Brown, A

English

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AskingquestionsAndrew Brown at NOn Dance 2002.My initial impressions were that this year's NOTIDance festival would be more overtly 'dance' thana year ago. While curators Iane Greenfield and Ayla$uveren have an eye for the new and provocative,they also recognise the need for balance. Theprogramme was full and varied, induding Kilashthe high energy work by Akram Khan; thequadruple bill 1st Class Air Male featuring malechoreographers Russell Maliphant, Ben Wright,Henri Oguike and Jose Navas each performing theirown work; Protein Dance's Publife, a well-observedpiece of 'social realism'; Martine Plsani's Sans,laying bare the rules of dance performance; and thedramatic mood swings of Deja Donne's In BellaCopia. While some of the festival's audience weregiven an opportunity to develop a taste for experi-mental work, others could seek the sources ofexperimentation within the mainstream.It is odd to consider Rosemary Butcher asmainstream, but her role in this particular festivalwas certainly that of the 'star billing'. Butcheroccupies a unique position in contemporary Britishdance, influential and yet consistently radical. Inher hands technology is fully integrated withperfonnative elements and the result is dean andseamless. In Fractured Landscapes, FragmentedNarratives, still images of the two dancers wereprojected onto a screen, essentially sampling thedance. Transient movement was captured andthe perfection of the image held, allowing us tocontemplate it further.Deborah [ones and Mark Lorimer aided and at timespropelled each other, as though one had lost thepower of movement. A particular feature wasthe inversion and reversal of conventional movement,for example when he scaled her body backwards, feetfirst. These elements were accompanied by a sound-track in which a piano calmly picked out harmonicsequences. Subtly reverberating electronics emerged,adding a note of tension and disquiet.Clinical blue lights clicked on at the start ofStill-Slow-Divided, Butcher's latest work, whichcontrasted chilled intellectualism with a movementrepertoire based upon the physical disciplines ofparachuting and rock climbing. This was evident inthe performers' apparent personal struggles withinvisible forces and in a purposeful desperationreminiscent of human beings at the limits of theirenvironment. Brief phrases suggestive of throwing-off, hanging-on, evading, floating, being-at-the-THE VOICE OF DANCEmercy-of, were repeated several times. Any impliedrelationships were cool and fleeting; there was nomutual support.Sound artist Cathy Lane created an impressivesonic accompaniment of electronic drones thatdeveloped into oppressive radiophonic drifts ofsound and birdsong. There was a disquietingevocation of sterile nature as we were effectivelytransported to a suburban garden beneath the flightpath to a major airport. The overall effect distilled asense of exhaustion with the modem world.Rosemary Butcher occupies a uniqueposition in contemporary Britishdance, influeontial and yetconslstently radicalWhile Rosemary Butcher is unquestionably a radicalin the world of dance, her work still conforms tocertain norms of performance, sited safely within ablack-box studio theatre environment. Her dancersdemonstrate their virtuosity and we anticipate ahigh level of production, expecting to be entertainedwith work that is out of the ordinary, that we wouldnot be able to do ourselves.By contrast, in the blank space of the emptyBonington Gallery, [onathan Burrows and [anRitsema's Weak Dance StrongQuestions discarded allsuch norms. Beneath the bare gallery lights, the pair,dressed in everyday clothes, began as thoughwarming up or performing a walkthrough. It couldbe said, and it was, that they made an unlikely dancepartnership, two men at either end of middle agelooking as though they had walked in off the streetminutes before. Their duet was effectively twoparallel solos, with little apparent interplay. Eachwas absorbed by his own movement, with the statedobjective of being in a state of perpetual questioningfor a period of fifty minutes. Questions such as'where is my arm; where is my leg, what is under myshirt.. .' were answered by movement. Conceptuallypure with a total absence of artifice, as honest sweatformed on Burrows' brow everyone in the room wastaken on an exploration of will and movement.Again it could be said, and it was, that such begin-nings do not make for particularly accessibleperformance. However fifty minutes felt more liketwenty and the end came all too soon.78Both men's racial expressions showed profoundClH1l'L'IlU,ltjon, thought preceding bouts of adi\"ilyas they recentered themselves. This re peatedfocusing became mesmeric; more S0, at times, thantheir movements.The differences between Burrows and Ritsema wereapparent from the start, the former 11 renowneddancer once with The Royal Ballet, the latter a Dutchtlw,ltn' djrt'd"r and .1 dancer more by virtue of his(k~ire t,1 dance than by any formal !Tilining. Burrowsperformed speculative movements, appearing to erron the siJe of caution and frequently aborting hismovements, Rirserna was visibly more hopeful andexpansive as he skipped and pranced and 'tiptoedthrough the tulips'. Once, when the mood took him,he traversed the "allery floor in a few histrionicstrides. Performers and audien ce alike found amuse-ment in the exploration of the body, in its evidentlimitations and the odd positions it can assume.Although there was laughter, this piece was mostccrtainlv nol played (or laughs. Undcrplayed, ifanything. it felt open and honest; neither manappeared to have anything to hide or apologise (or.TI,e strength of the questions and the weakness ofthe dance raised by the title never rnatcrinliscd. Whatmight concepts such as 'strength' and 'weakness'mean in this context?As the piece progressed In its peculiar fashion,speculation of how they might conclude h'c'.lmeirresistible. Would both simply stop and say 'that'sit' or grin awkwardly and shuffle backwardstowards, the exit door, strategies Ily openthroughout? in {act the pair simply exchanged aglance. stopped and turned on th~'ir heels. re tu rni n j;10 take the (l\ldi~'I1{"\ ,1pplau5e.111e nevd (or answers to the questions they hadposed was satisfied by il post show discussionwhich offered valuable insi gh ts into their relation-ship and lhe origins of the piece. Both menexpressed the desire (or a mature relationship withthe a ud ie nce able to accommodate individualn.'sp on scs such as bon-d "m, tIll" u 'b" to sleep or 101,H1~h . As [an Ritscm.i said: 'In these days we haveto think and rethink all the time, keep things openand change.' This approach gcx.'S (or audience asmuch , l~ the perfornu-rs.The Bonington Callery was "gain used (or its white-box qualities (or Thomas Lehrncn's Mono SlIbit'c/s.On thi .. occasion it was tr.m-Jormed into somethingof a cru cib le, with aluminium (oil on the tilr wallreflecting the harsh lights back into the space, ThE'heat was intense and throbbing fPt'db ack, wroughtby Lehrnen and his two associates from three bassguitars, moved the hot air and our internal organs,producing a shocking physical and emotionalresponse. Despite this t~Ung introduction, MoJto5111']1''-/0; was nol intended ,l~ an attack upon us, butmore upon Ihe conventions that surround danceperformance. Lehrnen, Gaetan Boulourde andMaria-Clara Villa-Lobes were all sympatheticcharacters .md seemed intent on treating us asequals. They thoughtfully attempted to describe anddemystify everything in the room: objects, PTOCC'SS('Sand themselves. From the outset the trio formed arelationship with the ilUlhl'!l(t' that did not relyupon the sustaining of myth.. about virtuosity.DANC[ '~[ATR[ IOURNAlThe principal feeliru; I got from th is p iece - in its' matter-of-Iactnes s' . in its point ing ou t the blind-ingly obvious - was of the exhaust io n of cu ltu re. oflassit ude, The bored o m (If the roc k ba nd th a t knowsall loo well th ere arc no ne w notes 10 play, e ve ry-th ing ha s bee n done before, and the re is litt le poin tin co n tinuing . In the hea t a nd the ele tr ical hu m oflights a nd a m p lifie rs , dance performance w as heldup as a waste o f time and encrgy. In its place w asproposed a fo rm of ac tivity based upon knowing-ness, acce p ta nce a nd grim humour. I was re mindedof Samuel Beckett's words in conversa tio n withCco rge Duthuit. on the creative u.rge:Beckett: 'J speak of a ll art weary l ~f PIlIlY exploits,Wt'ary t~r pn'lt'lIIlillS to abte, of bt'illg ablt', of doillg 1Ilittle better ti lt' same old IlIillg, t~rSoill:J.: a littlefurthera/tillS 11 drt'l1 ry wad.'Duthuit: 'Alld prt:fi: rriIlS tohat! 'Beckett: 'Till' exvrcsslon tlta! there is ,wlllillg 10express, lIolhillS uiitl: which 10 ex/,ress, nOlhingfrom which 10 exprcs«, I/O /, Oll'l'r 10 express, I/Odesin' 10 exprrs». IOSI' lha wi th ti ll ' o /Jl(~l1lioll 10('x/,re5s.' 1Although it so unds a nything b UI, the result ",,",15en terta in ing ;m d perl"(~ rs sly en igm a tic. 'nle n::s ting10 specula te where l.ch rncn migh t go next, towardsthe mute minim a lism of Ik>ckell 's Quod or sh ru g-ging off all baggage. s tep ou t in ano ther directionentirel y.Desp ite th e perform ers ' irrepressible urge to re vea la ll, ,'vla/Ill - u l >jL'cl ~ wa s a non-d idactic e xpe rie nce -the tea chers had no th ing new to sa y a nd th e pupilsknew much of it anyway. By way pf co nclusio n,lig h t st icks w ere liberally st rewn ac ro ss thed arkened stage , Cl su itabl y trashy end in g to thepie e . Pretty enough but everyone presen t knewthc~' we re s imply the result o f a che m ical react ionproduced by bend ing the plastic tube.Felix Ruckert returned to NOrr Dance with Lwi'UII; I'I'rsily. J month -long resi d ency compr isingopen workshops, in which his com pilllY workedwith reg iona l ar tist s a nd the public. Rucke rt is to beap plauded for d evising a model o f para-theatricalwork th"t is comparatively accessible , Experiencesof th is kin d tend to be both ex cl us ive a nd CXpL' Il -sive, tapping int o the demand for orga n ised g ro upencounte rs among 11 11 jail professiona ls . Thema jority of Ruckcrt ' s s zss ions were open to a ll anda llo wed those who a ttend ed to unde rgo a fasci-na ting and therapeutic ex perie nce fo r [rec .Ru ckert has d ev el oped a ch o reog ra p hy lhat en gen-ders a phys ical and emo tio na l contact between' perfo rmer' and 'audience membe r ' fa r beyond thenorm. In s uch a conte xt co nven tio na l fra mes ofreference beco me obse lct e . Wh " , ta kes p lace is rea la nd has a profound effect upon the sta te o f being (I {a ll participants .There a re few situat ion s when we come close toexpe riencing intimacy with peo ple we d o 1I0t kno w.The effects of Ruckert 's work are probably height-ened by the novelty of the experience. Going 10 thehairdresser. having a mi\SS<1ge, being examined by adoctor are more or less formal situations in whichtouch is allowed but professionalism is absolu tely tothe {ore. Perhaps models exist in other cultures, suchas the Japanese geisha, that go beyond such transac-tions and allow for a truly intimate sensual interplaybetween individual", Whereas much art is self-refer-ential and maintains (l studious detachment, there isno escaping the significance of a real human touch.At the Lovt' Ullivt7sil,1l participants were inexorablydrawn into a genderless realm of the senses, securein the embrace of fellow human beings. totallyaccepting and worlhy of our trust. Impish 100,though. as when we were tickled vigorously orenc(lur,'ged 10 run (ast with OUI eyes cl"sed.Over all too soon, it was lime to observe and witnesswhat had been done to us being done 10 others andto speculate which of the 'performers' had beendoing what and when , Whilt struck me W,lS theamount of physical effort they were expendingupon us; their trembling muscles, beating hearts andsweating bodies were part of the intimacy,The combination of youth and experience.regional and international. mainstream,avant qarde and simply off thewall. contribute to the uniquecharacter of the frstivalLast year's performance of RillS by Felix Ruckertscompany left me trusting, open and slightly vulner-able. I wanted the fe-elings to last and to be able todo something with my energy. The opportunitycame about on this occasion when, after a break,things moved into Mother phase. A volunteer wasasked questions of a more or less personal nature,while being 'improvised with ' by the members ofthe company. These improvisations included beingpicked up, carried around the room, dressed inother people's clothing, pUI into poses, includingtableau x vivants with other participants. Thecompany members avoided any sense of malicious-ness by keeping things playful and ' lig h t' .The questions, which were improvised and honestly-asked, ~med to demand honest responses. Themood was informal and although most people in10the room began as strangers . the atmosphere feltsupportive and as though we were among 'friends'.There was a strange sensation of having tho bodydisconnected from the mind, being asked sea rchingquestions while being manipulated physically,I strongly {ell that I wanted to en~age with theprocess and volunteered. I was glad that I did,feeling energised by the experience. At the conclu-sion it (elt as though we hac! collectively achieved asense of resolution.An exciting new development at NOn Dance 2002was the launch by Dance 4 and the NOW Festival ofthe bi-monthly Showroom platform events (oremerging practitioners. These opened with anevening of dance and live art at the newly-builtLakcsidl • Arts Centre in Nottingham. The Ski" 0/ lireProsection by Kerryn Wise used the performer'sbody as the mo ving screen onto which her ownimage was projected , A simple concept madeparticularly captivating by the pcrtormers extrnor-dinarv talrnru-s-; Fullowing this, a work in pro~rl's~by Kerry l-rancksen was screened in which dancerand camera inhabited the same splice, the distancebetween them opening up and falling away indramatic filshion,NOlT Dance has always demonstrated its commit-ment to up and coming artists by creating space inits programme alongside more established names,The combination of you th and experience, regionaland international, mainstream, avant garde andsimply off the wall, contribute to the uniquecharacter of the festival. In Rosemary Butcher'swords, Non Dance)llCIlSi?S upon till' IIICl,'/ I 'u rn'1/1 work ill Brill/ill I/I/d[I/rop!' and dOL'$lI'I Iimit itsct] 10 Ih" currentmainstream dance idiom. IJ is both erprrimental andqueetioning. 11 continues Oil' de! 'aIt' M 10 iohntmodem dance is 'lIId the role of dill/Cl' iuithin Iwcllly-first-cent I/ry performance:'At the end of another successful festival, NOnDance seems more relevant than ever. 0Andrew Brown Is the manaaer of the experimental theatrecompany ReclOess Sleepers and write$ for a variety of artptIbUcatlons. Emalt: andrew@reckleu-sleepers.co.uk.Beckett, Samuel. Three Dialogues with Georges Dufhuir.London: John Calder, 1965. (tirsl published in Transition.1949.12 Interview with Rosemary Butcher byAndrew BrO'Ml. Apfil 2002.DANe! 1~[Ar~! IOURII,Il

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