“In November last year, I’ve started to work on a new piece. I spent some time in Centre 151 studios researching on this new work and before going back to rehearsals in Spring to keep working on it, I would like to share with you a few visual episodes of what came out of the R&D sessions. A mix of words, questions, spirals and at times movement.”
I started this visual diary at the end of February, as part of the creative process for new Solo performance piece. I had a residency planned in May and its focus was on developing the material I created in the studio during that R&D period. The aim of this visual diary was to reflect on that short but intense period and to share some aspects of the process as it has flourished. I made a Visual Episode almost every week and posted it on my Facebook page Sweets or Sour between February and May. I’m sharing it now via this new blog.
Here are a few summarizing thoughts about that R & D and the piece’s future evolution:
1) This burgeoning piece feels like a physical return to basics. 2) There’s a connection with Mythology
3) One recurring theme is Re-Transformation
4) One recurring image is Jesus on a Cross
5) One recurring reference is Salvador Dali
6) Three possible rules of improvisation: Jigsaw, Fluidity and Linearity (Movement)
7) Three more possible rules of improvisation: Stillness, Intensity, Purity (Movement)
8) The piece’s working title is Head First
#dance #choreography #tanz #choreografie #coreografia #tanz #newwork #nouvellecreation #solo #research #development #visualjournal #documentation #diary #contemproraryperformance #improvisation #art #arte #arto #kunst #french #londoner #eucitizen #tonnyarties #sweetsorsour
Here’s Week 8:
It was the last week of this R&D process.
And I approached the rehearsal with mixed feelings.
There was excitement.
There was a bit of sadness.
There was a lot of frustration.
And there was some relief too.
I felt I had enough material to dig into to develop the piece further. However I needed still answers to some of the questions I asked myself about the piece. And then more questions emerged.
In that rehearsal, it felt like I went full circle.
Although it was another departure from the process I’ve followed since the beginning of the R&D period, the themes from the early rehearsal sessions kept coming back.
It was all about mythology, being a creature.
Being sacred and transitioning from one form to another.
My hand gestures guided my movements, their pace and aesthetic. The series of improvisation became more ritualized as my body found numerous moments of stillness.
My head movements were not the driving force anymore but the main focus.
I finished that rehearsal on a high, feeling revitalized and content with its outcome.
I also knew I would have more work to do.
More research on all the references I compiled in my notes would have to be done.
More exploration of the themes which keep coming back would have to done.
More digging into the skeletal structure of the piece too.
But what was reassuring about that rehearsal was that the piece was worth pursuing.
In fact, I realized I wasn’t lost even if I thought I was completely lost within the process.
#dance #choreography #tanz #choreografie #coreografia #tanz #newwork #nouvellecreation #solo #research #development #visualjournal #diary #contemproraryperformance #improvisation #art #arte #arto #kunst #madonna #extremeoccident #french #londoner #eucitizen #tonnyarties #sweetsorsour
Here’s week 7:
It was my first week back into the studio after the Xmas break. I was feeling so tired and drained that it felt almost impossible to do anything while being in the studio. My mind was still in Paris and my body still needed more recovery time. So I took another break from the process.
Instead, I went back to the first page of my notes and revisited some ideas and questions I didn’t manage to – or think it wasn’t useful to – explore at the very start of this R&D.
Some of these ideas/questions were a continuation of specific interests that emerged while working on my durational piece, The Drumming Experience of OneSelf, while others came from my obsession for the number ’32’ and its possible meanings. There were lots of actions – sitting, swinging, stomping, sashaying – moments of observation, reflection and few slow plays with a chair. Madonna’s American Life was the soundtrack of the second part of that rehearsal. Then came Etienne Daho’s songs from the early 1990’s.
I started to reconnect with my dancing younger self, with those moments of abandon and nostalgia linked to these songs. It was soothing and at the same time exhilarating. And even though I was miles away from my solo’s creative process, I felt like I was transitioning back to it again after almost a month away from it.
#dance #performance #solo#creation #improvisation #danse #danza #tanz #rehearsal #freestyle #movement #photojournal #creativeprocess #tonnya #french #eucitizen #london #danceartist
#dance #performance #solo #creation #improvisation #danse #danza #tanz #rehearsal #freestyle #movement #photojournal #creativeprocess #tonnya #french #eucitizen #london #danceartist
Here’s week 6:
The little interruption I had the previous week proved to be quite beneficial. I approached that studio session with some clarity and more confidence about where the piece is heading.
In the morning, I took some time to write a series of words which I felt had an interconnection and encapsulate the different layers of the piece.
In the studio, I resumed the creative process, feeling rejuvenated by that little interruption. I wanted to experiment with Stillness and find out how far I could go being perfectly still. I tried 3 or 4 times to drive these moments of stillness to exhaustion. That was the main focus.
But they kept being “sabotaged” by a willingness to move. Slowly. Carefully. One body part after another. From within. From one side to another. Right to left. Then back. The process was intense . There was a clash of thoughts. Thoughts about my movements. Thoughts about words and themes around subconsciousness and regeneration that kept coming back. Images of red lava and white paradise, apocalyptic feelings and questions about rules and patterns of improvisation came into it too.
It was the last rehearsal before the Xmas break and when I left the studio at the end of rehearsal, I felt like I was embarking on a new journey with this piece. Maybe’s it was Bjork’s Hyperballad soothing effects.
#dance #performance #solo #creation #improvisation #danse #danza #tanz #rehearsal #freestyle #movement #art #arte #videodiary #diary #creativeprocess #tonnya #french #eucitizen #londoner #danceartist
Here is Week 5:
Change of gear in the process. I took a break from the template I’ve been using since the first studio session and decided instead to revisit certain improvisation moments from the previous rehearsals that still resonated until then.
It became quickly a heavy play between weight, balance and breathing.
It was a movement game between my head, my arms and their natural sense of direction. Oscillating. Dangling. Circulating.
It was a gradual phase of Transformation. As a process. As a thread. As a choreographic moment. As a physical desire. As a fantastic, imaginary creature. ?
#dance #performance #solo#creation #improvisation #danse #danza #tanz #rehearsal #freestyle #movement #art #arte #creativeprocess #photojournal #tonnya #french #eucitizen #londoner #danceartist
