The Making of a Dance: Day Two

ICA site project, DAY TWO
by Stephan Koplowitz, July 10, 2007

Today's rehearsal was off-site in a studio in downtown Concord.


We spent most of our time working on the very first section, creating raw material based on a specific choreographic task I gave the dancers on Monday. I asked them to "read" their individual rock in three different ways: looking at the top surface, the side surface the 3-D shape of the rock. By "reading" they were use the surface of the rock, its patterns and shape as a "score" for movement. This is actually a variation of a Bill Forsythe technique from Improvisational Technologies where you "trace or read" a body part to generate movement. Each dancer created three 8 count phrases (24 total). I then selected six phrases and began to alter and edit them in response to the site and to what I think might work in an overall movement narrative.


 
We ultimately finished with several phrases that were prone, standing and horizontal, all of which will be used tomorrow when we are back at the ICA.

Towards the end of rehearsal, we perfected our rolling techniques which will be used for the beginning of the "GLASS" section, happening inside the front lobby and to be seen from the outside. We then experimented with two count and one count canons using a simple eight count phrase. Both proved difficult, but with with rehearsal should be doable if in fact I decide to use them. 
 
Working off-site is always beneficial because we can focus on pure physicality without the site to "distract" us. The downside is that, in the case of the rocks, it was difficult to know at all if any of the material we were generating will ultimately "work" on site...the answers will come quickly tomorrow and my hope is that I can finish a first draft of the first and second sections of the work.