Falling in is a set of movement exercises directed towards a specific physical and sensorial experience that has the aim to de-pattern the habitual paths of the body in relation to the use and perception of space.
The practice is an exploration of the physical, psychical and sensorial implications of the action of "falling in".
Inspired by the Deleuzian concept of “becoming” (coming from the Latin verb “devenire” which means “coming down, falling in, arriving to”) I propose the inquire of the fall as a physical door to the unknown and the embracement of uncertainty as an ally for discovering new ways of moving through space and experiencing it.
Understanding falling in as a dialogue between the force of gravity and the other attractions that moves the parts of the body within the space in multiple different directions, we focused on the constant kinetic re-organization of the body in between moments of physical balance or resistance to gravity.
A point of the ribs, breathe out, fall in, observe the transformation, play with it, the wall, breath in, extend that moment, the ceiling, scapula, breathe out, fall in.
This dance is a play between controlling and “falling in” in which the practitioners can inquire the potential of their articulated movement, the openness and tridimensionality of the body worked through the relaxation and conscious use of the core, and the awareness of the space.
This practice flourished on the one hand as a response to the solid kinetic script that is so often used in the field of choreography and that impacted many practices including my own.
On the other hand, Falling in is an attempt to understand through its embodiment the Deleuzian concept of becoming and an attempt to put it in relation to my practice. In this sense, falling in is a response to the question: how the parts of the body can potentially move through affinities within a whole in an always changing, never being, structure. This research about the embodiment of becoming part from my interest in implementing the knowledge gain by the movement practice and its philosophical implication to the way I move within the world in a broader sense, act, relate to, and perceive.
Finally, the practice has not only led to a deeper understanding and articulation to the underlying philosophical knowledge of it through the study of the physical, psychical and sensorial implications of the experience while Falling in, but also to the creation of a certain movement vocabulary that served as the base to the creation of choreographic material
The physical, psychical and sensorial experience of the practitioners while falling in was documented during this research through metaphorical images, feedbacks gathered by text and my notes on verbal interactions.
This documentation was an essential key for re-articulating and framing the practice.
The notes reflect on shifts and changes related to the perception of the space, the de-patterning of habits of the body related to a sensation of freedom and the awareness of certain parts of the body, especially the spine.
In this section, one can access to notes on the experience of Fernanda Morales, dance maker, Jakob Lohman, circus artist and Aleksandr Ivanov, a visual artist without performing arts background.
After performing one of the exercises of the practice during the second week of the group research (March 2019), Fernanda Morales shared this metaphorical image with the group:
"It is as if the gravity is constantly shifting its gravitational centre. Suddenly one fall attracted to the floor, suddenly one can fall to the ceiling or to the wall..."
The images helped us to frame physical sensations in order to study them deeper and develop the practice in parallel to its epistemological and philosophical interpretations.
At the right side of this text box, one can observe the documentation of the metaphorical image created by me from the word of Fernanda.
Jakob described his experience documented at the video that you can watch at the left side of this text.
This moment happened during the third week of the research group phase, in March of 2019.
The notes from Jakob about the experience can be accessed at the following PDF.
Practical exercises.
Taking the embodiment of my particular vision of the term "becoming", I created a somatic warm-up and set of physical exercises that prepare the body-mind for a creative state in which the embracement of the unknown is an essential key.
The set of exercises that supports the practice started being shaped by my individual studio practice.
However, the necessity to articulate the practice and re-visit my own assumptions led me to share the practice with a small heterogeneous group of people with different backgrounds like circus, dance, photography and installation art during April-May of 2019.
My first goal for the research group sessions was to transfer my findings on the specific warm-up to other bodies to study their affection by the experience and re-visit the articulation of my own terms and tasks in order to work on the specificity of that transmission.
Sharing my material with others helped me to specify my practices and my modes of transmissions at the same time that it made research rich in dimensions.
Finally, the re-articulation of terms and specification of tools, helped me to "fall" into the next phase, where I applied my findings to the creation of choreographic body material for my final project.
The practice shared during the group research sessions was finally re-articulated, re-structured and shared here as part of my findings.
If you want to read detailed information about the structure of the research group and how it changed my practice, please move to Notes on the research group practice
If you want to experience the practice, please, move to practice space.
Aleksandr is a visual artist that inscribed himself at the last minute through his partner, also a participant. I did the beautiful mistake of not asking him if he would have any experience in dance, as I assumed the answer was yes with the rush, as all the inscriptions were arriving from people who had a certain experience.
When he introduced himself he pointed out that his experience with movement is that sometimes he likes to swim. I found a beautiful challenge to give a workshop interesting enough for both professional or experience performers and him. The way he embraced, research and perform the fall, made me happily conclude that everyone is able to fall.
In the following document, one can access a series of feedbacks and reflections that he wrote and shared with me during the workshop.
FALLING IN. PRACTICE SPACE
Please, find a comfortable space in which you can move of at least 2x2x2 meters. We will call this space "falling in space"
These audios contain a set of instructions about the practice of falling in.
Play one by one the audios, go to your "falling in space" and perform the instructions.
*If you experience any image or sensation that could be visualized popping up in your head, please move to metaphorical images while falling in and continue the practice.
