Just finished another studio session. Today I had my friend/collaborator Luke with me and we worked on developing a score that I worked with previously. It was great to work with another body and also develop the material as a duet (which SoundLines is) and to play with this more or less explicitly.
The score we worked with starts from a simple and formal architecture of a sequence of shapes that are inspired by lines. We play with duration and timing, texture and motion within the existing shapes. We explored how to add vibrations/repetitive movement patterns within the existing architecture.
We found that by setting up the limitations of a formal structure, our bodies immediately began searching for ways to subvert the form, to go beyond the architecture and find personality and intimacy.
Because there were two of us working in the space we began to develop the material in relationship to each other. We played with ideas of intimacy and distance and how the existing formal structures mediated and frustrated connection. Working with the material as a duet helped bring it to life beyond a formal structure. I would be interested to see how some of these explorations translate to our work together, since SoundLines IS a duet...
Indeed duet. Explicit and succinct.
ReplyDeleteI noted this
"We explored how to add vibrations/repetitive movement patterns within the existing architecture." and the following bit on subverting repetition.
It got me thinking about the layers of sound that I produce which really are creating vibrations in an existing line. To put it another way, if I draw a line on a piece of paper, as straight as possible for a given length, then repeat this, there is the subversion of direct repetition. If these acts didn't happen one after the other, but rather at the same time, that is what the sound I am working with does. Of course, I can add the layers one after another, in conjunction with your repetitions, so that the sound and movement exhibit a similarity.
For this to work (ie read for the audience) I think the gesture must take time, something like 5-10 seconds. I am imagining a diagonal line with your hand being the point, starting with your arm outstretched and ending at the ground. Basic, I realize, but a place to depart from and obviously a line.