"What is it About?" 20 November, 7pm at ECNAD.
Tonight I set my intention to watch the video of that evening and write about it, in lieu of the previous evening's sharing, "Hello Maybe", at The Finger Players (TFP, 8pm, 21 December 2010). Yong Wei and I were the "performance" improvisers for both evenings. He mainly conceptualised "What is it About?" while I kind of steered the process of "Hello Maybe" in response to what I felt about the former.
Many thanks to Joe Nair, our photographer friend, who loves to play as well, and to Chin Huat at ECNAD, and Jian Song at TFP, families/friends/"personalassistants" and everyone who came and witnessed and liked/disliked and shared. Newater also featured in "Hello Maybe". They sponsored bottles to TFP.
Credits aside.
How do I feel about that first evening, "What is it About?" It was my second day back in Singapore. I hadn't readjusted into my so-called Singaporean "body", the body where I have a larger personal bubble, where touch is less common, partly because of the Asian culture, and because we set up the bubble to protect and navigate through crowded streets and buses and trains. I have noticed though, that with some people, the bubble might extend to touch another's bubble and meld without actual physical touch, with some people the bubble is so strong even the physical presence feels dead, with some people the bubble is very vibrant but floating in the ether, up in the air, not quite so grounded. Start with a description, and memories. Maybe that will be enough.
17 people, including Chin Huat who video recorded for us, were there from the beginning, then 5 of my poor friends who got lost showed up midway through Yong's solo and were included as part of the "performance". I remember feeling anxious that they didn't show up, because I knew they would be accountable, and would have sent a message if they couldn't come, and besides, they had planned to come together.. so clearly they were lost. But we began. We set it up as more of a workshop-ish informal scenario. Inviting people to say their names, maybe their relationship to art/dance/performance, why they are here.. Then Yong Wei said something very important. "I'm not sure I will call this a performance... It's just a event.. yah" which then led to an invitation to listen to the sounds of ECNAD as our music, and an acknowledgment of the effort people put into coming in by going through the journeys that let them to this space. Setting up the frame of mind for something, anything, and to feel OK with what happens. Being grateful, gracious. Setting an intention, like before a yoga class except with physical landmarks of places we'd been to. I think that was paramount. How to deal with it, then, with people who join in late? They are in a different frame of mind, and that is OK. But how to be inclusive? Yong solved that, in a way, I think, when he danced behind them and camped up a little bit, behaving all shy and awkward behind them, embarrassed at being late. In line with the persona he had earlier, a cheeky monkey going up to people and "hiding" amongst the audience. Highlighting the passive/active relationship between performer and audience? The power dynamic? The weird situation of being in a room full of people, and expecting 2 of the many to give something different, something entertaining or meaningful or intense. Of being the audience, supporters of dance or friends or something, and expecting to play a certain kind of role. Different than going to a more impersonal theatre, or to a bar with live music. A little more like going to a friend's home for dinner, and being treated extra special because the friend made something special and wants to make a night of it, but feeling awkward because well, you're friends and you see each other all the time doing other stuff. On the other hand, is that too obvious and too silly? Silly without shade and therefore to some people a cheap laugh, a gimmick?
When is it OK to throw in something gimmicky? And is it really gimmicky if it's done in such a weird context? And when the performers are aware that this audience in particular has rarely if ever seen an improvised performance? Is it OK to self-consciously comment on the blurriness of boundaries between formal and casual, theatre and daily, more than we would in a situation where the audience is already comfortable with the blurriness of those boundaries? And then what about those who are comfortable with that grey area even without seeing much improvisation/performance, but who like in a way to be told what to think in even more abstract terms? Or who want there to be clear answers even when they accept there aren't any?
Is there a dance that can be seen (rather than performed) at all for people like that? People, myself included, who would dance while questioning the meaning of dance, and then those who give up dancing because they see little of value in watching dance and don't want to do something that appears meaningless to them when they think about it.. Do we rationalise the most obvious things to death?
I am embarrassed at how long I let myself stay in the solo. There were definitely moments, but there was something very manic (anxious?) about what I was doing. Most everything got thrown away, too casual, Ah! Old habits, that force of personality.. Arrogantly though, sometimes I look at what I'm doing and am amazed at all the information and sensitivity I see. More so than the strength, which seems a little soggy/wavey.. Crazy what a body can do, in that state of being overtaken by different forces without asserting my will over those forces.
1. The feeling that at some point I started to treat my friends as "front". And that I was getting cues from them and reflecting some of their boredom in the movements (thus the weirdly thrown, bochap-don't-care quality of movement). Seeking approval somehow by reflecting that boredom, is not really the best way to go about it though.. but intuitively it's what I did. What's that about? Passive-aggressive? And why did I have such a weird reaction to my friends watching.. Some dancers, some continuing to dance, others not ever?
2. Seeking approval -- why? Performer's ego? The desperation to be understood? To feel like I'm not really wasting their time? After all, why should anyone pay you to play.. When they hardly get to play themselves? And when they do play, they don't want to think about the consequences or meanings of that play. ie. Work is not play. Play is not work. Work is work and play is play. And work is inherently more valuable. The end.
3. Weird quotations and mannerisms of.. what? Cool-punk-ass-ghetto-dancers? Gangsta-wannabes? Mikhail Baryshnikov in Twyla Tharp's "Push Comes to Shove"? The showy mathematics of ballet vocabulary, the groovy rhythm of African dance, the in and out of the floor of modern?? What is all this.
4. Changing stories. How long to stay with one idea? I like to introduce a lot of ideas and then revisit ideas throughout the piece. The structure is a bit like this: abca, bd, dbebf, cg, dbgfe, fca, h in other words, random
5. "Piece" is it a good label for it? I mean, it's not something I would ever do again. Maybe mine it for material for future works, but that's more like a base.. Or research process.
This is a complicated one. I will keep thinking about it and write some more.
Many thanks to Joe Nair, our photographer friend, who loves to play as well, and to Chin Huat at ECNAD, and Jian Song at TFP, families/friends/"personalassistants" and everyone who came and witnessed and liked/disliked and shared. Newater also featured in "Hello Maybe". They sponsored bottles to TFP.
Credits aside.
How do I feel about that first evening, "What is it About?" It was my second day back in Singapore. I hadn't readjusted into my so-called Singaporean "body", the body where I have a larger personal bubble, where touch is less common, partly because of the Asian culture, and because we set up the bubble to protect and navigate through crowded streets and buses and trains. I have noticed though, that with some people, the bubble might extend to touch another's bubble and meld without actual physical touch, with some people the bubble is so strong even the physical presence feels dead, with some people the bubble is very vibrant but floating in the ether, up in the air, not quite so grounded. Start with a description, and memories. Maybe that will be enough.
17 people, including Chin Huat who video recorded for us, were there from the beginning, then 5 of my poor friends who got lost showed up midway through Yong's solo and were included as part of the "performance". I remember feeling anxious that they didn't show up, because I knew they would be accountable, and would have sent a message if they couldn't come, and besides, they had planned to come together.. so clearly they were lost. But we began. We set it up as more of a workshop-ish informal scenario. Inviting people to say their names, maybe their relationship to art/dance/performance, why they are here.. Then Yong Wei said something very important. "I'm not sure I will call this a performance... It's just a event.. yah" which then led to an invitation to listen to the sounds of ECNAD as our music, and an acknowledgment of the effort people put into coming in by going through the journeys that let them to this space. Setting up the frame of mind for something, anything, and to feel OK with what happens. Being grateful, gracious. Setting an intention, like before a yoga class except with physical landmarks of places we'd been to. I think that was paramount. How to deal with it, then, with people who join in late? They are in a different frame of mind, and that is OK. But how to be inclusive? Yong solved that, in a way, I think, when he danced behind them and camped up a little bit, behaving all shy and awkward behind them, embarrassed at being late. In line with the persona he had earlier, a cheeky monkey going up to people and "hiding" amongst the audience. Highlighting the passive/active relationship between performer and audience? The power dynamic? The weird situation of being in a room full of people, and expecting 2 of the many to give something different, something entertaining or meaningful or intense. Of being the audience, supporters of dance or friends or something, and expecting to play a certain kind of role. Different than going to a more impersonal theatre, or to a bar with live music. A little more like going to a friend's home for dinner, and being treated extra special because the friend made something special and wants to make a night of it, but feeling awkward because well, you're friends and you see each other all the time doing other stuff. On the other hand, is that too obvious and too silly? Silly without shade and therefore to some people a cheap laugh, a gimmick?
When is it OK to throw in something gimmicky? And is it really gimmicky if it's done in such a weird context? And when the performers are aware that this audience in particular has rarely if ever seen an improvised performance? Is it OK to self-consciously comment on the blurriness of boundaries between formal and casual, theatre and daily, more than we would in a situation where the audience is already comfortable with the blurriness of those boundaries? And then what about those who are comfortable with that grey area even without seeing much improvisation/performance, but who like in a way to be told what to think in even more abstract terms? Or who want there to be clear answers even when they accept there aren't any?
Is there a dance that can be seen (rather than performed) at all for people like that? People, myself included, who would dance while questioning the meaning of dance, and then those who give up dancing because they see little of value in watching dance and don't want to do something that appears meaningless to them when they think about it.. Do we rationalise the most obvious things to death?
I am embarrassed at how long I let myself stay in the solo. There were definitely moments, but there was something very manic (anxious?) about what I was doing. Most everything got thrown away, too casual, Ah! Old habits, that force of personality.. Arrogantly though, sometimes I look at what I'm doing and am amazed at all the information and sensitivity I see. More so than the strength, which seems a little soggy/wavey.. Crazy what a body can do, in that state of being overtaken by different forces without asserting my will over those forces.
1. The feeling that at some point I started to treat my friends as "front". And that I was getting cues from them and reflecting some of their boredom in the movements (thus the weirdly thrown, bochap-don't-care quality of movement). Seeking approval somehow by reflecting that boredom, is not really the best way to go about it though.. but intuitively it's what I did. What's that about? Passive-aggressive? And why did I have such a weird reaction to my friends watching.. Some dancers, some continuing to dance, others not ever?
2. Seeking approval -- why? Performer's ego? The desperation to be understood? To feel like I'm not really wasting their time? After all, why should anyone pay you to play.. When they hardly get to play themselves? And when they do play, they don't want to think about the consequences or meanings of that play. ie. Work is not play. Play is not work. Work is work and play is play. And work is inherently more valuable. The end.
3. Weird quotations and mannerisms of.. what? Cool-punk-ass-ghetto-dancers? Gangsta-wannabes? Mikhail Baryshnikov in Twyla Tharp's "Push Comes to Shove"? The showy mathematics of ballet vocabulary, the groovy rhythm of African dance, the in and out of the floor of modern?? What is all this.
4. Changing stories. How long to stay with one idea? I like to introduce a lot of ideas and then revisit ideas throughout the piece. The structure is a bit like this: abca, bd, dbebf, cg, dbgfe, fca, h in other words, random
5. "Piece" is it a good label for it? I mean, it's not something I would ever do again. Maybe mine it for material for future works, but that's more like a base.. Or research process.
This is a complicated one. I will keep thinking about it and write some more.
posted by b at 9:32 AM
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