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Meaning and Metaphor

A metaphor is a transfer, describing somethings properties as something else, comparing something. Is it used in dance to represent things or situations with the use of props and stills.

A creative workshop I have been involved with looked at how meaning can be found through motion and stillness. We first looked at different sculptures then asked to create a short sequence using a couple of them but augmenting them, for example, changing the levels or the angle in which our bodies would face whilst maintaining the sculpture’s form in our body, then creating a transition to another in a way that would compliment our own perspectives of the sculptures meaning. 

The next step of this excercise was to take what we had created and incorporate it into another sequence with a partner by developing the movements to include areas of unison alongside our own separate phrases, forming a relationship between the two dancers. I had performed my sequence with someone who had used the same sculpture as inspiration which made it effective in creating unison motifs. Not only that but we had the same structure of phrase as we both had a standing phrase which transitioned into a floor sequence in which we capitalised on by changing levels in unison creating a smooth transition.

For the final part of the workshop the group was asked to write a list of everything that came into our heads when we thought of the words ‘oil’ and ‘water’. I found this interesting as I was not able to come up with many words other than the colour, texture and the way each substance moved however a few of the members in the group thought of words that associated themselves with the political and social side of both liquids. ‘Survival’ and ‘Power’ were a couple of words that were shared which were discussed on how we could represent those words through movement and how different accents and postures can mean different things. We then continued to develop some practical movements which we thought would represent either word we had to come up with a small solo sequence which we all performed together creating some form of abstract movement art.

I found it useful to explore these ideas as I will now be able to use other forms of art other than music to create movements and be able to explore how different pats of my body move by using different descriptive words and objects when I run out of ideas.

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Voices in Movement.

This workshop focused on how voices and narrative is used to manipulate the perception of abstract movements and how gestures enhance the imagery of a story or narrative. 

We started the workshop by looking at the start of the piece ‘Zero Degrees’ by Akram Kahn where he used simple gestural movements along with explaining a story in sync with another performer to create a piece of dance. I found this interesting as the tone of voice was very pedestrian and not enhanced because it was being said on stage, giving me the feeling that I was being told the story personally rather than it being a speech to the entire audience. It also made me think about how my everyday life when I am talking to someone and using gestural movements, am I performing a narrative to the listener and is it an improvised performance or did I choreograph the gestures to fit the narrative of my everyday life. 

The first task that we had been set was to create movement as a group without speaking to one another but following certain rules and guidance from an outside source. This excercise was interesting because we had no set choreography but we all had to work together to improvise a small performance. When we were presenting the pieces that we had created it was interesting to hear that there was a sense of narrative that was created through the interactions and unison movements between the group even though it had all been improvised.

For the main task we had to split into a pair and a trio, with the pair creating and reading a story of some kind including words to create imagery while the trio would create a small abstract sequence. Once the movement and writing had finished we had to put them together and see how the perception of the movement changed depending on the narrative that was being spoken during the performance. I found that some of the movement would resonate with certain words and phrases even though there was no initial relation between the two. 

I took a lot from this workshop as it helped develop my understanding of incorporating words into movement which I was not comfortable with doing effectively before. It also taught me a way of creating movement if I don’t have any ideas though using rules and working with improv to find small phrases and sequences which would not have been created.

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Contact Improvisation.

This will be a reflective blog on a contact improvisation task that I took part in a few days ago. We were tasked with a non-verbal improvisation session in which we focused on the skinesphere to allow ourselves to bond with the earth and becoming familiar with the movement of our own mass and the regions of our kinesphere, exploring how the body reacts when another kinesphere interacts with our own. 

From my own experience of this task I found it very strange to begin to look into my own body and concentrate on my kinesphere without allowing other interruptions in the space to draw my own attention. After a while I was able to really look into myself and be able to explore my own body as it moved through the space. I started by focusing on my lower kinesphere and how moving different limbs in different fashions around the floor affect different areas of my body, advancing to my central and upper kinesphere moving my entire body around the space.

After a short while of working on my own body I began to explore the reactions of when my ‘Bubble’ interacted with others. I found that my body was moving in correlation to others, for example if I was pushed my body would move in the direction that I was being pushed. I explored what others reactions would be if I moved in opposition to the flow of movement and I found that people were confused and weren’t quite sure how to react to a sudden change in movement. The fact that this was a non verbal excercise made it even more interesting as we could only use our bodies to explain what we wanted to do rather than verbally expressing our own motives when in contact with someone else.

As the session progressed we all became much more comfortable being in each other’s kinespheres and it became much easier to react to being in contact and manipulating others movements more freely without having to explain where I wanted people to move. I was able to create narratives and relationships with people just through simple movements and gestures which I found really interesting, particularly because it was all improvised yet you could create a choreography from the improvisation.

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Magic Objects.

Today I took part in a workshop inspired by Melinda Buckwalter’s ‘The Magical Object’ and Ken Robinson’s ‘Creativity’, challenging how we perceive objects in our daily lives and how our own creativity can change our perception of how an object works or how it could be used. 

To start the workshop we were tasked with identifying our own ideas of ‘Creative’. What is creative? I see it as the process after imagination to ‘Create’ an experience or object which has never been experienced before. I found this to be the case after reading Robinson’s ‘Creativity’ I learnt that there is a process of imagination, creation and innovation. however they do not go hand in hand (separate blog for this)

After this discussion we were picked an object from the selection that we had been presented with and we had the task of exploring the object, observing how it feels, moves, smells and other components. I had been given a clothes iron with it’s cord and plug socket which I found interesting to explore as it had several moving parts including the settings slider and buttons that would release steam and other ironing settings. The fact that it was such a common household object challenged me to imagine it as something that it was not, I began to visualize the shape to that of a mouse with it’s streamlined shape and long cord which could resemble a tail. The noises that were produced after prodding and turning some of the moving parts gave me a mental image of a camera shutter and sliders along with a safe door with the number wheel clicking as it was turned. 

I also found it challenging to imagine not only using the iron’s acoustics through it’s moving parts but as an entire object. Exploring how it sounded when it was dropped or how different areas of the iron reacted to hitting a hard surface and creating a tableaux of some sort. I was exploring with this concept and found that the ironing part of the iron would make a metallic ‘hoof’ sound as it hit the floor so I was able to use my foot to create a horse movement along the ground whilst holding the cord as if it were reigns, developing the visualisation of a rider to any observers. 

The main task that we were given was to create 3 situations in which the object was something else, I found this very interesting and surprising at how many ideas were created from various different objects. One situation particularly surprised me as they were able to manipulate two pieces of blue sheet to create the visualisation of a typewriter. I found this particularly fascinating because before they created the typewriter they had created movement which was very obscure in my eyes and I hadn’t been able to understand what they were doing until they created the typewriter bringing everything together.