I would like to talk about truth.
Truth, for me, is an incredibly important thing wether it be in my personal life or in my dance life. I feel it is essential and I believe that the truth really can set you free.
The truth in dance however, is a complex thing.
My biggest aim and belief when creating work is to be honest with my audience. What I mean by this is that I don't want to write and talk about my work and say it's about this and that and I did research regarding this and that and then when it comes to presenting the work, it is completely different and contains little or no trace or reflection of what I said it would/might.
If I'm honest, there have been many occasions when I have gone to see something and I feel I have been lied to, cheated almost.
I don't belive that everyone should think the same things as me, but because truth is so important to me, I find that I view work using truth as a basis and a critical tool.
I saw a piece recently, no names mentioned...
Apparently the piece was based on a certain subject, there had been years of research done into it, it was all very complex and detailed. So I suppose I expected to see something quite incredible seeing as so much knowledge and information had been collected, but instead the usual classical and techincal movement was thrown out there. You know the type, high legs, sharp lines etc etc. Don't get me wrong, I like this kind of work and have danced in this type of work but I don't like it when it is presented to me in this context.
I know this is an age old debate and frustrating topic in dance, there have been many times when I've talked with people and we always pose the same question of "what has a grande battement got to do with anything?"
And I really believe it.
I believe that ballet vocabulary already exists and it's there, we all know it and it's what it is. It is for this reason that I think it is a cheat to do it in anything else other than classical ballet or contemporary ballet work. There is no need for it anywhere else.
I don't know if I'm making sense.
I just know, that if you tell me for example, that your piece is about war, and you do ballet in the work, then I know I will feel lied to and I probably won't like the work as much because of it.
I'm interested in the truth, in genuine, authentic and original movement that comes from a source that dosen't already exist.
I would be interested to hear what other people think about this.
Tonight I'm going to take a Cunningham class with Steinvor Pallsson. She is a wonderful and gentle teacher, alot is to be learned from her.
Bye for now.
:)
