In this space you will find material that I documents my meetings with other dancers and some collaborators. Whereas I developed and researched my freestyle practice and the creative playground mainly alone this space is all about meeting others.
Here my inner universe met the outside world. In this reality check I negotiated the space in between my research and my collaborating dancers, brought my theories into practice and collected impulses to further specify and theorize my practice.
An important stepping stone was a jam session where I invited dancers to try out my collection of objects. Read my reflection on that session here and make sure to watch the video to get a peak into the studio:
trying out the collection of objects
Other than that you will find three solos that I choreographed in a cocreative process and where I could work in more depth. Click the links to go to the solos:
Albi Gjikaj David Kwiek Joseph Simon
the procedure we followed to create the solos
As a main foundation mode of exchange the cipher served as a medium. Learn more about it in this section:
trying out the collection of objects
One of my research interventions was a shared space where I presented my collection of objects with some dancers from different backgrounds: Amelia Eisen, Kirill Berzowski, Miriam Markl, Joelina Rietsche and Julie Pécard who all have some kind of academical dance training and Tonia Kyriakou and David Kwiek from the urban dance community.
In order to see what my colleagues would do with the objects I shortly introduced them however without the procedure that I describe here. I was interested how a diverse group would approach the objects and if I would be affected by their explorations in some way. I hoped to get a feeling of authenticity and receive some reactions to develop my collection.
There were two approaches: dancing with the object and using it as a prop — or becoming the object and using it as a way to open up an imaginative world. It was interesting to see the different ways to move: David chose work mostly with the object as as a prop. Often times he used Popping technique to imitate or play with the object.
The other approach was more conceptual, taking the object as an image and embodying it. Since I worked predominantely like this I could relate more that way of interaction. My attention went more into how the person moved, if I could sense a connection and if they really embodied the object. I enjoyed to watch the emerging flow and be affected.
Before this intervention I had spent most of my research sessions alone. This clash with other people was confusing for me and I was overwhelmed by the amount of information. I learned from this intervention that it is not enough to purely share information but that I also need to take leadership of the space and be clear about my intentions. I had introduced the objects but I was missing communication. The objects are a medium that help me to create a common ground of ideas. An exchange has to follow that in that case was not sufficiently happening and that I could’ve facilitated more.
Therefore I defined my way of collaboration more precisely. I give more information about that in common ground.
Watch to get an impression of the session
about the cipher
In the jam sessions/rehearsals we used the cipher, a circle where ideas are exchanged in call and response, as a foundation for interaction. Substantiated by Niels Robitzky's The Cipher/Circle (2015) I defined its most fundamental codes:
Cipher session, not a presentation.
With raw, unpolished material. Embracing the element of surprise with the unknown always with you.
We all are essential part of the cipher. We create it together. It’s there to jam, to exchange, to vibe. Together.
The cipher builds on exchange, on a physical dialogue. Negotiating common ground, the red thread of the conversation, we share our ideas.
Ideas about movement, movement ideas, feeling the groove, adding personal flavor, our aesthetics.
Without feeling there is no cipher. We support the other, giving props, appreciating what’s done, empowering each other.
Staying alert, always ready to react, anticipating, we continue the flow.
It’s a challenge. Always trying to bring fresh material, nothing twice. Sharing emotion, sharing passion.
Taking the ideas of a cipher as a starting point to organise us and the space:
Could there be a cipher without a cipher? What if we take away the spatial organisation of the cipher? Can the cipher be the whole space? Can we stretch the possibilities of call and response? Can we keep them? How can we keep the vibe? Can we still take turns when the space is different? What if we let things happen? Can we negotiate the codes of the cipher? What do we keep? What do we let go?
When we created the solos we went through the following procedure:
- Interview in order to identify a starting point and to find out common interests
- defining a movement language by ciphering
- distilling motifs that reoccur and are of interest for both sides
- finding ways to integrate aspects of my practice into the motifs
See the topic we defined in relation to what the dancer brings.
Next to the cipher, this quote from Anne Theresa de Keersmaker (2020) served me as an inspiration to describe the working ethic in the studio: In rehearsals we were looking at each other from the side, thus we were always mentally and physically involved. […] The underlying idea of this decision is that the rehearsal is the work and the work is the rehearsal. Rather than being a preconceived idea, it was an ethic that emerged from the very process of working together, not a preconceived idea. (P156)