Today was an other special day as we opened the door of our studio to share our experiments, our discoveries and our old affairs. One of the most beautiful feedback "The Sharing was very strong, entertaining and enjoyable, physically and emotionally" and an other one saying "I felt sensory sensations". TOYS little by little is growing... It was really really helpful for us to share few extracts. Thank you for all the thoughts, comments and questions raised! And thank you to the performers who are so committed and playing the game to perfection!!
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or the day we found out there is not 1 definition of Pleasure. But around 10 000.
Today on top of devising more of our moving paintings and our highly jumping birds, we had the pleasure (yes) to chat with Thomas Stern (UCL) about pleasure, hedonism and the idea of performing pleasure. Taking physically the space to understand our own definitions of pleasure, we realised that all of those definitions could be criticised and thus abandoned, for an other one, which could also be criticised and thus abandoned, for an other one etc. This is what we have discussed > What is pleasure? > What is the difference between pleasure and Entertainment and THEN what is TOYS? Is it an entertainment? (= try to please) and finally, how do we get to perform pleasure? We all left the room wanting more, more food for thoughts, more time with Tom. 1h30 flies by. 1 day in a studio flies by. YES Tom and I will be back together and with you on that! > To read from Thomas Stern, Philosophy and Theatre (Routledge, 2013) I think I am understanding that when it comes to devising; at least in my head; motion comes before emotion. I need a frame and I trust that it will be then filled with emotions/interpretation. The frame will be inhabited, coloured and will genuinely come to life.
Today, we made shapes and we inhabited them. Or started to. We were lucky that Elodie Frati from Moving Dynamics gave us a wonderful yoga class this morning, we shared our souls and our sweats. The day finished with a meeting with Tom, UCL Lecturer; we talked hedonism, performance and pleasure in order to prepare together the discussion that will happen tomorrow afternoon. Yes, we had a great first day back in the studio and I cannot wait for tomorrow morning again.......... Today (well, yesterday) was the last day of a creatively very rich week.
Danilo Moroni joined us for the afternoon so we could create more images and a 1 minute teaser. TOYS and more to follow. How will we develop the new BIRDS section/ how will our BALL evolve/ what will the emotional journey of the performer unfold and will the audience stand up and dance with us? Next stop is Oulu, Jojo Dance Centre, in Finland. September, be here quickly! Credit Picture: Danilo Moroni It is always quite hard to chose what to share... You want to give a taste of what the piece will be like, but you also want to test the ideas you've been developping in the studio.
And for the first time, I could work and research without having to show a polished work-in-progress (or without putting the pressure on myself, to present a polished work-in-progress!). And as a result of this... tranquility of mind... the sharing was a super positive experience: we chatted, I heard feedbacks, I asked questions, we shared our experience of dancing, partying... The CAT students were with us during the sharing and hopefully the work made them question what forms dance can embrace. Credit picture: Georges Maikel Pires Monteiro Right. Today, OBSESSION got a name and it is: our new bird section. 1m30 is just the beginning of something absolutely fantastic (we hope).
We also had a 2h workshop: with Alicia, Rosie, Lizzie, Wayne and Alex, we worked on our good old macarena section and on the group improvisation we call the BALL. It was absolutely great to try different sections with more than 5 bodies. We kept on working and digging the concept of the 5 levels (of physicality and emotions) and shared thoughts and discoveries with them. Suddenly our playground was wider, broader and richer. In the meantime Martin and I are discussing sounds and are musically trying things... Credit picture: Georges Maikel Pires Monteiro That's it, we're digging that birdy physicality and today, something fantastic happened. In the middle of our Kafkaesque research, James, Georges, Joss, Elsa and Rosie turned into beautiful strange beasts.
Today was our 1st day back in the studio since TripHazarding...........
We became birds, or tried to, we improvised the whole day, jumped around and worked on the group dynamic. Adam Potts of Newcastle University shared some thoughts with us about improvisation, the self and the concept of "hope" according to Blanchot, a french writer/philosopher. Thank you so much to everyone who came and chatted with us! Always super inspiring to hear different thoughts and opinions! few hours ago at Dance-City > Credit picture: Georges Maikel Pires Monteiro ...that we were going to start a BLOG, is also the day we found out that Arts Council England is supporting the project!
Thrilled, excited, happy, impatient. We can't wait to be back in the studio, this time, at Dance-City, in Newcastle. Credit Picture: Danilo Moroni |
Currently touring STARVING DINGOES
and in the making of IN THE BUSHES |