How this started

In times when my work on stage included set material, I was sometimes puzzled that a movement section that had a certain atmosphere one day at rehearsal could have a completely different feel the next day, not conveying what I aimed for – despite the dancers aiming to do exactly the same thing as in the previous rehearsal.

Not wanting to give over the carefully crafted choreography to the gods of chance, I started to research this phenomenon by using strategies from Authentic Movement.

Over time, this developed into a process that focuses on the transition from improvised material to set material, and it also turned out to be very useful when working with less experienced movers.

A description of the process

Students get introduced to the basic principle of Authentic Movement of moving from within with eyes closed while the second half of the group is „witnessing“ from the outside – tracking their own experience without going into a judgmental mode of thinking.

Everyone and every role recaptures their experience in writing. After this first round dedicated to their personal experiences, we do a second round where people – instead of writing – echo some of the movement motives they have perceived or done. I ask them to create a short phrase out of some motives they have experiences through moving and/ or watching – to find transitions between the motives, a phrase that can be somewhat „repeatable“. They can also ask someone else to teach them a certain movement they are interested in.

Next they find a partner, teach each other their phrases and put them together into one longer phrase. They are asked to teach the material from their experience within, not as a form (not: „next I do this, or next I lift my arm“, but rather: „I let me arm raise by letting the air float into the armpit“). The goal is not to reach total unison in the same form, but rather finding a similar experience within the phrase. They also name their phrase to be able to identify them.

Then they double up again into quartetts, octetts etc that teach each other their material, or sometimes just one way – depending on time constraints and phrase complexity.

That leaves the group with a number of phrases. Some of the phrases only 2 people can perform, some phrases are known by 4 or 8 or 12 people etc. I also ask them to think about spacing. Is this a phrase you want to be doing close to each other – or across the room. What’s the facing? Etc. We show the phrases to the whole group.

This culminates in an instant composition where people call out the phrases they want to see in the space and the number of people doing them. It is everyone’s responsibility to go in and do a phrase if needed. Phrases can be done in layers, in canons, solos, duets, trios etc. Everyone is on / off stage constantly.

Some additional information

It also helps if there is a written list of the phrase names and how many people actually know how to do the phrase.

I usually use music (spontanous choices depending on what I see in the group, but Johann Sebastian Bach works almost always). Of course there are more details, but it won’t make sense to list them all here. I’d rather be curious to see what else can evolve out of this information. I would also appreciate to be credited if you try out this process.

I find this process gratifying for beginners because it gets them away from trying to make up movement. Their asthetic understanding of movement option is often quite limited and shaped by an „industrial body“. This process creates a playfulness, and because movement motif are exchanges and recycled, an underlying net of subtle communication starts to happen.

It is also an interesting process from the side of the recipient – educational in the sense that observing oneself watching movement it becomes clear that the mind is almost always involved in the sense-making process. This starts in the Authentic Movement but becomes very obvious once this is transformed into the „gestalt“ of the instant composition.

It is a good idea to let the instant composition run for a while, then stop it and discuss what has happened and then do a second round. The pleasure of calling out phrases can result in too many things happening at once. Usually though the learning curve is quite steep. A little imtermezzo can also concern how to get on and of the stage.

For more advanced groups the goal is to go from an instant composition that relies on some arbitrary aspects to a more crafted version. This then can include calling out simple instructions regarding dynamics, timing, spacing etc. I usually stay on a formal side of instructions (versus instructions regarding expressiveness), as the movement material is quite rich anyways.

A simple version of the process will take me about 3 ½ hours or more, more elaborate versions can go a whole day. I usually try to do this process in one day, as with overnight breaks in the process the movement material starts changing and developing and brings people in a different mod

My resume

The wealth of material and the integrity of movement that develops out of this approach keeps astonishing me, and it is a very satisfying process. From an artistic point of view, it solves my puzzle as I described it in the beginning only partly. This process is definitely a resource and a way how to approach, and re-find movement material in a way it becomes reproducable to some degree, at least better than it did before -but only if I keep approaching it from a place of imagery and sensation, and not from a movement form. So there can be some sacrifice in movement precision.

An example

The context

In a university course I teach there are 1st semester students who will become teachers for very young children. We have 4 days together to explore dance as a base for the creative process. It is not a didactic class, but the goal is for the students to start an artistic process (they can choose between dance, music, sculpture among other things). This particular group and me had a difficult time during the first two days, expectations varied greatly. Part of the class is a reflection on their process, and it confirms once more that the outside look can be very different from the experience within. Below are excerpts of their writings (translation into English in process).

Video

The video is taken on the second day of the workshop. It is an excerpt of the very first time they try out this instant composition. Most participants do not have any dance experience. The talking you hear in the video is the students calling out the phrases they want to see on stage.

NOTE: For legal reasons the video is offline. Contact me if you would like to see it!

Experiences of the participants

"Ich habe die Bewegungen, die ich gemacht habe gespürt, aber nicht darüber nachgedacht, was sich sonst noch gut anfühlen könnte, oder was ich als nächstes machen könnte. Erstaunlich fand ich, dass ich mich in dem Moment, als ich die Augen öffnete, mich nicht mehr an die Elemente erinnern konnte, nur noch an die Emotionen, die ich empfunden habe und die Gedanken, die mir währenddessen durch den Kopf gingen."

"I felt the movements i did but i did not think about what else could feel good, or what else i could do next. I was surprised that when I opened the eyes I could not remember the elements but only the emotions, and the thoughts I had."

"Sensorisch habe ich über mich herausgefunden, dass jeder Mensch beim tanzen seinen ganz eigenen Ausdruck hat. Es können alle das Gleiche tanzen, aber es sieht trotzdem bei jedem anders aus, weil alle ein anderes Gefühl dabei entwickeln und das sieht man beim Tanzen. Außerdem hat jeder Mensch irgendeine Wirkung auf andere egal was er macht."

"Sensorically I found out that every human being has her/his own expression. Everybody can dance the same, but it looks different becauses everyone develops different feelings and that can be seen. On top of that, every human being has an effect on others no matter what s/he does."

"Beschäftigt hat mich vor allen Dingen herauszufinden was mein Körper tanzen möchte und nicht was mein Kopf machen möchte. Für mich war dies eine große Überwindung, einfach darauf los zu tanzen ohne darüber nachzudenken. Ich denke, das kann ich jetzt gut und ich möchte dies aus jeden Fall beibehalten. Ich finde, wenn man das kann, hat man eine wertvolle Eigenschaft erworben. Es wirkt viel authentischer, weil das was ich mache von mir selbst kommt. Ich möchte weiterhin tanzen aber immer mit dem Wissen, dass ich mich für nichts schämen muss, denn jeder trägt seinen ganz eigenen Tanzstil in sich, und meiner sieht nun einmal so aus."

"I was mostly busy to find out what my body wants to dance and not was my head wanted to do. It was hard for me to just dance without thinking. I believe I can do that well now and I want to keep this. I think when you can do that you learned a valuable thing. The effect is much more authentic because what I do comes out of myself. I want to keep dancing, but always knowing that I don't have to be ashamed of anything. Everyone carries their own style in them, and mine just happens to look like this. "

"Es geht auch nicht darum, Impulsen unbedingt zu folgen. Es geht um die Wahrnehmung dieser und um die Wahrnehmung der Entscheidung, ihnen zu folgen oder nicht. (...)Ich werde ich in Zukunft das Tanzen nicht nur als Bewegung sehen, sondern werde auch mehr wahrnehmen, wenn ich einen Tanz sehe oder wenn sich Kinder im Kindergarten bewegen."

"It was not the point to follow all impulses. It is about the perception of said impulses and the perception of the decision to follow them - or not. (..) I will not see dance anymore just as movement, but I will also perceive more when I see a dance or when I see children move."

"Tanzen kann entspannend oder erregend sein und ästhetisch oder bizarr und schräg aussehen. Tanzen folgt keinen Regeln sondern ist das, was der Tänzer daraus macht."

"Dancing can be relaxing or stimulating, and look aesthetic, or bizarr, or weird. Dance does not follow rules and is what the dancer makes of it."

"Sensorisch gab es viele Wahrnehmungen, welche mich unangenehm berührten.Ich konnte mich bei vielen Übeungen einfach nicht ernst nehmen, während ich den anderen Kursteilnehmern es glaubte, was sie vertanzten. Ich konnte also andere ernster dabei nehmen als mich selber. Durch ein Gespräch darüber in der Gruppe musste ich aber bemerken, dass es den anderen ebenfalls so ergeht."

"I had many perception which made me feel uncomfortable. In some exercises I could not take myself seriously, while I believed the other participants what they did: I took others more seriously than myself. Talking to the group I noticed that others had the same situation."

"Als ich 15 Minuten lang meine Partnerin beobachtet habe wie sie sich bewegt, ist mir durch ihre Körpersprache sofort aufgefallen, wie sie sich dabei gefühlt hat. Ich finde es erstaunlich wie viel man durch Körpersprache sowohl bewusst, viele Sachen aber auch unbewusst ausdrückt und preisgibt. Dieser Moment war für mich sehr inspirierend, da der Eindruck, den ich von ihr in dieser Situation hatte, sich durch den Austausch danach bestätigte."

"Watching for 15 minutes my partner moving I could detect how she feels by her body language. It is amazing how much one expresses consciously, but also subconsciously. This moment was very inspiring for me, because she confirmed later the impression I had about this situation."

"Ich möchte damit aber nicht sagen, dass ich bei choreographierten Tänzen, welche ich zuvor tanzte, keine Gefühle mit hineinbrachte. Allerdings fühlte man sich in das Thema hinein. Nun habe ich erfahren, was es heißt sein eigenes, persönliches Thema zu finden."

"i don't want to say that in the choreographed danced I did before I did not bring in any feelings. But you felt your way into that theme. Now I have experienced what it means to find your own, personal theme."

"Ich fragte mich wirklich was wir hier machen, was das bringen sollte und ob ich das jemals gebrauchen kann. Doch jetzt da das Seminar zu Ende ist muss ich sagen, dass ich ziemlich viel gelernt habe.
Ich habe gelernt, dass ich als Individuum meinen eigenen Tanz machen kann, dass ich auf meinen Körper und Geist hören und das was in mir ist raus lassen kann. Das jeder eine Choreographie entwickeln kann und das die einzelnen Übungen die wir gemacht hatten im Nachhinein zu diesem Entwicklungsprozess beigetragen hatten.
Ich denke wir haben uns auch als Gruppe sehr schnell kennen gelernt und meiner Meinung nach hat sich jeder einem Entwicklungsprozess unterzogen.
Wenn ich daran denke, wie schwer es anfangs für mich war aus mir heraus zukommen sah ich das Problem am letzten Tag z.B. gar nicht mehr.
Ich muss doch sagen, dass ich zum Ende hin etwas traurig war. Ich finde man müsste so ein Seminar fortlaufend im Semester haben, da man sich selber dadurch immer besser kennen lernt. Dadurch kann man auch später im Beruf besser auf andere Menschen eingehen."

"I really did ask my self what we are doing here? what is the purpose and can I ever use that. But now at the end of the workshop I must say that I learned a lot. I learned that I can find my individual dance, that I can listen to my body and spirit and that what is inside me can find a way out.That everyone can develop a choreography and that all the single exercises we did before developed into that process. When I think how difficult it was in the beginning to become more outoing I did not have this problem at the end anymore.

I have to say that I was sad at the end. I think it would be good to have a class like this ongoingly because you really get to know yourself. That will help me in my profession to improve my contact to other people."

"Während dieser vier Tage konnte ich erleben, wie ich ganz ruhig wurde und auf meine Bedürfnisse hörte. Normalerweise tendiere ich zu viele Dinge gleichzeitig zu machen und in ständigem Stress durch zuhalten ohne zwischendrin Momente für mich zu finden. Oft muss ich mich um vieles in meiner Umgebung kümmern und finde keine Zeit mich zu fragen wo ich eigentlich im Moment stehe. Und das war auf eine seltsame Weise verändert in diesen Tagen."

"During these 4 days I noticed how I became very quiet and listened to my needs. Usually I tend to do too many things at the same time and just to get through everything without finding moments for myself. Very often I have to take care of many things around me and don't have time to ask myself what is going on with me. And that was changed in a strange way during these days."