Unravel the Echo Rehearsal to Performance
Undone Duet
This duet was created as Sam, and I investigated things that interested us. The duet phrase that ended up being the ending to unravel the echo started by making a phrase from moving in contact with each other, and trying to recreate the movement as a solo. From there, we messed with it, we each reordered the phrase, changed the fronts, danced in proximity, found ways to travel the movement and used the space, and found where contact could flow back into it.
Duet in Rehearsal
In this rehearsal, we were getting the phrase back in our bodies at the beginning of the semester. We used this rehearsal to identify what movement principles we felt this dance needed more of and how we could use them going forward. The use of momentum to speed us up and exaggerating the pauses was one. Which then, in turn, inspired some of the quality of the trio’s phrase. Using cross lateral and part leading movement and a release of weight were other principles we noticed but needed to lean more into and apply to this phrase.
Trio in Rehearsal
In this version of the trio’s phrase, we were working with using different fronts, dancing in proximity to others, and how that can allow for contact. As the phrase developed, we kept all of this but added another layer of speed and pause. From this version to the final version of the phrase, we worked with momentum as the driving force behind the speed. I also wanted there to be a feeling within the piece that required the dancers to rely on each other. The pauses, cannons, and unison were built in a way that the dancers had to look for each other and listen to cues from each other to know what to do.
Falling
Figuring out how the trio would fall was a work in progress throughout the semester. I knew I wanted them to do something similar to Sam and me because this is one of my favorite parts, but I didn’t know what made it so interesting in this first version of it. During the faculty feedback showing the direction I wanted to go in became clear. I knew I liked having the beginning and end be similar, and I knew the changing fronts and the interlacing of our arms that Sam and I did was part of what made it interesting, so that's how I started. Then, I had the trio figure out how to do the shifting from the front to the back corner. Finding the right balance in the messiness of the fall and the shift, and learning to trust your partners, took it from this version to the final. I remember in one of the runs in the theatre, they almost got too good at the shift and the fall, and having them find the right amount of momentum and struggle to get back up made it what it was.
Tipping Score
In this version of the score, we start with two people walking at a time, going from a walk to a full tip, gathering more people into it as it progresses. Once two people slide at the same time, we can move on. What I loved about this score is how we dropped into something more pedestrian while the rest of the dance has more “dancey” movement. I loved the sounds of all of us falling, so I wanted to work with silence for this section. I eventually decided that we should all start together instead of building up to it because starting with only two sort of stalled the energy of the dance. We also changed some of the rules; instead of all five of us trying to stop and start together, we assigned one person to control the stop-starts and their duration. Then it was everyone else's job to stay with that person. Doing this added more unpredictability to the timing of the walking and the falling, making the sound score a little more unpredictable. We also worked as a group on the technique of going from walking to falling, trying to stay upright and only changing in our ankles to make the fall happen.
Contact, Pauses, and Transitions
In this rehearsal, this section of the dance was still unset. I told everyone to just try things. We had one person in a set phrase in each grouping, then the others' options included fleshing out the phrase or using contact to interrupt or go with the phrase. Watching it, I realized there was too much going on in our heads, and we were rushing through instead of listening to the moments of contact. So I decided to set all the choreography to give us the opportunity to understand the contact inside it. I leaned into cannons, counterbalances, and matching. When watching it, that's what drew me in.
I knew I really wanted this dance to feel small, and I wanted to limit the amount of time we were all together onstage. I also, for the longest time, had no clue how we would come on and off so often without it looking like we were running laps on and off the stage. The falling on, I thought, would be a nice preface to the larger tipping section. Many of the counterbalances just happened through all of our experimentation before we started setting it. Then I realized I needed to lean into them more. There was no need to rush the transitions, they could be part of the dance. The counterbalances gave such a nice pause from all the speed, and a listening within the dancers, forcing us to wait for each other.
Lineages
Some of the techniques used in creating this piece include contact improvisation, release, tipping, and score work. I learned contact improvisation from Jessica Humphrey, Eric Gieger, and the many partners I’ve practiced with. I’ve learned about release work, tipping, being off vertical, and playing within a system from Joseph Alter. He has taught me strategies on how to experiment with off vertical, and how to set up a system that requires dancers to have a sense of group awareness. Both Jessica Humphrey and Joseph Alter have taught me about Bertinieff fundamentals, which were also an inspiration in the movement of this work.