My name is Demy Papathanasiou, I am taking part in the contemporary dance practice.
Previously I attended “Unlimited Access” contemporary dance workshop at the
OCC for people with physical disabilities as well as people without disabilities,
some professional and some amateur for 2 years. It was
part of the program that led to the International Dance Festival "Unlimited
Access" hosted in Greece February 2015. We participated in "The flight" choreographed by Maria Koliopoulou.
Following that I took part in Candoco Summer Lab 2015 and Sweden Lab 2016.
Candoco Summer Lab 2015 was an intensive programm leading to the performance Beheld by Alexander Whitley and Candoco Dance Company.
Sweden Lab 2016 has been hosted in Gothenburg during Gothenburg Dance and Theatre festival.
It was a partnership of Candoco Dance Company, Quarantine Theatre Company and Swedish Dance Company Spinn. This year had a little bit more theatrical approach and an urban space one as some of our practices took place in Gothenburg city.
Friday 30 September 2016
Another piece that caught my eye was a small part from UNEARTHED Prosxima Dance Company.
Another reason for choosing two places is that maybe after rehearsal in the Benaki museum I will have to rule one out!! Well we'll see...
Friday 28 October 2016
Monday 07 November 2016
Today was our first rehearsal on the space. A lot has changed regarding what I originally had thought for my piece. On the ground floor I originally thought of a narrow space which didn't exactly worked out because it was too narrow for spinning around. So I decided to put my chair further back to a more open space somewhat underneath the ramp but not exactly. Another thing was that I wanted to dance with shoes but on this floor barefoot works better.
As I am trying out new things one thing comes in mind I still haven't found a title for my piece. So I start thinking about "perpetual motion" but I am not satisfied because it is too clarifying of what I am trying to do. Another thing which is clear is that the chair from the cafe is too slippery on the floor. So I need to find another chair.
I move to the second place I have chosen on the second floor not obvious as you enter the corridor but going further around the corner. "Wow" the space is so different so open, spacious it opens up your soul dancing around it. As I start dancing around my piece with shoes this time, it becomes clear to me that some movements are different here the space is so appealing as if the building is having a different conversation with me. Am I aloud to do this? Am I aloud to do something different? Food for thought to discuss it with Vicky Spanovangelis. (The chair is more slippery here, definitely needs changing.)
Still haven't found a title. So I am trying out some different things still thinking about it, then a thought occurs to me what if I name my piece "DANCING AROUND THE BUILDING"?
I think I have found my title. I am still not satisfied with the transition from the floor and the movement of the hands to the knee on the floor. I am thinking that it is too sudden. I have to work more on that and discuss it with Vicky Spanovangelis.
Vicky Spanovangelis suggested that I should do a spin on the floor and then go on one knee.
Also we discussed the possibility of different movements in different sites (ground floor, second floor). She said it's ok since they are too different.
Regarding clothes and chair: I have found a red chair, the contrast between the chair and all black clothes is so appealing to me, since I want people to notice only the flow.
I have tried the choreography with music from artist Nils Frahm -Says. I will use this music for my choreography.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIwwjy4slI8
Wednesday 16 November 2016
Changes again...on the ground floor definitely dancing with shoes, with the red chair this time, more stable getting up and down comes naturally. Still not pleased with myself connecting the transition between the floor piece and the getting up. As if something is missing. Trying different things and then Dr. Ana Sanchez-Colberg sees my tries and her suggestions seem as though they are the missing piece. Two slightly different pieces with different endings, I am willing to test my body to the limits and as she so poetically put it : "It is as if the ground floor piece exploded".
I have to keep trying because I want the choreography be part of my body and not try to think the movements. I want my body to remember the flow, as if I am dancing with the building. Pauses, glances and precise movements, clear to the viewers of what I am doing is what I am hoping for them to see.
One thing that Dr.Ana Sanchez-Colberg told me and stuck with me to the end is : " It looks like that you are watching the space from above (2nd floor) to down (ground floor) where you are going to dance next". I want them to make the connection and really see where I am looking at. I don't know if they can figure it out but I am willing to try.
It was time to call it a day and let all
the movements, thinking and feelings make an installation in my body and are
absorbed by it.
Space lays down the law because it implies a certain order – and hence also a certain disorder [. . .] Space commands bodies, prescribing or proscribing gestures, routes and distances to be covered [. . .] The ‘reading’ of space is thus merely a secondary and practically irrelevant upshot, a rather superfluous reward to the individual for blind, spontaneous and lived obedience. (Lefebvre 1991: 143)
That was the Choreography as a Collaborative Practice for me, as I was "performing" in three different spaces; each space gave me something else to work with and for. The feeling from the three different places was different each time and may be that was all about, interact with the museum, other people, make your presence shown.
Academic References
Marta "Defigurative Choreography: From Marcel Duchamp to William Forsythe", The MIT Press
JAckson Pollock, Meet Trisha Brown. Site dance museum
Friday 30 September 2016
I went to see the [Out]topias exhibition on a Friday afternoon. The first thing
that caught my eye was how spacious the room was. It was so easy to go around
and really dive into the exhibition. I stayed there a long time trying to
really absorb everything I was watching taking notes from too many videos I
think. What really caught my eye from the beginning was a performance by
Rootless root Endless Composition. The struggle of the dancer to endlessly move
for 6 hours really made me start thinking. What if? Can our body move continuously without
ever stopping? How big is a big scale as the beams that the performer had?Those where some of the thoughts I had when I was watching it.
In some
part of the performance there are the three dancers behind the glass people
watching them. One of them kneels and starts going round and round in a circular
movement. As she seems so tiny I start thinking about whether I can combine
both pieces and make my own. Again the scale comes in mind. How small is a small movement and can a small movement turn into something enormous?
Monday 10th of October 2016
Time to go on another scheduled visit in the Benaki museum, see around the spaces and decide where we want our choreography to take place. After going around on the available spaces I decided I would choose these two spaces. The one below is on the second floor only one part of the external balcony.
The other one was on the ground floor between the ramp and the wall. The way light is playing with the glass and the steel in this part of the museum is really interesting. Another reason why I choose these two spaces is because I think I need a kind of boundaries for my choreography, I like the thought that I have to be space confined!!
Time to go on another scheduled visit in the Benaki museum, see around the spaces and decide where we want our choreography to take place. After going around on the available spaces I decided I would choose these two spaces. The one below is on the second floor only one part of the external balcony.
The other one was on the ground floor between the ramp and the wall. The way light is playing with the glass and the steel in this part of the museum is really interesting. Another reason why I choose these two spaces is because I think I need a kind of boundaries for my choreography, I like the thought that I have to be space confined!!
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Another reason for choosing two places is that maybe after rehearsal in the Benaki museum I will have to rule one out!! Well we'll see...
Friday 28 October 2016
As I am thinking about my choreography and the
endless movement of our body I quote from Defigurative Choreography:
"My only function consists of making love
again and again and again and again, and again, and again in many different
forms". (Fabre I99I:30)
So I am trying to put this idea in motion and
have other people's attention as if they are not watching a round spin but
rather something more substantial and profound. Can they stop and figure out
what am I doing or do they pass by as nothing is happening? How can my presence
in the museum make a difference? Are people afraid as they are watching me
dance; feeling constantly conscious of their presence in the museum, thinking I
may be "broken", falling down
or am I breaking the silence of the museum?
As Evan Copeland, a member of Shen Wei Dance
Arts, puts it: "Museums are sacred ground —don't touch—whereas we're like,
'Please touch, be part of this, contribute.' We're making the space
accessible."
This is what I want to do make the place accessible, maybe people will follow me and start spinning around.
Monday 07 November 2016
Today was our first rehearsal on the space. A lot has changed regarding what I originally had thought for my piece. On the ground floor I originally thought of a narrow space which didn't exactly worked out because it was too narrow for spinning around. So I decided to put my chair further back to a more open space somewhat underneath the ramp but not exactly. Another thing was that I wanted to dance with shoes but on this floor barefoot works better.
As I am trying out new things one thing comes in mind I still haven't found a title for my piece. So I start thinking about "perpetual motion" but I am not satisfied because it is too clarifying of what I am trying to do. Another thing which is clear is that the chair from the cafe is too slippery on the floor. So I need to find another chair.
I move to the second place I have chosen on the second floor not obvious as you enter the corridor but going further around the corner. "Wow" the space is so different so open, spacious it opens up your soul dancing around it. As I start dancing around my piece with shoes this time, it becomes clear to me that some movements are different here the space is so appealing as if the building is having a different conversation with me. Am I aloud to do this? Am I aloud to do something different? Food for thought to discuss it with Vicky Spanovangelis. (The chair is more slippery here, definitely needs changing.)
Still haven't found a title. So I am trying out some different things still thinking about it, then a thought occurs to me what if I name my piece "DANCING AROUND THE BUILDING"?
I think I have found my title. I am still not satisfied with the transition from the floor and the movement of the hands to the knee on the floor. I am thinking that it is too sudden. I have to work more on that and discuss it with Vicky Spanovangelis.
Vicky Spanovangelis suggested that I should do a spin on the floor and then go on one knee.
Also we discussed the possibility of different movements in different sites (ground floor, second floor). She said it's ok since they are too different.
Regarding clothes and chair: I have found a red chair, the contrast between the chair and all black clothes is so appealing to me, since I want people to notice only the flow.
I have tried the choreography with music from artist Nils Frahm -Says. I will use this music for my choreography.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIwwjy4slI8
Wednesday 16 November 2016
Changes again...on the ground floor definitely dancing with shoes, with the red chair this time, more stable getting up and down comes naturally. Still not pleased with myself connecting the transition between the floor piece and the getting up. As if something is missing. Trying different things and then Dr. Ana Sanchez-Colberg sees my tries and her suggestions seem as though they are the missing piece. Two slightly different pieces with different endings, I am willing to test my body to the limits and as she so poetically put it : "It is as if the ground floor piece exploded".
I have to keep trying because I want the choreography be part of my body and not try to think the movements. I want my body to remember the flow, as if I am dancing with the building. Pauses, glances and precise movements, clear to the viewers of what I am doing is what I am hoping for them to see.
One thing that Dr.Ana Sanchez-Colberg told me and stuck with me to the end is : " It looks like that you are watching the space from above (2nd floor) to down (ground floor) where you are going to dance next". I want them to make the connection and really see where I am looking at. I don't know if they can figure it out but I am willing to try.
Well we had a rehearsal on Vickys
Spanovangelis on the Performance Archaelogies project. As we moved on the
Aithrio it occurred to me how different the floor was than the Black Box
Theatre (well I knew this would happen but still...) I had to improvise different
moves think out of the box situation.
I decided right then and there that as long
as my movement where "clean cut" for both performances (the audience
could see the pauses and the movement) I would be alright. The floor was very
difficult for me to move on but as we tried it for the third time it had grown
on me.
Thursday 17 November 2016
Rehearsal Day
No time for thinking, time to act. Well the
music didn't work so well as the outside space on the second floor was too
loud, speaker hadn't the capacity to overcome the noise. After trying several
times we decided that I wouldn't use the music on the second floor. The only
problem was that I hadn't rehearsed so many times without the music and I
didn't know how much time my piece was without the music. Candy Karra and Ana
Gabi Webb Sanchez were kind enough to time my piece and let me know if it was
adequate.
I decided to use all the suggestions that
Dr. Ana Sanchez-Colberg gave me the previous day. I changed the way I placed my
crutches on the chair, made more clear and pure movements and changed both
endings in the two different versions of my piece. I was trying to "perform”
as if people were watching me without thinking the movements and what to do
next. I was really anxious; could my body remember the routine without thinking
it? All the last minute changes? I wasn't quite sure if I could do it as I had
it in my mind, but as Candy Karra said "even when you think you made a
mistake, people don't know what it was supposed to be". What about the
collaboration with the museum did we have a conversation? Or was I
"alone"?
So it was time to do the run through and
well as they say don't think just do, that what I did. I didn't think moves
just did and hope for the best. Apparently it worked well. All the changes were
made; it was as if they were the missing link on my piece. The "don't
think just do practice" worked better than I had hoped for. I really felt
as if I had a conversation with the museum, as if I was imposing my presence
there. I can't really explain it more than it was a feeling I had as if the
space was "talking" to me, making me respond to its suggestions. May
be that's my collaboration with the space.
We had a run through on Vickys
Spanovangelis piece and I think it went better than yesterday. Maybe it was the
over joy of the day but I felt more confident in both pieces, worried of
course, but more an anticipation than anything else.
Saturday 19 November 2016
Betwixt/Between
The day started very early, with
performances back to back all I could think about was make the transitions as
quickly as possible.
I believe my piece went pretty well. It's
very difficult when you see people that already know you and give you an
opinion of the performance. Can't know if they are saying it because they know
you or they are objective. For me the best part of the performance was during
the pauses and the glances, the feeling that I had from the
"audience" was amazing.
The second run of our performances went
better for me even though we were all more tired, but I think it came more
naturally. Even though sometimes two performances can't be exactly alike; (for
example on the third set of Vickys Spanovangelis piece one of my shoes came
out, people thought it was part of the performance; that's not the case) I
believe that we did the best we could do.
After Dr. Ana Sanchez-Colberg livestreamed
our event worldwide maybe the best way to end this journal of the day is the
review I have got from the blog fleshingmovement.
Sunday 11 December 2016
Today I went to watch performance Khaos
from Laurent Chetouane, as I was watching the performance I was thinking that
maybe we can't actually avoid making same or similar movements repeatedly it
might be ok on the long run. As I am thinking about our performance nearly a
month later and the thought I had about the spinning around, it is ok to repeat
movements.
Choreography as a Collaborative Practice
Space lays down the law because it implies a certain order – and hence also a certain disorder [. . .] Space commands bodies, prescribing or proscribing gestures, routes and distances to be covered [. . .] The ‘reading’ of space is thus merely a secondary and practically irrelevant upshot, a rather superfluous reward to the individual for blind, spontaneous and lived obedience. (Lefebvre 1991: 143)
That was the Choreography as a Collaborative Practice for me, as I was "performing" in three different spaces; each space gave me something else to work with and for. The feeling from the three different places was different each time and may be that was all about, interact with the museum, other people, make your presence shown.
Academic References
Marta "Defigurative Choreography: From Marcel Duchamp to William Forsythe", The MIT Press
Kaye Nick Site-Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation
