliar the blood rushes strangely i do not know this tune like a body underwater – unclear made of different stuff moving oddly half returned to the beginning i smile a stranger smile at my butt my chest my cock who do they serve too many who do they own none not even me not me how does one get here ? too easily too many turns taken unlooking too many corners too confident my heart made promises my body kept my body made promises my mind wept but the moment passes as always - the questions spin to the ground and are trampled under lover’s uncareful footprints and the answers, my friend, are blowing in the wind the answers are blowing away look i’m not complaining there is so much love so freely given the burden is to accept all yet there is no such thing as rejection one cannot say no to love it does not ask but answers unasked questions forcing its way into your mouth like a tongue in a swirl of words and saliva soon indistinguishable from your own love is a welcome intrusion an invasion you wanted a violation we need this is what i learned and believe and live and it’s something i do well |
Jonathan Lim, 1999
First dance : Aiden danced as Jon read the poem, aiming to dance simultaneously with the text.
Second dance : Aiden danced again, but with slight delay, allowing himself to process each sentence/phrase slightly before he responds.
Discovery : Aiden shared that in improvising, he instinctively listened out for key words to use as triggers. Rather than attempt to dance all the text, which goes by too fast, he crafted his moves in sequences based on these mini-themes. Let’s call this approach Dancing the Keywords.
Dancing the Keywords
This improvisational strategy, while unable to express the details of the text, allows the dancer to capture the most accessible aspects – the same aspects a first time listener might also latch on to. In a situation where the dancer has to improvise raw to a text, this process can result in a dance that broadly follows the flow of the text, connecting key thoughts into an approximate sense of the poem’s meaning.
The placement of the triggering keywords also gives the dance a pattern of ‘hooks’, each one possibly introducing a change. This offers the dance a dynamic structure which might coincide with the audience’s process of understanding the text.
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