Blog Archives - choreo lab europe

Quick Q&A with... Choreographer Sanne Clifford

12/18/2015

- Which ideas laid behind the physical tasks you proposed during the Fall LAB in Bern?

I wanted to explore the theme ‘awkwardness’ within the title ‘3 is a crowd’ to see if I wish to use it for an upcoming piece. Therefore I chose different approaches, of which one was ‘the human knot’.

I first started from ‘the hug’, to see how the participants respond on doing this, although most of them did not really know each other. I guided it towards more complex poses and situations, like getting stuck (the knot) and how to behave in this situation.

We worked with the whole group in improvisation sessions based on me giving different tasks. The combination of the different tasks then lead to short duets/trios.

We looked at the different duets and I asked each viewer to formulate a task if one was the choreographer and would continue with what they just saw.

That lead into very nice try-out rounds and interactions!

- How did dancers relate to the task, what was their attitude? Was the outcome what you expected?

I saw a big difference between physical situations that arose from the tasks at hand - awkardness being a physical aim - and the ones that appeared from a more theatrical approach, starting from a relation/intention which was more connected to acting and was then lead into physicality.

This was very interesting for me to see, as it made me aware I want to work with the movement leading and the responses and emotions following from there, and not the other way around.

At the end of the lab I asked everyone to make a mind-map/evaluation. It was very useful to read and shortly discuss these, as the experiences of each participant gave me a better understanding how it is to be ‘on the inside’.

- Overall satisfaction: What did I bring home with me afterwards?

It became clear to me that I would like to continue with this theme and title, as it gave me already a lot during this exploration lab. It still interests me and I could see there are different ingredients I can use to make a new work.

I copied the mind-map evaluations from everyone, which has helped me to recall what we did in the lab and decide how I wanted to proceed from there. Now, a couple of months after the lab in Bern (oct ’15) I have already made steps in the further development of the concept: The first (try-out) performances are already planned! To be continued!

Quick Q&A with...Choreographer Vanessa Cook.

12/18/2015

- Which ideas laid behind the physical tasks you proposed during your Choreolab in Bern?

Overall, I had the theme of ‘Creature’. I wanted to explore some ideas around human behaviors, instincts and interactions.

For example, I wanted to see if it was possible to find an audible journey that started with the kind of sounds we could imagine might have been made by early man (Neanderthal man, for example) and evolved from that point to the sounds/words you might here from contemporary man.

Sitting opposite a partner, two people put this evolution into motion, using these sounds as an aid to find a corresponding movement vocabulary that evolved in the same way whilst travelling from one side of the room to the other.

What I observed was that the physical journey, became more interesting when it was reversed.

It was like a slow process of falling out of love, shown in 30 seconds. Or, like seeing an organism decomposing. Devolution was more interesting than evolution!

Each couple had different responses which allowed me to see a range of possibilities I’d like to develop further .

- What was the next step in the lab? How was the interaction/dialogue with the dancers to move on to the next level?

I jumped into 2 further choreographic tasks, after dividing the dancers into 2 groups. I wanted 2 groups, so that each group could comment on what they saw in the other group, without knowing beforehand what their task had been.

For one of the groups, for instance, I gave them a physical task in couples of two, to evaluate different power relations. One partner stood completely still whilst the other climbed on them, only to slip down and have to try again. I wanted to see where the power would lie; in the person climbed or the climber?

I added briefs for the dancers to describe something as they stood/climbed. Depending on who the speaker was, the meaning and balance of power completely changed.

The most powerful interplay was different than I had imagined it would be, and having the non-participating dancers comment on what they’d seen was extremely helpful (actually, more helpful than hearing what they experienced when doing the task).

- Overall satisfaction: What did I bring home with me afterwards?

It was a productive time for me to be able to see an idea tried on different bodies. It was like a fast track choreographic process. I will use these ideas in a piece I will make in Spring, so it was very satisfying to have formed some specific ideas, rather than have them remain as choreographic notions in my head.

The Fall Lab Review: Dance & Play, since the field is empty!

12/14/2015

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The fall Lab in Bern, held in October 2015, was first and foremost a lot of fun. A playground.

To play means to be open to accept the rules of a given game, and to go all the way within them. Our rule was clear: every choreographer had two hours and a half to guide a lab in her own way, trying out ideas for future projects with the other choreographers and the dancers that had enrolled. Without too much information beforehand, the experiment was allowed to succeed thanks to the combination of this ‘not knowing’ and the openness of all the participants to generously engage with each proposal.

The choreographer had to have the ability and knowledge to manage her own expectations and lead the session with what happened on the way, and the participants had to have the patience and understanding of the fact that this was a first tryout of every idea. Let go of expectation and just jump into the semi-guided void to see what happened.

This shared responsibility tested the professional attitude of dancers and choreographers alike, in the sense that they had to be able to engage and to improvise, to give themselves to the hand, mind and body of a complete stranger (be it the choreographer in charge or the other dancers sharing the same arena). All made equals in every lab, with a clear and repeated ‘no mistakes’ policy, this allowed us to experience the freedom and quasi-fear of going out of our comfort zone. That was a clear learning opportunity at all times: to really dive into the guidelines of what each choreographer asked, and therefore be forced to go out of what one is used to, out of how one is used to find a given movement, etc.

At Choreolab Europe 1, in Bern, four choreographers and a lecturer presented a tryout of their creative questions at an early stage of each one’s process. The participating dancers experienced, therefore, four different ways of approaching a creative process, of turning ideas into physicality. Some were more dramatic, others relied on a concept or an image, yet others had to do with motors for movement. The material the dancers offered was used in turn by the choreographers to adapt their questions on the go. This way the dancers also were able to see their own ideas being modified and groomed into a given direction, allowing for the discovery of new and unexpected possibilities.

The mutual benefits of such an exchange of generosity are as many and diverse as people who participate in it. Everyone has his or her own questions, wishes, expectations. But the will and wish for playing is shared and crucial: When the field is empty and there is this wish, the space will be filled with possibility. When the vulnerability of the not knowing is shared, it is much more likely that a jump into the void turns out to be a continued bouncing.

In following articles, we will explain a little bit more about each specific labsession, to give some insights about the projects and idea’s each maker had before they started, and how Choreolab helped them to move forward.

Stay engaged!