3rd Sep 2010
Hi Dan,
Great day for me yesterday. Thanks.
I probably (definitely) talk too much! But what we do is exciting and stimulating for me. I appreciate your tempo as a balance to mine. . . I was happy we got in the studio for a while though it was a bit rushed I’d like to do more moving with you and particularly to introduce you to the “embodying landscape” process that I have been developing. It relates very strongly to the topophilia/phobia concept you introduced me to. Maybe we could organize to do it together with some of the other dancers from Echo Echo. I was considering inviting four of them (maximum number for my car) to begin exploring this idea with me… some location visits and some time in the studio… maybe from this some of them might be the other movers in our project…
Steve
11th Oct 2010
Hi Steve,
What's the latest?
Did you get the images from Shroove I sent?
I used some of your levels of vertical movement in a section of a walk I did for our students and the public. It was looking at the defensive (was it level 4?) stance and movement - but trying to reduce fluidity so it became a quite stiff movement (walking through east belfast).
How are things looking from your side?
Dan
13th Oct 2010
Hi Dan,
I got the photo's.... I liked their lack of artiness.... but the sea looks great... I loved climbing those two gentle slopes.... and being outdoors in the sunshine.... I'm drawn more and more to the theme of the "real" reasons people do sport or watch sport and how the competitive aspects are often just excuses for certain forms of pleasure and that some activities don't need the excuse... sailing, climbing, hiking, but then some people feel the need to import the excuse..... or let pleasure get hi-jacked by other interests... On the other hand .... I always liked to play competitively.... something about the way it sometimes helps me to pay attention to details.... but then sometimes it actually distracts me.... the element of fear in the climbing perhaps echoes this... the need to control the natural apprehension associated with being high up demands that you focus the attention on something concrete and specific. It brings out a sort of ultra-practicality which actually can become very poetic.
When I was in Altai I was playing with this idea that when I am really practical... trying to be efficient when hiking or climbing I realise that my own practicality is attached to my history, tastes, values so where I choose to put my foot is both functional and expressive because at this level of attention the two are inseparable... I suppose that is the style of a great footballer... the art... in George Best, Maradonna, Ed Moses. At this level it is quite clear that the competition is really only a very small part of the driving force.... the focus on winning retains it's importance only as a means towards engaged attention.
... so I was walking up and down the mountain with the attention on my rhythm, balance, the choices of where to pace my feet from an aesthetic point of view... my movement poem interpreting the path (the partiture or score)... my way of playing this composition. The frustration of being a crap climber is that this feeling is very very fleeting in between longer phrases of clumsy mind.
Great that you played with level 4....! I'd love to have time to introduce some more of my approaches.... particularly my "embodying landscape" practice. ...
I am attracted to the idea of building the "outcome" work around a short intense expedition of some kind which would involve a special place, elements of climbing, recording, and the embodiment process and the post experience processing of this through the filters of ideas related to sport, the "Olympic ideal", function and beauty.... topophilia....
... I swing back and forth between inclination towards keeping the work between the two of us and opening it up to some of the Echo ECho dancers..... Having more people involved will give new opportunities but might be more difficult to go deeper because resources will have to go to them... I am going to get some of the group to do an "embodiment" process with me to see how it goes and if they are interested...
It would be good to get some time in studio, on the wall, outdoors.... and time to talk a bit more.
Steve
5th Nov 2010
Hi Steve,
Just a quick follow up after Culdaff climbing:
Vertical levels
Is this your system? or whose? where does it come from? Are there other descriptors of these or similar stages. I like the concept of the border - a threshold state between each stage. Also resonates with climbing and the rhythms of climbing - the flow and pauses - quick quick slow. That phrasing was interesting to explore and think about.
Embodying landscape
Also did you develop this technique?
It was very interesting and brought up many ideas. The technological mimicry or way of understanding having the power to scale zoom in out, the overview, macro and mirco - however not about assuming power over something - it's a more intimate loving relation with the imagined place, location or thing.
and sculpting - imaginary power of holding this landscape in your hands (a little like model making)
and google sketch up (where you can 3d plan) - able to maneuover the 3d image (also 3d animation software today like Maya)
It reminded me of fractals also.
Also interesting in relation to some climbing writing from the 70's where climber on big routes write in detail about observations of tiny details - insects, flowers, crystals. Also Jonny dawes on a deadly climb where after he talks about crying because he had to step on a butterfly or something - because this is where his foot needed to go - or he would have fell and probably died.
At parts it was similar to climbers - visualising and performing the moves on the ground - looking up at the climb.
As the landscape is in the mind and body of the performer - I guess the question is to what extent does it translate externally? - in terms of people viewing or relating to the actions made. and what is the nature, quality, power and value of this?
Would some sort of visual aid develop this possibility?
Prehen House
I liked it and there are some possibilities in the cellers (esp video), and maybe the barn. Outside also a possibility - but weather would obviously be the issue.
making the cellars more than just rooms would be interesting - finding a structure to link them - scaffold and walkways maybe. I could imagine landscape back projected so when you enter the cellar spaces there is a feeling of expanse. This could be done well by constructing a viewing space (imagine a cabin type space) within the cellar - with the end wall of that space acting as a back projection screen.
The issue is the context - how do we make it site specific - what elements do we develop to do this?
For me it links to europe - the alps, (baron.....) big house culture. Ireland in europe. old or aristocratic Europe
This then also links to Donegal - the frontiers/edges of europe. I think this could be something quite interesting in terms of context / subject matter.
For this reason i think we could make all our climbing in Donegal - how about that? there could be a couple of expeditionary possibilities - Bluestacks and Poison glen and Glenveigh etc.
The quarry has a possibiltiy too - if we use prehen then I think we should definately make a new route in the quarry - up that ridge. Looked quite easy - but that's ok. even just for fun...
The big slab / architecture:
this has possibilities - but i wouldn't want to make it too much like a stage - where the "audience" sat at the bottom and watched - that seems a dead dynamic
Also how to structure other activies around it.
I kind of still like the idea of it relating to the architecture somehow. this might be tricky with colin? But making this structure relate somehow to the building / location
Scritping - including performed and social aspects. Durational. Live choreographed and real open-ended activity - climbing which isn't certain.
Dan
6th Nov 2010
Hi Dan,
Vertical levels:
Yes this is my system. I developed it from knowledge about the (pretty much universal) reflex developmental journey from birth to walking and on to jumping (running) and upright squatting (which are higher more complex levels of reflex integration than standing. I was interested in finding a way of dealing with the "vertical journey" from a poetic/theatrical point of view while keeping the system based on scientific material. The particular divisions are my attempt to describe what a watcher resonates with, and they are based on years of observation and experimentation with students and colleagues as well as myself. The system works really well as a teaching method, getting people to be more aware of the detailed distinctions of the human journey through vertical space, and also as a compositional tool. The idea of the "borders" between the levels as locations of "poetic tension" is a relatively new addition to the system. I want to find out if there might be measurable endocrine changes when these "borders" are crossed.... (but that means finding an interested physiologist to explore with). The vertical journey of reflex development is mirrored somewhat in some versions of the evolutionary hierarchy of vertebrates .... from fish through reptiles to mammals and on to primates with human beings as the most upright, finely balanced vertebrate.
Looking at anything about human muscular-skeletal-neurological-reflex development in children would give an idea of the way in which this journey is described in detail. Most of what I know comes from Raymond Dart (Dart procedures) and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (Body Mind Centering). There seem to be lots of people dealing with learning and development problems (e.g. dyslexia) through therapeutic systems based on the patterns of reflex development.........................
Embodying Landscape:
Yes, this is my technique although it has been influenced by several people I have worked with in the past. The specific use of the hands and the systematic relation of the the hand (and foot) to the torso and head as found in Foot Reflexology Massage is my way of moving from the externally perceived to the internally resonated in a way which avoids simple representation (mime).... and towards movement itself being the poetic material rather than movement serving an idea or a concept or a mental image or picture. My feeling is that the evaluation of the movement developed through this approach is finally through the question "is it a good dance?".(But I suppose that could be just begging the question really. ) I have a sort of faith that the originating experience of the landscape is embedded there somewhere. I have no problem, in principle with, framing the movement with guiding images, text, title, music..... things which give door to "seeing" and resonating the movement... but I don't want to excuse or explain the movement or use it to "illustrate" the image or the idea. I am happy to help a watcher be drawn into the question of what the dance has to do with a theme... or what the dance "means"... but to be able to give too definitive an answer to that question implies that the whole choreographic process is pointless.
I really like the things you say about the process... they all resonate strongly with me.
Prehen House:
I have mixed feelings... but tend to be mostly interested in your responses to the space (abdicating responsibility maybe). For me I can imagine using the indoor and outdoor spaces for movement based work. The cellars are definitely appealing for the possibility of creating magic boxes through sound and projection.... big place in a small space.... camera obscura come to mind... I have really no ideas concerning a larger installation piece.
I need to really mull on the historical, social, architectural etc implications of using Prehen House. I'm sure there are plenty of interesting resonances..... practically speaking.... it is in Derry so accomodation/access costs are kept low. The idea of focusing the climbing in Donegal could be nice but I don't quite see the association with the big house culture, europe/alps.... Convince me!
Nice idea to make a new route in the quarry.
The Big Slab:
I really got excited by the idea but the only way to discover it's true potential is to create a small version of it and try it out at different angles. I like the way it relates the movement levels work to the climbing practice.... it alsi relates to the old fashioned theatres where there were raked stages so people at the back of the stage could be seen. There are still lots of those in Russia. I performed Contact Improvisation on a fairly extreme one in Kiev and it was quite an amazing experience to finish every phrase by almost falling into the orchestra pit.
Really enjoying the stimulation. Loved doing those climbs. . . wish I had more time and that it was better weather.... still....
let me know about possible dates and send an invoice or bring one with you when you come and you can get a cheque.
best wishes
Steve
