Try with gloves instead of balloons. This is part of a work I did in 2014 called Tactil. My first work based on Sign-Language
FOREST - COLLECTIVE COMPOSITIONS - LANDSCAPES
- From one tree to a forest, solos & groups (starting for the solos for a long time)
THE BALLOON AS A DANCING BODY
&
MANY BALLOONS AS ARCHITECTURES
How does the balloon move?
- Gravity
- Electromagnetic force - contact with the dancers
- Air
GOING TO THE PRINCIPLE
This is what I have learned through my inclusive dance practice. One of my treasures. To make it accessible, find out which movement principle is underlined, so everyone can study it. The outcome is always wonderful because it's a poetic composition emerging from a celebration of diversity.
... Now I wonder: What are the underlined principles of movement when signing? can I study these principles from the somatic perspective?
+ Focus on the movement of the hands, arms, spine, rib cage, heart, head
+ Support with the movement of the hips, legs, and feet. Very strong support (Trees)
+ Move from the bones, from the flesh, from the facia, from the integration of all the systems.
+ Always talk about it with the group. Listen (another treasure)
This is the development of a somatic method of movement research specifically to study sign langue. That is why it is so important to study Dutch Sign Langue parallel to the somatic experiences. They will start to dialogue through the body, the creative body part of a collective.
References & Inspirations to research on
- Sign Language Poetry. In Spanish (Colombian) and English
- Musicians air playing - Invite Suzzane to play for us (song Waterfalls by Aron Otignon) and maybe learn something simple
- From one tree to a forest/solos & groups (starting for the solos for a long time)
Compositions with:
- Movement: the tree exercise as a base + eloquent fingers Sign Language.
- Sound: interpretation from visual to sound, music, noise, etc. (listen with the eyes, so movement comes first but we study musical elements such as rhythm and harmony)
- Space: ballons - one ballon, many balloons, big balloon, small balloon, etc. try different configurations on how the ballon takes over the space
+ Projection (this would be last)
Relationships:
- Body + Ballon: How to move the ballon using electromagnetic force?
Ballon + Body: attach many ballons to the body creating different dresses (under the clothes, attached with strings, elastics, sticks, etc.)
TREE AS A BASE FOR THE BODY STATE
This is an exercise that I learned from David Zambrano and that I have been doing for several years with different types of groups. In my version, it is about growing roots from our base (feet) to pacha mama, that nurture a support system for the spine, arms, and hands to be eloquent. To grow branches, leaves, and flowers from those roots, to connect with the sun, with the world around us.
Exercise:
- Find a space standing. The feet do not move but they support the movement of the rest of the body. Close your eyes. Connect within, with that pleasure that dance gives you.
- Grow roots from the soul of your feet to the earth. Expand those roots. Take the nutriment from the earth to bring it into the trunk and grow branches, leaves and flowers. This allows you con connect with the sun and take the energy from that as well.
- Dance as you want, as it feels good.
- Use the support system to have eloquent fingers.
- How to sign from a grounded place?
- How to sign from the whole body?
- How to have the whole body in our hands when signing?
To do:
- Do the tree exercise every rehearsal, many times. Having the feet stuck on the ground, having the hands stuck on the ground, moving the roots around, etc.
- With music, without music. Playing with rhythm and composition. Small, medium, and large.
- Master how to compose being grounded.
DECONSTRUCTING SIGN LANGUAGE
This means that I am interested in challenging the hierarchy of language by prioritizing movement above meaning:
- Use the basic signifiers of SL, which are the most common hands configurations to dance
- Use the precision of the movement that comes when signing to dance
- Play with the rhythm that emerges when signing to compose the dance
- Signing without the desire to communicate a message, but to indulge in the physical experience and let a new type of meaning emerge. It is like when you use voice, even language, focusing on sound rather than on meaning. The intention is to make it interesting both for the deaf and hearing communities. Universal Accesibility!
CONTEXT
In my previous creations involving Sign Language and choreography, I always started from text, a story, a transcription of a speech, or a text created by the dancers. Therefore, the works had a strong meaning coming from the story. With the help of all the dancers involved in the different creations, I was able to find a methodology to combine the signs with partnering and contact tools that result in a beautiful choreographic way of storytelling, as I see it.
(Check some videos by scrolling down)
What I learned from these creative processes, is that if I want to create a work based on a story or some other kind of text, I have the methodology, but what if I don't want to start from a text but from the body directly? from the kinetic experience of signing and beyond.
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO BE LISTENING TO WITH OUR SOMATIC EARS?
+ OUR SUPPORT SYSTEM: roots, bones, flesh, fascia
+ OUR ELOQUENT SYSTEM: hands, bones, flesh, rib cage heart, lungs, (maybe not organs), skin, fascia (to be continued)
+ HIPS IN THE MIDDLE: and, hips don't lie!
FASCIA
This is a system that relates the body and the balloons because its all about
VIBRATION
and because its also a tissue, like the balloons.
