Improvisation is a performance that tests a hypothesis.
Is CI a Cunningham chance operation?
‘The dancers are called on not to express a particular emotion, or set of emotions, but instead to develop refined coping mechanisms for creating continuity between disarticulated movements while remaining sensitive to their location in space. They must keep time without musical cues; sense the presence of the other dancers on stage; know blindly proprioceptively, what these other dancers are doing; and adjust the the timing and scope of their movements accordingly, thereby expressing the “human condition” at hand. All this work is “expressive”-it belongs to the “category of expression”-insofar as it is demanded by a human situation on a stage and insofar as human situations on stages (or otherwise) constitute an embodied response to the present moment, an embodied response to the utterly unique conditions of existence at one given point in time.’ – Noland, C 2010, ‘The Human Situation on Stage: Merce Cunningham, Theodor Adorno, and the Category of Expression’, Dance Research Journal, 1, p. 55
In this quote, Noland is referring to Cunningham dancers dealing with the re-ordering of set phrase material. When she writes (or otherwise), she could be referring to a contact improvisation jam. I think it is a very apt description of an silent CI jam. In CI jams, dancers are constantly “using refined coping mechanisms for creating continuity between disarticulated movements while remaining sensitive to their location in space.” [Though, how much contacters are actually aware of the whole space is open for debate! IMHO]
What people do at CI jams is, I would say, “an embodied response to the present moment, an embodied response to the utterly unique conditions of existence at one given point in time.” [Though, how much is actually an embodied response and not actually another iteration of habit is also open for debate. IMHO]
Are Cunningham choreographies that are governed by chance operations a contact improvisation jam?
Are contact improvisation jams a piece of choreography by Cunningham?
Paxton danced for Cunningham, after all.
Two definitions of Contemporary
Contemporary – adopting an ever-shifting set of values so as to elude any sort of qualitative criteria. Contemporary – adopting a differing set of values so as to problematize the normative set of qualitative criteria
Tanznacht Berlin 2014 – a simple financial analysis
at 1.43 minute per € „KELLERKINDER“ byTanzzeit Jugendcompany Evoke & Kadir Amigo Memis was the most expensive performance of Tanznacht Berlin.
at 10 minutes per € KRUMP „N“BREAK RELEASE“ by Shifts-Art in Movement was the best deal of Tanznacht Berlin.
(note: this does not take into account the reduced rate for tickets. Maybe I should go back to school or get the Tanzcard)
| Artist &Performance | Cost in € | Length in minutes | minutes per € |
| JUAN GABRIEL HARCHA – „ANGELA LOIJ“ + „TULLE LABYRINTH“ | 14 | 45 | 3.214285714 |
| DRAGANA BULUT -“WHERE IS THE ZOMBIE?” EPISODE 2 | 14 | 70 | 5 |
| SIEGMAR ZACHARIAS & ALICE CHAUCHAT “INVASIVE HOSPITALITY #4 | 9 | 60 | 6.666666667 |
| TANZZEIT JUGENDCOMPANY EVOKE & KADIR AMIGO MEMIS „KELLERKINDER“ | 14 | 20 | 1.428571429 |
| SHIFTS – ART IN MOVEMENT / DAVID BRANDSTÄTTER/MALGVEN GERBES „KRUMP „N“BREAK RELEASE“ | 5 | 50 | 10 |
| NIELS `STORM’ ROBITZKY, RAPHAEL HILLEBRAND, LOUISE WAGNER ”DIALOGIC MOVEMENT – FORUM FÜR ZEITGENÖSSISCHEN URBANEN TANZ” | 14 | 90 | 6.428571429 |
| EVA MEYER-KELLER & SYBILLE MÜLLER “KATASTROPHENKOMPOSITIONEN” | 9 | 30 | 3.333333333 |
| KENJI OUELLET „LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS – A HAPTIC RITE“ | 9 | 15 | 1.666666667 |
| RICARDO DE PAULA „SHOOT FIRST“ | 9 | 25 | 2.777777778 |
| DEWEY DELL “CINQUANTA URLANTI QUARANTA RUGGENTI SESSANTA STRIDENTI” | 5 | 10 | 2 |
| MARTIN HANSEN “MONUMENTAL” | 9 | 40 | 4.444444444 |
| KAT VALASTUR “GLAND” – THE MARGINAL SCULPTURES OF NEWTOPIA (DIMENSION A & B | 14 | 60 | 4.285714286 |
| SHIFTS – ART IN MOVEMENT/DAVID BRANDSTÄTTER & MALGVEN GERBES „FESTINA LENTE – MAKE HASTE SLOWLY“ | 14 | 60 | 4.285714286 |
| BEGÜM ERCIYAS „HYPNOSIS“ | 14 | 70 | 5 |
| CHRISTOPH WINKLER „DAS WAHRE GESICHT – DANCE IS NOT ENOUGH“ | 14 | 70 | 5 |
| TIAN ROTTEVEEL „HARDCORE“ | 9 | 30 | 3.333333333 |
| FRÉDÉRIC GIES „SEVEN THIRTY IN TIGHTS“ | 14 | 70 | 5 |
| SERGIU MATIS „FAKE – THE REAL DEAL“ | 14 | 120 | 8.571428571 |
| ANGELA SCHUBOT & JARED GRADINGER “SOON YOU ARE THEIRS” | 9 | 25 | 2.777777778 |
| ALEXANDRE ACHOUR „THIS ISN´T GONNA END WELL“ | 14 | 70 | 5 |
| JOCHEN ROLLER & MONICA ANTEZANA „DER CARPENTER-EFFEKT“ | 14 | 65 | 4.642857143 |
| Averages | 11.47619048 | 52.14285714 | 4.517006803 |
| Mode or most common value | 14 | 70 | 5 |
Contemporary Technique
Sculptures in Weißensee
The Penumbra of Spatial Apprehension
The Penumbra of Spatial Apprehension, the downstage semi-circle shown here in red, is the area of the performance space that the performers, unless required to do so by a predetermined spatial choreography, tend to avoid.
When performers enter this penumbra, they tend to face upstage if vertical; or keep their pelvises close to the ground if facing downstage; or move through the penumbra with a trajectory parallel with the front of the stage.
Experience and the likelihood of entering the penumbra do not have a direct relationship.
The Self Indulgence Index
in Black and White
research
Replace the word research with art and scientist and researcher with artist.
“Art creates knowledge and builds on its own achievements. Any active artist must have access to other researchers’ results, no matter how dated these results may be.”
This makes me think of some conversations I have had with other choreographers.
Some don’t go see work anymore because they don’t like anything they see. Some don’t see certain kinds of work because they think it is dated. I would say that ways of looking at work, engaging with it become dated faster than the works themselves. Not seeing work removes one from the wider discourse.