Confessions of a Rehearsal Director

This week we didn’t record any video. The mouse was dead, we were without batteries, and I am not enough of a technical wizard to control a computer without a mouse. I believe Jennifer got some video which may be posted later, but that is not the point.

What is the importance of video to this process? Do we really need to document each step of the process? On the one hand, it is great. We have a clean record of what is happening and what has happened to give us an idea of how to move forward. The production team, musicians and costume class that are working on the show have some visual information to work off of. I am truly sorry that I am not able to give those parties video this week.

But for the dancers and choreographers, I think this week’s lack of video poses different questions. How much control do we exert over this process? What is against the rules? The very nature of this year’s November Dance is to allow for an evolving dialogue that we have less control over. Does making videos leave us too attached to the results? With video, will we strive to bring back the qualities and original intentions of the work? Without video, might we find ourselves arriving at  a different place? Might we be able to better invest in or explore the ephemeral nature of our work? When do we let go, and let it be what it will?

As rehearsal director, I have noticed that the inclination of the choreographers is additive. The changes that they have made to what is set previously are relatively minor. There has been little cutting of material and rearranging of material. Some choreographers have exerted a desire to continue influencing the process even as it is handed off to the next choreographer through performance notes for me to give the dancers. I am not saying this is right or wrong, just bring it into question.

As a dancer in the project, I am realizing how quickly certain material changes in my and my fellow dancers’ bodies–when we have days off and when we shift to the perspective of a new choreographer and musician. My inclination is to allow these changes to become a part of the material instead of working to recover what a choreographer may have instructed us to do a week or three weeks ago. If the current choreographer gives us a note on how to do it or change it, great, but once they leave, we move on, and it is out of their hands.

This ability to move on is a unique type of agency to have as a dancer within a piece that is set by choreographers outside of our “dancer” group. And I am realizing that this agency is what this project is all about. There are many groups involved in the creation of “Big Tiny Little Dance”: the dancers, the choreographers, the musicians, the lighting and technical designers, the video artist… And there is nothing to say that even though we are coming together to make one evening-length work, we can’t all make our own decisions completely independent of each other. This turns the idea of collaboration on its head (or at least its side).

I am curious and excited to see how each of these groups exercise their agency. Will our lighting designer choose to turn out the lights on us for five minutes so that you can only hear the sounds of our bodies moving against the floor? Will the music be so full that it is prioritized over the dance? Will the video on its own take up a half hour of our hour-length show? Will we be left to our own devices to dance without costume, theatrical lighting and music to fill our theatrical images? Will all of the various artists involved come together in a moment of complete improvisation? These are all possibilities. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

 

Sara Hook’s thoughts after her 2 days of rehearsal

I was struck by the difference between responding to the work and bringing my own agenda to the work.  This process really makes you confront “operations” as usual!   I asked the students to mark a few run throughs so that I could understand the spacial patterns.  This was an attempt to absorb the material on a level other than the “energetic” and also to give the performers the chance to relax into the experience of  listening to each other-cognizant of the fact that repetition is really their only rehearsal opportunity right now!.

Allison had a very interesting comp in my Creative Process One class which I incorporated (in the heels)-example of agenda!  Her “chorus” of dancers behind her used that material with splices of Cynthia’s material inside it.  I also used some of Kirstie’s partnering material although sans partners…and asked them to punctuate the movement with phrasing more similar to Cynthia’s.  These were attempts at finding a kind of nostalgia for moments of earlier material-remnants showing up in the context of a more “performative” self conscious section.   This all ultimately led to a performance of “learning” between Brendon and Charles.  I see how it is hard for me to escape my fascination with performing “performance”.

Notes / Images from my working process:

I had two rehearsals with the cast this week.

They are a fabulous bunch of young people and I was touched by their willingness to give themselves to this process. They worked very hard and have a strong sense of family already that made my job pleasant. We had a good time together.

I watched them fly by, their flight path so dense, and yet none of them colliding or even seeming to adjust their routes to avoid each other, living at busy cross-purposes but convivially. I thought of each towing a thread behind it and the waft they would make with their looming.                                                             

The Old Ways…. Robert Macfarlane

Jen’s solo:

small gestures growing

head thrown back / frightened

animal

circling

running circle with

possible head gesture

thrown arms up

slow zig-zag descent

stepping on to tip toeing forward in helpless teeter

balance

slow descent back to earth

Group movement:

3 groups moving in a spiral – chaos and sound

meeting in the center of the space – bird like chatter on four paws

startled ascent

into stillness

twitching

concentration on hands – turning 90 degrees

reaching

retreating

startled

 

Having just two rehearsals was in some way frustrating because of so little time. In another way it worked well to have to produce something in this tight time frame, and to be forced to leave it in a raw state.

I like the rawness and feel we should keep it as an essential quality in the event. So saying I would like to come back to my section if it still exist further along the process and work some specificity into parts of it.

This first 10 minutes of material (combination of Cynthia Oliver’s and my own) has a sense of being textural, and I could see how the movement / projections / lighting / sound could overlap and work to produce something that is multilayered, without the need to make it into a finished piece or product. Rather leaving it as a sampling of material, texture, movement, color, projection, rhythm, sound, space and breath.

Note: We should keep an eye on the energy level of the dancers as they are unused to sustaining pieces of 50 – 60 mins in length (max 20 is the norm in concerts).

 

Choreographer/Composer Pairings

Here are the Choreographer/Composer pairings for Nov Dance:

Week Dates Choreographer Composer
1 9/4, 9/5 Cynthia Oliver Christine King
2 9/9, 9/12 Kirstie Simson Ken Beck
3 9/16, 9/18 Sara Hook Tony Reimer
4 9/23, 9/25/ 9/26 Jennifer Monson Brian Behrns
5 9/30, 10/2, 10/3 Philip Johnston Allen Wu
6 10/7, 10/9, 10/10 Linda Lehovec Jeff Zahos
7 10/14, 10/16, 10/21 Renée Wadleigh Jason Finkelman (and Jeff Zahos)
8 10/23, 10/24, 10/28 Rebecca Nettl-Fiol John Toenjes (and others?)

We are planning to meet together as a band on 9/25, 10/16, and 10/30 to make a larger composition out of the musical ideas that arise.