After a week’s break I returned to rehearsals with lots of questions in my head and changes to instigate. I also returned with costume designer Nadia Malik and Thou Shalt performer, long-term collaborator and friend Sylvia Ferreira.
Day 7 began with a repertoire workshop on Thou Shalt led by Sylvia. For me it was important, after already sharing the process of how the piece was made through the dancers’ own material, that Sylvia lead this session so that the dancers could experience the work from a performer perspective. The dancers picked up the material with ease and were able to move between set and improvised material under Sylvia’s direction. Sylvia was also able to share her experience of working with character and how much time and effort needs to be given to truly embodying a character and their journey.
During the intensive week it had become clear to me that the dancers needed to feel confident with the material, not be distracted by the fear of forgetting steps and having a full sense of the piece before entering into the complex task of formulating and embodying their (on and off screen) characters journeys. Therefore, my 2 main outcomes for day 7 were to make choreographic changes, including the removal of any unnecessary or problematic movement, and to allow Nadia and Sylvia to give feedback on the work-in-progress. Day 8 would be given to character development.
Receiving feedback from others is paramount to my work. It helps me to look at the work with fresh eyes and stops me from getting too engrossed in the development of specific sections of material that may not be conducive with the whole. For example, one of the sections in the work-in-progress was a duet built from very simple movements and attention to the gaze, in which a strong connection between the dancers slowly emerged. I had become quite fascinated by the duet and was intrigued as to where the material could lead. However, when viewed by Nadia and Sylvia within the context of the whole piece, both pointed out that the section was too slow in pace in relation to the previous sections and therefore lost their interest as an audience. Needless to say the duet had to be cut regardless of my own enthralment.
Potential was noted by my ‘outside eyes’ on some material yet to be fully explored, and after an initial attempt in development, and a good night’s sleep, I was able to contextualise the material and set clear tasks on day 8 for the dancers to explore the movement as their on-screen characters. The dancers thrived on these tasks, creating energetic, dynamic and comedic duets. I was able to edit these moments into a new section, which replaced the former duet and picked up the pace/energy of the work.
Another issue that had been nagging me throughout the intensive was the difficulty one of the dancer’s appeared to be having portraying her chosen character (Virginia Cherrill). Although the dancer was clearly interested in the on and off screen life of her chosen character, she was unable to find a strong enough personal connection. However, when observing the dancer exploring floor material with a sense of the Tramp character, she allowed her cheeky, playful side to emerge. At that moment I knew she was a Mabel! And after a discussion on day 8, ending in a joint decision to switch characters, the dancer began forming a much deeper connection to the material and her performance of the work increased ten fold.
The purpose of Day 8 was to aide the dancers in strengthening their connection to the work by creating their character journeys in the piece. Through individual discussions I questioned the dancers on what their characters are feeling at significant points in the piece and why, as well as probing them on where they felt moments of connection with other characters might reside. Time was then given for the dancers to work through the piece with their new journeys in mind.
The instigation of the dancers’ character journeys have already made a big difference on the energy, focus and performance of the piece, newly titled On Screen / Off Screen. We now have a solid base for engagement to keep deepening over January, whilst the addition of costume and music/sound will bring layers of historical and gender references, atmosphere and heightened emotive states to the work.
Silversmith Dance Theatre 