WALKING CHOREOGRAPHY
WEEK 01
"By insisting that people undertake movements together, that they organize their time and space together, choreographers are already posing acts that are potentially political."
Choreography is a designed pattern of moving. The article states that a group of performers makes collective announcement, which endows the medium with a potential political voice.
A group of people may use organized actions to express ideas, like in protests. However, is a group always conscious of its collectivity? Shared moving patterns can lay in everyday action you are unconscious of. Social norms are also instructions that direct how a crowd act and move. But this kind of phenomenon is not regarded as choreography. The author places "agency" and "intension" on an important position of determining choreography. In Anne's opinion, choreography has to be intentional with the creators' mind involoved.
In this precondition, does the performers have to know that they are in a choreography practice? What if the choreographer make an agency that directs people's action without noticing the people their bodies are borrowed?
"Choreography is about balancing the tension between the concrete and the abstract – the concrete, physical texture of a body and the abstract products of a mind, and how a body has to change itself to conform to this mind’s mental map."
What idea can be embodied by the medium of choreography? Can choreography be a method to conduct experiment?
📍Choreography- Fort Greene Park
Idea 1: RoundAbout
Stand circling the center, facing the center. Keep an eye on people beside you. You can turn left or right if your neighbors are standing still. If you notice your neighbors turnning, copy their turn.
Idea 2: Staircase
Half of the group stand on the top, half of the group stand at the bottom. People can move between the top and the bottom. An action can be made when hear "move". No step limit. The aim is to form a sin wave on the stair.
WEEK 02
📍Movement Observation- McNally Jackson Books
Nov.13, 18:20-18:40
This is the stage I am observing. There are three paces of movement in the space, quick, slow, and still.
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Quick (Carrying few stuff ): A quick mover usually moves straight forward from one point to another. On the way, they look around quickly as if looking for something or someone.
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Slow (Wearing all belongings in a ready-to-go way ): The common movement in the space. A slow mover usually keeps a steady pace since entering the door. Their eyesights slowly wipe through every roll of the bookshelf. Their sights catch the next bookshelf before the bodies follow. When leaving one bookshelf and moving to They alternatively look left and right, and stop by the bookshelf now and then. When stop, they stare at one place or pick up one book. They usually keep a 1-meter distance from other slow movers.
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Still (Holding their coats in hands): Though slow movers have pauses in their movement, they are not still movers. The still movers can stick to one place over 10 minutes. The still movers usually form a group of around 3 to 5, facing each other, talking and laughing.
This is a recording of a slow mover's path. The arrow indicates the direction and the spots indicates where the mover stopped. Slow movers usually cover every alley between the shelves in a linear path.
There are some typical gestures happen during many movers' moving.
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When pick up a book, they usually stare at the front cover, then flip over to stare at the back cover.
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When placing a book back, they usually pat the cover before they leave.
📍Choreography- Vale of Cashmere
Collect
Find a spot in the pond. Your spot should be at least 1m from others.
Close your eyes. And turn. Stop and open your eyes when I count to 3.
Move straight forward. If someone blocks your way, stop when your distance is less than the length of your arm. I meet the edge of the pond, turn around and walk straight in the opposite direction.
WEEK 03
Narration for last week's exercise
We were walking on the edge of the round pond. The edge was narrow. When two people walking in opposite directions meet each other, there will be a non-verbal negotiation, which can generate conflict and drama.
Prompt to Form a Scene
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What is the relationship between the partners? Is there tension in between? Under what agency are they bonded?
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What do interaction and collaboration mean?
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What is the motivation of their movement? What scenario are the movements in?
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What is the relationship between all the pairs? Are they aware of others? What events are shared by them all? What events are shared only by two partners?
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What does geometry mean to the characters? How does the space take part in the narration?
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What is the negotiation about? What is the result?
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What do the timing and rhythm express?
Attempt to Answer and Create a Narration:
⛺️Human Tribe & Wolf Pack🐺
The two partners represent a human tribe and a wolf pack. The shared habitat and prey pair them up. The diameter between them represents the amount of prey. When there are enough prey, human and wolves maintain a tacit distance, but during winter time or food shortage, the expansion of hunting territory of both groups shrink the safe distance. Natural environment change drives them to change direction. When they meet each other face to face, it is when they are hunting behind the same prey. Other pairs of partners are other species sharing habitat and prey. The humans and wolves do not aware of them because they live in other lands. Prey changes, land reformations, and migrations break the partnership.
📍Choreography- Around ITP, round area
(start in a straight line)How are you today?
Did you sleep well last night?
If you got good sleep, 1 step forward.<2s> If not, stay where you are. <10s>
Did you get enough sleep last night?
If you got enough sleep, 2 steps forward. <2s> If not, 2 steps backward.<10s>
Did you dream last night? Was it a sweet dream or a nightmare? If you did not dream, stay where you are. If you had dreams, start walking around the circle.
if you like your dream, walk faster. if you forget your dream, walk slower.
if you did not have a dream, follow anyone who walked past you.