Andrew Marcus Performance

Developed with W. Vesseur
See zeroperformance.org -- taught with W. Vesseur

Developed with W. Vesseur

Developed with W. Vesseur

Developed with W. Vesseur

This performance workshop is designed as a complete training for the improvisational dancer/choreographer. The first part of class trains the skeleton to support movement through planes in space; thus preparing the body for spatially clear dancing and the mind for rapid identification of the intentions that underlie movement choices. We will next, in an intensely physical process of dance composition, explore the interplay of sensation, perception and psyche in making dances designed to communicate meaning with utter efficiency. After refining and clarifying material from these dances into a cohesive whole, the workshop will culminate in a performance of the finished work.

Sensation and perception - the experience of ones body, its anatomical components, the environment, and relationship to other bodies will be explored as a basis for movement choice in improvised dancemaking. Degrees of touch, weight bearing and the building of relationships across time and space will be investigated with the intention of creating a fluid spatial medium. Working from a premise that form organizes itself around a conscious engagement in physical experience we will examine the interplay of sensation, perception and psyche between the dancer and the viewing audience: A concept of composition as the shared experience of viewer and performer.

This work is designed to develop the body as an efficient vehicle for personal artistic expression. Moving developmentally from the floor to standing, we will integrate the skeleton, muscles and soft tissues as sources of support, speed and expressive qualities. Class will end with simple improvisational scores designed to integrate technique with live action, spontaneous dancing; the ultimate goal being an articulate body and a conceptually rigorous approach to space.

This class prepares the body for spatially clear dancing, and the mind for rapid identification of the intentions that underlie movement choices. Initially training the skeleton to support movement through planes in space, we will ultimately build dances designed to communicate meaning with utter efficiency.

These classes explore strategies for acquiring an ideal physical approach to contact improvisation partnering, with applications in solo dancing. Anatomical principles underlying basic movement patterns will be practiced to acquire efficiency, and the role of the senses in support of physical communication will be explored.

Finding stability in skeletal structure we free our muscles for instantaneous physical decisions. Using diagonals in the body to achieve spirals in space, we will pay particular attention to the effects and uses of gravity, safe absorption of impact, distribution of weight between bodies in partnering and efficient pathways for changing levels in space from the floor to flying. The shift from analytic study of movement patterns to intuitive sensation based decision making in improvisation will be explored.

This workshop explores the shifting boundary of mind between the setting of dances and improvisation. Using sensation as a basis for the development of personal movement vocabulary, we will locate sources for physical decisions; from anatomical impulse to internal and external sensation, to partnering. As an investigation of a concept that form results from the cogent communication of physical experience, we will deconstruct our improvisations into phrases that can be repeated, spliced and re-improvised.

This workshop will focus on generating movement vocabulary from the stimulus of physical touch: including sensation through the skin, light weight exchange and deep weight exchange as well as from sensation inside the individual body without contact. Creating our own anatomical imagery and defining the exterior, we will construct space in such a way that a broad range of movement choices and perceptual experience are available for a heightened experience of dancemaking.