Discussion Page (Project 3)

25th May
Sita:
Welcome to Hands-On Dance Project 3!

The first stage of the Project is to decide what the theme/subject for the dance should be. You can suggest anything that you think might be interesting. Please post suggestions and/or thoughts for the group to see and discuss.

All the best,
Sita (Project Director)

26th May
Patti:
I would love to see a project centering on the theme of transformation or transcendence. There are so many strong images and levels of meaning associated with this theme, that it lends itself to some marvelous movement!

27th May
Sita:
We looked briefly at Reflections and Transformations in Hands-On Project 2, but we stayed more with the idea of reflections...so perhaps it would be good to look in more depth at transformations/transcendence this time. Let's see if anyone else wants to comment.

31st May
Coco:
On a not too dissimilar theme, what about birth, growth and development etc? The transformation of life, be it animal, vegetable or mineral. Another idea is the theme of weather - it is constantly changing, evolving and moving. It can be as calm as a hot summers day or as tempestuous as a hurricane. Just an idea.

Sita:
There is no reason at all why we should not have several themes that tie in together. That can enrich the dance, both in terms of ideas to draw upon for the making, and possible readings of the outcome.

Colleen:
I have used a game that is called transformations- I used it as a warm up but it could be used to generate material.
Standing in a circle, one person does a movement with sound and passes it to the next, they copy it and continue moving , transforming it into something else by the time they turn to face the person next to them- the process continues around the circle.

You could try it.
Or you could set some material and have dancers transform it.

Sita:
We are having our first rehearsal with the dancers on Thursday - we'll try this exercise and put the results up on the Project 3 Site.

Kris:
Transfiguration idea?

What about change in feelings. Love to hate, fall out of love, fall in love, delight in a new toy to indifference etc...

Divizio:
Transformation and transcendence are interesting (rather universal... a notion I admittedly have difficulty with) themes.  How to transform/transcend may inspire some interesting movement, however,  it seems to me the thing is pretty top heavy!...building UP...and UP.  As in always working towards the same direction....which is ????? right? good?  definitely one eye blinded!
I suggest it would be an interesting exercise to have successive dancers work in "opposition" to one another..not simply following the developing form but continuously correcting the overall form by successively "redirecting" the input.  I am working with such a notion which often results in an overall "spiral".....  Worth a try?
0!Z!^!P

Sita:
Good point - the dancers will have a go at this today and we'll put the video up as soon as we can.

1st June
Jeff:
This seems especially resonant in terms of working with technology AND with performing. The predilection in the dance world to focus on "younger" forms, idealizing a form of the body that is ephemeral while as if it could be maintained forever, combined with the idea of technolust, the strange idea (which I am guilty of myself quite often) that the next new piece of technology will REALLY solve all our problems....

Of course, these are rather negative aspects of transfiguration, the replacement and disposal of the old with the new. I wonder if it would be possible to convey these feelings positively...

Jeff:
Ok, here's a challenge, then: have the dance structured in such a way that the angle of view that the audience has determines their reading of the piece--EVEN THOUGH they are all watching the same piece simultaneously. Since part of the performance will be televised, the advantages of the frame can help control this.

In other words, if you are on a thrust stage: the audience stage right sees an angry dance. The audience stage left sees a joyful dance. The audience in front sees an elegant love story. Sort of a cubist choreography: portraying all the views at once, and recognizing their difference.

Whew. The thought of how complicated that would be gives me a headache. Glad I"M not the choreographer...

2nd June
Sita:
Thanks, Jeff - I think!!   :-)

Sita:
We've had our first rehearsal and video and records from it are up on the site.  Click here to see it in USA, and click here to see it in UK.
Please let us have your comments and suggestions for further rehearsals.

3rd June
Veronica:
Your rehearsal looked great. A thought for the future, which is quite similar to your transformation game -Mirroring. Two dancers mirror each other's movement simultaneously. The hard part is to follow the movement (dancer A is moving the left hand, for example, then dancer B must move the right hand) especially when it becomes more complex than simply moving a hand. However, in keeping with your transcending concept, I was thinking that one dancer could 'lead' the movement, and the others could follow one at a time. The placement of the dancers would be at different angles - just enough so that they could all see the 'leader'. So that 'A' starts the movement - maybe a turn or slow develop and 'B' would follow the two would continue dancing and then 'B' would become the leader and dancer 'A' and 'C' would follow 'B'. This type of movement would continue until all the dancers would be 'leader'. The key being not to stop the movement and keeping lag time to a minimum.

good luck!!!!!!

Colleen:
hmmm...people seem interested in transcendance and transformation but what are we transforming/transcending?
life/death/struggles/strife

what about reincarnation?

4th June
Sita:
Thanks, Veronica - we've got another rehearsal tomorrow (Monday 5th) so we will try this idea out and get some video up on the site.

Sita:
These are big issues that deserve careful thought, but they are kind of difficult to get started with!! It might be easier to begin working with something a little more concrete, perhaps? Like maybe a smaller section of the overall concept, or an image, or snatch of poetry or text?

Does anyone have any suggestions? Anyone can send in images, text, movies, etc as inspirations for the dance. You can email or attach files to an email at sita@satorimedia.com

5th June
Sita:
We have had our second rehearsal - click here to see what we did.  We used Veronica's improvisation suggestion, and worked from that to look at some of the issues that have been raised in this discussion - love/hate, birth/life/death.  Please have a look and give us your feed back by emailing me at sita@satorimedia.com.

Veronica:
I liked what the dancers did with the love/hate, birth/life/death concepts.  It got me thinking of several new themes. Using the improvisations that you already have,  what about a theme more earthy/tribal or celestial. I think that you probably can not go much further until you decide on the type of music that will be used. Sometimes that will help center your concept. Maybe something by Andreas Vollenweider.

Sita:
The dancers and I worked from Veronica's suggestion in rehearsal today, using the ideas about transformation/transcendence - birth/life/death - love/hate - as our themes.
We discussed the nature of transformation/transcendence - we felt that transformation is necessarily a traveling, a journey.  It has a beginning (the original state), a middle (the transformation) and an end (the transformed state).  It involves sharing, learning or change of some sort along the way.

We noticed that because the dancers are selecting movement to transform from what they saw in many of these exercises, a large amount of the development/transformation is based upon their personal selection - what they see, what they choose to develop, what they do with that development.  This means that elements of their personalities become evident through these choices, and they "rediscover" themselves and their own movement qualities through the transformations of others' movements.

Özgün: (Posted on WWW Board)
I am a dancer from Turkey...the project seems interesting...subject in my mind is :travel. because the action 'travellin' carries a lot on his arms...as it means meeting new things, new lifes, new places...and it also means 'leaving' which is always hard...but to explore we should learn to  leave...Leave our habits, friends, cities, family...

Travel is a good subject in my opinion. Many words are to speak of travel; and so many words to dance!
Good luck in your project,
Love,
özgün

6th June
Dan: (Posted on WWW Board)
Here's an idea for you. It's based on a situation that is happening to a friend of mine.
He's in an unhappy relationship and has "dumped" his girlfriend 6 times already, but each time he gets barracked by her until he agrees to go back out with her again! She's a bit obsessive, always prying into his life, he's loving but completely spineless!

I guess I have an idea of unhappiness and separation, weakness and spinlessness, contrasted then with togetherness and happiness again, only to feel trapped and unhappy again. It's a vicious cycle that he can't break because of his own weakness and her claw like grip over him.
Is that any use?
This project is a great idea btw, good luck!

7th June:
Simon: (Posted on WWW Board)
I have a small collection of small QTs that you could use on my site at http://www.agentsimon.co.uk.. the one based on a Mayerbridge movement may be interesting as it looks at how web technology affects movement via compression
Simon

8th June
Sita: (reply to  özgün's  message on 5th June)
Hi özgün
Thanks - we too came round to traveling in our last rehearsal, which you can see at http://www.satorimedia.com/hands_on/proj3reh2.htm.  We didn't discuss leaving, though, and I think that this is an important thought that we have missed.
Perhaps travel is an important subject in a way, since we now have participants from Turkey, USA, UK and probably other places too!  We'll look at this in our third rehearsal tomorrow (9th June), and I'll put videos of it up on Friday or Saturday.
love Sita

Sita: (reply to Dan's message on 6th June)
Thanks, Dan - your poor friend! There are some strong images in your description. We'll have a go at working with them tomorrow (Friday 9th) in our next rehearsal. Videos of what we come up with will be up on the site Friday evening/Saturday morning.

Dan: (posted on WWW Board)
He'll live :-)
Have fun with it, hope it works!
Dan

Sita: (reply to Simon's message on 7th June)
Thank you, Simon - I love the site!! I watched all the movies, but the Mayerbridge one inparticular was very interesting. I'll show the dancers tomorrow in rehearsal and we'll have a play with some movement. I'll put up video of what we come up with tomorrow evening or Saturday morning.

Sita:
We have another rehearsal tomorrow (Friday 9th June) and we need more ideas to work on for the dance.  Please send us  any thoughts, ideas, suggestions for anything to do with the dance.  We need to pin down the theme a little more - so ideas about transformation would be great - images, sounds, poems, text, that we could work from to inspire the movement.  Please email them to sita@satorimedia.com

9th June
Clare and Coco:
Rehearsal 1:
Improvisation 1 - we liked the first movement made by the dancer with the orange trousers - we liked the sweeping nature of the movement which was also tightly controlled.  The movement where she slides her hands down her back followed by the 'passing on' movement with the hands towards the next dancer were particularly effective.
Improvisation 2 - we liked the last movement by the dancer in the white zip-up top with blonde hair.  We particularly liked the arm movements.

Sita:
We have had our THIRD REHEARSAL and you can see the records and video up on the site by clicking here.  Please send us comments, and more suggestions as to how we could take the idea/dance further (sita@satorimedia.com).  We'll be working with the movement selected by Claire and Coco (see above message) in our next rehearsal on Monday 12th June.

Dan: (posted on WWW Board in response to rehearsal 3 movie)
Hi
Wow, I'm really impressed ;-) I like the sense of moving apart/returning and the throwing down is  quite striking. also like the "intertwiningness" (if that's a word), brings over the sense of a tangled, clawing inability to escape.
Music? I'll get back to you...  I think it's great, keep it going!

Simon: (posted on WWW Board  - we were unable to work from Simon's video in the third rehearsal due to Internet problems)
Shame but yes typical can I make some new stuff over the weekend from the previous recordings if thats OK
Simon
Sita: (response to Simon)
That would be great - please let me know when they are up and I will download them for  Monday's rehearsal!

10th June
Clare and Coco:
Found some Escher pictures that depict transformation and metamorphosis. The creatures in them are all moving forward... at least a tenous suggestion of 'travel', perhaps! We thought the 'Encounter' picture, in particular might inspire an interesting dance sequence/phrase. (Click here to see the images on the inspirations page.)

11th June
Özgün: (Posted on WWW Board)
Then, maybe I can talk a bit more on 'travel' ...travel means so much to me actually...Because it is a philosophy through life in my opinion. I see each travel(to a new country, to a holiday,...or whatever), as roads....They are roads that ends in us...And at every journey, we take a step to ourselves...

Also I want to add here Lao_tzu's(570-490 BC)words: "A GOOD TRAVELLER HAS NO FIXED PLANS AND NOT INTENT ON ARRIVING".
...I will go on watching you on internet...nice works, enjoy!................ÖZGÜN

Sita:
We need a title for the dance - does anyone have any suggestions?  I rather like, from özgün's quote above, the title of "No Fixed Plans" - it describes the way that this project is developing, with input from everyone, and also describes the ideas of travel.  But please send in other suggestions, and we can discuss them and make a choice.  (email hands-on@satorimedia.com)

12th June
Sita:
We have had our fourth rehearsal today - movies and records are up on the site (click here ).  Please send us your feedback - what you like, what you think works, suggestions for music, costumes, title for the dance, etc.  We would love to hear from you!  (email: hands-on@satorimedia.com)

Simon:  (Posted on WWW Board- in rehearsal 4 we worked from Simon's movie)
I like the interference from the other two dancers but it seems to lack something.  What about taking something from Chinese whispers..sort of movement passed on and changed?

15th June
Sita:
We have had our fifth rehearsal today - click here to see movies and records.  We have worked again with Simon's movie, and with Clare's poem.  We have what we think might do for the beginning of the dance - please let us know what you think.  We also had our composer with us in rehearsal for the first time today.  We will put music up on the site as it is ready.  Please send us your comments for our next rehearsal, which will be on Monday 19th June.

16th June
Clare:
I think this has worked really well. I like the possibility of it going on for ever and the way the dancers come together, merge and move apart, both being aspects of the Escher picture. It is also a very pleasing dance to watch.

The T. S. Eliot one I'm not so sure about. I like the idea of the small movements making a journey but I wasn't sure the journey ever really got going. If it was simply used as a lead in to a longer dance which was unmistakably a journey it might be very good. Perhaps the finger walking needs to be echoed by feet walking at an earlier point in the dance.... I'm not sure!

Sita:
I'm glad you enjoyed the Encounter one, Clare - we felt that it worked too.  It was wonderful the way the two phrases that you selected from the original improvisations just fitted together.  Almost all the movement in this section is taken entirely from those two phrases!

We'll try the Elliot one with the feet coming in earlier - we can bring Melanie forward so that her feet are close to Abbie while she does the finger-walking.  I think that this section will work very well as the beginning of the dance, and we hope that the dance will be clearly a journey.  We might well come back to the finger walking at the end of the dance, but have them reach the other side of the stage or something...

Next rehearsal is on Monday - we'll work more with this then.

19th June
Sita:
We've had our sixth rehearsal today - click here to see it.  We have worked on a beginning and an end for the dance today.  We are hoping to do more work on putting the dance together at our next rehearsal on Thursday.  Please send us your comments and suggestions either on the Board or via email to hands-on@satorimedia.com

22nd June
Sita:
Today we have had our seventh rehearsal - click here to see it.  We are now working on putting the dance together, and we hope to finish it on Monday at the next rehearsal.  We will be rehearsing it on Thursday and Friday, and then we will be performing it on Saturday 1st July at 3pm GMT.  Everyone is welcome to join us for the live performance via iVisit videoconferencing.  iVisit is free to download - click here to find out more.  You don't have to have any special equipment other than a computer with an internet connection.  You don't need to have a camera - you will still be able to see us.  Further details will be up here shortly, but please email us if you have any specific questions.

If you can't join us live via videoconferencing, don't worry - we will also be recording it on video and putting it up on the Web site in sections for you to download.

23rd June
Clare:
I've just watched the changed Eliot and the End dances and I approve. Quite tickled that you are thinking of using something inspired by the Eliot for the beginning and the end...... "In my end is my beginning" .... a major theme in 'The Four Quartets'!

24th June
Sita:
Glad you liked them, Clare!  We're hoping to finish the dance at the rehearsal on Monday.  Do you think you will be able to join us for a videoconference performance on Saturday 1st July from 3pm on iVisit?  I didn't know about The Four Quartets - how strange!     :-)

26th June
Sita:
Our eighth rehearsal has been moved to tomorrow because one of the dancers can't be with us today.  Records will be up as usual tomorrow evening.
We now have full instructions up for how to  join us for the live sharing of the dance on Saturday 1st July at 3.00pm GMT.  Click here to see them, and please email us if you have any further questions.

Rachel:
it has been my first chance to have a look at the project and it has been really interesting to browse through the development of the piece from a collection of ideas and personalities to produce awhole something.. I'm really looking forward to the final outcome...

with the developed leaving duet.. having someone walk form upstage left to down right gives a kind of menacing feel.. like she has deteminedly left whatever it is... I read that this diagonal has this effect because we scan right to left and therefore find travel from right to left more satisfying.. it suggests moving from the past to the future... walking the opposite diagonal gives me some idea of leaving into your past... perhaps that corresponds with the idea that you never escape it, or there is nothing new under the sun.. all journies lead to the beginning (like the Eliot idea, the end is the beginning...)

I guess if you view the piece from another angle the walking could give you a different impression.. maybe pulling in a bit of Jeff's Cubist idea...!

after the climax how will you return to the beginning?  and will the beginning be in the same direction?  if so why?

just some thoughts
trying to sneak in at the last minute!

Rachel

27th June
Sita:
Thank you very much for sneaking in at the last minute, Rachel!  :-)
Your timing  is excellent - we have a rehearsal this morning, and we are hoping to complete the piece, so we will be applying your ideas today.  A record from the rehearsal will be up on the site by tonight, and i will also answer some of your questions by email later too.

Sita:
We have had our eighth rehearsal today - click here to see the records.  We finished the dance - and today we started adding some music too, so the videos on the rehearsal page have sound today.  We have a rehearsal on Thursday for polishing and minor adjustments, a dress rehearsal on Friday and the sharing on Saturday.  Click  here to find out how to join us.

Sita:(Response to Rachel - 26th June)
We have finished the dance today and we've been playing with music.  Our composer is still working on the piece, and we are introducing some pre-recorded stuff too.

We like your interpretation of the dancer walking on the diagonal in the Leaving Duet - it is pretty much what we were intending.  There is a kind of focus on that corner through the piece - but it is perhaps unattainable too...

The climax ends by leaving just one dancer on stage, Melanie, downstage right.  She gets left behind by the others, as she sinks into a more contemplative mood as the busy-ness passes on.  She is shadowed by Ronnie, upstage left, as they repeat the movement from the beginning of the dance, but a little altered, with more definite forward motion than at the start.  They appear to be moving in the same direction as at the beginning, but the final image is Melanie exiting stage left, walking slowly off where Liz began the piece by walking on.  We wanted to give the impression of travelling on, as if the piece continues beyond the performance, but at the same time of coming back to the beginning...  Eliott style.

I hope this answers some of your questions.  We'd love to have more comments from you.  We intend to do final tweaking and polishing on Thursday, so there is still time to check over things and make alterations.

28th June
Veronica:
Just wanted to say that it looks good. I like the music that you chose and the one walking dancer in each section. The walking gives the piece "connectedness". For some reason, the thought that comes to mind is spying -looking in on the inner lives and thoughts of others.  Can't wait for your last two rehearsals.   To all the dancers: MERDE!!!!!!!!

Rachel:
I love the Ed Alleyne-Johnson music - went well with the idea of leaving, a kind of mournful note I thought, but beautiful.

The Encounter section was hard to see, I watched it several times.  It's quite aggressive in comparison to the other sections - in terms of amount of movement and the music...  are the dancers sposed to be circling?

It's nice to have sound, after lots of silent clips - makes it feel more alive

Sita: (reply to Rachel)
I too love the Ed Alleyne-Johnson music - the first time the dancers performed with the music it brought a tear to my eye.

The Encounter section probably feels aggressive because we are rehearsing in a fairly small studio and I can't get far enough away from the dancers for you to see the shape properly.  Yes, they are circling - when I film it in the theatre you will be able to see that because i can get right back from them and slightly above them too.

It's good to work with the music too.  We started without it, as music makes the movie files even larger and we wanted to put up as much movement as possible.  Also, we didn't actually add the music until the last couple of rehearsals.

Melanie (dancer): (posted on WWW Board)
Just to say I can't believe all this is possible, now I have some faith in the internet.It's amazing to know that people from all around the world have created this piece, that your ideas are being realised in our little studio in the middle of no where and it's all seemed so simple too!.

 I now cannot help relating the beginning of the piece to the Holocaust,particularly the leaving duet section I cannot specify why yet. I feel it's in the mood of the piece at this point,the dancers all look very solemn,it reminds me of how the Jewish people were torn apart from their loved ones and forced to leave their homes and travel to the ghetto or worse.This inevitable parting is shown in the dance because although the direction of the movement is advancing out to the front corner, the movements themselves are inwardly evolving (the turning round of  your partner, and Maggie's leggy hippy movement, performed by Ronnie and Maggie picked up by Liz at the end of the section).

I don't really want to think of this when I dance but I cannot help it. I don't think this association continues through the rest of the piece but I will have to watch it again.

30th June
Sita:
We had our dress rehearsal today - click here to see images from the rehearsal.  We are now all set for the sharing and filming tomorrow.   The dancers are wearing costumes of blue and orange - just baggy trousers and tops.  We hope that this will show up well on film.

We hope that you will be able to join us tomorrow for the sharing - click here to find out how to join us over the internet.  Unfortunately you won't be able to hear sound over the videoconferencing as this will slow up the image too much.  However, we will be putting the sound on the Web site as a separate file and the dance will be up in sections for downloading too.

Rachel:
Just wanted to wish you all the best for tomorrow - the dress rehearsal looked very relaxed!  I can't join you for the live sharing - but would love a CD and will be checking out the website as soon as I get back online...
It's been a real joy feeling involved albeit in a tiny way!

1st July
Sita:
We are at the theatre right now - just about to start filming.  The dancers are just arriving and getting ready.  We will put up some details about the performance later today and the video of it will be up early next week.  We hope that some of you will be able to join us for the performance live via videoconferencing today!

Sita:
We have had the sharing now and filmed the dance.  We were joined by seven people on videoconferencing for the live sharing, and the video will be up on the site shortly.  If any participants would like to have a free CD-ROM of the dance please email me with your postal details and whether you would like it for PC or Mac.
Thank you very much to everyone who took part in this project - we enjoyed working with you!

2nd July
Sita:
Images from the videoconference performance are now on the site - click here to see them.  Movies to follow shortly!