Saturday, 21st June 2008 - after the showing...

... posted on the longest day...

The showing went very well. Beautiful performances from Kally, Steinvor and Dmytro. Everyone so together. The cameras and receivers worked, too - so, I was able to do what I wanted to with the projections. A wonderful, attentive audience - all ages, all professions - invited to walk around the performance, many did. The space was charged with energy! Terrific Q&A, great questions and discussion. Wish it could have gone on longer, but we had to strike everything (including the rigging for the harness - which Jonothan did) to clear the studio for evening classes. A few drinks and snacks after, across the Grassmarket, to end the day and two weeks of very focused, intensive work. We'll come back together in August, briefly, for a few rehearsals and a Heads Up performance just before I fly back to Springfield, MO.

Thanks again to everyone - Kally, Steinvor, Dmytro, Sheila, the entire Dance Base staff, all who came to the showing - and of course to Morag Deyes MBE for inviting me for the summer and offering the residency, and to the Missouri State University Graduate College, who awarded me a Summer Faculty Fellowship for the project.

And now... on to editing the video footage from the showing, from two cameras. And then deciding on the next configuration. So: to be continued...

Thursday, 19th June 2008

It feels that Homing/In has grown in amplitude, and spherically (if that's possible) this week: in depth, clarity and complexity. This is in large part thanks to all the collaborators and their very generous contributions - in artistic commitment, in discussions and in personal presence. The piece certainly would be a different event without them, or with another team.

So, what do we have? Lots of questions have come up along the way to stimulate and stretch my imagination. My thoughts have bounced around as I home in on Homing/In... Here are random notes from the past three days.

My main focus (after making the movement, seeing what Kally could do with harness and silks and what Steinvor could do in the silks, discussing music/dance relationship with Dmytro and with the dancers) has been the projections - which also means figuring out how the mini-cams, receivers and switcher work. Some major frustrations along the way: sometimes the cameras/receivers haven't worked at all - and it wasn't until today, when Kally observed that they've been fine in the morning but not in the afternoon, and after I had asked that we all turn off our mobile/cell phones, that we thought of the WiFi system in Dance Base... and that perhaps a wireless computer connection could be disrupting one of the receivers. A quick visit to the first (American second) floor and the Green Room... there was Lina, on her laptop... she graciously turned it off, and we were fine again upstairs! Request to Dance Base friends, audience and colleagues: kindly disable all wireless electronic devices between 3:45 and 4:30 tomorrow!

But that was the least of my worries, with respect to the projections. My real questions to myself have been: what goes with what? and why? what is the function of the projections in this piece? Before figuring that out, I asked Steinvor and Kally to do a bit of "homework" and answer these questions: Who are you (in Homing/In)? What is/are your intention(s) throughout? (i.e., why does Steinvor hand Kally the clasp for the harness, and why does Kally accept in and then go up in the air?... aside from me saying that's what I would like them to do) This task proved very fruitful and exciting, since they both expressed almost the same thoughts, but in different language. Kally talked about the camera, and that she feels she is a witness, seeing and reporting (I am paraphrasing); Steinvor said she feels both connected and detached. From this, we could go deeper into their relationship to the movement, to each other, and to Dmytro and his music. And I could then work with the switcher/projector/screen as a result and representation of the dancers' spatial orientation (i.e., showing their perspectives - whether physical, emotional or psychological): revealing where they are, not necessarily what they DO see, but what they MIGHT see (bizarrely, they might be looking somewhere with their eyes - and seeing - but, because the camera is on the sternum, the audience sees something else on the screen).

So, I switch (ha!) around: from a still image, to each of their cameras, to both cameras on a split screen, to both cameras overlaid, to a geometrical pattern of the data, to showing what the mover's body "sees," or what the non-mover sees, and so on. And figuring out when to put in stills...

Ah, yes: stillness (and silence). That has been a topic for discussion. How much sound and/or movement do we need, can we have, before we - spectators or performers - feel overwhelmed? How much is enough? how much is too much? how much is not enough (and why?)? How do we process what we see/hear/smell/taste/touch/sense?

Silence and stillness punctuate dynamic changes. Qualities of movement and sound become clearer. Here is a list of dynamics and intentions that seem to me to fit Homing/In:

• focus/vision/gaze
• light/strong/sharp/connected
• aggression/hesitance
• caressing/supporting
• stalking/following
• showing/revealing/appropriating

Yes, the cameras and the dancers are witnesses - but, who is interpreting the data, and how, and why? (the spectators, no doubt: that seems pretty obvious! - and they are witnesses, too...)

When Steinvor sits in the silks, what we call "the cocoon" recalls a raindrop, or a teardrop.

Another discussion centered around pedestrian movement: I decided, after we'd worked on the unhooking of the harness equipment, that I did not want that action to be solemn, or ritualistic: rather, show the action as action. Sheila asked me when/how I think a quotidian act becomes interesting in a theatrical setting... I think it has to do with:

• juxtaposition
• timing
• intention/engagement with the action

In other words, if one takes the time to do something, and really invest one's attention to that act, without worrying about it, or trying to gloss over it ("I have to get through this, it's just a transition, leading to something you'll enjoy watching"), any action can become interesting/engaging - in a theatrical context.

Sheila mentioned this column that struck her as relevant, by Roger Cohen: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/16/opinion/16cohen.html

And, among all this very serious discussion, lots of laughter. Ceci n'est pas un piano (OK, we know that! - and a Magritte reference). Thinking about the possibility of costumes: how ironic/absurdist could we get (do we want to? no, I don't think so!) - a sylph (Steinvor) and a nun (Kally); other references to 1960s/1970s television: The Avengers, with two Mrs. Peels and one Mr. Steed (who also might be a Magritte painting), I-Spy, Mission Impossible (music)... and so on. Black-on-black (that's what we're using now). I have no imagination for how they might be dressed. Other clothing would definitely add to Homing/In... not sure, yet, about that statement!

So... showing tomorrow at 4:00 pm!
And Saturday is the longest day... midsummer madness?

Monday, 16th June 2008: first day week 2

A short work day today, with a Body Circuits class in the middle. A good deal of discussion about logistics, and about different configurations: one for this Friday, one for the Heads Up performance in August. We will look at another possibility, without live aerial work, but with video of it at some point - not sure if that will be part of (during) the performance, or a separate event (before? after? another time?).

The screen is made, the video cams work (giving off a lot of static among the faint images), the switcher can create some very nice effects. Now (of course) more questions: What video and/or what effect goes with which section of dance and music? How does the projected image change what the spectator might see/receive? What/whom is being homed in on...
What is distance? What is proximity? When (sometimes/always/never) is Homing/In intimate? When is it remote? Who are these people, and what are they doing (and why)?

I wonder if Homing/In really is about surveillance, if that intention is apparent enough; perhaps some sections should be longer; perhaps the whole event is simply ironic, since we cannot create any sort of atmosphere: the natural light at this time of year (and with the unusually glorious weather) transforms the space and the duet into something that is so obviously not hidden, not secret, not subversive... is it possible to create a sense of deception and uncertainty in such a well-lit environment?

We will get to perform it again, later in the summer, when the sun will be lower in the sky and the days shorter...

Sunday, 15th June 2008

Steinvor and Kally now have solo passages - so, we probably have created all the movement, as Dmytro is finishing the music, for the first showing.

Perhaps Homing/In, along with Quicksilver, is part of a longer piece. Or, alternatively, the sections that make up this part of Homing/In are loops, as I initially intended to construct the piece. If that is the case, we now need to investigate other ways of presenting the material ("material" includes Dmytro's music).

I need to map the spatial patterns, looking at distance and proximity - between Kally and Steinvor, between them and Dmytro, between them and the audience (i.e., the center vs. the periphery of the performance space) - and also to start working on the projected images (finally!).

On a completely different note, I was one of four judges yesterday, for the inaugural Scottish National Choreographic Competition, at Telford College. The other judges were British choreographers Alan Greig and Michael Popper, and Monica Arnott, Marketing Manager of British Harlequin - the manufacturer of dance/performance floors worldwide and a sponsor of the competition. We saw some very promising talent from all over Scotland. For more information about the event, go to http://www.ed-coll.ac.uk/content.asp?ArticleCode=212

Thursday, 12th June 2008

No photos today - just a lot of cleaning, talking about relationship, adding a short solo section for Kally. Sheila stayed for several hours, made excellent suggestions, asked lots of terrific questions.

• What is Steinvor and Kally's relationship? (is it the same throughout the piece?)
  
• How close can they be without touching?
• How far apart and still maintain contact?
• How are Steinvor and Kally related to Dmytro?
• More discussion about vertical and horizontal space, and
• music/dance
• texture and dynamics
• ritual
• focus/intention
  

The piece is growing, gaining depth and life, taking on layers of meaning. The aerial work, the cocoon section, especially, feels more important, less like a series of nice poses. Contrast and changes in dynamics and tempi are the main issues for me at the moment. And then, of course, there is the question of the projected image, which we haven't yet dealt with at all... Perhaps tomorrow?

Day 3 - Wednesday, 11th June 2008

A productive couple of days. We created a sequence we're calling the cocoon, plus some more mimetic work between Kally and Steinvor. Dmytro worked with us today, so we're a bit clearer about some of the music/movement relationship and/or pairing.
Kally questioned how the aerial work fits into this piece - I'm looking at distance and proximity, and find the vertical distance (especially with Steinvor replicating Kally's movement, but on the ground) satisfying. What intrigues me is that Kally looks so grounded in her harness, and Steinvor appears to be floating as she dances, rolling on the floor

Monday, 9th June 2008: first rehearsal day

The Homing/In project begins. Meeting in the morning with Steinvor, Kally, Dmytro, Sheila Macdougall and Jonothan Campbell. Jonothan adds rigging for Kally's harness - giving her more options with silks and staying up in the air.

We listen to Dmytro's music and look at the space and the aerial equipment. I teach a class at lunchtime.
In the afternoon Kally and Steinvor learn part of Shana's Quicksilver solo and new duet material that plays with spatial relationships between the two of them and the space between and around the silks and the screen. We have approximately four minutes of movement, but it is not completely set; also, the questions of how the movement and Dmytro's music relate, and the role of the live-feed video projections, are yet to be seen.