Introduction to Dismantle Map (2004/2005)

The section that follows discusses the processes for the creation and performance of Dismantle Map from two angles: choreological studies and a personal written account of the performance of the work. Both angles are problematic if the purpose of using language to articulate a lived experience is viewed as representational. It is not my intention to analyse the dance event as a mode of representation.104 It is still common for those who express interest in the study of experience to confront an objection that runs something as follows: ‘You cannot really study experience, because all experience is mediated by language – therefore one can only study language or discourse, i.e. representation.’ I would argue that the polarization of language and experience is itself a function of a predominantly representationalist theory of language. One need conclude neither that language is ‘about’ nothing other than itself, nor that language wholly constitutes experience, nor that language refers to experience that can be known in no other way. One can instead argue that language gives access to a world of experience in so far as experience comes to, or is brought to, language. (Csordas, 1994:11)

The writing style of Preston-Dunlop in her book Looking at Dances (1998) does just this. In the following excerpt the experience of breath rhythm is given to us though her language:

104 _{Banes (1987:xxiii-xxiv) and Thomas (in Morris, 1996:63-87) both reference a trend to analyse}

dance as a form of representation which, according to Thomas began in the late 1980’s. Csordas, in 1994, argues against this trend through his edited book which looks at phenomenology with regard to culture and self.

Inhale and exhale.

Feel the rise and fall of breath. Feel the length of a breath.

Feel the suspension at the peak of the inhale. Feel the release as the breath flows out, the push as the last breath is forced out and inhale again

in a continuous cycle. (1998:105)

Going back over the above excerpt and reading the words aloud has a direct influence on one’s breath in the moment. Language brought to us in this way has a double effect. It gives both “access to a world of experience” as Csordas describes, and also gives a lived corporeal experience in the moment of reading.

Problems with linguistic models of analysis have already been depicted in Chapter 1. In these final sections of this chapter I am concerned with showing how the lived experience of Dismantle Map was affected by the intersubjective moments

embedded within them. Dismantle Map was structured at the poietic105 _level around a series of intentions to embody images. The images were set in a linear order, giving the work a temporal structure, but a temporal structure which was flexible because of the engineered ruptures in the choreographic process. These

105_{The terms ‘poietic’, ‘trace’ and ‘esthesic’, found originally in the work of Jazques Nattiez}

(1990:10-16) are used to describe three phases of a work of art. The ‘poietic’ refers to the creation process and concept; the ‘trace’ is what is visible in the medium; and the ‘esthesic’ is what the viewer takes from the medium which is not necessarily present (Preston-Dunlop, 17 February 1999) and (Rubidge, 2000:13). These terms are traditionally used to carry out a semiotic analysis of choreographic works but in this case, the term ‘poietic’ is used simply to clarify that, embedded in

ruptures106 _{manifested as interruptions in the linear organisational structure of my} attention. This is best explained in comparison to the way attention is used in other Contemporary Dance works107 where the performer moves in accordance with a temporal progression dictated by the order of dance steps or events in the work. In some cases this structure is bound by a narrative but even in circumstances of abstract Contemporary Dance where movement is choreographically set, performers still follow a visceral script. To embed these ruptures in my attention into the structure of the work was an original idea which I hoped would create a visible release of my performance persona, even if for a brief moment. The

diagram on the following page shows the linear arrangement of the images which were embedded in Dismantle Map at the poietic level. The highlighted words in yellow show the engineered ruptures in attention. These were moments where I stopped the flow of images in order to give my attention fully to the moment, listening to the sound in the space and looking at the audience These were also moments where I attempted to heighten my awareness in order to find stillness within the state of readiness, strip away bits of my performance persona and react to the present. These moments of ruptures in attention gave me complete freedom to improvise in the lived moment.

106_{‘Rupture’ is a term used by Preston-Dunlop to describe a process by which codes of convention}

are broken. She says (2002:21), “Dance is built on a network of codes, that is, agreed and observed ways of doing things ‘right’.” And specifies that these ‘right’ codes have to do with movement systems, behaviour and even manner of dress in the context of ballet.

107_{Dance improvisation and contact improvisation follow a different set of rules where the “success”}

of an improvisational performance “depends largely on the communication of its specific organizing principles to the intended audience” (Hayes in Cooper Albright & Gere, 2003:115). Further

Improvisation, as I understand it, is an attentional practice: the more you attend to movement and memory and sensing and intention, the more you play (improvise) with all of the elements of what we call living --- and the more you come to understand that reality itself is based on the relationship between our attention and the world. You sense that your attention is both selecting and forming your experience in real time, but that what is being selected and formed is not completely of your choosing, because the world is improvising too; and that dance, your interaction with the world, forms you just as you form the world. (DeSpain in Cooper Albright & Gere, 2003:37)

Living Dying

WALK STAND Stand at attention awareness of being seen

butterfly

GET OUT

learning to stand leg under body

Drawn back Taste blood Thrown back bed of nails bird dying human dying

Awareness – Caught Enjoying eating other/taste of blood eaten stretched plucked On a plate

Being killed – tell the story Feeling rain/blood

Feeling sun - oats Swinging Listening Animal Figure 17 LOST Making pathways Crawling Backwards Working out from body Being on the outside Twisting rope knocking breaking Afraid of noise Anger in the place Kick up your passion

Leave the place that scares you

In web

Spider/butterfly Die - Born as human

The poeitic contents manifest as a series of variable factors that include: length of performance, movement material, costume,108 space, light and sound. These are important to discuss in terms of articulating the links between the strands of the dance medium and the choreographic intention. Despite naming these components of the work as variable, they are still operating under some fixed constraints.

Before addressing the relationship between the experience and expression of these variable factors and the intersubjectivities present in the work, I will identify the fixed constraints.

The two charts, located on the following pages, articulate the strands of the dance medium and their nexial connections in Dismantle Map (2004/2005). Although both Dismantle Map and Living La Pedrera (2006) encompass the articulation of the strands of the dance medium, it must be made clear that this has not been done for the purposes of undertaking an analysis which aims to unpick the formation of movement motifs. Instead, it has been done to articulate the strands that have been laid down to show that my personal artistic interest has to do with human presence in the contemporary dance event.

108_{Street clothes as opposed to a ‘costume’ were worn for the performance of Dismantle Map at}

Fixed Constraints within The Strands:

Performers Movement Sound Space

Matt Davis109 Images listed in

Figure 17 Live Trumpet Spatial pathways

April Nunes Readiness Sound of

Bhramari110

Proxemics

Gender Reaction Silence

Physique Replication Sound in

performance spaces111 Age Height Social relationship

109_{I have listed our names to discern that our identity as individuals beyond gender, age and}

physique is of key importance to the work as a whole.

110_{Bhramari is a pranayama (breathing exercise) that was taught in the classical Ashtanga yoga}

tradition by Baba Hari Dass. The sound produced by this pranayama resembles the sound of a bee humming. It is performed in the following way: “Tilt the head forward, constrict the throat muscles, and make as high pitched sound as possible while inhaling through the nostrils. The sound is not from the vocal cords but from air passing through the constricted throat. After inhaling, hold the breath for three seconds; then exhale making the same sound. The exhalation should be slower than the inhalation and with a higher-pitched tone” (Hari Dass, 1981:24). In the performance of Dismantle Map I repeated this sound at the very start of the work whilst moving.

111_{I had no control over the sounds which inhabited the space during the performances of}

Dismantle Map (as we performed the work in many different spaces including: traditional proscenium arch theatres, studio spaces, on the bank of Regents Canal at Chisenhale Dance Space and in the Elephant & Castle Shopping Mall). However, it was my intention to open my attention to the sounds in each of the surrounding environments in order to initiate moments of reaction.

Fixed Constraints and their Nexial Connections across The Strands:

Perf/Movt Perf/Sound Perf/Space Movt/Sound Movt/Space Sound/Space

Social

relationship Bhramari Spatialpathways Bhramari Spatialpathways Trumpet Proxemics Trumpet Proxemics Trumpet Proxemics Bhramari Sound in

environment

Silence Readiness Silence Replication Readiness Sound in

environment

Sound in environment

Readiness

Reaction Replication Replication Reaction

Replication Readiness

Reaction

The next section of this chapter asks that the reader view the DVD documented performance of Dismantle Map at the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre in London. This documentation will demonstrate the key points that have been identified in the matrixes on the previous pages and in the text.