Sonntag, 22. November 2009

Continues thoughts II

Today I was trying again to get an overview on what I have till now, which material I would like to use and where I want to go further.
I ended up in creating two seperate pieces with the material I´d like to use.


First piece


1. black,
projection on the backwall of follwing text:


" About three weeks ( maybe I´ll allready give it to them before christmas so they really have enought time to auseinandersetzen with it) ago three dancers received a letter with a written choreography in it.
They all received the same order of steps written by me, the choreographer.
Their task was to learn this written sequence by heart. With the special ask of not trying the movement out.
They had to memorize the whole choreography in their head.
Each of them head a little verweis on where on stage they have to start.
The choreography is going to be danced out the first time tonight.
The sequence exists in each of their heads, in however way they interpretated the written choreography.
Enjoy."
( I will probably write it in german though)

The dancers will walk in, walking arround with the papers of the written choreography in their hand to memorize it a last time.
Than tehy will put the sheets by the site, music starts ( I will show them the music piece before, didn´t decided on which yet).
and than they will dance the sequence.


After that I´d like the loudspeaker announement to come up, which I meantioned last time already.
Which could be something like : " This piece failed in beeing perfect".



Second piece


1. black,
projection of Sarah onto the backwall, close up of her face,
tells her "statement of failure" ( story of a failure moment)

2. a little spot of light comes onto Sarah, (projection contiunes)
sitting in the middle of the stage, holding a little camera in her hands,
talking to it, gesturing, and excited, memoryzing


3. out of the black the noise of a piano comes up,
Mirjam sitting at the piano, playing the "ronda alla turca", starting a new whenever she fails,
the audience can just hear her.


4. projection of Mirjams face onto the backwall and slowly a light on the piano lightens up her and the piano,
her camera is placed on the piano.


5. Mareike walks into the room, with her camera in her hands, giving her statement of failure, just her silhouette is seen, cause of the light arround her.
projection onto the backwall of her face. slowly more light, lights up the whole stage.


6. Sarah starts walking too, both Mareike and her are talking, Mirjam still playing the piano.
Sarah and Mareike start to put their little movement sequence,they made themselfs as an expression of the feeling of failure (see last rehearsals), inbetween the talking.


7. camera projections continues itself (in a loop on the backwall, three heads next to eachother).
Sarah and Mareike carry their cameras over to the piano, still talking, Mirjam gives up with the piano play and starts talking about her failure moment too,( which doesn´t have to be the moment she just experienced).
the audience can catch up some words, tehy will know what the talk is about but probably will not get all the storys exactly, which I like since for me it´s more about their facial expressions.


8. all of them stop talking the moment they leave their cameras by themselves on the piano ( like a sign of giving up talking about failure, leaving behind the person they would talk about it). And now start trying to fight the failure.
They gather in the middle and start the "perfect sequence" with the dogma sentences ( I love to..., I love to...), no music, maybe just the sound of the video projections, which still runs in a loop, silently in the background.


9. the sequence leads into the " caught up sequence" , which gets more and more restricted, for the good of showing the failure in fighting the failure, music fades in (hard music, didn´t decide on a song yet)

The reason I like to seperate those two pieces is, cause the first piece can give an impulse on the thought of failure.In this experiment it´s, cause of the given terms already preprogrammed that they will faile somehow in the movement, since tehy never danced the piece before.It´s quite hard to dance a "perfect" piece (perfect in the sence of what the audience would see or accept as a good danced piece), but through the fact that they had a given task, they had the chance to get more into it, to get passionated about it or at least to find their own way with it.They had a certain time to altercate with it.

So this piece is more about creating the actual moment of honest failure on stage, while the other piece more broaches the issue of failure.
The first piece is more of showing a little process of our research, which I think is alreday saying so much.

One doubt I have about my second piece is that can end up beeing way to much.The camers, the projections, the talking, the music.
Maybe the cameras, for now, will just be an aid for the process and can be left behind later on.

In my next rehearsals I like to talk to the dancers about my mentioned ideas. Go through it an see if it´s round or if things don´t end up making any sense. I´d like their views on it too.
I will also teach them a little more of the failure sequence, which till now is about 2 min. long.
Also I will repeat all movement material we have till now, since we missed one rehearsal last week.

My further steps will be, to find a technician I can talk to, about the realization of the cameras and live projections on stage.
And also to start writting the choreography on paper.Which brings me to the point that I have to decide on rather I choreograph a piece in the studio and than write it out or if I also will just create it in my head????


So far.

Sonntag, 15. November 2009

9. rehearsal

Today I started rehearsals with a short introduction on my thoughts for the video statements.
I had the picture in my head that all three of them would walk arround with their camera in their hand, the camera represents a dirary, friend, themselves. Everybody is tells their statement of failure. At the same time.The walking was free, means if somebody decided to stand or sit inbetween was fine, cause I wanted to give them the feeling of really talking to somebody (like on the phone).

We experimeted a little with it, and the first time it was still having this heavy atmosphere of confession and a sitting circle.
So for the second try I asked them to not necessarily talk about the feelings in a failure moment but to tell a story of a moment they failed, to make it more alife. I also gave the task to try walking with their camera.

That try went much better, I liked that it was more alife and it got much more funny since I was able to hear about some really funny moments and it made it more real, cause they actually had to remember a point of time, which was a good way to make it more real.
Than I asked them, independently from the task before, to improvise to the feeling of a situation they failed.And asked them to set a short sequence (one time 8, or less) .
After that I went back to the first task with the cameras and aske dthem to put both together.Means to talk about their failure moments to the camera and inbetween express it through the short movement sequence.

The video of Mareike from rehearsal 8 is what came out of it ( I had to post it in the last blog since the old "statements of failure" where to long for this blog).


One idea I have is, as I mentioned last time, to porject the faces as a close up to the backwall, for the good of shwoing their behaviour, their expression while confessing or talking about failure, which Iam interested in.It´s not mainly about what they talk but how they say it.
But I don´t know if that wouldn´t be too much. Three big faces on the backwall, Three dancers life on stage, all talking.

After that I contiued teaching them the little "caught up" sequence.




Which for my taste still has to be faster and more restricted in the movement since I want to use it intbetween the piece for a short expression whenever that feeling of "beeing caught up" comes up. I ´ll see if I maybe really keep that open and free to them that they just do it when they really feel like that.The difficulty could be that they may not have that sensibilty while they are on stage.


Another idea I had is that I´d like to underline that this piece is a piece which is failed in beeing a failure piece.I would like to show the antagonism between making a piece about failure, reaching for the perfect and failing in all of it, since I don´t have the ability to be perfect nor to make it just about failing there will be moments were they won´t faile.

So one way to do that I was thinking of making an announcement through loudspeakers : " This piece failed in it´s perfection".
I´d like to put that at the end of the piece since it would anticipate to much in forehand.

Out of another research on youtube I found some videos about "failure" in a comical way.There was a time, I think it started beeing fashioned on TV about 10 years ago, when they started to put whole TV shows on, which were all about showing people failing.It´s called "funniest accidents ever".
An example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wypCGl4YX3Y


It clearly shows (of course exaggerated versions) that the failure of people through it´s excessiveness, is even funny. Though the moment it happend laughter would in the most cases been inappropriate.But if failure is seen by hindsight, than it´s even funny.I like to have also a focus on that site of failure. The funny, light site.

So for the next rehearsals I am planing on continuing working on the "statements of failure".Iam also planning on getting together with a proffessional for questions of realisation of cameras an live projections.

Montag, 9. November 2009

8. rehearsals

Today we started the rehearsal with repeating the learned movement combinations.
They really have to be rehearsed a lot since it is suppose to be the "pefect" part of the piece.So I really want the dancers to put lots of effort in rehearsing so that they can totally stand behind the result.
After that I started working on the "statements of failure" .
So I asked each of them to take notes on the personal feeling of failure.To describe the feelings they have in a moment of failure or to tell a story. I left open how deep they wanted to go into it, since it´s quite a private thing.
Than I told them to spread in the room and start telling me about their thoughts on the asked questions. I decided the starting person and in the middle of her statement I let the next person start her statement and the otherone had to stop. With that system I let each of them tell their storys, with little interruptions but with the task to start again at exactly the point of interruption, so they continued their storys in the end, but all the storys where mixed.

A short example for a better understanding:-):





I think the sitting in the room is not working so well, cause it just gives me to much the impression of a self- help group, maybe through the composition of sitting, and talking one after the other.
But when I saw them sitting there and talking such intimate stuff I felt that is was very intense though and what worked was the basic idea of sharing an intimate moment of fail
ure.

So I had to think about how to give them the chance to have this very honest and intimate moment on stage.

And I noticed what made it really interesting and privat was actually how each of them told their thoughts (you could clearly see who was honest and who made themseves vulnerable), their face was really intersting to me.


So what I tried out next was, that each of them had to tell their story into a camera.


My idea is that I want the audience to share their privacy kind of, but to make it still a private thing and not a "showing of with my story thing".Means I didn´t wanted them to tell the story directly to the audience. More like the audience is having a glimpse on a private moment.
I also wanted this moment to really happen live on stage. So the idea is that each of them is telling their thoughts, feeling to their own intimate failure situations to a camera (as form of dirary) or it could even be seen as a close friend.I don´t want it to have the character of an interview, so I decided that they are holding the camera themselves. And they can move it as they want.

This way they can even do it with the back to the audience
The cameras are connected with cabels to a projector, which projects the picture (manly the face) to a white screen onto the back wall.Since I would like to still have the moment private but still seen closly by the audience.
One example:




I think it´ll be a clear challenge to stay very honest on stage. I don´t want it to be played in anyway at all. I really want them to not learn their story by heart.

For that I´ll ask them to think of a new situation of failure or another angle to it, to make it as honest as possible.


From our first try, I still like that they are talking disrodered, so that it´s more like frazzles of thoughts.One starts her thoughts and the other one interrupting for her own view on it. Three different views, storys. Getting a connection by the disordered composition.



In conclusion, this rehearsal brought in a new aspect of how to continue with the statements of failure.

The aspect of cameras and live projections on a screen.

Sonntag, 1. November 2009

7. rehearsals

Today I started with refreshing (repeating) the learned sequence ( "perfect sequence" ).
And continued to teach the sequence further on.

After that I started teaching them a little sequence which I call "caught up" sequence.
I choreographed it with the inspiration of the moment of failure, where I am still trying to fight failure to not be exposed. The moment of trying to be perfect.
It´s a little short sequence, sharp in the movements, which I can use as a " fill in " inbetween. Cause it´s an expression of fighting with the failure/ perfect issue.
We also talked about the previous course and came to follwing conclusions:
  • I don´t have to use the self played music pieces necessarily ( since the original idea was more for the research for the dancers of the failure feeling

  • we talked about the pressure of receiving a perfect state and came back to the thought of Charles Darwin and his evolutionary theory about the "survival of the fittest"

  • I also talked with them about my further thoughts during the break and the developement of the "failure" sequence and the projection on a screen.
    And we discovered that it is a really thin line of objectivy the issue of failure through the whole informing about the process and with it revealing the reasons of failure and through it make it a convictable for the outsite.
    So I came to the conclusion that I really want to stick with the issue of perfection/failure in a very subjective, personal and exposing way and find a way of identification for the audience.

In my next rehearsals I will continue cleaning up the movement and make sure the dancers have the sequences ( I was thinking of doing a quick runthrough every beginning of the rehearsal so that they get secure and clean in it).

I will also work on the personal statements and their realization in the piece.

Continues thoughts

So here a little update on what I was working during the fall break.
I was trying to give myself an overview on what I have till now.
I have about seven different elements:

Music piece I

- failure

- ronda alla turca on piano



Music piece II

- failure

- Bach Symphony played all together

Music piece III

- failure

- Improvisation on the drums

Movement sequence on " caught up"

- more for the use of an reaction in

between the piece

Movement sequence on " failure"

- learned by heart from a piece of paper

- no practice


Movement sequence on " perfection"

- plus dogma sentences

- plus failure in the end


Statements on failure

- intimate, private insight


I started playing a little with it and thought of how I could start the piece.

One Idea is:

I start with the statement part.
I clould let each of them stand on stage in a cone of light, (for the atmosphere of revealing something, beeing exposed), let them give their statement to either how they feel personally the moment they faile. Or I could let them give a statement on theier music piece and let them talk about exactly that failing moment.

I ´d like to stick with that idea cause I like the idea of honesty on stage.

Another idea is:

To start with the failure dance sequence.
And also with the idea of making it "honest failure" through using the "paper method"
I mentioned before.
The idea is to have a projection on the backwall of the follwing text:

"About two weeks ago three dancers received a piece of paper with a written choreography. Their task was to learn that choreography by heart, but not to dance it out before now.
They only practiced it in their heads.
Tonight is the first time they actually dance it out."

Than the movement sequence is going to be projected on the screen the same time as the dancers dance it out on stage.
Maybe the dancers could even write down their mistakes after they danced it out. As kind of a life refelection of their failure on stage.
The thing about this version is, that I would not really stick with my original idea.Since this version is clearly playing with the provocation of failure.Primarily the idea with the written choreography was more for the sake of receiving an honest way of failure but not to expose the way of how they fail.
So through let the audience know about the challenge of dancing it the first time on stage, it is not convictable anymore.And the it´s not about the receivement of the perfect state anymore, cause it hasn´t been practiced before.


I also researched a little on other choreographies with the topic of failure to get a wider perspective on it, and found out the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgHlAK8perw


Beige (2007)
A choreography by Giulia Mureddu for the dancecompany Krisztina deChâtel.Beige is a piece in which she magnifies the area between success and failure. The three dancers are determined to avoid failure but with this determination their failure actually starts. Will they succeed, or do their attempts to succeed fail already beforehand? Beige is the moment before you dive nothing is yet lost, but neither is anything won.

This choreographer is more dealing with sucess as with perfection. Though I can see a clear connection since they research on the avoiment of failure.
I like a lot that the result is that failure can´t be succeded.
But I think the choreography is to clean to "succeded" for really making the topic an khonest issue also insite the piece.

Something else I found is youtube dance performances and in a way their close connection to failure.
For example, this performance of "I Want to Love You Tender" by Armi & Danny, a successful 1970s duo, was popular on the Internet even before YouTube took off.
What is it about dancing that makes it so recyclable as comedy? Is it cause of it´s failure?
Television comedy that relies on dialogue doesn’t always work very well; if the viewers don’t understand the references to contemporary events the comedy falls flat. With dance performances, however, the viewers’ inability to quite understand the frame of reference of the performance can make it even funnier. For the Internet user, it is often unclear whether a performance was originally meant as serious or as a joke. For example, Gregorius’ Finnish language version of "YMCA" perplexed viewers when it briefly became the most watched clip on Youtube this autumn. Dressed in sports gear, Gregorious and a group of male backing dancers perform a curious choreography. Was this really considered cool in the 1970s Finland? No it wasn’t – the performance was originally meant as a joke. Uncertainty about the intentions of the performers often adds to the fascination of old dance performances.
Their performance seems like a pathetic, failed attempt to copy international fashions. For the contemporary viewer it provides a comforting view of 1970s Finland, seemingly more naive than the self-reflexive present. ( extracts of " What is so comical about old choreography" by Maria Pajala)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA5GkLM5C7M

With this example I can see that failure and its actuall beauty of it is more often a topic than expected. And mostly not choosen with the intention to pick it out as a central theme. And obviously in the nower world of video publishing used as a means to an end, by now in awareness but in the beginnings also unconcious.


So far till the next rehearsal together with my dancers again.