Alex Murphy on people, performance and piecing it together

Alex Murphy, Creative Projects Co-ordinator

To what extent are the Creative Project’s projects you create for the participants; and by contrast perhaps, to what extent are they for the SDD ‘audience’ or those on the outside?

Our objective is to work with artists to create projects that really involve people in the artistic process. So we spend a lot of time thinking about the people who we will work with, and how to make the project a rich, engaging and accessible experience for them, that will lead to an artistic outcome. So the participants are really key. We exist to give people an experience, through the arts and through the projects that we deliver. That’s really what makes our work different to the company’s projects, or the artists who come in to exhibit in the building. Our focus is on the people who get involved, as well as the artists who are leading the creative process.

So Creative Projects are for the participants, however we also want to create work which is interesting to a wider audience. Something that is not just for the family and friends of those involved. And I think it is, because of the artists we work with. We are creating work that is rich and deep and interesting to a wider audience.

In terms of SDD’s ‘other audience’ or ‘those on the outside’, we’re currently looking into ways in which we can present this work to give it that platform, and expose it to a wider audience. I think we can struggle, because people see the work as non-professional – it’s not trained dancers doing the performance, it’s young people, or the public. Whereas we, and the artists we are working with, see it as a piece of art. How do we present this work so that it can be enjoyed by more people in audience terms? That’s a really interesting challenge.

I am interested in your ideas surrounding performance. Are your projects often outcome-led? Is performance necessary? What is the effect of this on your work and for those involved?
I think this is a really interesting question. Our projects are very much process-led. We use the making processes of the artists we work with as a starting point. It’s very important to us that people have a good experience when they come and take part in projects, so that’s definitely the focus of the work we’re doing. However, having an outcome can be a really important part of that process.

Performance is a really powerful thing to do as participant in a project. Also, if we’re saying we are creating art through these projects, art is something that by its nature should be shared. It’s really the essence of it – you’re creating something, sharing it and drawing other people into it.

Is performance necessary? It really depends on what the project is. A project could be an exploratory process which aims to enrich the people involved, in which case the outcomes may happen later individually, or in a follow-on project, and I think that’s valid. But if we create something, then not sharing it is a missed opportunity for the participants and for the wider audience who would then get to experience that.

So, we’re not outcome-led, we’re process led. Sometimes a presentation of the work is a really valid part of that process, but it’s not the only way to end a project. We’re quite happy to judge that on each project.

Finally, I want to know… Why do you work in the Arts?
Because I like art! It’s my enjoyment and the thing I’m interested in. I think it is as simple as that actually! I get a lot from being involved in art, so if I can come to work and get involved with it there too, I’m going to be happier. I want work that enriches and challenges me in ways that I enjoy. I think because I’ve had good experiences with the arts, and specifically working with the arts in this way, I want to share that, and open it out to people.

Anything else to add?

There’s a question I’ve been musing on for a while. I tell people about my work and they say ‘Oh contemporary dance… I’ve really tried to enjoy that.’  They go along, they watch it…But somehow there’s a disconnect when they’re watching dance, in a way that they don’t have when they read, or see art or watch theatre even. It’s quite fascinating - I can kind of relate to it, I think a lot of people have felt that disconnect. I’m really interested in what that is about. Because, of all the art forms, it’s the one which you should have more of a connection with. Not everyone can paint or sculpt, but everyone has a body that moves. So why people have that disconnection from dance is something I’m really interested in. 

A lot of what I think about when we are approaching people who may not have done dance before is that there is that barrier. People have a barrier to dance and choreography and being creative with their bodies that is very real. It can be a fear thing, or a physical self-consciousness. But also, there is something about dance performance which isn’t connecting with people. I don’t have an answer for what that is. It seems a bit illogical, because it’s a human body moving. We should all be able to relate to that. One of the things we aim to achieve through our projects is to address that barrier.

Pedestrian

Here is a shot taken from last weekend by Lucy Cash as her and Becky Edmunds filmed south londoners walking for the film...

Walking South

Over the last few weeks, Matthias Sperling and I have been visiting places and people in south London as part of our recruitment process for Walking Piece. So far we have been to:
Pocklington Resource Centre in Wandsworth to work with a blind and visually impaired group and Croydon College to work with the Arts staff there.

More to come..

These boots were made for walking...

With my favourite here-i-come boots on, I am off today to join many other south londoners to be filmed walking my walk. Screendance artists Lucy Cash and Becky Edmunds have been commissioned by Siobhan Davies Dance to create a short film, of different clips and edits of people walking from new born babies, to those past 80 years old and all of the inbetween.. Then, filming places in South London they will make a 3 minute film which will be shown as part of Footfall and Big Dance 2012..
http://www.siobhandavies.com/dance/creative-projects/creative-explorations/pedestrian.html

Interview with Matthias Sperling and why it's not really about walking...

Could you tell me about some of the ideas/ findings that have arisen during your research and development?

One of the things that has come up in my first few days of research to develop approaches for this project, is that it…isn’t really about walking! The walking is a kind of necessary part of it, but in fact, what I’m interested in about the idea that I have proposed is that it’s a framework for interaction. So it’s not so much about the movement, it’s about the interaction.

So what I proposed is that 50 people form this single file loop which moves through the Siobhan Davies Studio building and that it is continuously moving. And then along the route, many different tasks are mapped to a particular space. As each participant passes through each of those spaces, they perform a particular movement task, but in their own way. So it should be possible to see this mapped out score that moves around the building, and it should also be possible to see each different individual’s response to the instructions. So there’s an interaction between the participants, in that they have the individual responses to the same set of instructions and there’s also a close interaction between the performers and the audience because they are sharing the space – sometimes very closely, sometimes less closely, but the audience move around this loop structure freely in and amongst and around and along the route. That’s the thing that really interests me about it, it’s like an installation that is always there whenever you come upon it, and you can navigate your own way around seeing it, experiencing it. It’s always happening, it’s always changing, it’s always varying, it’s always there.

Another thing I have been thinking about is how to make the dynamic relationship between individual activity and group activity a visible subject of this work. Both choreographically and generally, I would say that the two extremes of that spectrum - everyone doing their own completely different thing and everyone acting in complete conformity- are relatively easy or habitual things to achieve. Negotiating a way of balancing those states together somehow is the tricky, but interesting and necessary thing to try to achieve.

There’s one more thing, a compositional thing. - just the simple fact that all of these mapped out tasks will not only be happening one after the other but also alongside each other. It’s a sort of double composition because it needs to work in both senses  - it’s not only about what comes next but about what counterpoint you are seeing side by side so it’s quite tricky actually! How can something quite simple work in both of those ways at the same time, and without the co-existing elements drowning each other out?

This hopes to be a participatory dance on a big scale. Does that affect the artwork, and how?

I think the first thing to say about that is that the idea for the work, from the beginning, is grounded in being a large scale participatory piece. So it’s inherent in the idea. A smaller group of people would not be able to span the circuit of the building in the way that I’m picturing. It also comes out of a lot of my interests. I’m interested in working with trained and untrained dancers because of the kinds of questions I’m asking about dance and movement. For me virtuosity is a question rather than a given. It’s a really live question for me, because it’s something I feel as though I spent a lot of years working on, and something I still enjoy in certain ways, but I also question what physical virtuosity really gives to an audience and whether there are also other kinds of virtuosity that might support the making of choreographic propositions.

I’m also interested in mind body relationship. What I’m often thinking about now is that you can think about dance in a very different way from how I have in the past. I like to imagine that dancing might be whatever I’m doing when I am learning something about the relationship between my body and my mind. That can be a very wide range of things. I’m interested in seeing people engaged in that. It doesn’t necessarily require conventional dance training. That sort of fascinates me.

What are the impacts or effects for those who are going to be involved in this project? Particularly those who perhaps have less experience of being involved in dance or big participatory projects?

I don’t really think I can anticipate what people will take away after the project. What I can say is, I hope they have a good time! I hope they have the opportunity to participate in something creative and to challenge themselves in ways which are interesting to them. I think that if you end up presenting this as a written piece rather than an audio piece, people won’t get my enormous long pauses between words which are typical of me.  But they are indicative of what I think people who participate in project will notice, that things take time with me! That’s about the creative process. I like to think about things lots. I’m interested in sharing process that requires quite a lot of concentration and stamina. I think often in dance experiences people enjoy them because they are very entertaining – you put on some music and you have fun. That’s great, those are wonderful things to do but I’m just not always able to come up with a focused and coherent result as an outcome of a process which is only characterized by the desire to have fun. I think people might find it challenging in terms of concentration and to go further and deeper into things which might seem quite simple on the surface. I hope people can come out of the project feeling as though they have been a part of something and that this group of people, for a short time, will have a community that shares something. And that that invites other people to interact with it.

At this very beginning stage what are some of the challenges you’re facing with this work, and what are your hopes for it?

In the research I have been trying to open my mind to completely changing the idea. I have been exploring lots of different options because I don’t take it for granted that my first idea is the best one. I realised that they were things I really like about the idea and some pretty strong challenges.

I think that my original idea – with all the tasks mapped out along the route - will demand a lot from the participants, and I think it’s worth demanding that for the sake of the audience. If the tasks are really mapped to specific portions of the route it gives the audience something fixed to hold on to. There may be up to 50 different tasks in the score. So there’s something about the concentration and physical engagement  it will demand to switch between activities very quickly. And to get into a particular activity very fast, doing it fully so that it registers as a performance and then very quickly switching to the next thing, and the next, thing and the next.  The danger is, it won’t leave performers a lot of time to sink into things so that they become fully embodied, So it would require people to learn how to make that kind of embodiment happen perhaps more quickly than is easily accessible.

What do I hope? I hope that it will become an artwork. I hope that it will be a professional artwork in its own right. I hope that it is clear enough and that it is about something clearly enough that it is worth doing again in other places with other groups of people. I hope that it’s not a one off event but that this is the beginning of this idea and that it’s a full treatment of the idea.

Yeah, so I hope it’s good.

The precariousness of walking on two legs

I have started reading Geoff Nicholson's 'The Lost Art of Walking'

In the first few pages he talks of the madness in our verticality. Many of the other mammals that walk this earth stand on two legs once in a while, but 'humans are the only ones ridiculous enough to do it all the time...all those bad backs and knees and feet and hips - we'd have none of that if we remained on all fours'

It got me thinking about how and when and why we began to walk on our two hind legs... and whether we could ever just try out going back to basics...?! 

Meeting Matthias

Met with choreographer Matthias Sperling yesterday to think about Walking Piece. He begins his research and development next week...

Here is a video he recommended:

Bruce Nauman, an American visual artist. Part of the Process Art Movement which emerged in the US and Europe in the Mid 1960's.