11 October

- 2019 -

This was the first major improvisation that I did with the Macumba group. Alessandro observed while Raquel and Icaro played. They were "polite" in a way...trying to be sensitive to go off of me...as a dancer, but they were also trying to understand the world of the piece by what I put out. At least this is how I perceived them.

They played with water and some percussion.

I kept referring to this video for much of the material I was developing for the show.

The second video was crucial in that I realized how vulnerable it is to be dancing so purely to sound...their offering and energy gets flowed into me so directly. Of course, the way we were standing also really put me on the spot. But I liked that we tried a spatial relationship here...what other kinds of spatial situations could we create together in the piece?

Macumba

17 October

13 October

At the end of the improvisation on 11.10.2019, there was material I liked. As a trio, we were finding an ending. Raquel thought we finished, and I was indicating that we had. However, Icaro stayed connected to make sure, and I kept playing with this ambiguity which led to material of facial expressions and indications and communications that are specific yet unclear.

I called this "Baby Caetano" or later "Baby Guru Language" because I look like Caetano Veloso when he was younger in the Tropicalia movement of Brazil. I also look like a divine child of sorts trying to speak a parable but nonverbally.

This could be an interesting way to relate with the collaborators as well as the audience...

I was observing the challenge but also the necessity to have a tension between structure and improvisation in dancing and making work.

I was trying different ideas with Icaro and Raquel, and the example I begin mentioning was potentially funny, but I worried that it might have lacked performative tension in it somehow. It felt nice and fun, but perhaps it doesn't hold a "problem" for me/us/audience. I'm looking for material together where there's a tension of engagement and focus...we care, or are interested or are in it somehow.

Nice and flowy is what I love too because that's the sweet spot, but it still needs that tension...