Population: Concordia University students, members of Montreal’s artistic community
Needs: With limited budget, space and materials, it is necessary to create a performance; simple, and in which something free and easy to transport is the main subject of the piece. The human body here is the main material as it perfectly explains the concept of movement. It is more than human bodies that perform; the purpose is for real people to meet, interact, and gain greater respect and a deeper understanding of the other. Thus, it serves that all participants are artists in Montreal’s community with a special focus on Concordia students. Many Concordia students are encouraged to ‘get connected’ but administration makes it difficult to explore different faculties. This piece is to expose students from specific disciplines (dancing & drawing) & open their hearts to the new.
Unit Overview:
What: The performance is based on movement; a common element to drawing and dancing. The main focus is the construction of a relationship between those two disciplines and between artists of the Montreal community (includes Concordia students). It contains three parts with smooth transitions between each, totalling about 10 minutes.
Where: Studio 7 (Concordia University, new JMSB on 7th floor, room 265)
When: The project will be performed during the monthly Studio 7 contemporary dance events (prototype on October 29th , version 2.0 on November 19th). The entire event begins at 8, includes an intermission, and runs approximately until 10:30.
Why: The problem was described in the Needs section above. The performance basically serves to invite the visual artists of Concordia and the Montreal community to mesh and bond with performance arts through a sort of inter-discipline happening.
Materials: People (beginning with 3 dancers and 3 ‘drawers’ on October 29th, following with 5 of each for November 19th- the number will augment for the following presentations), paper, magnets, markers, large magnetic board (if not magnetic, then replace magnets with tape or pins), accessories (2 of each color) to define the teams (can be scarves, hats, bowties, gloves, etc., soundtrack of drawing sounds (scratching on paper, ripping and scrunching of paper, squeaking markers, etc.), controllable lighting, a stage.
Resources: (see Needs Assessment)
Gablik, S. (1995). Connective aesthetics. In S. Lacy (Ed.), Mapping the terrain: New genre public art, (pp. 74-87). Seattle: Bay Press.
Albers, P. (1999). Art education and the possibility of social change. Art education, 52 (4), 6-11.
Taylor, P. and Ballangee-Morris, C. (2004). Service-Learning: A language of ‘we’. Art Education, 57 (6), 6-12.
Bourriaud, Nicolas. (2002). Relational Aesthetics. Les Presses du Réel, (pp.11-24). France : Dijon. Found on http://wiki.daviddarts.com/images/3/38/Bourriaud.pdf
Oren, M. (1993). Anti-Art as the End of Cultural History. Performing Arts Journal, 15 (2), 1-30.
Preparation:
Soundtrack: Create a soundtrack with the noise of pencils and markers scratching on a paper, paper ripping and scrunching. Keep 10 seconds of silence at first, fade into one pencil/marker drawing for 2 minutes, insert cue (pencil sharpener), 1 minute of paper scrunching and ripping, insert another cue, 2 minutes of 2 pencils/markers drawing, insert another cue, 2 more minutes of 1 to 4 pencils/markers on paper, and fade out.
Projection: Sync the soundtrack to a video. Keep the screen black for the first 10 seconds, then fade into one hand drawing in a gestural fashion for 2 minutes. After the first cue, have a video of ripping and scrunching paper for 1 minute. After the second cue, insert a video of 2 hands working on the same drawing for 2 minutes until the next cue. Finally, have 1 to 4 hands working on the same drawing until the fade 2 minutes later.
For performance: Place papers on the floor, making sure a few are positioned so the spectators can see the drawing being created (if possible). Make sure enough space is left between the papers to allow for dancers to position themselves as well. Give the participants directions (look at Performance part of part 1, 2, and 3). Make sure you have a space at the back of the room large enough to put up all papers (prepare bits of tape or lay out the magnets to be able to quickly put them up during the performance). Hand out one accessory to each participant, making sure that no dancer receives the same color: this way, one dancer will have the same color as one person drawing, creating teams of two (one dancing, one who draws). Hand out one marker to each person who will draw.
1) Part One Title: The Encounter
a) Description: The two disciplines meet for the first time. Similar to a hand shake, both see each other and interact in a very formal way. In drawing, this translates as beginning with the traditional act of observation of the subject, and the very first mark on the paper would be the first official contact between the people drawing and the dancers.
b) Objective(s): I consider the comfort of starting out with a feeling of safety to allow for a first step to be taken. The participants will take it as the two begin observing each other. The point here is to become aware of the other.
c) Introduction: Place dancers on the stage and position the people drawing in front of a paper. Slowly fade into light from black, and fade in the projection as well.
d) Duration: 10 seconds of fade in, then 2 minutes until the next transition, then 1 minute to put up the drawings and connect them together
e) Performance: The sound will fade in as people drawing will start drawing their teammate and their movement whereas the dancers will start moving very slowly and gradually increase their movement. As one participant (the person drawing) observes and draws the gesture of the dance, the other (the dancer) inspires him/herself from the action of drawing to create an improvised choreography. Gradually, movements loosen and quicken, both feeding off each other to continue.
Once a piece of paper has been filled up, the people drawing will go put up their paper at the back of the room, connecting it with the other ones present (by drawing).
2) Part Two Title: The Dig
a) Description: Here both dancing and drawing dig deeper into each other to gain a better understanding of the other. As one gets to know a person, exchanges of information are facilitated through conversation. One question leads to a comment which inspires a question which leads to a response, etc. One action gets a reaction, and this way one person builds off the other to ‘keep the juices flowing’.
b) Objective(s): The goal for this part of the performance is to interact. Participants will become more comfortable with each others’ presence and art by exchanging and mirroring movements. Thus, the similarities between drawing and dancing will be made more obvious.
c) Duration: 2 minutes until the next transition
d) Performance: The person drawing will return to his/her partner and begin to draw on his/her teammate (the dancer). The dancer will become the paper and the person drawing will become a dancer as he/she tries to follow their teammate.
3) Part Three Title: The Union
a) Description: The final step to a relationship is the realization that those involved have built something solid. A stable frame of trust holds up the friendship, and both share equal weight of it.
b) Objective(s): This time, all participants are expected to shed their fear of the other. The goal is to achieve unconditional acceptance of the other by crossing the customary boundaries between people who’ve literally just met.
c) Duration: 2 minutes until the fade out.
d) Performance: The people drawing now assume the role of live models as the dancers become those who draw. The movement is made by the changing poses of the people who drew earlier, and those who danced use their body as the drawing material. Dancers draw on those posing with their hands and other parts of their body.
e) Conclusion: Participants keep moving at their current speed as the lights slowly fade out while the music fades out into silence as well. Once all lights and sounds have been cut, participants stop moving. This is the end of the piece, but this particular ending serves to show that this relationship/interaction could go on.
NOTE: the audio cue has been judged not obvious enough for the participants. The visual cue would need to be something as noticeable as light flickering. However, it has also been suggested that individual cues within the performance would be effective: for instance, by having the first participant who finishes his drawing rip paper, it would let the others know they need to finish up their own. By passing on the markers between partners between The Dig and The Union, as the roles are inverted, it might be an effective transition, as well.
Clean-up: Pick up all markers, accessories, magnets (or throw away tape).
Response: Get feedback from the public and from the participants themselves:
What did they think of the piece in general?
What was the message?
What did they realize about dancing and drawing?
What wasn’t effective in the performance?
What could we do to make it better?
->Take notes as soon as possible to figure out what worked and what didn’t to make the piece better for the next performance. Let it evolve.
