PROPOSITIONS:
TO DANCE DIFFERENTLY
MICHAEL KLIËN, 2012 *
DAY 1: 3rd August 2012
* Thanks to Jeffrey Gormly, Ana Sanchez-Colberg and Steve Valk
__________________________________________
DAY 2: Working from a score:
MICHAEL KLIËN, 2012 *
DAY 1: 3rd August 2012
…Nonvision…
We
call for Dance to dance differently. Our collective manner of
disseminating dance globally has not only propagated a truly
problematic ideology of what dance should be, it has also brought
about peculiar ways of producing, networking and socializing.
Adequate instincts seem to be lacking to perceive and engage dance as
a vital technology of the self: to initiate, demonstrate and seed
instances of a different life.
- …Dance as we really know it…
Everyone
has a sense of how to dance. This is a call for dance as it is first
encountered, neither told nor taught, for the spirited suspension
of normative life, untouched by rationality. This Dance knows nothing
of acquired knowledge. Simultaneously specific and universal, Dance
wraps itself around all living, to dispel life of all its
assumptions, inadequate cognitive frames and prevailing
truths.
Proposition: To Not Know
Proposition: To Not Know
- …Dance must travel differently…
Hence
we fly to some country. We remain there for a time, spending our
waking hours in a black space that could be situated anywhere in the
world and during scarce moments of social engagement we try to figure
out, who those people are that invited you. Entirely new ways of
producing, circulating and evaluating dance are called for. The
manner of production, the conditions for, and the context of our
doings need to be completely and utterly re-sensed. This is not about
maintaining artistic integrity, about safeguarding one’s precious
ideas; this is about regaining integrity as such. A new perspective
is called for.
Proposition: Dance as Homemaking
Proposition: Dance as Homemaking
- ….no dance in pieces…
Who
ever told us that dance comes in pieces? What happened along the way
and when did we forget? All broken now, starting at 8pm and
specifically, and most perversely, not dancing as we have originally
experienced it. Dance in Pieces is a packaged, stylized
representation of what dance once felt like. Simulated spiritual
disclosures, precisely measured pretend ecstasy. With philosopher
Badiou in mind, I no longer want to think in pieces.
Proposition: The Unbroken Dance
Proposition: The Unbroken Dance
- …no more black spaces...
All
dance-spaces will have windows. The era of mapping one’s
imagination upon ‘the void’ is over. It didn’t work. It created
havoc. We now know that human imagination without constant connection
to its contextual surroundings is perilous: we aimed to be like gods,
we’ve ended up as ignorant caricatures. We critique other’s gods
as if we haven’t secretly, collectively, unknowingly conspired to
be just like them: to create a dance in just 7 weeks out of nothing,
mapped onto a black canvas and divorced from the brown earth outside,
to immerse ourselves, in an exact communion with others, in this
artificial hell.
Proposition: No more Artificial Voids
Proposition: No more Artificial Voids
- …ideas are responsible for the state of the planet…
Ideas
have done their damage. Our quest for originality, grown in the mind
of one’s own individual genius, has brought about the world as it
is. Our celebrated ideas are culpable and our response to this
endless mess is to have more ideas. Troublesome and stuck. Ideas are
means of the past, a double binding metaphysics that oscillates
between fervently building the world anew and cleaning up collateral
damage. Liberation from this addiction is required: to abandon the
longing for wicked new ideas and instead to act and dance out a
deeply perceived urgency.
Proposition: No more Ideas
Proposition: No more Ideas
- …sailing past the stones of dead builders…
In
its institutional arrangements dance has always been dependent on the
meta-message: This Is Dance. Whatever it does, however it moves or
stops, it constitutes itself that way. Such Dance has to perform and
dramatize itself to be Dance. Breaking these unspoken agreements,
abandoning the act of signification, to dance anonymously in silence,
is the true subversive act of our times.
Proposition: It Dancing Itself
Proposition: It Dancing Itself
- …the universe in a moving body…
In
dance the body can chart its own universe anew. In its relations it
carries the objectless order of the universe as mapped by the subject
upon itself: the body’s combined ability to perceive the world and
to be in the world. When dancing, the entire repertoire of relations
- geometrical, mechanic, organic and recursive - becomes available in
movement. To pre-determine dance is to operate within the narrow
bounds of mutually agreed, stale mechanics and allows for no beauty
beyond the homogeneity of granted orders. This is the death of all
other realities: the tedious dullness of tired dances, disguised as
salvation.
Proposition: Dance as the Possible Universe
Proposition: Dance as the Possible Universe
8.…dance
is no language…
Dance
must rise, pull itself free from the spirits of gravity, from the
writers (-graphers) of dance. It must find ways to govern itself,
unburdened by the need for an authoritarian voice or an empathetic
gaze. To find the site in which dance itself can constitute its own
governance. The dancing body: a mind that governs its thoughts. No
words spoken, no sentence written. This is the necessary dance of our
time.
Proposition: Changes in Governance
Proposition: Changes in Governance
9 .…the
ungovernable moment…
If
we encounter others in the moment of dance, relations are naked: a
primal, communal site is substantiated in its embryonic state. A
third body is born, made of All dancers in continuous exchange: the
invisible assimilation of one body to another. This site is not
predetermined, planned or bounded. Dance in its communal surge has to
be cultivated through itself only. No writers present.
Proposition (after Ana): Dance as a Parliamentary Site
Proposition (after Ana): Dance as a Parliamentary Site
10.…loosing
one’s limbs…
The
state of dance realigns the dancer with her surroundings. For a
fleeting moment, attuned with the oceanic that holds this world
together she enacts a personal and collective life upon her
experience. The whales shed their limbs and returned to the deep. The
Sacred resonates throughout this body and into the world.
Proposition: Reincarnate. Now.
Proposition: Reincarnate. Now.
* Thanks to Jeffrey Gormly, Ana Sanchez-Colberg and Steve Valk
__________________________________________
DAY 2: Working from a score:
Score 1: A CHOREOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL KLIËN
IM FETT NEW YORK. GRACEFUL
This work consists of four discreet sections broken up by three, so-called, ‘Thoughtbreaks’, that form distinct transitions between the parts. Do not write anything down. Do not repeat or rehearse any movements outside runs of ‘Im Fett New York. Graceful.’ This work is based on Im Fett (Kliën, 2003).
A. PREPARATION
Do something.
I. YESTERDAYS
Start remembering your life and let your thoughts become immediate movement: keep moving
and remembering: enter a dialogue with yourself.
THOUGHTBREAK
Choose a physical position that aids your own process of reflection. Identify something (a
regularity, pathology, person, etc) that forms part of you. Focus all your attention towards that something. Reflect upon it.
II: A SPECIFIC SOMETHING
Start moving again. Adjust your movement to the specific something identified. Reflect upon
this something whilst moving. Be as precise as possible in synchronising your movements to thoughts in terms of dynamics, rhythm, quality, range, etc. Eventually substitute thinking/moving in favour of dancing.
THOUGHTBREAK
Recall every ‘specific something’ since your very first rendition of Im Fett New York. Graceful.
Do not force yourself to remember: let longer waves in your mind last longer.
III: ALL SPECIFIC SOMETHINGS
Physically explore and re-visit all ‘specific somethings’ that you have remembered (in its
entirety or in parts).
THOUGHTBREAK
Go to your momentarily favourite location on stage and stop. Evoke all ‘specific somethings’
simultaneously.
IV: THE SIMPLIFICATION OF ALL
You are now the centre-point in a sea of ‘somethings’ that you have chosen and remembered
over time. Select one representative movement from every something, guided by your memory. Repeat the movements in a preferred order till they form a little sequence. Find simple transitions between the movements and repeat the resulting sequence at least twice. Thereafter, start dissolving the order of movements into randomness. Whilst doing this, scale the movements down (limit your movement-range). Start thinking of tomorrow. How will it be… stop moving after a while.
_______________________________
PROPOSITION
This work is composed out of four discreet parts broken up by three, so-called ‘thoughtbreaks’
that form distinct transitions between the parts.
PREPARATION
None in particular – remember the third part of your last run
PART ONE: THE SLOW FOCUS IN
1) Do something… start moving (music starts beforehand, then or after)
2) Start thinking of yesterday: How was the day? Adjust the quality of movement to your feelings.
3) Start remembering yesterday along a straight timeline, whereby one end of the line represents
morning, the other evening. Place the line anywhere in space across the floor. Keep your movement roughly along the imaginary line.
Move along the timeline according to your memories (ie: morning, afternoon, lunch, etc.). Think about past events and sketch them
freely into movement (including sensations, emotions, dynamics, etc.) without need for external clarity or communication. Let your
thoughts become immediate movement: keep moving and remembering.
5) As you continue sketching your yesterday along the line observe your memories and extrapolate
one feature/regularity that is, to various degrees, representative of yourself; ie: always falling asleep in front of the TV or creating
double-bind situations for your sister.
THOUGHTBREAK
1) Stop and think about this particular chosen feature that is you. Assume a physical position that
aids your process of reflection. Map that feature in your mind according to the following parameters:
• size: how typically you/how telling (max = your own Kinesphere)
• shape: intuitive
• boarder: how do you feel about it?
• consistency: how does it feel?
• movement of container: domination/submission
This mapping should result in an imaginary four-dimensional ‘organic sculpture’ of the identified
feature, referred to as ‘Choreographic Cell’.
2) Choose a second line that crosses the floor. Mentally place the imaginary sculpture
(Choreographic Cell) along this line, indicating when this feature appeared in your life for the first time: one end of the line
representing your first day of memory and the other ‘now’.
3) Ask yourself ‘why, what, how?’ – stimulate your mind around the feature by asking basic
questions about the feature you identified.
PART TWO: OF A SHARP FEATURE
1) Go to the chosen place on stage and physically outline, describe and explore the Choreographic
Cell, as developed above, in physical space. Be as precise and concrete as your mapping allows you to do. Develop more detailed
mapping if necessary. Carve out a comprehensive picture of your feature in space and enter into a dialogue with it. Once satisfied ask
yourself…
2) …why? Leave the Choreographic Cell to explore the context of your feature. Take a series of
paths away from your Choreographic Cell, tentatively mapping associations gathered in the previous ‘Thoughtbreak’ (‘why?’).
3) Ask yourself how you deal and/or would like to deal with the feature and relate to its physical
map/Choreographic Cell accordingly; i.e. ignore, destroy, acknowledge, deconstruct, …
Comment: the feature might be of a fuzzy or undefined nature, according to its mental referent; be clear on the quality without being
sketchy.
THOUGHTBREAK
Project all Choreographic Cells of past runs (since your very first rendition of Im Fett) into the
space and remember their properties. Do not worry if you can’t recall some. Only work with what you retained, including traces of
memories.
PART THREE: POOL OF FEATURES/REPERTOIRE/CENSUS
Explore, re-visit your collection of Choreographic Cells, the mental projection, which might be
scattered across the stage. Move quickly from one Choreographic Cell to another, inside some – just brushing others.
Comment: Use your built-up repertoire of movement as a strategy of census if needed. Let your memory be your guidance accepting
that some movements have more weight in your memory than others. Apply the same technique to the overall pool of features. Do
not force yourself to include all Choreographic Cells – do not write anything down. Longer waves in your mind will last longer.
THOUGHTBREAK
Move to your momentarily favourite point on stage and stop. Imagine all mental projections as
outlined by yourself in Part Three ‘move’ from their original space, travel towards you and assemble around you.
PART FOUR: THE HOPELESS SIMPLIFICATION OF SELF
You are now the centre-point in a sea of ‘descriptions of yourself’. Choose one movement out of
every Choreographic Cell, guided by your memory, and generate a new movement for the Choreographic Cell of this particular run.
Repeat the movements in a chosen order till they form a little sequence, a sentence. Find simple transitions between the movements and repeat the full ‘sentence’ at least twice. Thereafter start dissolving the set order of the movements into a random one. Whilst doing that scale the movements down (limiting your movement-range). Once ye randomised the movement order completely start thinking of tomorrow. How will it be… stop moving after a while (Music ends before, then or after).
Comment: Try to remember all the movements chosen for each particular feature/Choreographic Cell. Do not write anything down. Do not repeat or rehearse the movements outside a run of ‘Im Fett’.
NOTES
Unbestimmt (immediate) ≠ Ungenau (vague)
Longer waves last longer (Bateson)
_______________________________
Score 2; IM FETT (EDIT 2011)
LENGTH: 6 - 12 MIN
CHOREOGRAPHY: MICHAEL KLIËN
PROPOSITION
This work is composed out of four discreet parts broken up by three, so-called ‘thoughtbreaks’
that form distinct transitions between the parts.
PREPARATION
None in particular – remember the third part of your last run
PART ONE: THE SLOW FOCUS IN
1) Do something… start moving (music starts beforehand, then or after)
2) Start thinking of yesterday: How was the day? Adjust the quality of movement to your feelings.
3) Start remembering yesterday along a straight timeline, whereby one end of the line represents
morning, the other evening. Place the line anywhere in space across the floor. Keep your movement roughly along the imaginary line.
Move along the timeline according to your memories (ie: morning, afternoon, lunch, etc.). Think about past events and sketch them
freely into movement (including sensations, emotions, dynamics, etc.) without need for external clarity or communication. Let your
thoughts become immediate movement: keep moving and remembering.
5) As you continue sketching your yesterday along the line observe your memories and extrapolate
one feature/regularity that is, to various degrees, representative of yourself; ie: always falling asleep in front of the TV or creating
double-bind situations for your sister.
THOUGHTBREAK
1) Stop and think about this particular chosen feature that is you. Assume a physical position that
aids your process of reflection. Map that feature in your mind according to the following parameters:
• size: how typically you/how telling (max = your own Kinesphere)
• shape: intuitive
• boarder: how do you feel about it?
• consistency: how does it feel?
• movement of container: domination/submission
This mapping should result in an imaginary four-dimensional ‘organic sculpture’ of the identified
feature, referred to as ‘Choreographic Cell’.
2) Choose a second line that crosses the floor. Mentally place the imaginary sculpture
(Choreographic Cell) along this line, indicating when this feature appeared in your life for the first time: one end of the line
representing your first day of memory and the other ‘now’.
3) Ask yourself ‘why, what, how?’ – stimulate your mind around the feature by asking basic
questions about the feature you identified.
PART TWO: OF A SHARP FEATURE
1) Go to the chosen place on stage and physically outline, describe and explore the Choreographic
Cell, as developed above, in physical space. Be as precise and concrete as your mapping allows you to do. Develop more detailed
mapping if necessary. Carve out a comprehensive picture of your feature in space and enter into a dialogue with it. Once satisfied ask
yourself…
2) …why? Leave the Choreographic Cell to explore the context of your feature. Take a series of
paths away from your Choreographic Cell, tentatively mapping associations gathered in the previous ‘Thoughtbreak’ (‘why?’).
3) Ask yourself how you deal and/or would like to deal with the feature and relate to its physical
map/Choreographic Cell accordingly; i.e. ignore, destroy, acknowledge, deconstruct, …
Comment: the feature might be of a fuzzy or undefined nature, according to its mental referent; be clear on the quality without being
sketchy.
THOUGHTBREAK
Project all Choreographic Cells of past runs (since your very first rendition of Im Fett) into the
space and remember their properties. Do not worry if you can’t recall some. Only work with what you retained, including traces of
memories.
PART THREE: POOL OF FEATURES/REPERTOIRE/CENSUS
Explore, re-visit your collection of Choreographic Cells, the mental projection, which might be
scattered across the stage. Move quickly from one Choreographic Cell to another, inside some – just brushing others.
Comment: Use your built-up repertoire of movement as a strategy of census if needed. Let your memory be your guidance accepting
that some movements have more weight in your memory than others. Apply the same technique to the overall pool of features. Do
not force yourself to include all Choreographic Cells – do not write anything down. Longer waves in your mind will last longer.
THOUGHTBREAK
Move to your momentarily favourite point on stage and stop. Imagine all mental projections as
outlined by yourself in Part Three ‘move’ from their original space, travel towards you and assemble around you.
PART FOUR: THE HOPELESS SIMPLIFICATION OF SELF
You are now the centre-point in a sea of ‘descriptions of yourself’. Choose one movement out of
every Choreographic Cell, guided by your memory, and generate a new movement for the Choreographic Cell of this particular run.
Repeat the movements in a chosen order till they form a little sequence, a sentence. Find simple transitions between the movements and repeat the full ‘sentence’ at least twice. Thereafter start dissolving the set order of the movements into a random one. Whilst doing that scale the movements down (limiting your movement-range). Once ye randomised the movement order completely start thinking of tomorrow. How will it be… stop moving after a while (Music ends before, then or after).
Comment: Try to remember all the movements chosen for each particular feature/Choreographic Cell. Do not write anything down. Do not repeat or rehearse the movements outside a run of ‘Im Fett’.
NOTES
Unbestimmt (immediate) ≠ Ungenau (vague)
Longer waves last longer (Bateson)
