Jerwood Bank 2008 – Siobhan Davies Dance

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The search for terrain has been a very complex and yet quite clear experience.The clear part was that it was very obvious that things didn’t work for a while and that was a matter of fact:my body didn’t really have a intention to mark the space but was moving through it with some empty mannerism.The missing element was a physical ’state’ which generated and condensed a movement texture,   related to the area around the body.What a state is I find a bit hard to define but it is something close to a manifestation of a physical need  or reason to move and it require  fullness and integrity in its execution. Something that travel outside but that effect the muscles right through and the relationship to oneself.We all found that the terrain were a very fragile experience to perform and that made actually easier in the sense that we had to tune into that fragility each time which forced us into sensing that reason.

The complex element of the research was that it took a lot  of trials and experiment to work this out and I wonder if there is a habitual and common experience in dancer about perceiving space as neutral element of training.It was a constant hit and miss for me and I kept loosing important characteristic of what I was doing each time…and it was extremely helpfull to work even more so as a group on this.I think that was very much of a group effort.

After the last sharing somebody asked a question about if the terrain where a duet or not and afterwards I discussed the point with Freddie who was my partner in the terrain.We both agreed on the fact that there was a strong link through a very simple juxtaposition which didn’t dictate our choices and yet gave a strong drive to what we did with a clear sense of individuality: what we did wouldn’t have existed in that way without the other.I don’t think I have experienced this type of relationship before in dancing.

The lectures, for me, were like provocations, in the best sense. Very stimulating bodies of knowledge were shared and we were able to draw parallels or links, as we liked and in our own way. We didn’t formally relate the information to our practices but did make connections in quite open-ended discussions with the practitioners. It was interesting to simply let that information be there and to allow connections to occur without forcing them. Read more >

After having shown the portrait several times , developed and inserted code into it and all the other testing we have put it through I feel that It need to be expanded and refined in terms of the relationship between the single elements.I am not happy about not having managed to do that within the time I had and I keep reminding myself about the fact that the all experience was a explorative but: I don’t mean it about not having achieved a final product.I think that I have  not  pushed the movement material and timing of it  through its limit in order to discover more about how to compose or juxtappose the different shades together.I would have like to explore the idea of expansion and silences more.

I really appreciated being in the group and seeing other people’s processes. This helped me a lot. Perhaps most specifically was when I saw individuals working in directions that were new to them, and that might not have been a challenge or a new directions for someone else. Hence, there was a sense that each individual had their own set of challenges and needed to develop their practice in particular ways that was different from everyone else. As a choreographer who works with other dancers, it was interesting to be able to appreciate individual needs and to witness my colleague’s breakthroughs in certain areas and how the project leaders helped them achieve that.
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The Bank project gave me these questions to take away

When working on a move – when testing a move:

Where does my movement begin? Where in the body does it begin? What is the spines relationship to the move? the head? the feet? where is the in breath and the out? What propels it through space? what is its rhythm? What is its emotional intention? psychological intention? What is its opposite? What action word would describe it? What poetic word or phrase would describe it? What impact does it have on the space ? What impact does the space have on it? What is its texture?

Where is the focus – where are the eyes – if you have where the eyes are clarity seems to come….

Can the body express the moment and not the face – let the body do the work

Where exactly does a movement begin middle and end – and then how can you keep a freshness and openness to the movement   – where is the play in the movement

What are your restrictions, your boundaries for the move or the moment or the phrase -

Submerge a part of a movement – top half of body only  – simplify – what is absolutely necessary?  - extracting the essence of a moment and removing the fluff – the unnecessary.

Impose an outside structure on your material – trip up your habitual structuring and rythmical  traits -

How do you expand a move without losing its essence ? Option to song a move  – break it down into tiny parts and focus on the movement within a movement.  Look for longer than  you are  comfortable with at a quantifiable amount of movement – get something small but clear – then proceed from there.

What is the perfect amount of effort for that moment for that movement …

These questions are what I will take on to my next projects – both as a performer and and a choreographer.   I am itching to make work – with this new set of eyes.

I went straight from Bank into performing – that was difficult. The time and space allowed for exploration during the Bank project can not be found in the pressure of a 6 week produce a piece of work schedule. What we were given during the Bank project can not be found again – I am very sad that is over but keen to make sure that the work started here finds a way of coming out.