In the final run and recording of RW’s segment I asked Branden to take it easy.  When the circle opens and you see Charles standing and Branden squatting the scene would be Charles standing on Branden’s back and would then be slowly lowered to step to the floor.  Sophia is just standing facing upstage.  I imagined the scene being revealed slowly - the circle moving away - and being established for a bit of time as a place where either music, light, or projection could be featured could that also underscore the scene somehow.  Branden left the stage early (again letting him take it easy) during some of the walking and running etc with Charles in the duet.  He would be there until Bianca and Laina enter to join them.

The men’s duet could be seen as comic.  However, I’ve asked that they ’wipe’ it of comedy or reduce it to let the thing speak for itself.  They did this successfully during the last run.  Over all I am not interested in pushing moments that could be comic but letting the places in the segment where it might be possible to push for comedy ride an ambiguous edge – the might or might not be of comic.  My wish would be that the group not push for comedy anywhere in the segment.

As we were working I began to imagine scenes from the movie Big Fish.  Not that the segment is that at all but the group took on a nice eccentricity for me and that was my thought about them.  Again, as with my thought about  comedy, I would not push the character aspect or underscore it with costume props etc.  But that’s just me and when I turn it over I release it.

Renée

This week while working with Linda Lehovec, I truly believe we were all tested as both thinkers and movers. Until now, each choreographer has come into rehearsal and has, for the most part, not changed previous choreographers’ work. Each chunk taught to us has been added onto what we previously had learned—that is, until this week.

Linda entered her rehearsals wanting to both shape the piece while trying to make it a more cohesive work of art. This melting of movement styles and choreographic choices together was a very unique experience for me. I knew it would be challenging working with so many different kinds of choreographers, but it was much more manageable than I thought. Before now, I could simply jump from one idea to the next as we transitioned from one choreographer’s movement to another.

Now much more familiar with the material, we were challenged by Linda to meld it all together into one structured work of art. Pieces of choreography were completely changed or removed all together.  Allie’s high heels from the work were taken off, the interaction between the dancers in Phillip’s choreography section was changed, and essentially all verbal statements were edited out of the piece. There were also moments cut from one choreographer’s section and placed into another. This on top of learning new material from Linda, it’s needless to say it was a growing experience for all of us as aspiring professional dance

This week with Philip has been one of the most unique dance experiences I have had yet. To begin his section of the piece, each dancer performers a part of the previous choreography. Although at that moment in the piece we are each doing something different, it creates a beautiful continuity with the previous choreographers.

Working with my fellow dancers and being given the same instructions, but projecting different variations of the choreography gives such a mature and interesting feel to the piece. With the simple instruction of “jump into each other’s arms” or “nudge one another”, we have not only created a dance, but an intriguing and powerful piece of art. The choreography of sitting on our knees, while looking side to side and moving forward and back seemed simple as an instruction, but with the right intention and connections between all of us dancers together, it is beautiful artistry that I know will capture the eye of the audience. I really enjoyed working with Philip because he tends to choreograph by feeding off of the the energy of his dancers.  His unique choreographic composition of movement was an honor to be apart of.

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.