'Still Moving' - My Process as a Choreographer

"Choreography, like architecture, is a matter of domesticating or taming movement. Choreography organises movement. In other words, choreography is a matter of structuring. It goes without saying that structuring does not necessarily imply tidy, ordinary or formal. Structuring though implies the existence of some kind of system, code or consistency."

Choreographer Marten Spangberg

The processes and systems that goes behind creating a piece of choreography can take on many diverse forms, possibilities and motivations. Typically, a choreographer enters the starting point with an interest/idea/theme. This is usually the impetus behind selecting the most appropriate processes to support that. So if I were to draw that out in a flowchart, this is what it might look like:

A more structured and coherent way in explaining the initial stages (aka brainstorming, Research & Development)

The theme can be a recurring interest/artistic practice that the person is engaged in for a prolonged period of time, or it can be a completely new idea.

Eg: I have been fascinated with our use of hands and their potential to generate expressions and phrases for choreography. Click here to read more on a post that I wrote a while back to understand the deeper motivations behind my interest in hands.

My perspective towards my fascination for hands, gestures and subconscious behaviours has been the main driving force for my own artistic practice in performance, choreography and collaborations. My core interest lies in "discovering stories and uncovering voices through our bodies' natural movements". Movements that are not purposefully created for aesthetics, shapes or form. Taking the human-ness in all of us and celebrating stories to empower communities.

With this in mind, I would like to share with you the process behind an upcoming work titled 'Still Moving' that I am creating for Kaleidoscope (Sigma Collective).

Still Moving

This work-in-progress will be presented in May via both livestream and in-studio. More details to follow soon.

Still Moving is a quartet inspired by the emotional change journey in humans. Similarly to the 7 Stages of Grief, I will be exploring the 5 general stages that everyone goes through whenever there's a change. These 5 stages that outlined as: Shock, Reaction, Acceptance, Action & Commitment. There's many more layers to this onion that is worth peeling, but let's start with these for now.

Within my choreographic processes, I always like to start with a piece of paper and pen. In that way, it is a visual translation from brain to paper - intangible to tangible.

That was exactly what I did with my dancers, where I got them to create a template (photo on left) just like that. Categorising it into 4 sections, I got the dancers to write down specific stories within each section that had an impact on them. So some of them went introspective, funny, sentimental etc. This process created a safe space for the dancers to express themselves wholeheartedly with no judgement from anyone. That's my responsibility as a choreographer, facilitator and curator - to create a safe space for creativity and vulnerability to flourish and thrive.

I filmed each person speaking individually about their stories and the context behind those stories. From there, I got each person to write down a single feeling word that encapsulates that moment in time. Words such as "hurt, warmth, strong, confused" etc. came up. In 20 minutes, we have created an entire bank of information and stories that the dancers could tap into for inspiration and reassurance that they are on the right track.

Question: What makes this choreography (or any) as opposed to say, organizational design, meditation or town planning?

Think of it as playing Sims, or DIY. Everyone has a different process, context and heritage that we all come from that is different to one another. You never see a person's house replicated the same way 100% (unless it's a hotel, or a standardised infrastructure) - there's always subtle quirks that adds flavour and personality to the piece. For me, I guess that's what makes my practice interesting.

Whenever someone has a conversation, the gestures that are created by that person (subconscious or conscious) reveal a depth to their personality, thinking and character. A simple handshake does the trick - limp versus firm. I'm thoroughly fascinated by that, and the people I meet along the way. I want to hear their stories, and document it in a way that feels authentic.

If I were to flip the table completely and speak about coding, there is also a layer of personality to the lines of codes that engineer(s) can write. Some create their own, others use a template and change some things... So does that mean that creating lines of functional code is also a form of choreography? (Food For Thought)

Coming back to the 'Research' stage of my idea, this is what usually gets my juices flowin'

- Creating a playlist that is in alignment with the mood/atmosphere that I would like to create.

- Conversations with people that can somehow creates 'ah-ha' moments

- Being smacked with an idea as I am walking on the streets (always gets to me - that's why I usually have a paper/pen tucked in my bag)

- Playing with movements and exploring motifs.

Right now, I am very much in the beginning stages for Still Moving. But it occured to me that it would be amazing to document these processes for archival, continuity and legacy-building for my own self.

In the meantime, here's to celebrating stories and embracing the human-ness in all of us.

Maybelle x