Thursday 13 September 2007

reflection - 290807

290807
o larger groups displace smaller groups
o groups of equal size displace each other equally
o movement and environment interact – can’t have one without the other
o there are countless obvious things about how they interact
o so what am I looking for that is not already obvious?
o phenomenologists are right in their enclosing-folded-enveloped appraisal of reality
o context and culture stand out
o the security of the fixedness of environments enables greater secured-ness in the fragility that movement is – movement is inherently fragile
o demarcating and apportioning space to facilitate particular types of movement – i.e. walking goes here, cars go there, etc
o there are obvious things about when movement encounters other movement – orientations, distances, configurational relationships, displacements…
o all these can be studied but are obvious and don’t reveal anything startling or new
o is there nothing else to see?
o I am looking at something in which there are no revelations…
o and why connect this to choreography?
o how does the dance of the street inform the dance of the stage? – they are already related – they are both about people so will utilise shared laws…
o like economics, there are limitations in space that are designed to maximise utility through restriction not excess – the purpose of the city street environment is for maximum human occupation – not emptiness
o everything is flattened and at right angles – edges are softened (made safer) with curves
o sociokinetic laws – what are they?


if the inanimate and the animate are dancing with each other – one silently and in the background, and the other actively and on the surface – what kind of partnering is this? – it is the stable hand that allows the twirling form – the back across which one can roll – the arms to catch the falling body

environment is the watchful supporting partner – dormant and timeless in its role – slumbering in the immobility of it – like a prison sentence from which it cannot escape – endlessly yawning in the subservience of its duty – laying and spreading itself out just ahead and all around so that what is on offer can readily be seen – like competing shopkeepers waving their wares at prospective buyers – “here I am, a bit of road, walk on me” – “no, look over here, I’m a doorway, come inside” – “ignore them, I’m the footpath, faithfully catching and anchoring your every step”

o kinetic laws operate between silent and blind partners – between the subservient and the pampered – the trapped and the mobile – between attack and a resistance that never falters – or, like a door, falters intentionally – accidents are unintentional falterings (faults)
o of course movement in the world is purpose driven – instrumental – goal directed…


the woman with the umbrella
is carrying her space

protected from the rain
she replaces where it is falling
with a down-pouring of rain-less space

a horizontal blot of moving shadow
her umbrella impotently re-fabricates the darkness overhead
and mocks it with its rain-less exertions




o all this stuff in the street may be purposeful and clear (transparent) in respect to what is happening
o but it is clumsy
o people avoid collisions with others and objects
o it is not smooth
o choices have to be made with care
o it is about constant adjustment
o things avoiding other things constantly
o objects are positioned to be avoided
o avoidance is the dominant physical objective on a moment by moment level – there is constant vigilance about what needs to be avoided – anticipation of calamity relegated to the highly active semiconscious goings on of instinct and peripheral vision
o people steer themselves along paths that open to non-collision
o this avoidance is an avoidance of touch – it keeps the boundary of skin sacred and available only by permission – this keeps ownership of self intact – anything else is violation (violence)
o public movement is about carefully and skilfully controlling violation
o is there a difference between the violation of the animate and the inanimate?
o necessity in the fulfilment of purpose selects/allows the violation of the inanimate
o we will touch buttons, open doors, give or take objects, and do a thousand other things that permit and neutralise the violation of touch
o the ground remains an unavoidable constant – but for the feet alone – other body parts are less comfortable on the ground
o so different parts become accustomed or adapt themselves to violations associated with them, thereby allowing and permitting them, even claiming them – chairs for backsides – numerous implements for hands – clothing, but allocated to specific parts of the body – is clothing a violation of touch? – a pseudo-skin blocking real skin from the violation of the public gaze – what the body allows to touch it becomes a sanctioned violation
o violation of the social code would be walking into other people and bumping, crashing into them, colliding, knocking over, pushing
o social space is full of the absence of violational activity – an ordered constraint is imposed, sanctioned, and understood in physical languages that become very skilled in adhering to and mastering the weaves and intricacies of complex spatial manoeuvrability and motion with and amongst/amidst others [EXAMINE THE FOOTAGE OF THE HEAVILY POPULATED AND CRAMPED CHICHESTER MARKETS IN RELATION TO THIS]
o obviously there is the practical consideration of harm-to-self and self-preservational priorities and instincts at work in all of this – reflecting the presence of CARE that begins with SELF and becomes communal through commonality (Morris) – the evidence/basis in movement of an ETHOS/ETHIC
o the ETHOLOGY OF CHOREOGRAPHY – is still an intriguing concept/term that is pulling me but as yet I don’t know why
o choreography and dance is rife with avoidances
o every curve is an avoidance of the space in its immediate proximity
o a curve is never a directional path – it is always semi- or indirect-ional (also in-directional – it is avoiding what is on the ‘in’-side of its curve – even if something isn’t there – all curves demarcate an inside and an outside, otherwise they wouldn’t be curved)
o but a choice or sacrifice is being made here – a preference to avoid one area of space is to simultaneously exercise preference for proximity with a less problematic location/vicinity
o every movement that is over, around, circular, curved is possible only from the basis of avoidance – you can feel this physically when you do curved or circular movement – it is probably the basis for most dance movement in the body, and the accounting/determining factor for its stylisation – because I can avoid, I can embellish – because I can avoid, I can abstract – because I can avoid, I can go beyond – because I can avoid, I can repeat – because I can avoid, I can flourish -
o in movement, dance takes the longer route (the detour) because it enjoys the journey as much as, if not more so, than the arrival (the goal) – it is a delayed arrival – and sometimes, a delay without arrival – making it just a delay - it is a hedonistic indulgence in the physical act of avoiding that allows greater proximity and access to things that have to be detoured to, to be experienced
o what is avoidance? – it is the next most direct route
o and this is what is seen in the street in the pathways mapped by social movement
o YAY! – now I’ve just done my first reversal – looking at dance through the lens of everyday movement
o every solid in architectural and other environments are there as avoidances, guiding and confining people through the laws of non-contact to the gaps and openings leading to things


this is like treasure hunts – structures gesturing politely through their don’t-touch-me-I’m-contaminated personas to the treasures they protect (24/7) devotedly and tirelessly (dutifully) (they have no choice) and allow visitation to through doors (traps) (lures) – “come buy the treasure, taste the treasure, take some of it away – but leave something behind – you can’t steal it – and we have a never-ending supply – which is why we make it available and easy for you to find – look at our BIG SIGNS – and our BIG WINDOWS - see!”


POETIC LITERATURE is part of the process of this research because it is all heading towards ARTISTIC OUTCOMES as the primary goal – this is not just academic research, which is where my head and focus has been till now – the now prior to this realisation that is – little poetic moments have popped out, but I’ve sidelined them and been uncomfortable with their frivolity – but this is wrong – I am going to make choreographic work that is going be equally engaged with as art (it is already an overstatement to call choreography art – I am stating the obvious - tautologising) - so the mix is equal portions of academic and artistic/personal (because the artistic is personal) – so now my note-keeping can be organised into 3 categories:

- THEORY / ACADEMIC formal / traditional



- REFLECTIVE personal / revelatory / ‘meandatory’ (that’s a nice new word! meandering & predatory)



- ARTISTIC interpretive / creative / unconstrained & uncensored / poly-vocal / imag(in)istic


F O O T P A T H scenario

avoiding is interchangeable with favouring
subject is walking along the footpath
subject favours a small distance on this side
subject favours this side (means avoiding the other curb)
______________________
subject favours a bigger space on this side
subject is avoiding this side
______________________


a volume of space
a volume is not a volume without parameters – in a moving world of envelopes within envelopes, spatial volumes can only be established by avoiding & favouring surrounding parameters


o in dance movement in the body in open space the parameters that are being avoided are invisible
o this is why dance can be made in empty studios and be stand-alone in its application and occupancy of any suitable open/empty space
o the invisible presence of volumetric parameters being avoided in stylised dance movement (– this of course is what Forsyth understands and manipulates/demonstrates so masterfully and so complexly in his IMPROVISATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES)
o this is not a new thing about dance – it has been there the whole time – just never articulated so clearly, overtly, consciously, and intricately in the way that Forsyth has specialised and researched
o this is a contextualisation strategy that famously underpins modernism – the removal of immediate visible socio-cultural parameters in order to make the art object seem out (or ahead) of time


too much is coming out now – I stare and stare at the obvious and see nothing and I despair – what I see is not interesting, and I suddenly doubt what I’m doing – and then I see it – it has been staring at me the whole time, but completely invisibly – it is all about avoidance – this is so obvious – yet it is also not obvious – it is an obviousness buried and forgotten (at least to me – obviously!) – but when seen again, it opens up strong realisations, perceptions, and explanations – it is a resurgence of energy – from a barren familiar uninspiring landscape, suddenly a perceived (and felt) overflow of meaning, insight, and possibility – things sprouting out in all directions completely out of control – it is 1.23 pm – I’ve been trying to sleep for the last one-and-a-half-hours – but have to keep getting up and turning on the lamp to write down the next thought that won’t let me sleep – I want to exhaust the flow because I want to go to sleep – I would actually prefer to go to sleep – but I know from experience that if I don’t write these thoughts down, the subtleties, distinctions, energy, nuance, specificity, whatever, will be lost tomorrow – memory failure will erase two-thirds of my semi-sleeping realisations – I guess this is REFLECTIVE PRACTICE in action – now I will sleep – PLEASE! [nothing comes after this line tonight]


WRONG
I keep lying down in my bed, facing the wall, with my back to the writing pad (avoidance), but I had to get back up to write this…



o so environments are jam-packed full of ‘avoid me’ and ‘don’t avoid me’ signs – similarly, so is dancing
o dance is continually structured around the avoidance of invisible volumetric spatialities – or rather, the complex physical circumnavigating of these, produces it as art
o a dancing figure at full flight and in full splendour is all about ‘get out of my way’
o this thinking of dance in terms of ‘avoidance’ and ‘getting out of the way’ reminds me of a classic anecdote that an actor friend told me – he was an extra in an Australian ballet company’s version of Petroushka many many years ago – he had a very small part as a costumed bear in the crowd scenes – he was standing one night in the wings watching the action on stage when a thickly accented voice behind him said “Get out of the way cunt!” – he turned and it was Rudolf Nureyev, who was the company’s megastar guest artist, in full splendour about to make his entrance, but the costumed bear was in the way – I feel apologetic quoting an extremely objectionable expletive, which, coming out of the mouth of someone whose god-like stature at the time represented the very soul and spirit of dance, not to mention the implications associated with his choice of body part to denigrate in respect to dance as a feminised art form (– all of this is a very fertile essay in itself that has a lot of stuff that could be unpacked) – the story re-enforces a structural requisite/determinant/preoccupation/enjoyment of dance that this discussion of avoidance highlights – the words “get out of the way” by this famous dancer just before his entrance also speaks to dance’s destructive kinetic momentum (not just hierarchical prejudices and misogyny), an art form built around complex physical understandings of how to manipulate and play with the laws of avoidance

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