dance process journal #5: wall walking

I want to thank my dancers again for trusting me to share our rehearsal process here.  Many beautiful things happen in rehearsals that no one else usually sees, and it's a special thing to be able to share these moments. 

In the last few rehearsals we've been finding different ways of going up the wall.  Today, we started to intertwine the wall walking with other elements:  the pushing action/conflict phrase; the "stepping on" or "treading" action; and the "leaning" improvisation.  Each of the dancers also has a personal movement motif that they are sometimes mixing in here.  I haven't shown you very much of their personal movement yet but you'll see more of that soon.

It's so exciting to see this movement language becoming second nature for the dancers.  They are beginning to use it almost instinctively and to take it in new directions on their own.  That's the goal; since we'll be performing this dance in many different environments, it needs to be adaptable. 

What you see here represents the basic foundation of the dance.  We're creating a way of moving, but the specifics of what happens will be different each time.  For me that's so much of what is interesting about this piece.  The dancers have an objective and they have to figure out how to achieve it -- but they have to invent things anew each time, because each time they dance it they face new challenges.  So, the movement stays fresh and spontaneous.  This work demands continual creativity from the dancers and they must also maintain a strong sensitivity to one another.

This foundation will continue to develop -- but now that we have the basics established, I can start to bring in other parts of the dance.  I needed to create the foundation before I could see how the other (very different) parts of the dance will relate to this base.