"Worlding" is a term from Ian Cheng, (game designer, researcher, video artist)
where he states it as a different notion than "worldbuilding" which is a term from Life Action Role Play. "Worlding" as caring for the complexity of the world that you created, rather than only being the architect of the world like the term "worldbuilding" indicates. (Ian Cheng- Emissaries Guide to Worlding, 2018)
How to build "worlding" to create dance movements? You may I ask
and I can only answer by guiding you through my process of my performance "4ever waiting 4u" which I created in May 2022. The set- up was that I got fascinated by the world of commercials and teleshopping. They have a very specific way of rhetorics that can also be found in conspiracy therories, which is that it's beliefs lies in that you can individually change your life. This believe is like a fiction to me as it is separated from the circumstances of capitalism, where your indivialuality is only a part of being in system. Anna Tsings would describe it in her essay Unruly edges: Mushrooms as Companion Species-for Donna Harraway: “Trees are able to grow on poor soils because of the fungi that bring their roots phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, and more.” With a funghi in mind I worked on different layers of advertisment and learned to create a character inside of a capitalistic world.
Introducing panel right HDS sunglasses
the new gold standard for high-definition vision
turn right HDS gives you
richer more radiant reds
deeper more saturated blues
crisper more vibrating greens
brighter warmer yellows without sacrificing clarity of contrast
turn right HDS gives you 180 degree
UV 400 sun protection for your eyes
and the skin around your eyes
now you can enjoy the outdoors while staying protected with the advanced HD vision and clarity
you have to see to believe
and chlorite HDS have embedded magnets that allow you to securely clip your sunglasses
on your shirt
on your bikini
golf bag
or even on your purse
no more stretching, scratching or destroying your old sunglasses
turn right HDS stay with you wherever you go
Within my backround as a dancer I strongly believe in the potential of dance. I believe in the impact of dance. I believe in dance as my tool to reflect upon the society I am living in today.
As a medium that is multiple at the same time, collective, shared and relational. Living in an age of crisis, I am asking myself what it means to perform in these times within dance. Withing the years of creating different performances I have been always coming back to creating characters and fictional worlds as a source to experiment with the body that move me through imaginations.
But what has "worlding" to do with dance? You may ask.
Life action role play has it's roots in Scandinavia in the late 1970's where a group of people met to enter together in a fictional world. It is a way of being with each other while embodying a character and shape it in play in a shared reality.
I involved one of my characters to investigate further the question of worlding as a dance practice.
---->We met on a thursday in a cafe, it was quiet empty as it usually is in christmas holidays. This is a memory report. I am thanking the Character for letting me share this interview with the public.
Character: Ok, I will start directly with a question that I have been busy with since some weeks: Why do I exist?
Me: Oh such a start! Ok I am trying to... Well... I guess because there were this fakenews back then and there was this question why so many believe in it and why there are so many telegram groups spreading and nourishing certain conspiracy narratives.
Character: What do you believe in though?
Me: Me? In a climate crisis and that there is a capitalistic system which became more influential than my vote.
Character: Is it a real concern?
Me: It is. And yet is is also instrumentalized for fake news rhetorics.
Character: That means I am fake?
Me: I know you are not fake but I replicated and copied movements from existing youtube videos, from people that exist, but they are not you neither that you are them. There is a certain kind of fakeness which you are arising from.
Character: Alright, so I would formulate it as fakeness in terms of copying.
Me: Also but foremost fake as a portal for real feelings. I also ask myself how fake can open up another dimension in order to claim a reality on stage.
Character: But then coming back to the methodology of copying: Why am I not them if my movements are theirs?
Me: It is not that easy as it always starts with a copying and an artificial look on it, yet within the weeks of being with you I get to know your emotions, then there are also my emotions as well as the emotions of this other bodies that I copied. It makes you unique as my body stays the vessel through which you will perform every gesture that I learn.
Character: But I feel like myself, I don't think about my movements or how I speak. I am just the way I am.
Me: Indeed this was the result that resolved from a constant repitition, from learning your words by heart and your inner movement drive. Until there is the point where I believed in you- the fakeness is transforming into a trust. I am here referencing Ian Cheng (game designer, video artist), who creates video-worlds where he sees himself more as a gardener rather than an architect of the created world. Worlding as a potential- creating scores that inform you but not deform you-
an emotional storage. The world stays the same within each performance, but to have the freedom to let the character change within it- having the trust to percieve you not only as an image but as a 3D- person that has its ups and downs, that is living in a world on its own.
Character: But will it ever be only my world?
Me: What do you mean by that?
Character: I think it can also cause an ethical challenge. Copying existing areas of life and to replicate them can easily cause a parody where I would stay as a character above certain kind of realities and opinions.
Me: Indeed. It is a small range to investigate in another world but not to become a voyeur, especially when you perform it in public. The challenge is not to lecture I would assume...
Character: Yet you have an opinion and this is the anchor point why you are using copying as a strategy to come closer to these societal phenomenas, that you- well how can I formulate it- feel triggered by?
Me: You know me well. Yet then adding to this thought I am wondering what is the potential of worlding in a performative way as a societal reflection?
Character: Very good question in this realm of inbetween reality and fiction... Something to investigate more I would propose. But time is running these days- I need to hurry. How about meeting next month again?
Me: Yes I would love to continue this talk with you, let's do it next month! Take care!
Character: À bientôt!