Dance can talk to the body of the spectator directly. A part of the communication stream seems to flow through the
eyes, without detour, into the stomach. Force, speed, lightness,
tension, release, rotation, gravity and centrifugal force: such
elements of the dance are connected to sensations which can be felt
directly by the spectator. Some sports (for example sprinting,
high jump, gymnastics and diving) or animals in motion can have a
similar effect.
As
a choreographer I am interested in condensing this phenomenon in my
compositions and in giving it meaning in a larger context. I am
looking for possibilities to communicate directly with the body of the
spectator by choreographic means. Those feelings work - having
arrived through the body in the spectator's conciousness - as
'illustrations' to the parallely received signals on the mental
level.
All choreographers, whose work I know, start their working process
mostly by developing the dance material of the dancers. Decisions
about placement in space and which pathways to follow form one of the
last stages of a creation. The existing elements of material
(some with inherent, but from each other and from a bigger structure
independent pathways) are being organised in space and assembled to a
total structure. The working method I am interested in aproaches
the working process from exactly the opposite side.
I made a first try with this working method during my studies at the Rotterdam Dance Academy. For each of the 5 dancers I designed a floorpattern, each consisting of 3 intersecting geometric figures: an equilateral triangle, a square and a circle. Each form existed in 3 different sizes and each of the floorpatterns contained a large, a medium and a small shape. It was astonishing to see what a tension in the space between the dancers would arise, just by having them walk their circle paths simultaneously. It was as if the dancers were being moved by magnetic powers.
Another experiment in the same working direction I developed during a
research period at Rosas Dance Company. A sequence from the film
"L'homme à la camera" (Russsian, experimental silent movie from the
twenties) served as a score, which determined the pathways of the 13
dancers. The film sequence showed scenes of moving trams, cars
and pedestrians, edited so ingeniously that the movement on the screen
created a clearly perceivable rhythm. I tried to translate the
rhythm and the dynamic as exactly as possible into the three
dimensional space. The focus of a shot determined the size of the
floor segment, which would be used for that same scene (general shot:
whole stage, close up: small segment). The dancers moved within
that part of the floor following the paths of the objects and people in
the film, taking over tempi and directions as precisely as
possible. Decisions about the placment of the different floor
segments on the stage were arbitrary, and the trajects between them
created an additional group movement. The whole movement sequence
had a fascinatingly strange effect. A rigorous organisation was
clearly present, the dancers knew obviously very well what made them
move, for the spectator the logic stayed unfathomable and the
succession surprising.
