On the past days I have
been talking with many professionals about my thoughts and questions presented
on the last posts. I tried to reach different perspectives: talking to professionals
from different areas, teachers, classical dancers , contemporary dances,
acrobats and musicians and allow my thoughts to flow during the day and get to
a more concrete idea.
My
focus turned more and more to the constant process of research for artistic
quality on professional artists. I concluded with the others I have been
talking to, that this research is a constant process and once is stopped,
improvement and actually passion for your profession is gone. The research
consists not just on the technical aspects from a class but also, on news ways
to constantly innovate yourself and reach different qualities for your
practice. The technique also needs to be adapted for yourself, and for this success deep research and
dedication must be given. On this flow then, it is important to be what I have
mentioned so many times on my other posts: “open-minded” and be actually part
of the, in this case , dance community , being updated of new choreographies ,
needs and ways to reach artistic quality. One of the professionals I have
talked to (a dancer from a professional contemporary company in Brazil and my
contemporary teacher), related this process as a discovery to be a complete
artist. In the case of dancer, would be one that have the domain on different
techniques and movement qualities, the one that have a deep body conscious, the
one that tries to
internalize the choreography given, that wants to give a meaning for his movement and captivates the audience.
I would
like to relate my inquiry on the research for artistic quality and singularity
on professional dancers. Discuss about the importance on dominating different
movement qualities/dance techniques/body conscious methods; give importance for
the knowledge on dance, the importance on studying; being updated of the dance
community and the new needs for the audience. I would like to analyse this
process during the last years of dance formation (the graduated student getting
to the professional field) and during the professional career when formation is
concluded (actually, never concluded! We need to reach for constant development!).
For example about the domination of different qualities for your dance, I
believe that techniques which aim for a more spontaneous movement have an
extreme importance for this own body research and maturity on performance: The
Gaga Technique developed by Ohad Naharin emphasizes the exploration of
sensation and availability for movement, fostering a greater confidence in
ability to improvise. The Gaga Method requires deep self- knowledge and a sense
of freedom of movement which allows the artist to discover many new ways to
work his/her own body. The Contact and Improvisation Technique given firstly by
Steve Paxton (and under constant development through many others later on and
being one of the most used methods by choreographers nowadays) it is a constant
experimentation through physical contact, working on movement aspects such as
rolling, falling, supporting, lifting etc. The relationship with the partner is
very important building up a sense of cooperation, confidence and
communication. Telling about my own
experience, when I began to take Contact and Improvisation classes I found very
difficult to actually let my body to be conducted and feel what the other
person was asking from me and being part of this “dialogue” between the
bodies. Once I began to reach this place,
I began to recognize bad addictions and limitations I had, as well as finding
new qualities of movement which I didn't imagine I had.
All this
focus and conclusions have been made after a very turbulent and busy moment
which I have been through. So many
discoveries were made and some many great professionals I have met and had the
opportunity to work and talk to. I realized how immature I still was and that I
needed to find new ways to reach for a better development and a more
professional quality. Ways to discover my own singularity, to apply techniques
and to dedicate to my job. For this, contemporary dance classes, ballet
classes, body therapies, very long talks, reading and watching different
performances allowed me to begin this new research. With those professionals I have been talking
to and began to build up my “Special Interest Group” (SIG), which include professional
contemporary dancers, classical ballet dancers, teachers from the “Angel
Vianna Dance University in Rio de Janeiro” and professionals involved with the
Choreographic Centre in Rio de Janeiro. Soon, I will be taking part in more
contemporary projects and I hope to be able to talk to even more professionals.
I would like to reach a big range of opinions, from recent graduates, dance
professionals from different fields and dance researches and teachers.
I found
very few from my Module who have a similar direction of inquiry. I believe that
this is due the fact that many are teachers and have inquires more directed for
the teaching perspective. However some questions from Pip Spalton and Della
Estlin about how to stimulate motivation on students, I believe can be related
to my idea of inquiry. I think that stimulating an artistic quality research
can be a way to help students build up confidence and self-motivation. I
believe that applying different dance/movement techniques can help this
process. As well as updating about the actual dance scene. From my personal experience
I used to appreciate very much when workshops with choreographers were given
who used to bring new experiences for us or talks with professional dancers; I
used to also appreciate when my teachers used to recommend us dance videos,
companies, artists to study about. I used to have to research about the
repertoire I was dancing and Dance History which I believe helped me to build
up interest. I always fell a great motivation after performing, after watching
performances and after classes/experiences/ talks which shows me new ways to
discover my abilities.
To be
able to talk more about those issues and about other inquiries I would like
share my email here as maybe will be easier than the blogs: julia.juliagil@gmail.com
Soon I
will be posting more about my SIGS, about the opinions I have been listening to, about my thoughts and also about the literature I have been researching.
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