Left: 17c(2017). Right: I used to love you (2017)
- Text is present through multiple mediums: speech, voice over, image, movement.
- Moments of coexistence and/or jutxtaposition between the text and the movement. Also moments of coordination between movement and sound of the text.
Avobe left: Revisor (2019). Right: The Statement (2016)
Bottom left: Betroffenheit (2015). Right: Interview with the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (2015)-edited video.
- The text is very often a script, there is dialogue. Use of voice over. Movement follows the musicality of the text. There is imagery, movement takes inspiration from the content of the text. Gestures, sometimes exaggerated.
- Crystal Pite works with text very frequently. The excerpts of the interview above provide some interesting insights to her approach.
Practice in context summary:
In these examples it was observed that it is recurrent in contemporary dance works to include text in the form of voice overs during performances. The movement in the pieces was connected to the meaning of the text in all cases, although not always creating a literal representation. To connect to meaning the choreographers sometimes use gestural movement, exaggerating the meaning of the text. Other times they generate movemenet that creates contrast with the meaning of the text, to create a comedic effect.
The relationship between the movement and the aural elements of the text was also varied in every example. There was no clear relationship between the movement and the visual elements of the text, however, these elements were present on stage in Parson's pieces, on screen projections.
Above: Cacti (2010). Below: Thoughts at the Bolshoi (2015)
- On Cacti: `Its timing, military precision and the deliberate pomposity of the text, purporting to be the words of a self-important critic, combine to make the audience laugh out loud from the opening scene' (Lawson 2016). Movement follows the musicality of the text. Content of the text in relationship to the movement and the overall intention of the piece. Humor.
Little Tiny Bite (date not found)
- Movement in relation to the sound and meaning of the text. Gestures, facial expression.
- Clear character development. Narrative.
Por Vos Muero (1996)
- Poem as theme. The movements do not follow the text as music, the relationship lies in the meaning.
- A translation of the medium of poetry into dance, poetic intentions remain.
Aural elements of the text: the sound of the words.
I will be looking to translate the musicality of the language (Pite 2015) into a dance piece. In other words, approaching the sound of the words as if it was music. This will be done through a somatic approach, listening to the sound to generate a `spontaneous bodily response' (Marinberg and Aviv 2019:1).
I will consider Stephanie Jordan's notion of choreomusicality, in which dance and music, in this case spoken word, will be considered a composite form (2011: 48) that works together. The choreographic approach will be rhythmic and melodic (Marinberg and Aviv 2019: 2). Another notion I will experiment with is the pause, to do a translation of the silences in the poem into choreographic material.
Visual elements of the text: the shape of the letters and the words.
This will be translated into the shape of the movement.
This will be done considering William Forsythe’s Improvisation Technologies (1999), specifically the section `Lines' as it is a useful guide for constructing movement from the idea of shape. I will also take inspiration from the fifth chapter of Lyenne Anne Blom’s and L.Tarin Chaplin’s The Intimate Act of Choreography (1982), that explains some notions of design and use of space. This decision responds to the need of approaching movement composition from a purely visual perspective.
The three experimentations will consist of three sessions:
Session 1: improvised exploration
Session 2: selection of choreographic material
Session 3: ensemble of the piece
Meaning of the text.
As it was mentioned in the theoretical framework of the project, I will approach the meaning of the text from the perspective of structural linguistics. An analysis of the poem from this perspective can be found in the appendix of this exposition.
The meanings that emerge from the poem will transform into mental images and the movement will be created through the use of imagery. According to Vicky J. Fisher, imagery is `the mental simulation of a concept' (2017:253). I is relevant to establish here that visualisation is not necessarily mental imagery, as imagery evokes an idea `across sensory modalities' (2017: 255).
