Get an insight into my thoughts, tasks and reflections on imitation
Photo by Dorina Köbele-Milas
Thoughts about imitation in contemporary dance
For even in dealing with music, the "regime" of abstraction prevails.
I think it is fair to say that imitation in the field of contemporary dance is a word with negative connotations. After all, contemporary dance is mostly about finding one's own individual body language and mode of expression. This also applies to the imitation of a melody in the sense of a danced visualisation. For even in dealing with music, the "regime" of abstraction prevails. If imitation is used, then it is usually quite intentional and reduced. It was not easy for me to decide that imitation should be an equal strand in my research alongside abstraction. But it seemed absolutely necessary to me in order to deal with melodies in a more abstract way later on. Considering the precise imitation of music as a basic, technical skill left me uncertain. Can I (still) do this? And indeed, I did encounter some challenges.
The following is a brief outline of the most fruitful tasks
imitation through simple steps, beginning and ending at the same time as the music
imitation through movements initiated exclusively by the spine and the head, either standing or sitting
drawing the melody on the floor with the feet
possible variations: extending the range of movement, drawing in the air, on all levels, looking for unusual and uncomfortable ways, leaning and supporting against walls, chairs, objects
drawing the melody with the hands on the floor or in the air
possible variations: crossing the room from one side to the other
drawing with your hands on your own body
transfer or extend the drawing to joints, points of contact (e.g. one arm passes it on to the other or one part of the body to another), arms, shoulders, torso, heart, legs, the whole body...
imitate the melody in the form of circles, swirls, ornaments, unfolding and folding movements, falling and rising movements, connected and disconnected movements, undulating movements...
Everything is possible.
Observations
To listen to the music one hundred percent is sometimes hard for me. Meditation and headphones are a remedy. If necessary, I meditate before or during my "session". The same applies to the use of headphones (ear pods). They can also be a helpful device to block out distracting background noise.
Imitation, i.e. imitation through hearing, is of course per se already a form of individual interpretation of melody and thus abstraction. Since music is a different medium than our body, the appropriation is also different than from body to body. Regardless of this, I find it a big challenge to really get a melody "into the body". In order to reach this state, I have filtered out two aspects which are essential for me:
1. Trying to turn off self-censorship and not being afraid of exaggeration.
I noticed that my movements unfolded and folded according to the musical phrases.
2. The second aspect stemmed from the fact that I always used one Slow Air for one task for quite a long time. The more I worked with one Slow Air, the more I discovered its peculiarities, the essence of each melody. This "continuous loop mode" brings with it the difficulty of not reproducing, of engaging with the same melody anew each time. The necessity to find new approaches to music made me think about how the respective melodies "work". What does the melody offer me? And how does it affect me, my body and my dance? How do I move to it? Once I noticed that my movements unfolded and folded according to the musical phrases. I realised that the inspiration came from the music. Playing with the unfolding and folding, with this discovery, was an indescribable joy.
One observation that I have deliberately neglected to mention so far came to the fore immediately when "drawing" the melodies: namely, the laying and leaving of traces. But more about that in my next post.
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