new things to consider that came out of this run:
- you can repeat a card before giving it away, giving it away is a choice you make after you consider repeating it
- do we perform both our written cards before giving them away, or do we do one then give it away, before doing the other.
- are you walking with intention?
our plan for this rehearsal was to begin with a discussion about what happened last week at laban, when the piece suddenly came into focus.
2. how do we consider the audience in our performance? do we acknowledge them directly? or are they not there at all?
are the audience existing with us or not?
we began this rehearsal with a big discussion about the questions that the previous week had raised for us.
1. what do we do and how do we move in the moments 'between cards', when we are moving without instruction.
for example, when moving to give a card to someone else, when moving to a location to perform an action, when remembering a card.
unfortunately, for personal reasons, maxime had to leave the project at this stage. his presence was unique, insightful, and irreplaceable.
we decided to continue with 5 people instead of find a 6th person.
on the day, we had very little time to get into the space before the doors opened, so it was somewhat stressful.
in our final rehearsal, two days before the performance, we decided that the priority was to do, more than to talk.
we all wanted more chances to be in the piece to practice our intentionality, which was harder than it seemed.
this was the first run we did with the audience chairs arranged in a square around us. lydia's partner theo watched the run and gave his thoughts:
for instance, when entering the space and 'remembering a card' to do, we emphasised the importance of trying to have that be a genuine process of recall.
- a performer enters and remembers a card from the earlier decks and performs it.
- once the first performer appears to have finished performing their first card, the next performer enters and begins from instruction 1.
- repeat this process three times (each performer does 4 remembered cards in total).
- after a performer finishes their fourth remembered card, they go to the pile of blank cards and collect two cards.
- on the first blank card, they choose one of the four remembered cards they just performed and write down/document/describe what they did.
- on the second blank card, they write down/document/describe something that someone else is doing that they can observe.
- they then perform both of the cards they have just written, taking their instructions at face value.
- once they have finished both cards, they give them both away to other performers
- if the performer has no cards, they can choose to do either a placeholder movement or placeholder music:
- placeholder movement: a transfer of weight
- placeholder music: a held (high) D
- if they receive a card from another performer, they stop doing placeholder movement/music and do the card.
- they may freely repeat the instruction on the card and then give it away to someone else.
- at any time, a performer may decide to ‘retire’ the card in their possession and remove it from circulation by placing it in the opposite corner of the space.
- continue receiving/performing/passing/discarding cards and doing placeholders.
- once all the cards have been discarded, and everyone is doing a placeholder, they may stay with this for a while before finding an ending.
our session on the 12th of may marks the start of our rehearsal period. the focus during this time was on how to refine what we had arrived at in the past two sessions, and make sure everybody is on the same page about the practice.
refining our intention and reminding ourselves why we were doing certain things in the piece was a vital part of keeping the practice alive and real.
the other important part of the rehearsal process was just doing it again and again - trying different things every time. we wanted to explore the possibilities of this practice and inhabit it for longer.
rehearsal 1 - 12.05.25 (authentic remembering, how to move)
rehearsal 2 - 19.05.25 (between cards? intention, with theo)
rehearsal 3 - 25.05.25 (doing it again, refining intention)
should we have a shared physical stance or language that we agree on outside of the piece?
it felt unnatural to add in such a level of control when lydia and i have insisted on creative license from the performers.
we had to quickly set out the chairs, and decide about lighting.
after some back and forth, we decided to opt for completely natural lighting from the windows in the space.
this created a lovely fading as the sun was setting during the performance.
in this conversation everyone opened up about the ways in which they were going about doing movement - as well as some insecurity they've felt and tried to get over.
it was really moving and touching to hear how everyone was engaging and making their own way through this new territory.
we therefore decided to do two runs of the piece on this day to make sure we were all comfortable with what we were doing.
the audience being in a square around us creates a space for us. they hold us and we are open to them. they are active in that way - we are within their square, within a room.
theo:
the space created by the chairs created a closeness between everything - created associations between actions which might not have existed if they happened further apart.
the introduction of different elements was well paced, as well as moments of settling. there was a nice contrast between what everyone was doing which created a counterpoint.
the occasional repetition was nice and not explicit; it unfurled at a pleasant rate.
there was not much sound, but this was nice - the environmental sounds became part of the piece, the sound of running, the sound of dancing.
there was a palpable intentionality.
seeing a situation, deciding what card would work best for it, then doing it is not being authentic to the practice.
instead, we decided to emphasise the instructions, since they are the most concrete things we share as a group in the performance.
for example, the instruction to remember a card from a previous session when you enter the space: we can refine what it means to be honest with the intention of remembering.
more than anything, these rehearsals show how different each instance of the piece will be, illustrating that the final performance is only one possible version, no the definitive one.
james had a strategy for overcoming his feeling of being an amateur dancer, which was actually to think of himself as a professional dancer.
maxime said that although he was actually quite inflexible, he thought of his body as being like water, putting himself in a psychosomatic position of feeling more free as a dancer.
a decision that came out of this was that instead of a discarded card pile, we would place retired cards face up in a line.
part of the audience will be able to read the instructions we were following, which creates an interesting texture.
when we really stand there trying to remember something, it will look genuine and will elevate the experience for the audience.