About the process of

Ptosis

by Pavlos Kountouriotis

DOCUMENTARY VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYRbenCcsDo&feature=youtu.be 

Ptosis (2013)

Ptosis (2013) was a choreographic process that was conceived and facilitated by Pavlos Kountouriotis during a two week 24/7 residence at SOZO Visions in Motion.

The principle behind the process was ‘choreography as an expanded practice different to dance’ and ‘it’s a silly dance’. Ptosis functioned as a forum for producing knowledge in critical exchange and ongoing discursive practice. It was a place for full concentration on work and a tool machine where one can work on developing methods, tools and procedures. The process was focusing on producing something that one cannot do on his/her own and people where supported and encouraged to contribute their own unique means. Furthermore, the process valued more the choreography than the dance, but through an understanding that the dance was necessary to facilitate the choreography.

Death of the Author

Following Roland Barthes’ concept of the death of the author, the principle behind the making is to challenge the role of the choreographer/dancer, the hierarchies inherent in such categories and to create a place for experimenting with other than known modes of production and organization.

This principle infiltrated even the ‘Silly Dance’. Each piece is created by the totality of the group (not by one single entity) and formed what we call the ‘original score’. The ‘original score’ loses its uniqueness and role when developments and alterations start occurring that challenge any sense of hierarchy and aim at redefining what is essential.

The process included several different modes of facilitation.

Pow-Wow & Funky Duck

Pow-Wow is a term from native American culture that denotes coming together in a circle and discussing. Our discussions are facilitated by passing around the Funky Duck that serves as a microphone and allows each person to be heard and express her or his ideas. In this process, people share their thoughts, reflections, fears, emotions and worries. Expression is not limited to English or German language, but we developed several ways of communicating these ideas such as movement, looking practices, drawing, singing, laughing and just passing the Funky Duck to the next person.

Bank of Suggested Activities

A big part of the process was the creation of a Bank of Suggested Activities, where each participant had the possibility to propose an activity that they believed could help the process.  The principle behind was that the facilitator of the process has far less than the amalgamation of forces and possibilities that each individual has to offer.   Each proposal included information such as how duration, space, description and rational. Experience also showed us that activities could also happen spontaneously, without prior planning  andwriting up on the bank. For these impromptu events, participants were asked to document the event and write about it retrospectively so that processes were not forgotten.

Some examples of those activities were: ‘sexy aerobic’, ‘clapping by Steve Reich’, ‘watching deKeersmaeker talking about Fase’, ‘silene is gold’, ‘voice meditation’, ‘water fight’, ‘falling improvisation’, ‘dancewalk’, ‘point-shoe meditation’, ‘contact jam’, ‘stretching’, ‘foot massage’ ‘charleston workshop’ and many more…

Rules for Suggested Activities

The suggested activities were not subject to censorship by a committee. Anything could happen. The rules of these activities were:

-  Whoever comes is the right people;

-  Whenever it starts is the right time;

-  Wherever it happens is the right place;

-  Whatever happens is the only thing that could have;

-  When it’s over, it’s over

Rules of the Living Space

The highly appreciated autonomy can only be maintained when everybody takes part in the every day maintenance organisation.
In other words:

-  Don’t leave traces.


-  Don’t colonize space nor information

-  Make it possible for others, not by retreating, not by withdrawal, or by being modest, on the contrary, making it possible for others is thought as active participation. Through action one offers and opens spaces in which others can take part. One proposes participation in an open rehearsal, a lecture, a conversation, a film or documentairy showing and/or by cleaning up and maintening general space.
In other words:.

-  The doer decides.

Understanding that these rules might be generic and sometimes not self-explanatory, there was a bank of 15 empty slots where people could add up a new rule (without discussion or negotiation with anyone). If the slots were all covered, then an old rule could be taken out and a new one introduced. This was in order to ensure that we are not constrained by rules. At the end of the experience only 6 of those 15 slots were used.

Tree of Thoughts: Seeds, Reflection and Falling Ideas

In order to enable discussion and thinking, a tree was drawn on the wall that included three sections. On the roots of the tree, the participants could write their mini daily goals that could help them focus on the process and maximize their output. We called those Seeds. The rule of the seeds is that one does not always need to water the seed  but you can leave the idea in the soil and water it later, and also one can always use someone else’s seed.

Reflections where on the branches of the trees, where we documented our apperception of the different experiments and processes and discovered a space for contemplation.

Right off from the branches of the trees, like falling apples, we had our falling ideas where people could write some of their brainstorms on how the piece could be like.

Keywords

Every day a keyword was introduced by Pavlos in order to bring a focus and new compositional, choreographic or collaborative element to the work. The presentation had an element of philosophical stimulation and helped participants to develop their own criteria for their practice as research. Such keywords were: ‘insist, persist, assist, resist’, ‘hack don’t crack’, ‘self-responsibility’, ‘intimacy: generosity, honesty’, ‘silence & death’, ‘commitment’ etc.

Fragments of Experience

Fragments of Experience was a series of video documentaries that Fenia Kotsopoulou did in order to encapsulate the process and help it find a new life. These videos document only some tiny fraction of the work and function both as a historical record and as a new artwork themselves. 

Participants

Kristina Becker, Arthur Haas, Johanna Honkanen, Jerimia Jerimia, Pavlos Kountouriotis, Fenia Kotsopoulou, Hanna Lee, Marianne Linder, Tina Machulik, Koeun Park, Oovi Patrao, Alex Polupanow, Swarna Rautiainen, Céline Riat, Caroline Servollek, Viktoria Trow-Poole, Timothée Uehlinger, Serja Vesterinen 

Choreographic Process

Pavlos Kountouriotis

Assistance to the Choreographic Process & Video of the Fragments of Experience by

Fenia Kotsopoulou

Special Thanks

Deborah Smith-Wicke

Funky Duck

our neighbor on the 3^rd floor

© www.kountouriotis.org