DM #21 - a state of zero
November 4. Proposition by Daniel. Follow up on DM#18:
20 minutes, eyes closed, remain still (feel your body, the weight of your body, to what it might want to do): > start by moving freely - on the spot or in the space - and stopping from time to time saying "I am here" (each one says it in their own native language); > introduce shifts to your position and voice it in your own native language (examples: I am sitting; I am folded; I am small; I am reaching out...) - let what others say influence your shifts of position - use "I am here" to assure yourself and the others - opening of the eyes to reconnect is a possibility.
Our discussion afterwards was very important. To start a session we often refer to Steve Paxton's "small dance", but we don't feel that is what we are exactly doing. We are more looking for a state of "zero" for our bodies, a state from where connection is possible, from where we can start to be “here” and dance together.
What is the way to this state of "zero"? We how to go there, but how to better describe what this state exactly is. It is the state in yourself that makes it possible to connect to others? Can we say more about it?
Muriel pense à Loïc Touzé (danseur et chorégraphe) dont le passe-temps favori semble être de « tenter de percevoir dans le visible ce qui ne l’est pas, dans l’immobile ce qui est en mouvement… ». Je m’interroge également sur « la petite danse » de Steve Paxton, dont nous parlons régulièrement. Certainement fait-elle appel à ce qu’Hubert Godart (chercheur en analyse du mouvement dansé) nomme le « pre-mouvement » : une dimension particulière de la qualité du geste « que seul l’imaginaire permet de toucher. » Selon lui l’expressivité du geste se joue avant même d’entrer en mouvement : « Les muscles gravitaires anticipent chacun de nos mouvements : ils fabriquent un pré-mouvement, invisible, imperceptible qui met en œuvre, dans le même temps le niveau mécanique et le niveau affectif de notre organisation. » C’est donc avant même de danser, dans l’immobilité instable de notre corps aligné selon un axe vertical qui répond simplement à la gravité, que s’exprime notre singularité. De notre conscience de nous-même nait notre capacité d’écoute de l’autre.
Annie found some related thoughts in A Mover’s Guide to Standing Still. Relationscapes, Erin Manning, 2009 : “Moshe Feldenkrais defines posture as “dynamic equilibrium.” He suggests that posture is how we move through. Posture is how we carry our movement stilling. This movement stilling is allied to the movements of experiential space- time. We move with the reaching- toward of experience as it moves us.“ ... “Every shift depends on a moving- through. Posture is the quality of the moving- through. It is not a position, not something to aim for or to attain: it is a movement with movement reconfiguring.“ ... “Asking you to stand still is like asking you to become aware of your special characteristic.” ... “Posture is the intensive magnitude of a movement- forming. It is not the incipiency of a movement as much as the passing- through toward that incipiency. It is the zero- point of absolute movement, the quasi chaos on the cusp of an incipient change in direction.“
Daniel: “To dance/move together at a distance, remotely - maybe it's the same if we shared the same physical space - implies a state of quietness that only then through the seamlessly signals produced by interference of the machine (sounds and looking/image) allows for a different quality of movement. One that is connected to the system in which we are moving. We always move even if we think we are still, so let's try to start by the idea of immobility in front of the computer where our three-dimensionality is put into question. Why do we move here? (Annie: because we can, because we like to practice movement together in front of the mostly body-less screen) What is the state/condition of a distant movement? A subtle ripple in space which we try to grasp and interpret, producing a form out of it... ”
Another take on this comes from Renee Carmichael in her article “Dancing Dead or Alive: Useless Bodies as Resistance within Necropolitical Web Choreographies.”: “The stillness of dancing bodies within the context of a dance is a glitch that endures outside of time, and as such it provides a moment of connection, a moment where virtual bodies are indeed allowed to share their dream with the world.“
We also talked about how connecting through the eyes or through the hearing is different during the dance. For Annie sound has a direct influence on her body (I don't have to change anything to hear and can stay with my own dance), while for looking she has to open her eyes, to select something on the screen or to decide not to do that. These are all conscious decisions and so interfere with her dance.