What if where I am, is where I need to be?
Paola Del Mar Padilla Bravo
{Dancer}{Study Abroad}{Over Thinker}{Conceptual}{Producer}{Artist}{Inspiration}
I consider myself an artist in constant search of what I really want to occupate; Choreographer, dancer, producer, artist... In my movements I turn to emotions or how im feeling in the moment I execute them. Every day its something different and I believe this is part of my choreographic process to facilitate the search of something new, different or to justify a sequence.
The repetition and mimics are some techniques I usually refer to when composing. When a movement is interesting to me, I need to explote it until i feel i explored it in all possible ways.
As a Choreographer, I look to learn about the bodies that surround me and the ones im working with. I want them to guide/ lead me and i respond to that lead. As an artist I look forward to explore every part of my body and soul, creating revelations every time I move.
I still question myself if i can be more than a dancer... I don't consider myself a choreographer, but more of a Conceptual Designer.
CONCEPTUAL DESIGNER
Conceptual Design is an umbrella term given to all forms of non-aesthetic design management disciplines. It is the design of interactions, experiences, processes and strategies and is the point at which a designer will combine an understanding of people, products, services, processes, and profitability meet vision and endless possibilities, each acting as a distinct color on the canvass of the designer. Conceptual designers tend to be better geared to abstract reasoning in any given environment, quickly able to understand the underlying motivations of key players, root-causes of failure, as well as feeling and connecting with the human elements that any system, experience or interaction has on its users.
*term used for business, self applied to dance*
Inspiration is an essential part to start my choreographic process, it brings ideas, setting, emotions, time, and endless factors in which you have to deal with , this is the exciting part of choreography.
In order to not over use a space, I decided to collaborate with my classmate Elica Rivera. When we started discussing some ideas we agreed and stumbled on many similarities in vision with the space and concept of the piece. All thou its still blurry we have the same line of concept we want to work.
SPACE
" The body maps space and place...is a globe that neuroscientist have named the peripersonal space and dancers call the kinesphere. Anything within this area is mapped in your brain as part of your body. This includes objects or extensions, like clothing, tap shoes, or a partner. They become part of your mapped sense of self. Eyes affect the volume and dimensionality of your kinesphere... When someone enters or leaves your kinesphere, the body notices and responds. Past experience shapes the ways you inhabit spatial boundaries. Sometimes, problems with movement or with technique are problems with space. holes or areas of avoidance in your kinesphere may need attention."
(Olsen, Andrea; The Place of Dance : A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making.)
The spaces we will be using are the Platea as a whole and the Skin Space.
The audience will be placed in the second floor
There are four levels in the Skin Space. We will be using the different levels of the Skin Space from within. It will look like a mesh.
We have divided the piece in three parts :
PART ONE
I will be entering from the main entrance of the museum in a straight line thru the Platea all the way to the Ground level of The Skin Space. While this happens at the same time, Three other dancer will be place in the three different levels of the Skin Space and will start unfolding a colored fabric from one end to the other. Later some movement will be created/ improvised.
PART TWO
We all meet at the Platea for some contact improvisation, afterwards we will crawl up to the Skin Space and will attach the fabric used and then come out and use the fabric as a rubber band effect.
PART THREE
Improvisation and exploration with the fabric will happen here.
Laboratory 1
Experimenting part three of our composition, fabric/ rubber band exploration(without the actual material)
"We see the environment as our partner. We keep listening to the 'yes', the images that frame the architecture, the alchemy that makes it come alive in entirely new ways. How to go into the unknown with the audience and ourselves- where habitual patterns of perception disolve, and a heigthened awareness makes every moment sing"
(Sara Pearson)
Color Psychology
BLACK
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2013/09/23/psicologia-de-los-colores-el-negro/
BROWN
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2014/09/22/el-color-marron/
BLUE
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2013/08/08/psicologia-de-los-colores-el-azul/
GREEN
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2014/02/24/el-color-verde/
* COLORS FOR THE FABRICS BEING USED*
********************
Diary of Rehearsal Time:
Unknowingly Parts
Sculptural Entities
**************************************************
So the day after our Benaki presentation i decided to just right down words or phrases that came to my head about what happens the day before, feelings, thoughts, questions, results and this came up:
In order to not over use a space, I decided to collaborate with my classmate Elica Rivera. When we started discussing some ideas we agreed and stumbled on many similarities in vision with the space and concept of the piece. All thou its still blurry we have the same line of concept we want to work.
SPACE
" The body maps space and place...is a globe that neuroscientist have named the peripersonal space and dancers call the kinesphere. Anything within this area is mapped in your brain as part of your body. This includes objects or extensions, like clothing, tap shoes, or a partner. They become part of your mapped sense of self. Eyes affect the volume and dimensionality of your kinesphere... When someone enters or leaves your kinesphere, the body notices and responds. Past experience shapes the ways you inhabit spatial boundaries. Sometimes, problems with movement or with technique are problems with space. holes or areas of avoidance in your kinesphere may need attention."
(Olsen, Andrea; The Place of Dance : A Somatic Guide to Dancing and Dance Making.)
Guidelines :
- Covering the space
- Using the space to its full capacity but not in its common way
- Change its natural state of use
- Same space, new function
- What space?
- Changing the normal qualities that the surface offers
- Moving like liquid on cement?
- Drag on cement?
The spaces we will be using are the Platea as a whole and the Skin Space.
We have divided the piece in three parts :
PART ONE
I will be entering from the main entrance of the museum in a straight line thru the Platea all the way to the Ground level of The Skin Space. While this happens at the same time, Three other dancer will be place in the three different levels of the Skin Space and will start unfolding a colored fabric from one end to the other. Later some movement will be created/ improvised.
We all meet at the Platea for some contact improvisation, afterwards we will crawl up to the Skin Space and will attach the fabric used and then come out and use the fabric as a rubber band effect.
PART THREE
Improvisation and exploration with the fabric will happen here.
Laboratory 1
Experimenting part three of our composition, fabric/ rubber band exploration(without the actual material)
"We see the environment as our partner. We keep listening to the 'yes', the images that frame the architecture, the alchemy that makes it come alive in entirely new ways. How to go into the unknown with the audience and ourselves- where habitual patterns of perception disolve, and a heigthened awareness makes every moment sing"
(Sara Pearson)
Color Psychology
BLACK
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2013/09/23/psicologia-de-los-colores-el-negro/
BROWN
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2014/09/22/el-color-marron/
BLUE
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2013/08/08/psicologia-de-los-colores-el-azul/
GREEN
http://aprendizajeyvida.com/2014/02/24/el-color-verde/
* COLORS FOR THE FABRICS BEING USED*
********************
CONSTANTE LIBERTINAJE
(Name of the piece)
"m. Actitud irrespetuosa de la ley, la etica o la moral de quien abusa de su propia libertad con menoscabo de la de los demas: la libertad en ocasiones se transforma en libertinaje. Desenfreno en el modo de obrar o de hablar."
Diary of Rehearsal Time:
First time walking in to the Benaki with the concept and the material was overwhelming. We had these ideas set, this image but as we started working on them, we realized the first part of the piece was not gonna work as we imagined it. The fabrics did not bloom as we pictured they would thru the skin space and the didn't held up as we assumed they would. And just like that, we already encountered our first Space negotiation, we decided to ditch the fabrics and just use the body in the space as an intruder to the space and the fabrics where left as an ending to the piece,
Although this was a big change to the original idea, i think it work out for the best, start as simple as it can be and developed throughout the time passing of the piece.
This first rehearsal was curated by Vicky Spanovangelis and it was an amazing source for rethinking your ideas and create new questions or debates.One significant suggestion was to eliminate the original second part of the piece and just do the first part ( skin space) and continue to the other part which was the fabrics in the Platea; And we did, now the piece was based in two parts. Another suggestion was simplify, because it had many ideas and many elements to it for example using the skin space with only the body and create a whole between the four different bodies that where exploring the whole space and then skip to the second part of the piece which became the part that involved the fabrics.
Overall this day was a bit frustrating because at first our ideas where clashing, i believe that it turned out for the best. The space is a strong entity and it was talking to us in an indirect way.
Second day of run- through was a day to go hands on with the fabrics. We already solved the skin space problem.. now, the fabrics.
The fabrics where a challenging part of the piece, mentally and physically. We decided to establish some task and just explore within those tasks. As we presented this to Ana Sanchez and Candy Karra, their feed back was , yet again, SIMPLIFY. We had some good tasks and explorations but we where rushing into them and didn't give time for the spectator to appreciate what was happening. This part of the piece was very abstract and sculptural. Our bodies became things, humans disappeared from this and entities appeared. We had to connect with what we where working (fabrics) and instead of forcing the fabric, we had to be the fabric, let it run us.
Ana called us the Martha Graham, that made me pictured better the sculptural and abstract part of the fabric.
********************************************************************************
New Score of the piece:
Part one
(bodies in the skin space and Platea)
Part Two
( bodies in the fabric at the Platea)
*********************************************************************************
Stages/Progression of the piece
- Intruder - Bodies entering the space in different levels of the skin space and Platea. Explore the space with the body.
- Unit - Bodies meet at a distance.
- Unknown - Individual exploration of the new element, The Fabric.
- Unknowingly parts- Exploration of the fabric only showing the limbs and extremities.
- Sculptural Entities - Two entities unite forming a whole. Sculptural feel.
- Deformation- Two bodies meet as human bodies, two entities are still evolving.
- Escape - Entities turn to bodies, bodies escape.
*These words are key words that come to my head to describe certain parts of the whole piece, words based on feelings, vision or results.*
Sculptural Entities
**************************************************
So the day after our Benaki presentation i decided to just right down words or phrases that came to my head about what happens the day before, feelings, thoughts, questions, results and this came up:
- Bringing color to concrete
- Who/ what Fabrics?
- "Entity not beings"
- "Black actually brown"
- "I draged myself in porpouse on the cement, because my color automatically puts me a label. Color- identification. My "identity" puts me as scum thru the floor in the eyes of a close minded society."
- "I don't let myself fall"
*******************************************
It was interesting how two different pieces came together. Collaboration works in strange ways. For us, collaboration was in the intentions and the design. My idea and piece (first part) was about exploring the space completely by invading it with our bodies, (also there was a personal message about colors and identity behind it as I already explained), but this had nothing to do with Elica"s main idea and concept. Our collaboration happened upon ideas of aesthetic and images that we wanted to do in both our pieces and having the same space we agreed on colliding our two worlds.
So what is collaboration? this is something I believe that has to do with negotiation and communication. Many collaborations , if not all, happen from two or more beings that can share qualities about something with each other and their surroundings. Many time there will not be an agreement with an idea but that's why we have to listen, explore, see, investigate, communicate and then negotiate. I also believe that my collaboration consisted greatly with the space offered by the museum. The space challenged us, we had to have an indirect communication with the space in order to make the piece work in the space.
