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.