“Fall onto the supporting leg, you have to let gravity initiate it, you can’t use the same energy as in a step. You have to give your weight to gravity so you can take it back again.” (Brandt, R. as cited in Preston-Dunlop, 1995, p. 250)
Tombé is a transitional step used to link turns or jumps. It can be practiced at the barre, but is mostly done in the centre. Tombé is about the act of letting go and catching one's balance, being on balance and suspending to tip over and fall to land on a new support. The fall doesn’t happen vertically but rather up and over. It can be broken down into: balance, deciding to fall, letting go, falling and catching.
I relate tombé to birth: our first encounter with gravity. Not only are we fallen, we are looking for ways to stay up, to catch, to re-route and to keep on keeping. This quote from Ann Cooper Albright is used as the starting point for working on tombé. “When a baby emerges from the womb into the world, it first connects with the basic forces of gravity and air by experiencing its own breathing and by being held.” (Cooper Albright, 2019, p.111) We worked on allowing the fall to happen before catching, giving space for the fall and not anticipating the catch. The suspension before the fall, and the contrast between the lightness and the gravity of the travelling steps are important.
Relating to groove:
Tombé has the action of push-pull; there is a constant negotiation between the dancers, the boundaries of their physical body, the other body in space, and the limits of the space (the white dance floor). The dancers are being carried by the dance while giving up control of when exactly they might land or make contact.
In Lost Threads
Dialogue between the 2 performers:
I’m here, beside you, going through the same thing as you. We all fall, or so they say, so do we fall together? Or do we fall individually, side by side, and what does that change in terms of our experience?
We breathe together, in synch, but our lungs fill and feel differently from each other. I fall at my own pace, letting gravity take over, and you do the same, but your fall is slightly more controlled than mine, or is it?
I stop to collect myself and you keep pushing, you keep going, you keep falling, more importantly, you keep catching. And you catch me, I catch you, we are in this together.
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“All manner of lifts, usually man lifting woman, but not always, which have to appear effortless and whose phrasing and breath control have to be found for a successful outcome.” (Bonnie Bird, Interview, as cited in Preston-Dunlop, 1995, p. 385)
A porté is a lift where one person carries the other, usually in a static ballet position, it can also be a moving position. A lift is meant to show the strength of the lifter while exposing the grace and delicate nature of the person being lifted. Both involved require great strength and control, however, the person being lifted also requires the ability to let go of their centre of balance and direct their energy in the right direction to contribute to a successful lift.
What is carrying? Is it caring? Is it displacing?
How do you put the other down?
How has this changed you?
Can you let go and accept the other carrying you? How much do you help? How much do you let the other take over?
Relating to groove:
In our exploration of carrying, we sensed the push and pull between the 2 dancers. How they negotiate the space between each other to find moments of letting go (for Julia) and of contact and care (for Cecilia). Yielding into each other’s bodies to allow for the lifts to work, suspending between contact points, keeping a connection at a distance and finding the right moment to come in and carry or to suspend and direct.
Coupé is an action where the supporting leg is replaced by the other with a cutting motion. It is used to change the supporting leg either in jumps, travelling through space or on the spot (in adage, for example). With coupé, we cut the line, we re-route. It is a decisive action that allows for support change and connects different directions of motion. Coupé reflects the ruthless nature of the decision to cut (something). I relate the movement to cutting roots, cutting strings.
Relating to groove:
In coupé, we use repetition, transferring the action through the body. Replacing a wrist with a neck and with an ankle or a hip. In this case, the repetition doesn’t allow for finding the notch. The composition of the score is too complicated to allow the repetition to carry the performers. It is more about repeating as if in a tunnel. One might ask where the repetition is leading to and if it isn’t just about being stubborn and persistent.
In Lost Threads
I let go and allow you to take me, to carry me so that I can keep going with my greater purpose. It is not weakness, it is strength that allows me to let you carry me.
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In Lost Threads
Coupé is a challenge! A challenge for us individually and a challenge for us as a pair. We are challenging the precision with which we operate in as well as the speed with which we adapt to new situations.
How do we follow each other, do we and when do we break apart?
I’m in the system, finding ways to work around it.
There is so much here to think about!
You’ll find your way, but for now, follow me here!
And here!
Here!
And here!
Here I am, I am here!
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“Equilibrium in the body, the ability to arrive motionless and stable on demipointe through sensing the equalizing of opposing forces in the body and a strong vertical line of energy.” (Alan Dubreuil, as cited in Preston-Dunlop, 1995, p. 174)
A balance demonstrates the control and the ability of a dancer to stay in an elevated position (relevé or on pointe) for a determined amount of time. There is a constant negotiation of slight shifts in the body to find the perfect balance. The gaze is fixed on one point projecting out while the dancer is constantly scanning their bodies looking for the perfect stacking of body parts.
For me, the balance required to simply stand tall and strong is a feat. I experienced having 2 cesarean sections that left me unable to stand straight for weeks. I then realized that standing requires a minute and intricate negotiation of weight and muscle tension. How much work our bodies do (unconsciously) to allow us to stand. How powerful to take a stance, simply and directly, in front of an audience. There is a cycle of negotiation and repetition to find the perfect balance. We do it when we can, and when we can’t, it is the only thing we want to be able to do. But how else can we balance? And are we always successful?
In Lost Threads
My balancing act is not efficient, but it is mine and it is how I manage what has been handed over to me.
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Ballet is accompanied by expectations that connot be denied. The code of ballet has been established over centuries and carries a history and an aesthetic, accompanied by its stereotypes and its knowledge. In the context of my research, I am drawing from my experience of ballet as raw material with the potential to shape new movement. I think of play-dough. When it is cold, the movement possibilities are restricted and the material might crack; however, once the dough is warmed up, it is malleable and can be worked and stretched to take new form. I sense movement through my knowledge of ballet, it informs where I come from and where I am going.
Ballet terminology plays an important role in my research because it is the raw material I am working with (my play dough) and the base for me to return to. For this research I have focused my attention on 8 ballet terms: tombé, coupé, effacé, ecarté, développé, attitude, équlibre and porté. The choice of the terms emerged from a story about resilience from the perspective of a woman. By going further into the research on ballet, you can follow the roots to the 8 ballet terms I have worked with and how they relate to groove, and read more about my connection to William Forsythe’s work.
When I sense in my body, through my roots, the source of my movement, there is a satisfying feeling when going into opposition, the pull, feeling tall. It isn’t simply linear; there is a spiral in the opposition, even if not visible. A never-ending movement pulling, suspending, going off balance until the fall, then falling in pieces to find out what falls last. Testing and pushing boundaries.
8 ballet terms
The terms are used to tell a story of uprooting and detachment, but also of care and cycles, and reveal the working process.
Each term is defined (you can see the original ballet term by clicking on the title), and accompanied by a video showing how we related to groove. The research on ballet has revealed specific aspects of groove that are defined for each term. The exploration of each term is an expression of resilience in its own right, has varying uses of groove and fosters movement signature in the performers.
Having worked in the field of choreography for more than 50 years, William Forsythe is credited with reorienting ballet practice from its association with classical repertoire to a dynamic art form of the twenty-first century. Forsythe's keen interest in the basic principles of choreography organization has led him to create a wide range of projects, such as installations, films, and web-based knowledge creation (Forsythe, n.d.). He has developed a rich database of choreographic knowledge. Throughout my dance education at Arts Umbrella in Vancouver, Improvisation Technologies: A Tool for the Analytical Dance Eye (Forsythe, 1999) was my first contact with improvisation. I have admired Forsythe’s work at an (intimate) distance for a long time. From my point of view, he works with the architectural elements of the ballet body and movement patterns, finding endless possibilities to re-shape, re-route, connect, and move them within the body and in space. Revisiting his work as a choreographer has revealed new perspectives. My approach of revisiting ballet through the lens of groove is working with the biomechanics of ballet and sensations of groove to promote movement signature. I approach the form of ballet through sensation as a starting point. I draw connections between my work with ballet through groove, its analytical approach and expanding the physical possibilities through choreographic processes.
My way of working is very analytical and methodical. Yes, I go with instincts, and I sense where the practice and the research want to lead me, but I follow the path I have designed. Along the way, I discover deviations, new concepts, ideas, and connections. The driving force, however, is through sensing. Translating sensation into tools that can be used to tap back into the sensations. I perceive Improvisation Technologies as architectural, focusing on external motors: lines, writing, and reorganizing. (Forsythe, 1999) The approach is very analytical and externally motivated, relating to ballet form. When Forsythe (1999) refers to a tendu, he is speaking of the shape and how it can be collapsed or shifted. I might argue that my approach goes one level deeper into sensation and language, adding another layer of understanding and narrative to the movement. The movement doesn’t have a central position in the work, it is carried by the individuality of the dancers’ experience and technique.
Sensing through language
When I have to think too much to move, I get overwhelmed. I lose the joy in dancing, I become self-conscious, uncoordinated, and I freeze. I get frustrated. Connecting to sensations helps me. Yes, groove gives a sense of home, of belonging. Most importantly, groove opens up the possibility for me to let go and enter a world of sensing where I can connect to concepts that go beyond analytical thinking. Working with language, and in this case, ballet language as well as narrative, has opened up a possibility for me to think about movement, but in the first place, to sense movement. Another way to get closer to the spark, the joy of groove.
Manning and Massumi's 2014 publication, Thought in the Act, offers techniques for composing thought. Manning and Massumi’s techniques are “springboards. They are not framing devices — they activate a practice from within. They set in motion.” (Manning and Massumi, 2014, p. ix) I can relate to the thought of having techniques or methods as springboards for activating a practice. If I reflect on the method I have developed, working with ballet and deconstructing its movement and language to arrive at new meaning, I can see that this research has set my practice into motion. It has offered me a framework to contain my practice and to expand upon. I feel that I am just at the beginning of further years of research. While reading Just Like That: William Forsythe, the chapter dedicated to Forsythe’s work and in particular the relationship between movement, language and sensation, my perspective toward his approach shifted: “Chain the sensations rather than the positions” (Forsythe, 2011, as cited in Manning and Massumi, 2014, p. 36). He proposes a thought process resulting in a sensation, or asks what-if the architecture of ballet became a feeling or a re-organization of the organs, or the limbs. (p.43) Going beyond movement as we might know it in our everyday lives, and I might argue in our dancing lives as well.
Assuming dancers are experts in their craft and know their technique inside-out, how does one go beyond the positions, the shapes, the outside reflections and into a sensorial space where the architecture will appear because of and through sensations. Forsythe is investigating ways to see what is in front of him in the now: to dance, seeing the now. (pp. 45-48) He is tricking the mind to go beyond the body’s abilities. There’s a notion of being on the edge of a cliff or of a hill, but never quite losing control, or losing and letting sensation take over. The feeling is there, and you keep moving to avoid a complete crash. Is this where growth happens? It could very well be.
The chapter is still working with and on me. A universe rich with potential to keep delving deeper and deeper into what I - think - I already know. It gives me a sense of strength for the work that is still ahead of me. It gives me the courage to dare to ask for more, always, and to trust in the endurance and resilience of the dancers. The construction site is an ongoing inquiry of form, informing and suggesting new pathways for sensations.
Drawing from my personal experience with Improvisation Technologies, both taught and through my own research, I would argue that the way Forsythe has shaped his choreographic tools is through the lens of the architectural aspect of the body in relation to ballet technique. He has defined brilliant technologies for expanding the movement and the shapes inherent in ballet to create groundbreaking choreography. The approach is external, beginning with shapes and movements, and the sensations that emerge are more a result of the work and less a starting point. While contemplating the writing of Manning and Massumi, I propose that Forsythe’s approach to choreography through decomposing ballet form is a means to arrive at sensations through the medium of ballet.
An attitude is a position where the gesture leg is extended to the front or the back with a slight bend. This position can be used in turns, in partnering and in balances. In certain techniques, Cecchetti, for example, the statue of Mercury of Bologna, is given as a reference.
Relating to groove:
Attitude is based on repetition; here, the performers can find the notch and are carried by the repetition while having the agency to address each other and the audience directly. As they play with the intensity of the sound and the rhythm, there is a sensation of push and pull between them. Their physical relationship is particularly important as they demonstrate their individuality.
In Lost Threads
Here I am: strong, sensitive, nuanced, open, determined, woman, mother, friend.
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Effacé is a position that is open to the audience, meaning the legs do not cross. The arm closer to the audience is also raised above the head, and there is a slight leaning back with a spiral in the torso and head. Effacé shows off the inside of the leg and displays a certain elongation of the body. As the leg is shown off, the arm that is away from the audience is partly erased. What I find most interesting about effacé is what we decide to erase and consequently show. How does the duality of erasing and showing (off) co-exist?
When considering relating to the audience as a key partner in erasing, we can imagine the viewer having unconventional perspectives, for example, on the ceiling or between the 2 dancers. Where am I erased from, and who am I showing to? Where is my audience, and what do they see? Where am I erased? When I erase myself, is it to fit in, to assimilate into my environment? Do you notice that I am here? Can you get used to me?
Relating to groove:
The 2 key elements of groove that emerged from effacé are push-pull and yielding. The 2 dancers are constantly negotiating how much they give in to each other to accommodate the action of erasing and showing. These 2 actions require them to push and pull on and from each other to achieve a common goal.
In Lost Threads
When wanting to hide from the observer, I present what I want you to see, I manipulate your gaze to serve my purpose. How long can I hide for?
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Développé is the extension of the gesture leg away from the centre axis of the body into space, it can be done to the front, to the side or to the back. Before being able to develop away from the body, one has to gather the limb to be rolled out. Although the viewer might focus on the gesture leg, the weight has to be transferred onto the supporting leg to achieve the extension into space, as if sand were pouring into the floor from the limb being developed. A développé can be done with different textures and speeds, but is usually done in an adagio, a slower feat of strength, perseverance and balance.
Relating to groove:
By working with the score of développé, yielding and suspension were elements that emerged to the foreground. Yielding into the floor, a translation of finding the support(ing leg), to develop out into space. Once in the extended shape, the moment of suspension is found in stillness while receiving information from the other person. Asking: where does our collaboration take us from here, and how do we move forward together?
“A position standing on one leg with the other leg extended to the side along a diagonal line. The rest of the body echoes this line within the vertical and horizontal planes, i.e. flat or 2-dimensional.” (Richard Glasstone, 1977, as cited in Preston-Dunlop, 1995, p. 303)
Écarté, for me, is the balancing act of limbs drifting, out of the way of each other and connected through the core of the body. Écarté is out in space; it spreads and pulls apart.
Relating to groove:
Once you are in the position of écarté, you haven’t arrived yet, you suspend before moving on. A moment in time to show where you are. But before arriving in the position, there is a push into the supporting leg to pull out into space.
In Lost Threads
My development depends on me, but it also depends on you to support and make our development possible.
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