Monday 14 July 2014

John Paul Zaccarini, 14th-15th July 2014


Affect-that which moves, energizes, viscerally, before anything is grasped and made into a tangible emotion.  Source if a passion, before a passion becomes a meaning. Seeing and writing.  Uncovering the layers of articulation.  What is in the practice, in the doing- echoes back to the idea of what movement experiences evoke.  The writing allows us to consider once again what is 'in our' work- how general ideas (not descriptive themes) begin to unfold a practice. a  practice that includes a way of doing (a methodology-workshops with Ana and Androniki), a politics (Robert and Ana)  and now - through the exercises John Paul puts us through - an ethics (principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity).


We have come around full circle -  There is a lot of discussion of how the other is 'involved' (involucrated - Arendt's embrouilled?) within the practice.  Who and how is other in our practice (ahh echoes of the discussions in the EUNIC workshop last Saturday).  Back to the nitty-gritty of a task:  John Paul asks us to watch somebody's movement (a short section of it- repeated so that it can be viewed in detail) and write its narrative - a reading, but a reading that remains close to its source and does not fly away into cultural reading and theoretical interpretations that become alienated from the act that originated it.  Later we will address the movement's geneaology- its evolution.

We view and review the material- John Paul speaks of scenarios- whweree passion and desire come into play- but then the writing- gives us a bit of a distance to be able to stay close and intimate to the material, whilst also being able to 'see it', not just 'feel it'....  how do these become our 'articles of faith' about our practice...

We move on- who is the other viewing- we remember Vicky's word - falling in love- not as a representation but as a practice 'of love' through the work?  going back to the Ethics of the work - we re-read and will re-write the text, we are not after something to represent on stage, but to see what are the strengths of the imagery/turn of a phrases perhaps that are directly connected to the practice and 'how it works'...articles of faith...



                                                  Recapping, modes of writing:
Transcribing movement:  takes us to consider the difference between a score and a script - script seems to be determining - closed.  Score seems to leave a lot open to interpretation. Narrative fiction:  the movement evolving into a self contained verbal object.
Bracketing the moment of dance:  trying to capture a moment and view it as free from cultural bagagge as possible (I remind them of Birdwhistle's idea that bracketing may only last seconds...). Performative text:  text parallel to the physical text so that the text performs what the body is doing? A text that acts upon the body as muchas the body upon itself. A text that invites texture and affect rather than descriptive/representational responses.  The metaphor - when an aspect of your practice can be transferable to another field...  The thought that ethics is in the 'excess' is an interesting one...as it is central to ethics but exceeds any particular work (and any of its participants).