Interview with Barbara Dilley on Her Dance Improvisation Practices
by Nancy Stark Smith for CQ
Follow the Leader:
..."if you are a follower, what are the different kinds of follower that you can be?... it's not always necessary to be a duckling in line with the mother duck. I can still be a follower and be quite removed, even spatially but my intention is very clear."
What compositional practices are revealed by Follow the Leader?
"Well, any kind of group dynamic- the power of unison, the power of a group of people moving simultaneously, or moving together, or the intentionality of that... What is it to surrender to a leader? What is it to rest in a leader? What is it not to demand so much originality of yourself all the time?
When you are in the place of resting in the role of the follower, you can begin to perceive the bigger picture, the choreographic choice, something to make the space more interesting."
Developing Compositional Awareness
"-- dance and spatial movement awareness-- first I talk about the "inner eye": cultivating inner awareness and relation to impulse an sensation.
Then there is the "group eye" the ensemble eye, or what it is to be with others. What happens to you, and how much do you want to merge, and how much do you want to separate? All the social dynamics that we have become so much more conscious of in the last 15 to 20 years. And then the third are is the "director's eye" or the choreographic choices... consciously recognizing the design palette of the stage and the audience. You are choosing to do things for them. You are making compositional choices, which is different than group dynamics."
Corridors
"... basic form is three people traveling in parallel corridors. It is a training practice essentially... Basically, you learn to be influenced by the people traveling with you (in parallel corridors).
What are you being influenced by? Who is influencing you? Can you accept influence? Can you put it down? Can you accept more influence? Can you notice what kind of influence you are accepting?
In Corridors, you get to develop and exchange between yourself and two other people. You jus have to keep doing it, and then it happens... can feel it in the space when the three people suddenly go "Oh yeah, my awareness has expanded to encompass the other two people. Then you get to play! "
I remember there are a few specific movements used in the beginning of the practice.
"... the five basic movements are: walking, standing, running, arm swinging, and crawling. Then it can evolve into personal movement vocabulary."
Grid
"arose in the 1970s out of an improvisation ensemble. It is a development of Corridors... We're in corridors making the lane changes. The next step os to say that you can change lanes in the middle of the space. You and I are in swim lanes; we're on corridors. Now I'm going to turn 90 degrees, and I'm going to cross your corridor. I am traveling on a line now, no longer in a swim lane. Graphically I am on a line. I am making a right angle in space. A corridor is a pretty wide expanse of territory, whereas the grid is really a map, a trail. As soon as you start making that right-angle turn and crossing the other corridors, everybody feels the different spatial arrangement.
You start perpendicular to the grid going east-west and north-south. Next, just put the grid in the space at an angle and everything is on a diagonal. Then you mix the two together; you can go back and forth between one and the other at anytime. Then we add the circle. And you have a circular pattern in space."
..."What does the group need? On what levels are compositional choices made? That is fascinating, to try to detail them out and be able to say, "Well I prefer making my decisions for this reason, or I have a tendency to do this..."
"Or just be myself! I am in the ensemble being myself. I am the one who always wants to act out against the structure. Can i just be myself like the color blue arising in space? My choices can be more playful, too."
Sets
"When we all get the Grid practices, all the maps, clear, we do "sets", with very specific disciplines. You could do a set where all you do is work the grid in the upper body with only walking and standing. You can make up any set of disciplines to follow."
Limitations.
"it's just a practice of awareness! It isn't about being successful at it; it's just a question of what does it bring you in terms of your awareness and what does it bring the others? ... it's like sketches in a notebook-- we do one after another."
"So you do set after set with these specific limitations and it just keeps building awareness. At the very end, after having cultivated all that limited awareness, you do a long set, of just present moment-- just in the moment, just together, just ensemble."
Eye Practices
"Basically...ask that we work in space, we take more cognizance, more awareness, of where we are looking while we are moving..."
Closed eyes-- Conscious choice that you would explore. internal seeing. rest; refresh
Peripheral seeing-- soft focus; seeing from the corner of the eyes
Infant eyes-- seeing before naming. before judgment, before concept.
Seeing the space between-- very active place of improvisational energy. really focusing on the space between; the negative space.
Direct looking-- investigate; study; absorb "just look at the light on somebody's face, or the creases of their arm, or they way they hold their hand. That's when I start talking about what it is to look from the back of your head rather than to push through the eyeballs. What is it to move the energy of the eye way back so that you are actually witnessing from way back here? It takes a lot of pressure off of the seeing."
Carrying a Teaspoon of Water
"The idea is: Can you feel what it's like to try to put 100% of your attention on the teaspoon? You can barely move across the space. So then you have to somehow or another watch the spoonful of water and simultaneously be cognizant of the space. And then, what is to hold the teaspoon of water and turn you gaze away from it? People get more daring... it's all about the sense of mindfulness and awareness coming together.
Contact Quarterly- a vehicle for moving ideas. Summer/Fall 2005
A more recent, extra interview
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