Quick Q&A with... choreographer Anja Gallagher

Which ideas laid behind the physical tasks you proposed during the Fall LAB in Bern?
The aim of my lab was to find out how to get a primarily emotional response in an observer. More specifically the interest was in finding how to ENGAGE, invite and include the observer to the shown movement material, and to nudge him or her into thought. What kind of choreographic approach will get me there?

The goal was to state a thesis for a specific approach, and test its value through movement experiments. The thesis was: “movement that comes from an actual lived and experienced incident is the most likely to trigger an emotional response in the observer”. Observers were shown movement material in two versions that had been created using different tasks; then they were asked about their level of engagement for each version presented.

In one of the experiments the dancers were asked to create a phrase connected to some meaningful incident they recently experienced, which comprised sample version A. The generated material was then artificially emotionally colored by picking a feeling from a chart of 23 basic human feelings. This led to sample version B. Both versions were then presented to the audience.
Another experiment was to present the observers a “neutral” previously taught dance phrase, which in another version was then transformed applying emotional ranges and intensities such as worry into fear into panic.

How did dancers relate to the task, what was their attitude? Was the outcome what you expected? 
The dancers were very generous in diving into this personal process of creating material. This in itself was very inspiring to withness. In almost all cases, the “artificial” emotional coloring samples did not engage the spectator as much, whereas movement samples comprising authenticity of truly lived experiences and emotions brought the desired result of an engaged observer.The lab experiments confirmed my thesis and built the base of how I will continue with my choreographic work. Thank you for having been such fun, engaged and fearless “labrats”!