Rambert School Clowndance Intensive 2023
WEDNESDAY: Solos
We were a smaller group today as we lost a few people to work commitments. Although it was a shame not to be able to bring everyone on the same journey, it was lovely to spend a little more time with the dancers in the room today as individuals, and to join in more myself.
Today’s focus was solos, and saw the return of my absolute favourite game from my summer intensive in 2022, Dance Like Everybody’s Watching (see Tuesday). I’m still fascinated by how freeing and revelatory it feels for dancers just to be asked to dance, following their own pleasure, to music they love. We talked at the start of the session about trying to take away any pressure to be good, or bad, or funny, by trying instead to simply be. Be present, be whole.
Today’s focus was solos, and saw the return of my absolute favourite game from my summer intensive in 2022, Dance Like Everybody’s Watching (see Tuesday). I’m still fascinated by how freeing and revelatory it feels for dancers just to be asked to dance, following their own pleasure, to music they love. We talked at the start of the session about trying to take away any pressure to be good, or bad, or funny, by trying instead to simply be. Be present, be whole.
Material Covered:
We skipped today’s planned warm-up game (zombie tag) as we were running a little late, and I’m glad we did. I think it would have set an unnecessarily performative tone.
I had asked the dancers to bring a short section of solo with them, which they presented once at the start of the session, and then again at the end, with some clown interventions from today and yesterday’s work. I again introduced Athene Seyler’s idea of ‘bubbling with pleasure’ (Seyler and Haggard, 2013, p. 28) as a way of shifting the performance quality of choreography without altering the material.
We played Dance Like Everybody’s Watching, in which we all start dancing to a track on headphones, and gradually shift our focus outwards into a solo improvisation.
We played a developed version of my Preparation for Pirouette game, playing with how long we could convince the audience we were about to perform a move, and choosing a move that we specifically dislike. In everyone’s case, it came from ballet; perhaps because it’s the toughest of techniques to feel like ourselves within.
We skipped today’s planned warm-up game (zombie tag) as we were running a little late, and I’m glad we did. I think it would have set an unnecessarily performative tone.
I had asked the dancers to bring a short section of solo with them, which they presented once at the start of the session, and then again at the end, with some clown interventions from today and yesterday’s work. I again introduced Athene Seyler’s idea of ‘bubbling with pleasure’ (Seyler and Haggard, 2013, p. 28) as a way of shifting the performance quality of choreography without altering the material.
We played Dance Like Everybody’s Watching, in which we all start dancing to a track on headphones, and gradually shift our focus outwards into a solo improvisation.
We played a developed version of my Preparation for Pirouette game, playing with how long we could convince the audience we were about to perform a move, and choosing a move that we specifically dislike. In everyone’s case, it came from ballet; perhaps because it’s the toughest of techniques to feel like ourselves within.
Moment 1:
Dance Like Everyone’s Watching was full of tiny moments of joy, pleasure and beauty. As ever, the video footage doesn't really capture what it felt like to dance, and to watch, but I've made my peace with that. I think it shows how much we gain from being together in a space, experiencing something live and spontaneous.
I asked simply for ‘I enjoyed’ statements at the end, which included:
…not having to change
…seeing a bit of someone you don’t usually see
…seeing tiny bits of technique supporting someone
…faces
…the anticipation of a good bit coming up in the music
…exploring a movement at a really bare bones level
I loved feeling the knife edge between sharing out with the audience and zoning into our own pleasure. This was another gorgeous, rich iteration of this game: I love it.
Dance Like Everyone’s Watching was full of tiny moments of joy, pleasure and beauty. As ever, the video footage doesn't really capture what it felt like to dance, and to watch, but I've made my peace with that. I think it shows how much we gain from being together in a space, experiencing something live and spontaneous.
I asked simply for ‘I enjoyed’ statements at the end, which included:
…not having to change
…seeing a bit of someone you don’t usually see
…seeing tiny bits of technique supporting someone
…faces
…the anticipation of a good bit coming up in the music
…exploring a movement at a really bare bones level
I loved feeling the knife edge between sharing out with the audience and zoning into our own pleasure. This was another gorgeous, rich iteration of this game: I love it.
VIDEO: Dance Like Everybody's Watching
A montage of the dancers and Kitty dancing to favourite tracks
A montage of the dancers and Kitty dancing to favourite tracks
Moment 2:
As we played Preparation for Pirouette, there was some lovely teasing and tension building as the dancers played with real and invented problems preventing them from carrying out their chosen move. When they finally did perform the move, so breaking the tension, almost everyone broke into a spontaneous jump or dance of celebration. This gave rise to a second wave of laughter, this time at the sheer purity and intensity of their joy.
As we played Preparation for Pirouette, there was some lovely teasing and tension building as the dancers played with real and invented problems preventing them from carrying out their chosen move. When they finally did perform the move, so breaking the tension, almost everyone broke into a spontaneous jump or dance of celebration. This gave rise to a second wave of laughter, this time at the sheer purity and intensity of their joy.
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At the end of today’s session, as we were talking about showing emotion, Mistlethrush asked my opinion on something that was bothering them. They said that at times this group of students, as a cohort, have been told off for not taking choreographic or improv tasks seriously, or for playing emotional work for laughs. They gave the example of a session in which they had been asked to show pure anger in their movement, and that they, as a group, had tended to respond with something more cartoonish, like a childish tantrum. They wanted to know whether I thought this was a valid criticism.
We talked about this for a while, and these were my thoughts:
There were a lot of personal post-it’s today, perhaps because we were thinking so much about solo performance.
We talked about this for a while, and these were my thoughts:
- We tend to devalue comedy, therefore the students choosing to make something funny could be seen as them devaluing or not respecting the work, rather than a valid response to the provocation.
- If, as a group, they are making something that’s only funny to them, then they aren’t taking any kind of emotional risk. It’s safe, because it’s laughter that bonds them as a group, but excludes the artist or teacher who is asking them to commit to something more emotionally involved.
- I wondered why they didn’t feel comfortable enough, secure and safe enough, to take the emotional risk of performing the tasks seriously. The mature thing for them to have done might have been to say that they didn’t feel comfortable with the task, but by making the choices they did, they were showing it. I would have thought that the onus should be on whoever is in the pedagogic role to make the dancers feel safe enough to take risks, and not to criticise them if they don’t.
There were a lot of personal post-it’s today, perhaps because we were thinking so much about solo performance.
Take time to dance for yourself
Actually ‘seeing’ the audience makes it conversational from both perspectives
I loved being real and feeling good doing it
I feel safe here
Reflective Roll notes: 01/11/23
I love the task of just dancing to your own music that makes you move and using that to find your own improv style
Letting people see you feel silly in a way you didn’t mean to happen
I felt scared dancing with these dancers- like I didn’t have the right.
I was delighted by them enjoying me dancing
I didn’t find dancing to my own music as scary as I thought
I actually found exposing music choice harder
I never felt more good going to a workshop like this week. It makes me feel full of joy and excited
Personal Post-It notes: 01/11/23
Actually ‘seeing’ the audience makes it conversational from both perspectives
I loved being real and feeling good doing it
I feel safe here
Reflective Roll notes: 01/11/23
I love the task of just dancing to your own music that makes you move and using that to find your own improv style
Letting people see you feel silly in a way you didn’t mean to happen
I felt scared dancing with these dancers- like I didn’t have the right.
I was delighted by them enjoying me dancing
I didn’t find dancing to my own music as scary as I thought
I actually found exposing music choice harder
I never felt more good going to a workshop like this week. It makes me feel full of joy and excited
Personal Post-It notes: 01/11/23
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