#choreographiclaboratory

[decoprojectblog]

More footage from Epitaxy 1, performed on 31st January 2015 as part of the choreographic laboratory at NN Contemporary Art Gallery, Northampton

[decoprojectblog]

Poster for choreographic laboratory and scratch performance at NN Contemporary Art Gallery

[decoprojectblog]

Documentation

Before presenting at Digital Echoes I had a brief conversation with Matt about choreography and documentation to clarify some of the thoughts I had in response to his presentation on Orthogonality. I wanted to get them down on the blog, as they are potentially useful in thinking about the DECO resource in terms of articulating choreographic practice, or more specifically working with performativity. For my own practice as a documenter and dramaturg for my own work, it is also useful as I am beginning (as a result of the presentation at Digital Echoes) to think about development my own documentation framework.

For Matt, the choreography is a performance provocation of the dancers, and their performative engagement with this is the work. In terms of documentation – if the choreography is not the work, why would you document it? Matt’s approach to documentation is not necessarily to record the devising tasks or movement material, but the conditions in the room when material was made – the language used, the approach, the atmosphere, as these are the circumstances of the provocation. It is these circumstances that are integral if the work is to be restaged. I would argue that even if the purpose of documentation is not for restaging, this approach is useful as it deals with process not outcomes – the how – which, with my DECO hat on, is much more useful educationally. 

In terms of my own documentation, I am interested in recording devising tasks as for me they are also a provocation to the dancers to engage generatively in the work. Some rationale for what the task was trying to facilitate would also be beneficial. 

Something else that is key for me is to record decision making processes as why choreographer’s make creative decisions – to change material, to cut it, to us certain structures, to start again – is often shrouded in mystery. This is particularly important when the documentation process is part of my teaching – like the blog for Fall and Swell. 

For me as an artist who is developing their practice, reflective posts are studio sessions are key as they provide an opportunity to reflect, learn and understand. 

These three decisions about documentation all come from different priorities – the documentation of the work, its educational benefit to students, and its educational benefit to me as an artist. Through preparing my presentation for Digital Echoes I was keenly aware that the archive was far too dense and difficult to navigate as a result – even with the hastagging. In attempting to provide insight to the students, I stopped being selective about what to document and tried to document everything. Not only does this make the archive disengaging, but it is not feasible for me time wise. Through presenting at Digital Echoes, I realized I needed to consider the aim of the blog – whether it be to document the work, provide educational insight or develop me as an insight – and select what I document accordingly. The Sounds, Scores and Structures blog begins to do this, as Research and Development for my next work, it largely involves critical reflections on process of working with sound art – from myself and the dancers – to enable me to think about how to approach the work in May. More to follow on this at a later date.