During the week I had the pleasure of observing sculptor Trevor Flynn teach a life drawing session to architect students, and found his words resonated within my own work, and particularly with work-in-progress On Screen / Off Screen.
To begin Trevor explained that drawing like for like was all about the ego, and that the real challenge of drawing should be to ‘show the hidden, to show what you can’t see’. For example, for the human figure this could mean the movement or expression of the pose. In regard to my own work I want performers to be able to show me what is hidden within their characters, whether it be histories, emotions, intent, desire, etc. I don’t just want to see a balance or specific movement, I want to see how that movement relates to the character, or vice versa. To portray this the performer needs to have a sense of why the character is doing that move and what they feel when doing it.
Trevor also demanded that the students refrain from ‘just drawing the object’, but to ‘draw the object in relation to other objects’. By relating to the things around us we gain a sense of the self. For example, by drawing the table that the figure sits on you can create a sense of proportion, the softness of the flesh against the hard surface of the table, etc.
Relationships are integral when you have 6 performers/characters in a piece, and how they relate to each other when on stage is of the utmost importance. Even during a solo the performer can build relationships to space, time, the sound-score, traces left behind by other performers, etc.
Another useful and transferable piece of advice Trevor gave was to ‘break the closed form and play with its components’. An outline is unlikely to give a sense of volume, density or contours to the body. My PDC dancers need to follow this advice and break through the surface of their characters and allow the inner workings (thoughts, feelings, insecurities, desires, etc.) to trickle out and affect the intent, dynamics and quality of the movement and help the formation of character relationships.
I believe these connections, when put into context, will help the dancers to strengthen the embodiment of their characters and build a shared understanding of how they are all intertwined into the work.
Silversmith Dance Theatre 