Welcome to WHAT NOW!

We have been using this blog as a forum for sharing notes and resources between ourselves, having conversations and organising our research in a more linear way than perhaps it feels in the studio. This blog is also a space for us to extend our process, a place that encourages us to analyse and reflect upon our creative practice together. It enables us to present our written work as an indissociable element to our physical work.

As dance/movement artists, sharing our work at What Now! give us the opportunity to open our process and present our research. This is essential for us at this early stage as it allows us to legitimize our practice among a community of dance artists.

Thank you for your interest in our work. Feel free to take your time and read as much or as little as you wish. You can read notes in publishing order, or using labels on the side to select topics that interest you. We'll also be very happy to talk to you and answer any question you have.

The phenomenological perspective and some underpinnings or our process

Elodie speaks about sensation in the post titled “Thoughts on sensation”. She talks about her experience of sensation as the interface between herself and the object as she stands back, allowing the object to present itself to her. As I understand Elodie’s description and the premise of phenomenology I can propose that through her exploration of the object, she is practising the phenomenological reduction. That is, she is setting aside what is known of the object.

The phenomenological perspective opens up the possibilities for information to come from things in themselves, and as we apply it- from the object. We want to source our physical work from ideas quietly possessed by the object, bringing these to our attention through a method which we are devising in quite a trial and error fashion.

‘My body is the fabric into which all objects are woven, and it is, at least in relation to the perceived world, the general instrument of my “comprehension”...’ M.Merleau-Ponty in Baggini & Stangroom, 2004 p.159.

Through our method, as through the phenomenological method, we seek to build eventually toward meaning, via some necessary reductions. In January we were working to build a method which could be replicated, we were trying to break down what happens sensually, perceptually, cognitively, physically and imaginatively when we approach an object as stimulus item. Here I think it is important to note that we are not going be stringent with terminology until that terminology has proved sufficient and necessary for naming parts of our endeavour. For example referring as I just have to the sensual, perceptual and cognate etc facets of experience seems clumsy as the parameters of each term are perhaps not mutually exclusive but since we are concerned with the experience of meeting the object, it is useful to both acknowledge as different, and ultimately reconcile the different qualities of information offered by our faculties....

So, hopefully having made it clear that we understand the impossibility of isolating entirely a faculty of investigation, I hope now to elucidate the rationale behind our endeavour to do so.

We have been thinking about “sourcing” in our process- how in all the approaches we might have to taking information from objects, we want to source this information from the experience we have of sensation, and find the methodology required to access a sensual experience of the object. This is experiential, with some differences noted between what is happening neurologically (for exploration at another time perhaps).


We understand sensation as the privileging of information from the object, a relationship which stimulates corporeal memories, a certain felt “something” (but what is the something that that is?). In some ways it is a trick to ask ourselves to attend to the experience of the flesh and nerves as awakened by the object because they are the medium through which the whole message is conveyed.

We were interested in Berkeley’s notion of objects as “collections of sensations” and Locke’s principle that the foundations of our knowledge are ideas perceived by sensation (e.g. in Baggini & Stangroom, 2004). In January we were quite systematic in approaching the objects through each of the senses. The process happened something like this:

-interrogating the object through the sense

-information travels in the body and generates more sensation

- we keep following the sensation to clarify it

-as the exploration takes hold the second layer of knowledge, imagination, association and memory are permitted/ encouraged to have influence on the dancing, carrying with them instances of meaning and ideas...

-as the physical info gets clearer still, we start to identify an embodied essence of the object and the movement tends to become more of a recognisable vocabulary.

We filmed episodes of explorations; interested in noting any consistency across the sense categories or object categories- this needs further development.


To be continued...

Le projet (note en Français)

Notre projet est avant tout un projet de recherche chorégraphique.

Nous souhaitons développer une méthode créative qui nous soit propre et par là même explorer notre identité artistique.

Notre recherche a pour point de départ notre intérêt commun pour la relation entre le corps et l'objet et ce qu'elle reflète de notre relation au monde qui nous entoure.

Notre démarche est dans une certaine mesure le prolongement de nos travaux individuels précédents, notamment nos mémoires de BA. En effet, nous faisons appel aux théories de phénoménologie de Merleau-Ponty et à la sensation telle que l'a décrite Deleuze. De plus nous attachons une grande importance à la perception physique et viscérale et à la mémoire musculaire comme empreinte de l'expérience. Nous tentons donc d'une part de nous fier à l'intelligence du corps plutôt qu'à l'intellect dans notre travail pratique, tout en attachant, d'autre part, une grande importance à l'analyse et la formalisation de notre processus.

Notre recherche s'articule autour de deux axes qui sont la taxinomie et l'histoire personnelle (que nous réservons temporairement pour plus tard) appliquées aux mouvements et aux objets.

Dans notre processus, nous détournons le protocole taxinomique, c'est-à-dire la classification, la dénomination et le regroupement systématique d'éléments (généralement des espèces vivantes), que nous transposons aux objets et aux mouvements. Nous appliquons des critères subjectifs à ce système rationnel et observons par conséquent ce que ces choix révèlent de nos affinités et tendances personnelles. Que se passerait-il, par exemple, si l'on organisait les objets d'une maison non plus par leurs fonctions (les ustensiles de cuisine dans la cuisine, les vêtements ensemble, etc) mais suivant ce que l'on en perçoit instinctivement ? Quelle serait la nature de ce nouvel univers, reflet de notre monde intime ?

Afin de mettre en relation le corps et l'objet, nous explorons l'incarnation physique (embodiement en anglais) des propriétés essentielles subjectives d'objets en essayant de répondre à la question "what is the something that that is ?".

Lors de notre dernière période de travail (Laban Centre, Janvier 09), nous avons décortiqué puis analysé le processus qui conduit de l'interrogation de l'objet à son incarnation. Les différentes étapes que nous avons identifiées et isolées constituent l'ébauche d'un protocole d'improvisation que nous appelons "the processing machine". Celui-ci nous permet de distiller par le mouvement dansé, ainsi qu'à travers d'autres média (verbalisation, vocalisation, dessin, etc) l'information physique, presque tangible, glanée au contact de l'objet. L'improvisation nous permet de clarifier cette information pour en capter l'essence. En effet, notre première réponse physique sert de point de départ au mouvement. L'approfondissement de l'exploration corporelle de cette information primaire stimule la mémoire musculaire ainsi que l'imagination et la connaissance qui contribuent à leur tour à distiller l'information originale. Ces multiples strates sont autant d'éléments qui alimentent à leur tour la distillation.

L'improvisation est donc à la fois le processus et une partie de son produit.

Bien qu'ayant pris le parti de nous détacher des préoccupations de production pour un temps, il nous tient à cœur que ce projet aboutisse à la création d'une pièce chorégraphique. Nous considérons les différents éléments de notre méthode comme autant d'outils de composition qui pourront être utilisés pour la création d'une partition d'improvisation.

Enfin, nous avons conscience d'être à un stade précoce de notre travail sur la taxinomie du mouvement. De nombreuses questions restées en suspens n'attendent qu'à être explorées. Quelle est la nature de la relation entre l'objet et son incarnation ? Comment cette relation est-elle affectée par le contexte, par d'autres objets et la présence de l'autre danseuse ? Notre processus de distillation peut-il s'appliquer à d'autre média (photographie, installation, vidéo) ?

C'est une des raisons pour lesquelles notre collaboration prend une seconde forme en dehors de nos périodes en studio: nous utilisons un blog (http://janineandelodie.blogspot.com) comme plateforme pour publier les compte-rendus de notre recherche, échanger nos pensées sur certains aspects théoriques du travail, clarifier une partie du processus ou la terminologie que nous utilisons. Ce blog nous permet de maintenir un dialogue permanent entre nous. Notre travail peut ainsi exister en dehors de nos rencontres et devient une entité autonome en constante évolution.

Thoughts on our work in an educational context

Our research project is broadly concerned with a question: What is the something that that is?

When physically negotiating the world we are continually processing visual and sensational information aswell as information coming from memory and imagination.

In dance classes there is often a prioritising of form. We are exploring the relationship between perceptual and physical information and our own movement by exploring the properties proposed by objects. For example this might begin with a personification of object, noticing structural similarities between the object and our own bodies which might suggest "stimulus" type physical visual response. As the process of "seeing" or attending to an object is refined we can notice ideas proposed by the object such as a quality of tiny disorganisation, stability with lightness, having the appearance of integrity but being separable by force...and so on. The aim for such explorations is to open up th world of possibility for physical embodiment and creative engagement with the world through movement when the propositions contain logical oppositions.

The experiments are designed to be fun, suggesting investigative tools for creative play, broadening movement vocabularies, challenging ideas about compositional tools in secondary dance education and making movement relevant in everyday life. In the workshops we are exploring the way that people gesticulate in speech, how their bodies are active in communication and how close this is to the experience of information processing during improvisation.

A return to a state of wonder at the world is possible through attention, too often young people are bombarded with complex sensory information that stimulates them in a manner conducive to physical passivity. We are interested in how to open a channel of stimulation by acting in and on the world, looking twice and taking responsibility for our own physical responsiveness.

Beyond these ideas around movement studies in dance education, we are developing a creative methodology from which we will build a performative score. In March 2009 we are still working to define and refine the terms of this method in our studio practice, thinking, writing and teaching.

A few questions we asked the young people involved in the workshops we did at Dance Warehouse.

1.Have you been involved in a workshop/ class like this before? If not, how was it different from the other classes you have done?

2.What sorts of things are you interested in? This can be subjects at school, books you read, films, music, issues in the world e.t.c.

3.How do you think about your dance classes? Are they for fun, fitness, to be with your friends, perhaps you want to study dance when
you leave school or you can be creative in classes in a different way to other parts of your life. There isn't a correct answer!

4.Is there anything that you especially remember from the workshop- that you enjoyed or found difficult? Did you feel challenged?

5. If we think about the objects we used, can you say something about how that was for you. What relationship did you manage to build with the object, or how did you physically relate to it. Write anything that you remember, I know it was a while ago...

6. We asked you to move without telling what to do, it was up to you to respond physically. How did this feel- was it fun, or scary? Did you feel more confident at the end of the session?

7. Finally, would you like to do more of this type of workshop? Feel free to write anything that we haven't thought of asking!

On blogging

Why use a blog?

We are international artists, Elodie resident in Paris, Janine in London. Since embarking upon this project we have worked together in New York, Charente, Canterbury and London. The next phase of our work will take place in Paris in the early Spring 09. Whilst the underwater train does run regularly and (reasonably directly) to our doors, there is a limit to how many times we meet in each others' countries at the moment.

We both agree that the space for reflection afforded by the pauses between research phases are beneficial, and actually probably essential when our work becomes very "heady". However, as collaborators and excellent friends, we miss a regular exchange of thoughts and a dialogue about ideas- afterall we use each to propel our own ideas forward and the work gained momentum through our exchanges.

We each keep notebooks and we periodically make an effort to standardise the information contained so that we have landmarks or summaries of where we are at every now and then. This is really helpful at these developmental stages when there are so many ideas that we are seeking to structure. Inevitably we organise our ideas differently and our diagrammatic representations are different, but this is a shared process so we share them, and the differences can add new information too.

So. Where does that leave us?

Well, as recognised widely these days, documentation is (if not everything then very) important. For applications, evidence of process... And this is a research process. We are using this blog as a forum for sharing notes and resources between ourselves, having conversations and organising our research in a more linear way than perhaps it feels in the studio (where we are often having to review and clarify). It is important for us to know that we are using the same language in the same way at this stage of laying the foundations of a method; writing helps that by fleshing out arguments for subtleties in definition which carry a lot of connotation and thus affect both our understanding of what we are doing, and that of our potential reader/ audience.

In making this resource publicly available we invite spectators to our process in the same way that we invite audience to sharings. We are not presenting a finished work, but threads and snippets.

So in short: the blog allows us to present visual and film work, text and commentary, links and access to our profiles (other ideas/ work/ projects) and helps to keep us in touch across the land and seas. It is like our caravan.

On the necessity of a research project

Nowadays, it is widely recognised among contemporary artists and audiences that process is key to making work. First as students and then as independent artists we both demonstrated a stronger interest in the process rather than in the final product. Our choice in collaborating together therefore comes from this common approach.
Our initial goal was to work toward making a dance piece, still allowing ourselves enough time and space to develop our process, question and challenge our creativity. However, after many discussions attempting to define the nature of our focus, we realised the breadth of our field of interest and decided to embark on a research project, therefore postponing the production of a choreography.

We feel that a research project not only allows us to spend the necessary time to get a deep understanding of the elements we study, it gives room for risk-taking in our practice, therefore avoiding any familiar short cut to achieve our goals.
Our research also give a context to the questioning of our individual practices. We each approach it from a slightly different angle, each using it as a lab for our own observation. However, the awareness of the small differences in our personal interests remains in the background: personal interests never take over our joint enquiry.

Our choice of method also reflects our interest in the theory surrounding arts. As BA students at Laban, we both based our dissertation on critical theory and philosophy (Merleau-Ponty, Deleuze). Today, we wish to apply our academic knowledge to our creative practice as well as generate discourse about dance as a medium. Exploring taxonomy both practically and verbally encourages us to analyse our method, defining a language specific to it. Finally, it allows us to set our endeavour within a certain context, drawing from theories that previously treated similar subjects.

Furthermore, we view our project as a form of acknowledgement of the influence of artists and practitioners that we had the opportunity to meet and study from. We both took workshops with Simone Forti (Elodie in November 07 and Janine in March 08) whose approach to movement, text and improvisation are key elements of the method we are exploring. (Simone's influence in our work shall be further developed in a separate note). As artists we are also both inspired by american post-moderns (Judson Church, Anna Halprin and their followers) as well as other artists whose creative practices are intimately related to their ongoing research.
Our project can therefore also be considered a demonstration of our engagement in a certain scene. We hope to challenge dance as a form and contribute to the development of choreographic research, within our ability of course.

Finally, the necessity of this research project reflects who we are as general people: moving individuals with a tendency to explore, reflect and analyse the world that surrounds us in order to deal with it the best we can.

In the beginning: what is the something that that is?

(a short warm up) Laban graduates of 2006, Janine and Elodie have worked individually in various professional capacities over the past two years. Both have sought to continue their professional development outside of institutions, building upon the knowledge gained through study at Laban and a playing with the application of our creativity. We are now developing a long-term collaboration, defining our research ground and devising a way in which to work between the UK, France and beyond. Our trajectories have passed through some common ground- separately we participated in Simone Forti's Logomotion workshops- Elodie in France, Janine in Italy. I think we are in agreement that the experience of this work has formed a keystone of our mutual enquiry (more about this later). For one year Elodie was engaged as a dancer for several artists in New York, and there experienced a desire to source work not only from the body but to explore the remit of her field within the art world more generally. Elodie returned to Paris restless with vibrant creativity and set about choreographing a solo work (premiered in February 08), teaching and wondering about a creative practice which does not as its premise determine any one mode of expression. Meanwhile in the UK and Europe, Janine had been working in various collaborative situations with visual, fine and digital artists. Projects included a film/ live art installation afewsquaremiles for one audience member, commissions from Duckie and the Light Surgeons (site specific) and presentation of work for the stage. Janine has recently been dancing for Valerie Preston-Dunlop's heritage film project, Unearthed and in Southeast Dance commissioned film Opus:One in Folkestone. Our process began in Charente, France in August with a 10 day residency chez Pras exploring with film, photography, movement of bodies and objects. We were exploring ideas of lineage in personal histories of objects, familial relations and movement properties, stating " I know that there is a thing shared, but what is the something that that is?"/ "How do these things belong, what makes it so? From a seeming logic can there develop a new taxonomy whose proposed polarisations and relationships suggest inventive co-ordinates for creative play?" We are interested in new opposites, false tallies and how close we are to being really really very shiny. It's playful, curious work in which we will not compromise technical skill but will enforce compositional discernment through the rigour of the method we devise.