Blog Assessment 2

In referring to the ‘body as art’, the question implies the change in attitude toward movement when used in a theatrical setting. A walk across a space becomes dramatic, as famously stated by Peter Brook in his book ‘The Empty Space’ in 1968. When looking at the use of pedestrian movement in dance-theatre in this sense, it opens up a realisation that the smallest of twitches may become theatrical and of enormous significance to communication. Thus this significance follows though to performance.

Pedestrian movement refers to the use of physicality that can be seen in the everyday. It can be extrapolated from this that ease of communication may be taken from this form of movement in the same way that familiarity with a vocal language aids a persons understanding. Day-to-day familiarity with pedestrian gesture allows us to obtain a heightened awareness of detail. When this is combined with the frame of the theatrical environment, pedestrian gesture becomes stylised by its mere presence in performance and becomes art, as referred to by Susan Broadhurst.

In ‘Fractal’, pedestrian gesture is used throughout to great effect. Performers use little movement to communicate a huge amount and this allows for a large contrast between that and the more abstract and risk-taking movement that occurs. To use an example, in the men’s section the men use a cigarette box as a means of isolating and disciplining one of the group. They do this by passing round the box and putting cigarettes behind the ear in a familiar way as a gesture of masculine behaviour. Watching this becomes more interesting and ‘theatrical’ to an audience than the risk taking of a performer sitting on another’s shoulder, or even the stylised synchronised movements of the three men.

Similarly, in the women’s section the performers do little more than walk and look. However, due to the performance setting and the use of the movements in repetition and with the accompanying music, the movement becomes ‘stylised’ and is thought of in term of an Art form. The repetition allows the pedestrian movement to become underlined and the message communicated loaded with significance. The message repeated means it becomes overlaid with itself and thus condenses into strength and all encompassing meaning – he is in the wrong and must be put down.

Another example of pedestrian movement is myself and Ross’ section. In this we use the ritual of eating to communicate age and relationship. What is communicated to begin with is the familiarity the characters feel with each other and this ritual of their own that has developed between them over time. Then comes a change in the relationship and confidence in the movements appears to change. The gestures remain small, if anything they become smaller, but gain significance in emotion. It is this intensity of communication that makes pedestrian gesture so powerful and thus becomes Art.

Blog 2

The Idea of pedestrian movements has been around for forty years and has been developing ever since. In the majority of contemporary dance theatre there is always some form of pedestrian movement as it can sometimes be more powerful to watch than just watching physical work on its own. As within my section with Lauren and Sammy the simple idea of moving someone's face away to force them not to watch something is a clearer view on dominance and control of someone's life. For example Steve Paxton from Judson Dance theatre and Grand Union Believes...

“He believed that even an untrained dancer could contribute to the dance form, and so began Paxton's great interest in pedestrian movement. After working with Cunningham and developing chance choreography defined as, any movement is dance; Paxton's interest in the boundaries of movement was ignited. Paxton is one of the most influential dancers of his generation whose approach has influenced choreography globally. He attempts to be remain reclusive, except when performing, teaching and choreographing internationally.”

When it comes to the stylisation of body as art in relationship to pedestrian movements and physicality then the use of repetition can be a powerful tool. For example the penultimate scene in “Fractal” where the girls are now taking dominance over my character there are movements that are used within previous scenes and these highlight the change of role reversal and is more powerful as the repetition links it.

Trisha Brown also from Grand Union and Judson Dance Theatre. Also believes that narratives can be shown through basic pedestrian movements...

“Brown's rigorous structures, combined with pedestrian or simple movement styles and tongue-in-cheek humor brought an intellectual air that challenged the mainstream "modern dance" mindset of this period."


Now with this in mind we must start asking why this is being brought into our work of “Fractal”, as well as pedestrian movements for some of the funny scenes or aggressive scenes there is also some very physical work to show sophistication for example in Karine and Tolu’s piece going into Ashley and Joes piece to show the two differentiations of their characters.

One of the important things with the creation of our piece was to keep the idea of minimalism and repetition for example our opening ritual of the piece and how with the repetition of the ritual it highlights the exclusion of Frankie from the community and her role within the piece as a whole.

Craig Smith - Blog Assessment 2

In physical/dance theatre and in our homage to it’s genre in ‘Fractal,’ meaning and emotion is conveyed “through the body, rather than through the mind” or text alone (Callery, D., 2001, p.4.) Every movement originates from real life, only when we get the impressive lifts are we reaching into a totally expressive form of what strives “to say something that cannot be said” in everyday behaviour (Bausch in Fernandes, C. 2001, p.5.) This corporeal language through pedestrianisation is more relative to the viewer, as they can relate to the movements and their assigned meanings from real life. Thus they can understand the relationship and its depth between two performers by how they hold hands, how they share a gesture such as looking at a watch, or even how they eat a sandwich.

Pedestrianisation on stage brings the audience and its familiarities into the aesthetic space, its imitations of reality establish the blurred existence between the two forms of movement, the merge of which Susan Broadhurst comments on. This merge then allows the development to more surreal and expressive movement to happen. My character physicalises this progression at the pre-beginning of the piece, metaphorically taking the audience to the blurred existence and gradually guiding them through to physicalistion beyond pedestrianisation.

Through the process of ‘Fractal,’ the thought that smaller gestures say more than grand lifts became affirmed. “There is a greater emphasis on exploiting the power of suggestion.” (Callery, D., 2001, p.5) To say something, in most cases there is no need for explicit information, and so a suggestion is all that is required to make our intentions clear. Each action is stripped down to its smallest movement and providing the motive is kept, the meaning will be carried through. These ‘skeletons’ of actions can then be dressed and interpreted by the audience, giving them the freedom to determine what is being said. As Newson of DV8 says “It is not that I am necessarily against using an arabesque, but you must know why you do it.” This is an important philosophy through the process of physical/dance theatre and through our process to ‘Fractal.’

The holding out of a hand, for example is all that is required to tell the audience that my character wants to contact Frankie; that I am communicating a desire to reach out to her, that I am telling her my hand is there to hold and am offering guidance to her. This doesn’t need to be expressed through a highly physical duet between the two of us, and it was our decision to keep it simple which would carry a greater emotion for both us and the audience.

One of the greatest means of communication I have discovered in ‘Fractal’ is through the eyes. The eyes are the most common use of expression that, in everyday life tends to be taken for granted. Communication through the eyes is played upon throughout fractal between characters and implicitly towards the audience. This is easily communicated because we are “demonstrators of [our] own bodies, not the body of some passer-by” (Wright in Fernandes, 2001, p.10.) or artificial creation in a text-based play. Seeing this on stage opens up the subconscious awareness of how we use our eyes other than to see in reality, and so the audience is still aware of what is trying to be ‘said.’

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Callery, D. (2001) Through the Body, Nick Hern Books Ltd.: London

DV8’s website, www.dv8.co.uk - accessed 13/11/07

Fernandes, C. (2001) Pina Bausch and the Wuppertal Dance Theater, Peter Lang Publishing Inc.: New York
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Craig Smith

Assessment 2

Pedestrian movement began in the early 1960’s by New York’s Judson Dance Theatre “whether walking or getting dressed, hauling mattresses or throwing pitches, Judson artists found in the familiar gesture a neat alternative to the theatricality of dance.” (M. J. Thompson 2008) In dance theatre, Small pedestrian movements can be as expressive, or more so than extreme physical movements. Pedestrian movements are very easy to read as they are used everyday by everyone. Such movements like a handshake, the stroke of a cheek, a wink can be much more affective and readable then movements that are of high physicality.

In Fractal there is a high use of pedestrian movements such as; eating a sandwich, a pat on the bum or a nod. It is not only simple gestures that are used. Meetings and rituals take place which are ideas taken from what people do everyday only they are distorted, fragmented or exaggerated by using expressive communication techniques through the body.

Observing everyday movements leads us to believe that we will see movements and gestures that are predetermined. But while this may seem innocent enough it is very easy to take a simple, innocent gesture and turn it into something more shocking. In dance theatre it is so effortless to take a gesture and turn it upside down to, for example, break stereotypes, “performance styles, and identities shatter the same old, same old of the dancing body” (M. J. Thompson 2008). This is what Fractal aims to do. This performance is about a community and where would it be without straightforward gestures or messages that can be recognised by anyone?

However the performance is not just about naturalism and pedestrian movements, it’s about communication and expressiveness via connections of emotion as well as movement. There are many movements, which aren’t everyday but convey the emotion or meaning of which they are intended.

From watching Fractal develop it has been fascinating to see just how effective the use of pedestrian movements are and just how expressive the body can be. Using the body in such a way helps to communicate “familiar actions that are fragmented, as if broken apart and reattached in the way a mime might, but to a lesser extreme.” (M. J. Thompson 2008) By doing so a performance can still be readable but much more interesting and meaningful which is what the dance theatre genre strives to do.

(http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/03/dance/who-plays-pedestrian-movement-neumann-style)

Assessment 2

“Pedestrian” movement first flared on the radar in the 1960s in the dances of Judson Dance Theatre. Judson artists found in the familiar gesture a neat alternative to the theatricality of dance.” The use naturalistic pedestrian movement can visually be as expressive and emotive within Dance theatre as highly physical movement. If a movement is executed with purpose the smallest gesture can have the greatest impact. Pedestrian movement due to its nature is very relatable to an audience, so when it is used within the context of art it can be highly affective.

The use of pedestrian movement is highly relevant to the development of Fractal. Naturalistic situations have been developed and exaggerated to create physical environments for the performance. Within these environments elements of human behaviour have been explored through the use of pedestrian movements.
Simple everyday scenarios have been stripped down to their distinguishing elements and then these elements have been explored. The predatory behaviour of men in a pub when a woman enters their space has been uprooted from its preconceptions and has developed in a manner that has explored social stereotypes and turned them on their heads.

The freedom of using pedestrian movement is that they rely on preconceived ideas for them to be instantly recognisable. “Ordinary movement seems readily legible, counting almost for the words assigned to the actions themselves”. Working with these preconceptions means there is the potential to go against what is socially recognised and encourage alternative interpretations. Society tells us that men are the dominating sex and that women are more vulnerable than men. When these roles have been reversed and the women have taken on the masculine social role these preconceptions have been thrown out of the window. This exploration of premeditated social behaviour has been a really interesting element of the devising process and has opened my eyes to the stereotypes we all place on ourselves and others around us.

“The place of the pedestrian in theatre and dance theatre reminds us of the felt intimacy between everyday movement in dance and language.” The examples of pedestrian movement shown within Fractal are so affective because they are used to express meaning in the simplest form. The slightest touch of a hand or the way in which a sandwich is eaten can portray so much meaning to an audience. Sometimes being heavily reliant on theatrical movement can, due to the nature of the genre, actually hinder the expressive process. As with a play, things can become over acted, the same can be said of dance-theatre. A well intended piece of pedestrian movement can carry as much meaning to an audience as a highly physical action.

Having worked mainly using pedestrian movement throughout the process of forming Fractal I feel that I have developed a good understanding about the effectiveness of using this type of movement. The physicality of I and Ruth's first section of the piece is so minimal, sticking entirely to pedestrian movement. The work that we have produced however is so poignant and entirely relevant to our characters. Had we gone down a different route and tried harder to incorporate more physical movement, I feel that the work would have become forced and as such would have gone against the organic process we have been a part of. When using everyday movement in an artistic manner, through physical means the body is able to emulate naturalism on stage, and art imitates life.


http://www.brooklynrail.org/2008/03/dance/who-plays-pedestrian-movement-neumann-style

Ross Gibson

Assessment 1

Ross said...

1 i)
Over the weeks I feel that Ruth and I have developed both a physical and mental connection between our two characters. Our interactions replicate the process we have taken by developing in stages, with varying degrees of physical interaction. The first interactions we have together on stage with the lunch boxes involve us being physically very close to each other but somehow not being physically connected. Most of our connections in this section seem instinctive and at times almost telepathic. Our relationship is almost unintentionally obvious to everybody but ourselves. That we are so comfortable within each others presence and remain oblivious until the end of this section shows quite clearly a dimension of childlike innocence. Having such a strong and well developed relationship made it easy for us to continue forward to some kind of resolution. The creative process came naturally because both Ruth and I new instinctively in which direction the relationship was heading.

ii)
I feel that for both Ruth and I our characters have been on a very obvious journey culminating at the end with the community scene. At the start of the piece it is obvious that we have a very close bond which slightly begins to crack as we end our section. We are separated and participate in two individual sections of the piece, myself with the other men and Caitlyn, and Ruth in the Golden Bowls section. For myself there is a sense of unease and a struggle to find my individual identity having previously been part of a duet, almost behaving as one singular person. Our reunion in the last community section portrays the sense of unease felt between the two of us and the struggle to regain our relationship previously in the first section. There is however a sense that our relationship has moved forward and although we our trying to regain a lost part of our history we are also trying to move toward a future.

iii)
I think that the final community section reflects the journey that I and Ruth’s characters have been on. Our reunion in this final section seems appropriate to our journey and almost seems like an induction into the adult world. We have moved on from the childish play demonstrated in our first interactions and have grown from our experiences of facing the world separated from each other in the intervening sections. In the final community section we are reunited bringing with us previous and new experiences which both help us to bond again but also cause a degree of uneasiness that needs to be overcome. At the end of the section after we have drunk from our glasses we immediately separate from each other, showing that although we have reconnected there is a need to establish a sense of individuality within our relationship.

17 April 2008 08:13

Assessment 1

i) Through out last Wednesday morning, the task of bringing our relationships to a resolution was given to the group just after an improvisation exercise in which we were allowed to explore new relationships with other characters. Personally my character couldn’t find any other strong connections apart from Andrew’s and Sylvia’s characters. Although my character wouldn’t find any other connections he definitely found a much bigger connection to Andrew’s character. Theirs relationship on the piece achieved a whole new level of intensity and with that we were able to bring our fraction of the performance to an end. The exercise was important to finally help me understand my feelings for Andrew’s and Sylvia’s characters. So far I was not given the opportunity to work on my characters reactions to the different situations he comes across, I was only allowed to work on his feelings and develop his personality. On this exercise I was able to give appropriate responses to his emotions and therefore develop his personality even more. My character has achieved a new stage of personality, much more mature and developed.

ii) Bringing all the fractal bits to an end gave to every character a reason to be in this community. After all the process we have been through, all the characters now know why they belong to this community and what their role in it is. To my character was a great relief when he finally understands why he is there and also gave him more confidence and purpose to stay in it. It is clear the difference when my character walks in to the last community section, It is easy to tell how more comfortable and confident he is compared to the first section. Now he has someone beside him, he is no longer alone and confused.

iii) Life is fractal, and finally the last bit was brought to life, all the characters now really know themselves as a whole. For some of the performers this last Wednesday session might reflect on the earlier stages of their relationships, although this is all part of the development of the characters, this will surely bring the whole performance to a new level of understanding and therefore might change its structure as well.

Assessment 1

1) The creative strategies that were used within Wednesdays session varied depending on what each group was doing, be it the group piece or the conclusion of the characters relationships with other people within the space. The focus of these culminated within the resolution of our characters individual stories. The stimulus for this was “What would happen to your characters at the end of the piece?” With this in mind we had to come up with a resolution that suited all the characteristics of the performers individual parts. With this in mind we had a play/improvisation session in which we came up with a way of making the characters naturally conclude their relationships by the end of the performance. The technique of devising through improvisation worked well as our natural instincts came out and the characters motivation and ending came out naturally, without seeming forced or unnatural to the characters personalities.


2) After the individual groups progressed with their ending then we had to find a way that our characters would react to the current communal style ritual that occurred within the penultimate section. My character had been shunned by the only females that he had any contact with and at the end he was left alone to think about his previous actions and how his chauvinism has turned him into an outcast, like what he made of Lauren. After this the character is not only more insecure but more lonely than usual as he had no option to make himself stay as an outcast within that society, even though he conforms to the ritual he will never find anyone or be happy. With this in mind other people’s resolutions were cemented within this final community section and a lot of peoples resolutions were generally happy and joyous and this was a complete contrast to what was about to happen with Glenford and Frankie’s final duet.


3) I think that now a lot of people have found out what happens to their characters, then they will have to make sure that the earlier scenes will also have to be able to show their characters progressions a lot stronger than what is already there, as the journey for each individual character will then have their ending and to show the journey they will need to improve the earlier stages in order to achieve a desired effect for their own personal ending what ever it may be.

Assessment 1

After weeks of working on the smaller Fractals, it was a refreshing session as it saw the return of the community. After being taken back to the mental preparation we used to frequently participate in (lying on the floor and clearing our minds) the focus was once more on the community, an element I feel we have to consider for resolution in our smaller relationships. The simplistic task of walking round, in character, and exploring improvised play was extremely rewarding to most. It allowed us to fill in the missing gaps in our characters and their motives and relationships with others, thus allowing the possibility of resolution(s). Having the freedom of existing outside the borders of Fractal allowed me to do what I cannot in the Fractal’s aesthetic space; it allowed me to interact with the other community members; my character is an observer who watches over the community and has some control over its life, yet I am never seen. Thus this exercise helped me explore emotions that lie beneath my existence in Fractal and to utilise them into the development and shaping of my character.
To me, despite being new encounters, they felt like past emotions, like I was walking through a photo album, remembering past relations and desires, with Emily and a connection with Sami (of which, I think will never have the chance to further, of which is a feeling of regret perhaps that will continue to shape my earlier performance). By having these memories ‘remembered,’ it allowed me to develop a sense of resolution to my character and gave me a clearer idea to my current sense of purpose and motives. Also, by being able to communicate with Frankie in such an explorative way of which the confines of Fractal can never allow really gave a sense of desire and purpose to my connection with Frankie within Fractal.
This exercise evolved into the crafting of the final sections by taking what resolutions we found in the improvised play and shaping them into resolutions in Fractal. For myself and Emily, it was a sense of remembering a past relation; she sensed I was there but not physically, which fitted perfectly with my character and the lonely stasis in which he is kept. Taking this to the final community section, we could explore this feeling of loss and spiritual existence whilst simultaneously living in the past, so that my existence is non-linear almost.

As is the nature of physical theatre, it is during these past few weeks, quite late in the process, that my character has really made its greater steps in the development of self-discovery, I look forward to what lies ahead in the creative process and continuing this self-discovery.

Assessment 1

(i)This session was focused on finding resolution in the group performances and also to the end. In our different groups we worked to finding some sort of end to our sections. This was just following on from what we had already created and previous ideas and movements that had arisen before. However, to find a communal ending for the piece as a whole we used a different method. Play and improvisation. This took us back to when we first started the module. It helped to bring about new relationships and fresh ideas. All of which filled in missing pieces that many people in the group had been waiting for. The improvisation seemed to allow space for each individual to discover their characters more intimately and give them a fresh of where they have or shall be heading.

I felt this lesson was very useful as we are now finally starting to tie things up, making me feel less lost in what I'm doing. I’ m now able to know the true meaning of my character.

(ii) These explorations evolved by allowing each character to mingle with the community (no having found their own character) and enable new relationships to open and be explored. It also evolved into a journeys end. So far everything has had a beginning and it has not been often, as of yet, that may people have found their journeys end and this was what the final improvisation has led us to.

It seemed the final journeys at the end were allowing the people to simply show where they had arrived in their journey. Using little time and significant images it is a summary of everyone’s journey to bring him or her to resolution.

(iii) I think this defines the characters earlier stages of what they were discovering to what has now/ or is being discovered. Now characters have found their journey and know were they are going to end up, or at least the goal they are headed toward. There is much more purpose to relationships and in the communication of these, which has changed much of what was opened up and discovered at the start. This, however, does not mean that further change will not occur. I'm sure there will be many more surprises created by the work or ourselves to come.

Assessment 1

1. i) Yesterday morning was eye opening for many. The beginning of the session concentrated on the group sections and those were brought those a step closer to resolution. The second half took on a different format to the one we have been working to this last month however; we returned to open improvisation and play. This session filled in a vital piece of the puzzle for many, allowing them to intermingle with the society as a whole rather than being segregated into small relationship groups. Creatively this allowed the group to expand its horizons. During the previous work in twos and threes, characters have been developed to a high level, with performers getting to know their characters intimately. This exercise using open improvisation allowed for that experience to fruit in a new environment. With the entire community together in such a way for the first time it allowed for the community to find, or not find, new ties between its composite parts.

I felt the exercise helped me place my character in relation to the whole. Before yesterday I felt as if I were floating free of the community, with no real ties or setting within it. Now however I can see the community and my character’s place within it. That in itself has provided some resolution for my character.

ii) These explorations provided the performers with new routes and relationships and the exercise also cemented them together as a community. The material for the final community section was taken from the conclusions drawn in this exercise. It opened the final chapter of our journey as performers.

The proposal of showing the journey of the characters in three short bursts allowed the performers to communicate their characters’ journeys simply and explicitly as a method to begin to come to some sort of resolution.

iii) This will impact, or has impacted on the earlier stages of the journey by giving a glimpse of resolution. Before now relationships and characters hung in a delicate balance, but after the session it feels as if that balance has solidified a little. Not to a level of being set in stone, but there is now a surety of direction and purpose. Knowing where the relationships will end up has changed perspective on the journey undertaken to get to that end. Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen. There is still a way to go and things may yet change.

Blog Assessment 1 - 16th April 2008

Questions:

1. i) What were the creative strategies that were used this morning to enable you to explore resolutions to your relationships/interactions?

ii) How did these explorations evolve into the crafting of the final community section?

iii) How does/will this impact on the earlier stages of your journey through Fractal?


Deadline for posts: Friday 18th April, 5 pm

Word Limit: 400-500 words

Welcome to Process Makes Perfect

This is a blog for second year Drama and Performance students in the process of developing 'Fractal', a physical theatre/dance theatre production to be performed on the 1st and 2nd May. This blog will serve as 25% of our final grade for the Process and Performance module and posts shall be in response to the process we undergo in the lead up to the performances and our critical evaluation of those performances.