Now take a/the sponge in your hand. Play all four video's at the same time. It will take 5 minutes maximum. See, feel, listen,..... What do you experience?
An adaptation of an article (Carolien Hermans 2021)
The prerequisite of touch is movement. In absolute stillness we would not be able to have any tactile experience. This is because movement registers relative changes, micro changes through which we are able to make contact with others and the world. In other words, we are able to sense textures because of the force, pressure, and direction we exert on a touchable thing.
Sitting still, for example, is never a complete act of stillness. We make tiny adjustments in our posture (often unconsciously), shifting weight and renewing our contact with the MATRASS constantly. One could say that the MATRASS presses upon our body and our body, in turn, presses back upon the MATRASS. A double force is at work here: we constitute worlds while at the same time we are constituted by the world.
This research in the field of dance and participation grew out of an interest in the sensory experience of the audience. I was looking for a link between the experience of the performer and the experience of the audience. I came across articles on kinesthesia, empathy, choreography and audience experience. Meanwhile, I went into the studio with some dancers and a bunch of matrasses. On the last day we performed a score from these materials for a small audience. See the documentation of text, video, images and writings here.
This research performance is about:
a matrass
the texture of a foam matrass
the sinking
the rising
how the texture influences our movement
to imagine being a matrass
the imprints we leave
the imprints we don't leave
the imprints we leave while we make new ones
the play of making imprints together
the difference of texture
what happens when there is no rising or sinking
how a rigid matrass is easier to move in itself
a crashpad
our skin
the outer layer of the skin
the deeper layers of our skin
the range of touch
slow and fast and does it matter?
Go Left
If you want to take 5 minutes to see video materials of selected scores. And if you want to read a short adapted academic article of relevance.
Go Right
If you want to take 1 minute to see video materials of selected scores. And if you want to read a personal letter to the matrass.
Thoughts on reflection and continuation:
How are we influencing and moving textures?
How are we being influenced and moved by textures?
How can we take the qualities of the texture and bring it into our bodies?
How are we moving from/as an artificial material like platics inside and outside of us?
How can we build up layers of audience engagement by building pedagogical layers?
How do we make these scores performative by adding lights, costumes, sounds?
How do we engage a bigger non-professional audience?
Which formats allow us as performers to share knowledge and at the same time give an open space for audience engagement?
Credits:
Maxime Kroot
Anna Lawaetz
Roula Samiotaki
Laue Mamo
Ulrik ørsnes Jansen
Paulina Rewucka
Aline Combe
Stine Frandsen
Articles:
Choreographing empathy-Susan Foster (2011)
Participatory sense-making in physical play and dance improvisation- Carolien Hermans (2022)
Kinaesthesia.....
Now take a/the sponge in your hand. Play the video. It will take 1 minute.
See, feel, listen,..... What do you experience?
Dear Matrass,
How does it feel to be you?
I took you from the cold, dark basement, separated you from the other matrasses, gave you a bumpy bike ride and brought you inside. You were positioned as a pile and as a flat surface. You slowly lost parts of yourself.
And then, there were multiple others. Giving their weight to you, spending time, being slow, being fast, trusting you and not trusting you, telling you that you smell, that you are soft.
You have a quality, an imperishable quality to sink and to rise, to support again and again. Of having you weight, whatever your form is. You are untouchable, not leaving any traces of touch any longer than you can. You are touchable, but only as ephemeral as dance, it is only there in real time- otherwise you live with the absence and obsolescence of the last touch.
I have given you a sibling; the crashpad.
Also brought to you by a bumpy ride through the city. This sibling does not look like you, it does not have your imperishable quality of rising and sinking. However, it has an equal quality of support. It is a bit mysterious, as much to you as to me. It is untouchable as it leaves even fewer traces of ephemeral touch. It is touchable as its shape and weight stay the same.
The way you both move me is very different though.
The way you make people think, imagine, and relate is very different though.
The last days I have been looking for you both, in other materials and textures. I believe you have more to tell me. Can I take you and your siblings for a walk in the coming months?