R&D Insights week 5: The Incredible Presence of a Remarkable Absence
Penultimate week of research and development for The Incredible Presence of a Remarkable Absence.
Photo credit: James Robotham. Dancer: Joe Darby
What a week! We began this week after having a loose sketch of the work (some of it still conceptual) and following a 2-week break. I must say, the short holiday spanned into insignificance when we loaded this week with all the oomph we could muster in our reach for the finish line. Kai has already captured the feeling of all this very well; it has been tough.
Fantastic to have guests again for class, which I had the pleasure of taking Friday morning. We have had our fair share of demanding phrases this week and I really think this is all good information for our process, and in developing the dancers' physicality. The guests also bring a welcome breath of energy which is very useful in preparing the company for the day ahead. I have thoroughly enjoyed the class situation throughout this whole process, it has been an excellent way to welcome in the new day with open minds and hearts. The company members have really delivered beautifully considered classes, all with their own unique spin, but also with some common threads of ideas that I am proud to call the "Lila technique", rejuvenated and developed through this process and these dancers. Taking their classes and feeling the team develop through learning from one another has made me feel very proud to be a part of this process and honoured to lead the direction of such a talented group of artists.
Following class, we did a little bit of reworking on a section called "conversations" and then when straight into a second run through of the work. Following yesterday's notes this was very much a "take 2" and I felt a much-improved expression of the work. I have been tight on my direction this week and the dancers have absolutely met my decisions with positivity (even if they do not always agree) and I think this heightened direction is now giving the work a deeper level of intention (especially to the detail). Having said this, this is without a doubt a "dancers work", the narrative is very much within their hands and the performative function contains a lot of power within this piece. The dancers have to remain absolutely concentrated from beginning until end and they are constantly making decisions about the "physical" versus the "content"... Their decisions are getting better and better. I am feeling more and more now the work slipping away from me- the vision is still my own as are the decision abut "right and wrong" but it is the dancers who I feel really own this now. They live and breathe their characters, and their embodiment gains new levels with every run through and with every piece of feedback. The "de-rolling" for lunch is becoming slower now that the dancers are getting deeper into their character... And "stepping out" of the role can be a complex process. This is why I love to direct... this exact moment when the dancers grab the piece and the piece grabs the performers and the World transforms before my eyes, this is when it gets interesting- time to let the work fly! I have felt the first hint of this with the last run through, and it is this spark that captures my imagination.... I want more of this spark... It is on the edge of our reach, and I can sense it getting closer.
The man that has such an important hand in bringing our World into existence has been getting louder! Dougie has wrestled with this work and I really feel now how his voice will transform the work to new levels. He is pushing his creative boundaries and on the finished sections the sound brings spine-tingling feeling to the narrative. Dealing with this much material sound is perhaps more than his laptop is built to cope with and bringing all this sound into a composition takes a huge amount of time and technical know-how. Dougie- hang in there, you are so, so close to the magic you are known for.
One week to go. Lots of brave editing to be done. We are in a good place, but there is still much to work for, and we certainly won't be getting casual. Deep breath... Come and see a first peek of the work at our sharing on Friday at 3.00 @ The University of Chichester.
Abi
Photo credit: James Rowbotham. Dancers: Aya Kobayashi & Kai Downham
“Like previous rehearsals on my solo I struggled with the balance between creating movement and character. The idea behind my characters journey within this section shifted later in day as we spoke more about the order of the piece and the context of all the sections. We spoke about the section that would contain my solo and what kind of ‘place’ the space would be, this gave me a further understanding to my character’s role for the overall narrative and this section. I feel that my story and journey within this piece is growing and with each day and conversation my character gains a ‘layer’, which for me is very exciting! ”
“I realise that I still have many sections choreographically and narratively I need to be clearer about what I’m doing. This piece is so intense. And the performing this piece is ahh extremely intense. Although I believe this is a right way to feel to present the story from Becket. At moment I’m keeping searching what Aya (-this character) would do/react… My background is actually ballet, I started ballet when I was 3. There are a lot of reasons I shifted myself to contemporary dance but one of reasons was I just didn’t like acting to be those characters, hated to be Sleeping beauty, hated to be Coppelia. But now what I enjoy is developing a character with my own essence/personality through the process… I found it’s interesting that I arrived back to same matter with different attitude. ”
“Week 5, and back to the battlefield. At the beginning of the week Abi mentioned this week was going to be extremely tough, physical and going for gold- the finish line is in sight. She certainly wasn’t wrong with that statement. We spent up until lunch working on this, now halfway through the day and it looks like we might shortly be ready to have our first run through of the entire piece… We gather our belongings, get tied up in our words, build and break relationships. Sing, dance, laugh and shout. Play games and have hope, this way we might find our way... To where? ”
Photo credit: Cover image and photos by James Rowbotham
