Luca's first draft ToP
What have you been making? General introduction
I have been working on further developing my embodied artistic practice into new ways of moving image making within my practice. I have been taking the next step in combining of dance/movement and film in my practice. Adding an extra layer and diving deeper into this fusion of dance and film. I want to make the border between the two narrower. Focusing on making and going beyond the performative/ video registration format most of my previous work has been. I have been using dance as a langue and a narrative structure to express or explain something. I want to evolve as artist to someone that really works from within the body. That uses this embodied artistic research to make work that embodies dance / movement / choreografie as a hole and becomes it. In structure, time, space, flow, physicality etc. The question I ask is; how to make film dance? And how do I not only show dance and movement, but let the hole work feel like or embody movement/dance?
How did you do it? (method) Describe your research, what, how and why What To unpack my research question I have been working on a work called Falling, Floating, Being. I wanted to focus on the physical sensation and versatility within one movement. The movement I worked with we call in dutch ‘the candle’. In my work it’s performed without using the support of arms and hands. The question I asked was; How to create a physical landscape with only one movement? And within this landscape show the complexity and contrast of this movement. Creating a physical sensation. How I worked with the viewpoint shape from the viewpoints method, that is used in dance and theater. The shape is ‘the candle’ movement. But how do I capture this movement? I’m fascinated by the complexity of the movement, the opposition of needing strength, control but at the same time being soft, relaxed and letting go, letting it happen. This contrast I found interesting. With a camera on movement I find it interesting to go into the details and have a close up look. Zoom in on parts of the body to capture the physicality. I started filming. I was just exploring the body. Which part touches the ground, what is shaking, where is it tense and where soft. Different angels of the full position. I found the close ups the most interesting. And while editing I really got interested by creating the question from the viewer perspective ‘what am I looking at?’, what is it that is see?. To emphasize the physical sensation I used sound of the body. I played with tempo and rhythm to create the intensity of the movement.
Why I not only want to show movement, but let the work embody the movement. I also like this extra layer of not knowing how many bodies you’re looking at and who’s body it is. This because I like to play with how we look at bodies, interpret and read them. Because of de fact that we in our subconscious constantly judge if someone is male or female and adjust our expectations accordingly. I want to delay or confuse this moment. I’m working on creating my practice in a network where I can work with performers that represent gender fluidity, queer community and representation of a range bodies. I’m interested in the story of the body. The physical expression, body languages. De spine, body hair, skin marks, muscles and everything else.
Relation to previous practice Identify developing practices and theoretical approaches over the last year. This can be very practical: new working methods, new skills &c; describe what such new skills afford.
My previous work was more in the format of performative/video registration. To create more fusion between film and dance, I have been research a ne approach. A new working method I have been developing is linking the view points method to elements of filmmaking. ’Viewpoints is a set of names given to certain principles of movement trough time and space; these names constitute a language for talking about what happens onstage. There are 9 view points, within time and space. Tempo, duration, kinesthetic response, repetition, shape, gesture, architecture, spatial relationship, topography.’ I focused on shape, tempo and a bit on repetition. This allows me to have an vocabulary from my background in dance that I can translate to structuring an image piece. And provides me with a new skill of approaching it through a different lens. Expanding the possibilities of presenting movements.
What do you want to make next? How does your proposed future research connect to previous projects you have done? Here you can use the descriptions you made during the Methods seminar or make new descriptions. Why do you want to make it? I feel the urge to make a work about Kerkrade this is the city my parents grew up. There are a couple different things I find interesting about in, but right now the mean topic is the houses of my grandmothers. They both died this year very close after each other. One house is very quickly sold the other one they are still cleaning out. I find it interesting how this place that gathered people. Went through changes. With all its objects now and now where will they go? I asked myself the question how is this relevant to my practice. As I mentioned before I make work that is close to me. It has something to do with identity. It doesn’t have anything directly to do with the body or movement. But I also find this very interesting how can I make a work that doesn’t have a relation to movement still embodied the feeling of a dance choreography. I see this taking shape in editting. I think I will approach the house as a body. And capture it in close ups like I did in Falling, Floating, Being. Related to the body there are also questions to be asked. What is the experience of being in this space. What is the bodies relation to a space. How is the body related to the room? How does it move through the space. Do we need to see the pov of the body? Or the relation/ contact with it. The house is the protagonist. And for know I focus on the selling process, the house getting empty. How will it feel then. Who is getting what item and how does it new home feel. Approaching the house as a body. It went through a lot. How does it change. Later on I can maybe start adding some other topics of the town the house has seen from a vibrant city during the coal mine period to aging. Traditions like carnaval and dialect. And then to make it into a work that embodies dance choreografie. I’m motivated by the challenge.
An other project I want to work on next is the interests in the range of self. This is more related to the body and expression. are stripped of the right to feel, to transform, to express a range of self (quote of Glitch Feminism) this is related to how we perform gender. I also read a story I which the person talks about how you are a different person with different people. And she ask the question how are you able to know yourself. An other quote I find interesting is ‘a self with multiple selfs part of them selfs’. This I would research through the dancing body.
Relation to a larger context Meaning practices or ideas that go beyond the scope of your personal work. Write briefly about other projects or theoretical material which share an affinity with your work. At this juncture, it's simply about showing an awareness of a broader context, which you will later build upon as your research progresses. I’m inspired by the theoretical material of Legacy Russell in the book Glitch Feminism. The way they see the body the body and the relation to gender.