Recontextualising My Choreographic Self:

Conceptual and processual strategies for rerouting practice

Nerida Kate Matthaei

Doctor of Creative Industries, Queensland University of Technology

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Creative Industries 2018 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei

2 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei i. ABSTRACT This practice-led research project defines a methodological basis for the recontextualisation and rerouting of this artist-researcher’s choreographic praxis. This was achieved via experimenting and testing new contemporary strategies underpinned by embodied reflexive practices and creative case studies, which resulted in the creation of new performance works. The intent of this study was to provide myself, as a mid-career choreographer, with mechanisms to articulate, recontextualise and interrogate processual choreographic complexities. The research was undertaken across two projects in a series of creative development periods, firstly, as a solo practitioner creating #angel-monster and A Collection of Me-Isms, and subsequently, with a collaborative ensemble of artists contributing to the premiere of two performance works, The Paratrooper Project and angel- monster. Viewing the enquiry through an insider-outsider artist-researcher lens, the practice-led design was framed by contextual scans of the field, and occurred through recontextualising data gathered from case study material and choreographic experimentation. Together, these became a catalyst for the key outcomes of this research, which are the discovery of new choreographic strategies and the creation of new artistic works. This research has expanded ways of interpreting and understanding central components of contemporary choreographic practice through privileging artistic praxis in dialogue with existing scholarly discourse emerging from the artist’s perspective. Situated in the shifting landscape of the independent choreographer-dancer-producer, it identifies that investigating processual choreographic innovation has been vital to my ongoing artistic development. Furthermore, it acknowledges this necessity for the broader field of contemporary choreographic practice, and as such, the research provides a model for other choreographers to adapt, recontextualise and reroute their own practice.

3 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei ii. KEY TERMS contemporary choreographic practice; choreographic strategies, rerouting practice, practice-led research; reflexive practice. iii. VIDEOS 1. #angel-monster solo, page 72 2. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 2, page 83 3. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 3, page 85 4. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 4, page 88 5. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 5, page 89 6. The Paratrooper Project, Video 1, page 93 7. The Paratrooper Project, Video 2, page 94 8. angel-monster ensemble work, USB provided iv. IMAGES 1. angel-monster, cover image 2. The Kolb Model, page 36 3. The Paratrooper Project Mirroring Mind Map, page 338 4. Hybrid Research Design Map, page 47 5. Creative Works Diagram, page 71 6. #womenagainstfeminism, page 79 7. #angel-monster 1, page 79 8. Danseuse by Jean Arp (1925), page 85 9. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 3 - Dancing Danseuse 1, page 86 10. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 3 - Dancing Danseuse 2, page 86 11. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 3 - Dancing Danseuse 3, page 86 12. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 3 - Dancing Danseuse 4, page 86 13. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 3 - Dancing Danseuse 5, page 86 14. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 4 – Social Currency Collage 1, page 88 15. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 4 – Social Currency Collage 2, page 88 16. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 4 – Social Currency Collage 3, page 88 17. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 5 – Decalcomania 1, page 90 18. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 5 – Decalcomania 2, page 90 19. A Collection of Me-Isms, Experiment 5 – Unconscious Monster, page 90

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20. The Paratrooper Project flyer, page 94 21. angel-monster flyer, page 96 22. The Paratrooper Project, page 115 23. Imagined Heritage, Mining the Choreographic Unconscious 1, page 118 24. Imagined Heritage, Mining the Choreographic Unconscious 2, page 118 25. Imagined Heritage, Mining the Choreographic Unconscious 3, page 118 26. Blowback Duet, angel-monster, page 122 27. Blowback Duet, angel-monster, page 123 28. #angel-monster, chronological map of scenes, page 126 29. #angel-monster, non-linear map of scenes, page 127 30. The Paratrooper Project, map of scenes 1, page 129 31. The Paratrooper Project, map of scenes 2, page 129 32. The Paratrooper Project, map of scenes 3, page 129 33. angel-monster, assemblage of scenes, page 131 34. angel-monster, cinematic structure database score, page 133 35. angel-monster cinematic assemblage of overall scenes, page 135 36. Punch Like a Girl, angel-monster, page 139 37. angel-monster, installation design 1, page 141 38. angel-monster, installation design 2, page 141 39. #angel-monster, image Recontextualisation 1, page 174 40. #angel-monster, image Recontextualisation 2, page 174 41. #angel-monster, image Recontextualisation 3, page 175

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CONTENTS

I. ABSTRACT ______3 II. KEY TERMS ______4 III. VIDEOS ______4 IV. IMAGES ______4 STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP ______8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ______9 CHAPTER 1. FOUNDATIONS: CONTEXTUALISING THE STUDY ______10 1.1 INTRODUCING THE STUDY ______10 1.2 ARTICULATING MY PRACTICE ______11 1.3 CONTEMPORARY CHOREOGRAPHIC PRACTICE ______15 1.3.1 Tracks – the political ______20 1.3.2 Tracks – dance-theatre constructs ______22 1.3.3 Tracks – experimental performance modes ______23 1.3.4 Intersecting Tracks – collaborative practices ______26 1.4 SUMMARY ______28 CHAPTER 2. SCAFFOLDING: A HYBRID METHODOLOGY ______30 2.1 AN INSIDER-RESEARCHER CHOREOGRAPHIC LENS ______30 2.2 PRACTICE-LED RESEARCH ______31 2.3 REFLEXIVE PRACTICES ______33 2.3.1 Cyclic States of Reflexivity ______35 2.3.2 Mirroring States of Reflexivity ______36 2.3.3 Embodied Reflexivity ______38 2.4 CREATIVE CASE STUDY – AN ADAPTED METHOD ______42 2.5 HYBRID SCAFFOLD IN PRACTICE ______46 CHAPTER 3. SPRINGBOARDS: A CREATIVE CASE STUDY APPROACH ______48 3.1 CREATIVE CASE STUDY 1 - AKRAM KHAN ______48 3.1.1 Diverse Cultural Approaches ______49 3.1.2 Desh – An Analysis ______54 3.1.3 Principles Distilled from Creative Case Study 1 ______58 3.2 CREATIVE CASE STUDY 2 - RAEWYN HILL ______59 3.2.1 Approaches to Practice ______60 3.2.2 Mass – An Analysis ______63 3.2.3 Principles Distilled from Creative Case Study 2 ______68 3.3 SUMMARY ______69 CHAPTER 4. PRAXIS: MAPPING THE CREATIVE WORK ______71 4.1 PROJECT 1 – SOLO WORKS ______71 4.1.1 - #angel-monster ______72 Analysis of #angel-monster ______80 4.1.2 A Collection of Me-Isms ______81 Analysis of A Collection of Me-Isms ______91 4.2 TRANSITIONAL PROJECT ______93

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4.2.1 The Paratrooper Project ______93 4.3 PROJECT 2 – ENSEMBLE WORK ______95 4.3.1 angel-monster ______96 CHAPTER 5. CHOREOGRAPHIC PATHWAYS: BUILDING STRATEGIES FOR EXPERIMENTATION ______100 5.1 EMBODIED REFLEXIVITY AS A CHOREOGRAPHIC STRATEGY ______100 Approach 1 - Embodied Reflexivity for the Solo Practitioner ______101 Approach 2 – Embodied Reflexivity for a Collaborative Choreographic Director ______102 5.2 IMAGINED HERITAGE ______107 5.2.1 Imagined Heritage as a Methodological Approach ______109 5.2.2 Imagined Heritage as a Choreographic Strategy ______112 5.3 CHOREOGRAPHING CINEMATIC STRUCTURES ______124 5.3.1 Choreographic Cinematic Assemblage Strategies ______125 5.4 CHOREOGRAPHIC RECONTEXTUALISATION ______137 5.5 CHOREOGRAPHING ACTIVE INSTALLATIONS ______140 5.6 INSTINCTIVE STRUCTURES AND MICRO EXPERIMENTS ______142 CHAPTER 6. DESTINATIONS: THE RECONTEXTUALISED CHOREOGRAPHIC SELF ______145 6.1 SUMMARY OF PRIMARY FINDINGS GENERATED IN ANGEL-MONSTER ___ 147 REFERENCE LIST ______152 APPENDIX ______172 1. AKRAM KHAN - KATHAK ______172 2. AKRAM KHAN - WESTERN CONTEMPORARY DANCE AND THEATRE INFLUENCES ______172 3. RAEWYN HILL - CAREER POSITIONING ______173 4. #ANGEL-MONSTER - IMAGE RECONTEXTUALISATION ______175 5. A COLLECTION OF ME-ISMS - ADDITIONAL STRATEGIES ______176 6. UNCONSCIOUS WRITING EXAMPLE ______177 7. ANGEL-MONSTER MICRO EXPERIMENTS ______178

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STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.

QUT Verified Signature

Nerida K Matthaei 26 January 2018

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I extend my appreciation to my supervisory team: Adjunct Professor Cheryl Stock and Dr Jenny Roche for their direction, expertise and encouragement throughout this process. Thanks also to Cheryl for igniting my interest in research and for her leadership, along with Dr Lee McGowan, in the DCI process. I would also like to acknowledge Akram Khan and Raewyn Hill for their generosity in allowing me insight into their practice.

Substantial input for this research project has come from my working partners in the creation of my creative work. A heartfelt thanks to the Phluxus2 Dance Collective team members Hsin-Ju Ely, Lauren Graham, Essie Horn, Courtney Scheu, Amelia Stokes, Keith Clark, Vilma Mattila and Andrew Mills, without whom angel-monster would not have been possible. Furthermore to Ellen Bailey, Asher Bowen Saunders, Margi Brown Ash, Lauren Jackson, Caitlin Mackenzie, Keia McGrady, Belinda Raisin and Leane Ungerer, who contributed their time and artistry in the creative process along the way. Lastly, a big thank you to Donald Mackenzie, Sean Dowling and Andrew Fee for their support in rigging, technical production, design and access to studio space.

Outside of the studio the research has been made possible by the support of my family and friends. A big thank you to Donald Mackenzie for his strength and support, my Mum Heather Canham for her words of encouragement, my Dad Professor Klaus Matthaei and Professor Caryl Hill for inspiring me to research and offering their mentorship and expertise in proofreading. Lastly, to my fellow DCI cohort the Segue Kickers, for getting through it together.

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CHAPTER 1. FOUNDATIONS: Contextualising The Study

1.1 Introducing The Study When commencing this research, I recognised a gap in knowledge in the identification and documentation of processual strategies used to develop individual choreographic innovation. As an independent artist, I felt the need for in-depth investigation into choreographic thinking in order to destabilise my habitual practices and to evolve as an artist. Thus this research project has sought to recontextualise and reroute my choreographic self through practice-led experimentation developing novel principles of practice resulting in a series of new works. This study lies within the research field of contemporary choreography, with a particular focus on rerouting habitual methods of the choreographic self. The context was the development of contemporary dance work, moving from solo to ensemble experimentation, through the development and application of choreographic theories across differing creative works. The methodology was primarily practice-led, underpinned by embodied reflexive praxis and two creative case studies analysing the work of internationally acclaimed choreographers Akram Khan and Raewyn Hill. The research project was designed to provide me, as an early to mid- career choreographer, with self-innovating processual principles of practice developed in and through the studio practice. The study was structured into two key projects; Project 1 and Project 2, with a Transitional Project bridging the gap. The focus of Project 1 and the Transitional Project was the development of three new works #angel-monster (solo), A Collection of Me- Isms (solo) and The Paratrooper Project (ensemble). These works enabled me to unpack and analyse existing and new concepts within my choreographic practice, underpinned by two creative case studies on the work of Khan and Hill. Project 2 focussed on the distillation of newly developed choreographic strategies, that is, Embodied Reflexivity, Imagined Heritage, Choreographic Cinematic Structures, Choreographic Recontextualisation, Choreographing Active Installations and Instinctual

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Structures and Micro Experiments (see Chapter 5), in a final stage of research culminating in the ensemble work angel-monster. Additionally, through the research process, I have been able to articulate my ideological and methodological paradigms of practice that until this point have functioned instinctively and flowed tacitly, but previously could not be formally described. The research demonstrates that new articulations of the choreographic self can be developed via practice-led analysis, experimentation and theoretical enquiry resulting in alternative processual routes for making new contemporary dance work. The research builds upon existing paradigms of contemporary choreographic theory, which describes a rhizomic field founded on emergent landscapes and iconoclastic practitioners (Green 2010; Lepecki 2006; Cvejić 2015; Forsythe 2011; Protopapa 2013).

1.2 Articulating My Practice

Choreographic practice is a beautifully planned anarchy of mind-body creativity tools that can, and cannot be, controlled simultaneously. Journal Reflection, Project 2

In order to contextualise this research project and how it has transformed areas of my practice, this section introduces my practice and its concerns. As a performer, creator, choreographer, artistic director, educator, manager and independent artist, predominantly working within the western contemporary choreographic field, my role as an artist continually shifts. I am a mid-career artist, based in Brisbane, Australia, who began creating short works from 2000, and producing full-length productions both nationally and internationally from 2005. I am the current Artistic Director and founding member of Phluxus2 Dance Collective. The underlying pulse of my work comes from an ingrained passion for contemporary dance, driven by challenging socio-political orthodoxy and breaking conventions of my practice and the art-form through performance. According to DeLahunta, Clarke and Bernard (2012) in A Conversation About Choreographic Thinking, the choreographic process

11 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei must be given the time to negotiate chaos, to notice and experience the investigation in order to provide imaginative and playful choreographic answers. My choreographic process is malleable, with transparent borders and open to mergers of aesthetics and interdisciplinarity. I pursue a multiplicity of explorative multi-modal approaches to devising work aimed in evolving my creative process. In my approach I give greater consideration to more than just the purely physical, encapsulating shifting relationships to audience, culture and society. The studio process is fluid with no specific formula to direct the procedure. I ensure that there is opportunity, via investigatory creative play, for expansion, dismantling and reformation of methods that can lead to diversification in the understandings of my practice and the work that I create. I embrace questioning, working both instinctually and methodically, consciously and unconsciously, whilst negotiating processual methods. The performance works I create are most often subjective and non- linear in narrative, encouraging personal interpretation and reflection from the viewer. My practice harnesses dance as a physical vocabulary to disseminate that which is challenging and offer alternate dialogues for discussing the world. The thematic impulse of my work explores issues present in societal, local and global ecologies, which has included, but is not limited to, subjects surrounding psychological, political and historical trauma, environmental concerns, social and theatrical constructs. The experimentation process and resulting overall creative vision for work predominantly evolves instinctively, however a clear plan is often present in the initial stage of creative development and facilitated by structured rehearsal plans. In support of this Keith Sawyer (in Neck 2010, 44) found that ‘creativity happens not with one brilliant flash but in a chain reaction of many tiny sparks while executing an idea’, which for me describes how my creative processes are initiated. However, influenced by this doctoral study, I now allow process to function in a more open and unconscious manner, permitting the needs of the work to lead its progression and allow any initial conceptualisations the freedom to evolve.

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The choreographic language I create is grounded in contemporary aesthetics diversified with gestural symbolic physicality drawn from the work’s themes, facilitating transmissions between the performative act, the performers and the viewer experience. When considering the process of crafting the choreography there are a number of ways that this occurs. While this document does not allow for the full articulation of these various approaches, some consistent methods have been the physicalisation of written materials, physicalisations based on kinaesthetic response, recreation of behaviours or the building of physicalised abstract narratives. An important additional influence on my choreographic practice, and a key reasoning for this doctoral study, is the state of the current arts ecology and the independent arts field. Like many contemporary artists, I work as an independent practitioner. My work is predominantly self-produced through Phluxus2 Dance Collective, and in a collaborative framework as a choreographer or performer within other artists’ work. Usually each work’s presentation is negotiated in co-production or commissioned arrangements with various partners. My work has either received periodic project government funding, or is self funded. Since the commencement of my professional practice, artistic careers have become more complex in their functionality and structure due to reductions in funding and shifts in employment conditions, such as an increase in recruitment of artists on a project basis rather than offering full-time employment. The nature of this environment, according to Carlee Mellow (2015, 10) ‘necessitate[s] dancers to create alternative, self-sustaining models and opportunities to perform’ and create new work. The independent artist model has been aligned with terms such as portfolio, boundaryless or, as Dawn Bennett (2009, 311) discussed, the self-managed protean career that functions through ‘the continual development of new opportunities and the attainment of the corresponding skills required to meet each new challenge’. This often refers to freelance practice whereby the artist inhabits various parallel positions outside of traditional company structures and develops in a way that is specific to each practitioner, often as a sole-trader working to self-produce and manage their

13 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei own practice and employment. These working conditions formed the dancer/choreographer/producer model which has now become commonplace in the sector and is predominantly how my career has unfolded. The nature of this working method can generate creative freedom, yet can also be a hindrance when the logistics of sustaining the business of practice, including resources, funds and administration, restrict conditions and overrun the needs of artistry, often impeding the objective (Ramadan 2014). Recent surveys of the independent sector, The Independent Artist Profile 2015 and The Independent Artist Profile 2016 by Auspicious Arts (2015, 2016), demonstrates these concerns, yet the specific needs of artistry itself are rarely mentioned, with the most common concern being a lack of time for the art making process. There is a clear indication that the logistical implications of the independent sector model restrain creative investigation and this is an ongoing concern (Mellow 2015; McKechnie 2004). The commodification of artwork, where bums on seats and profitability hold higher status than artistic integrity, has led to shifting paradigms in the sector. Shirley McKechnie (2004, 6) stated ‘Australian choreographers are seldom given time to explore, test, or revise their creations, for the work is hardly ever treated as a form of thinking’ and is an ongoing concern. This has in recent years been exacerbated by the reduction of national arts and culture funding1 placing further pressure on both the independent and small to medium organisational arts sectors. The structural implications of practice have in turn amalgamated with the artistic process and the role of the choreographer no longer pertains to that of the purely artistic, but incorporates the role of entrepreneur within a self-producing business. Not only is the choreographer a theatrical visionary, applying choreographic knowledge to the overall vision, including space, costume, set, light and sound, but also, in some instances, applying choreographic rules of

1 In 2015 the Australian Federal Government announced that $104.8m would be appropriated over 4 years from the national funding body, Australia Council for the Arts, to establish a National Programme for Excellence in the Arts under the governance of the Arts Minister, as well as further reductions of funding to Australia Council for the Arts by $13.2m (Vincs 2014). Just recently however there has been a shift in policy and some funds have been returned to Australia Council for the Arts.

14 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei engagement to multiplatform routes and taking on these roles from vision to implementation. Taking this state of practice into consideration, in 2012 I recognised a level of comfort in some aspects of my choreographic practice as well as a lack of time for processual experimentation, and began to seek a challenge that would allow deep investigation and the discovery of new choreographic knowledge; a challenge that brought me to this doctoral study. Thus, at the outset of this research project, I questioned what strategies could be developed to transform creative processes and drive choreographic innovation in my work, in effect, to recontextualise my choreographic self. My role in this study is one of artist-researcher, insider-outsider, as I interrogate and reroute my understanding of choreography, via in-depth experimentation designed to champion practice within systems conducive to my artistic expansion2.

1.3 Contemporary Choreographic Practice

The chaotic and beautiful osmosis between the rule of having no rules and the multiplicity of creative endeavour.

Today’s contemporary choreographic ecology is one built upon a fluid and tessellating foundation, rooted in dance legacies yet simultaneously pursuing invention. Choreography, being the construction of ephemeral corporeal architecture articulating an idea or concept in spatio-temporality, is a boundary-less, anarchic craft, where the aesthetics of the field and constructs of form entwine in dynamic multiplicities (Green 2010; Lepecki 2006; Cvejić 2015). Contemporaneity, according to Frédérick Pouillaude (2017, 290) in discussing choreography, does not reference an epoch, but rather a ‘specific structure of temporality; namely, neutral simultaneity and contingent coexistence… [where] everything coexists’.

2 Further information on my body of work can be found at www.neridance.com and www.phluxus2.com.

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The term contemporary dance, according to Bojana Cvejic (2015), was coined in the 1990s to differentiate the present-day form of dance from those within the pre- and co-existing canon of styles, for instance the western theatre dance, non-Western dance traditions and community based styles. Emerging from rebellious beginnings, succeeding the modern and post- modern legacies, the form remains constantly in flux, representing divergent choreographic praxis and defying finite classification due to its reliance on mutable factors in the creation of works (Cvejić 2015; Forsythe 2011). The form is artist driven, where methods of enquiry, according to Elizabeth Dempsey (2010, 229), are

not a uniform system, but a corpus of related though differentiated vocabularies and techniques of movement which have evolved in response to the choreographic projects of individual artists.

The development of contemporary dance languages is driven by self-innovation and reflective of the human condition, where feeling and form are intrinsic, and embodied expression and performative paradigms intermingle in personal and diverse manifestations (Dempsey, 2010). Contemporary choreography exemplifies artistic diversity where practice has few barriers with no requirement to adhere to existing or preconceived classifications (Nadel 2014). With this comes vast opportunity for choreographic dynamism bringing together innumerable cultural, social and political influences in a complex web of contemporaneous practices (Burridge and Dyson 2012). This complexity of practice results in questions about the nature of choreography, suggesting its conceptual foundation has expanded. For example, while the theoretical framing of choreography continues to emerge, the term is no longer purely descriptive of the art of making dance. Structures have evolved to integrate, and be responsive to, approaches elicited from other art-forms, culture and philosophies

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(Protopapa 2013; Ramadan 2014). The boundaries have been dismantled and ‘redefine the ontological ground of [what] dance’ (Protopapa 2013, 275) is considered to be. Jennifer Joy (2014, 1) suggests that the form has reorientated itself and has transformed into the choreographic, defined as a,

metonymic condition that moves between corporeal and cerebral conjecture to tell stories of [the] many encounters between dance, sculpture, light, space, and perception through a series of stutters, steps, trembles, and spasms.

This notion is inclusive of, yet is also beyond, that of dance providing a wide range of negotiations with choreographic language and procedure. The process is multimodal, the choreographers lens is in flux, constantly shifting and transforming into new ideological constructs. What lies on the periphery of form can be recontextualised, thus expanding practice and germinating a ‘heterogeneous, dynamic, bumpy, bubbling, treacherous, violent, resonant, vibrant and always inventive’ (Lepecki and Joy 2009, IX) field, as practitioners consistently redefine what constitutes their art-form. The contemporary choreographic field includes a diverse nexus of iconoclasts pursuing innovation through agitating existing paradigms and shifting ideologies of physicality and conceptuality (Brannigan and Baxter 2014; Jowitt 2011; Forsythe 2011). Philosophical and methodological rules of engagement are being shattered and recontextualised continuously as choreographers seek innovation (Nadel and Strauss 2014b). Ric Allsopp and Andre Lepecki suggest (2008, 3),

choreography is a field of contemporary arts practice that provides not only vectors for new forms of trans-disciplinary arts research but

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also a locus for questioning the orthodoxies of contemporary art work and practice…

There is a plethora of choreographic work being conceived in a divergent nexus of practice. What links its creators is a focus on experimentation and aesthetically driven individualism where the transmutation of process can shift in and for each new artistic idea (Brannigan and Baxter 2014; Nadel and Strauss 2014a). On this, Marten Spangberg3 (2002, 206) states there is a,

deviation away from expression, narrative and analysis…[and a move] towards modes of negotiation with discursive operations themselves… where the dotted line can shift from choreography, to action or event, to performance or art, to history or artwork.

Consequently, if the form and field are grounded on a shifting foundation of idiosyncratic approaches – are there defining principles of contemporary choreographic practice? Beyond the objective knowledge of compositional devices, such as space, time, and manipulative tools, there is no constant set of principles that direct choreographic praxis in particular circumstances (Butterworth and Wildschut 2009; Pakes 2009). Instead, it is the distinct ‘moulding together of compatible elements which, by their relationship and fusion, form an identifiable ‘something’’ (Smith-Autard 2004, 3) and it is this something that is determined by the subjective processual choices made in practice that becomes the choreographic strategy. Inside this lies a tension, between creativity and spontaneity, application and manipulation, and aptitudes and cultural influences in the choreographic process (Smith-Autard 2004). Therefore, in addition to choreographic devices, which can be learnt and applied, it is the tacit knowledge and emergent

3 A choreographer based in Stockholm.

18 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei decision-making that arguably shapes the choreographic object, and distinguishes one creator from another. An example is choreographer Susan Rethorst4 (2013) who calculated that her creation process relies on four hundred investigative hours on average, with one hundred of those hours being discarded in the editing stages. It could be argued that inside these four hundred hours sit 24,000 minutes holding potential for 1,440,000 individual movements, which could be seen as an almost limitless processual constellation of choreographic possibility, albeit reliant on the artist’s choice. Within these possibilities, the ways in which process is engaged determines the choreographic result. Rethorst (2013, 5) describes it as an,

endless finding of a reason, for curiosity, ongoingness, tedium, for humour, perspective, for working with the unclassifiable, for the work for work [sake], for embracing the excitement of being led by that stranger – the unmade dance.

Therefore contemporary choreography could be seen as a grand exposed field where you may wander, cut your own path, interact with passers by, dig holes, tunnel to new areas, and coalesce into a network determined by the sum of all parts. The way through this seemingly rhizomic network is an unspecified adventure, where you can choose your own path, with potential for self-driven innovation, disaster, or, as I would hope, a unique combination of both. That being said, there are tracks worn into the compositional fabric, where artists have repeatedly stepped into the footsteps of others, acknowledging and rerouting deeply rooted and known phenomena, or trends (Lepecki 2006). Trends, or tracks, that remain resilient, and are relevant to my own practice, relate to socio-political response, dance-theatre constructs, experimental performance modes and collaborative practices,

4 Susan Rethorst is an internationally renowned choreographer and educator, born in America (Rethorst 2016).

19 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei which are discussed below. Further trends, reflexive and embodied practices, that underpin the investigative process of contemporary choreographic praxis are discussed in the following chapters (see Chapter 2).

1.3.1 Tracks – the political Dance, as suggested by Dana Mills (2017), has always been connected to the political. Contemporary choreographic practice that is influenced by socio-political issues has often been driven by an intersection between issue- based concepts and corporeal danced activity, eventuating in a 'choreographic conceptual interpretation’ (Mills 2017, 11). Dance work, as Giurchescu mentions (2001, 110), has the ability to act as a ‘multi- dimensional cultural text’5 where the exploration of humanity through dance becomes a ‘coherent and dynamic factor of culture’. According to Mark Franko (2006, 145), dance, since the seventeenth century, has ‘served to fashion and project images of monarchy, national identity, gendered identity, racialised identity and ritualised identity… acting as a critical theory of society’. Consequently, the choreographic object becomes an identity symbol of cultural locality in response to local and global conflict, which has increased progressively from the post-modern era onwards (Giurchescu 2001). Socio-political themes historically are known to have been critiqued by choreographers in the canon of modern and postmodern dance eras, for example Martha Graham’s solo Lamentations6 or Kurt Jooss’ anti-war ballet The Green Table7 (Lepecki 2016; The Joffrey Ballet 2012), and onwards. In fact, according to Andrè Lepecki (2016, 17-18), the current field of dance operates to,

generate charged and vital problematic fields on which pressing and urgent political, corporeal, affective, and social problems are

5 Likening the dance work to that of a text where issues of society are inscribed. 6 Lamentations is a solo work by Martha Graham, created and performed in the 1930s as a personification of grief. Graham is considered a pioneering choreographer from the modern era (Lepecki 2016). 7 The Green Table is a work created in 1932 by Kurt Jooss reflecting the tensions surrounding war in Europe at the time (The Joffrey Ballet 2012).

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made visible and gather— not to find a solution, but to further the movement of problematisation.

This point can be identified in the work of choreographers such as Lucy Guerin8, in works such as Human Interest Story9, Lloyd Newson10, Bill T Jones11, Hooman Sharifi12, Kate Champion13 (Brannigan and Baxter 2014; Sharifi 2012) and in my own works such as The Laboratory, Boiling Point and de-generator. Choreographic work of this kind can provide a bridge between the internal and external, public and private, discussing socio-political issues and providing alternative discourse with potential to initiate change. There are varying choreographic factors and aesthetic possibilities, forming an interpretative lens through which the artist and viewer see the issue and the implications of the chosen mode of artistic expression. Within the realm of socio-politically focussed choreography, the status of each work for the audience can be highly subjective, possessing many reactive and provocative possibilities, including controversy, awareness, dialogue and art becoming activism14. Socio-political choreographic work can engage diverse frames of understanding and confront viewers’ understandings of their political, social and cultural landscape displacing perceptive barriers. American

8 Artistic Director of Lucy Guerin Inc. based in Melbourne Australia (Lucy Guerin Inc 2015). 9 Human Interest Story by Lucy Guerin explores war, environmental collapse, natural disasters and the ways in which the media informs society (Glickman 2010). The work premiered in 2010 at The Malthouse Theatre in Victoria. 10 Lloyd Newson, artistic director and founder of DV8 Physical Theatre, work has dynamically impacted contemporary dance and theatre for stage and film work. 11 Bill T Jones is a choreographer, founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane & Company and Executive Artistic Director of New York Lives Arts (New York Live Arts 2015). His performance work includes Uncle Tom’s Cabin discussing race and religion, Still/Here discusses and performed by those experiencing terminal illness, to name a few (Jones, 2005). 12 Hooman Sharifi is an Iranian born choreographer and founder of Impure Company (Modul Modul Dance 2012). 13 Kate Champion is a director, choreographer and was founding Artistic Director of Force Majeure. 14 Activist Art is where artists reflect and challenge the ideologies of the world through their work which, in turn, enters the realms of social and political activism (Faulkner 2008).

21 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei choreographer Bill T Jones (2005, 160) discussed the potential for audience interpretation, stating ‘one man’s outrageous is another man’s spontaneously unguarded expression’, connoting that socio-political choreography can lead to a diversity of reactions that facilitate reflection. Going beyond this, Lemi Ponifasio15, as a keynote speaker at the 2015 Australian Dance Forum16, suggested a need to shatter the societal mirror to enable an experiential shift and discover a commonology17, where boundaries are dissolved and unity can be recovered through the creation and viewing of art work. The turbulence of today’s global ecology has increasingly employed art to provoke discourse around contentious issues.

1.3.2 Tracks – dance-theatre constructs Dance-theatre constructs relate to the interpolation between the corporeal and the textual realms of performance. Choreographic dance-theatre practice operates within interdisciplinary margins and has emerged through challenging the delineations of genre (McGrath 2012). An originating influence on dance-theatre is the work of Pina Bausch. Bausch was integral in challenging the assumptions of dance and is considered to have revolutionised dance in the last half of the 20th century through her ability to cross disciplines and redefine the performance aesthetic known as Tanztheater18, or dance-theatre (Partsch-Bergsohn 2013; Muller 2013; Climenhaga 2013). Common principles of dance-theatre are, but are not limited to, the creation of episodic non-linear narratives, embodied symbolism, gestural and/or character-devised physicalities, and are often reactive to socio-political concerns. There was, and remains to be, an emphasis on ‘eroding the boundaries between disciplines and integrating

15 Lemi Ponifasio is a choreographer and founder of MAU, a dance and theatre company based in New Zealand. 16 Australian Dance Forum was held at the Footscray Arts Centre from 19-21 March 2015, hosted by Ausdance National and the Australia Council for the Arts. 17 A term Lemi Ponifasio used to discuss unity and common human traits. 18 Began in the early 20s in Weimar Germany and also in Vienna, which came out of Expressionistic Dance and the work of Rudolf Laban, Kurt Jooss and Mary Wigman. In the wake of World War II from 1945 onwards, Germany retreated from expressionistic dance principles and retracted to traditionalistic values (Muller 2013). It was not until the 1980s when Bausch, and others including Suzanne Linke, began creating work where dance theatre principles reappeared.

22 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei visual, kinaesthetic, aural and dramatic impulses’ (Climenhaga 2013, 1) with importance being placed on ideas of performativity, on process over product and on content over technique. The creative process in devising dance- theatre is aligned with current contemporary choreographic practice through an often fluid experimentation utilising task-based embodied practices, instinctive discovery techniques, collective authorship and devising from theme-based intentions. Prominent dance-theatre artists in Australia and internationally include Danielle Michin, Kate Champion, Lucy Guerin, Meryl Tankard, Lloyd Newson and Alain Platel19. Michin, the current artistic director of Force Majeure20, believes the hybridrised approach of dance-theatre offers the capacity to investigate uninhabited narratives and broaches broader perceptions of the contemporary choreographic form21. It can be argued that dance-theatre relies on cross-genre interdisciplinarity, where hybrid patterns become influential, leading choreographers into methods of exploration beyond the conventional norms of dance.

1.3.3 Tracks – experimental performance modes Exploring experimental and non-traditional performance principles embraces many facets of spatial consideration including, but not limited to, site-specific dance22, installation work and hybridised physical interfaces. Work is created in response to, and in juxtaposition of, space and site. Victoria Hunter (2015, 18) describes the choreographic process as a seeking and an intriguing attending to site, with

19 Founder and artistic director of Les Ballets C de la B in Belgium. 20 A dance theatre company based in Sydney Australia founded by Kate Champion, Roz Hervey and Geoff Cobham. 21 Discussed at the Australian National Dance Forum 2015, held at the Footscray Arts Centre and hosted by Ausdance National and the Australia Council for the Arts. 22 Site-specific work involves performance constructed directly in response to a non- theatre/studio locality and the habitual function of which is disrupted, problematised or celebrated providing possibilities for transformation, interactivity and experiential evocation (Hunter 2015; Kiek 2007). Choreographers working in this format include Judson Dance Group in the 1960s, Sela Keik, Stephen Kaplowitz, Liesel Zink and Chunky Move artistic director Anouk van Dijk whose work Depth of Field was created in response to the city landscape.

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promise of the unknown and the potential realisation and revelation of new found realities in familiar and unfamiliar places… an event experience… that exposes the experiencer not only something of the site in which it is housed but also exposes their own processes of being- in-the-world.

The experiencers, or audience, can be lured, surprised, drawn into, and choreographed to become a performative element of the spectacle (Kloetzel and Pavik 2009). Installation and/or hybridised physical interfaces, integrate non-traditional performance methods, through the transformation of multi-dimensional space23 invoking immersion through a merger of the performative environment and the audience experience (Leggett 2005). Works of this nature are divergent in their contexts, however artists who have worked in this way include international artists, Trisha Brown24 with works such as In Plain Site which is performed in unexpected locations with audience in the round25, the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Installation Series26 and Xavier Le Roy27 who explores gallery sites in various conditions. Australian artists include Cheryl Stock28 (2005), with works such as here/there/then/now, an interdisciplinary multi-site choreography where ‘the body simultaneously was a site for “spatial practices”, both within the body and beyond the body, activating kinetic pathways and leaving traces at and between the architectural sites’, as well as Accented Body and Twilight.

23 Such as a theatre space, gallery space or alternate space where the work is installed into the area. 24 Trisha Brown is a renowned, and recently passed away, American post-modern choreographer, who formed her own company in 1970 and has since created over 160 works (Trisha Brown Dance Company 2016). 25 In the round is an audience viewing format where the audience views the works from all sides on the outside of a central performance space. 26 Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Installation Series was choreographed by various artists including Artistic Director Alexandra Damiani, and presented in a black box setting with a roving audience. 27 Xavier Le Roy is a French biologist and choreographer (Le Roy 2016). 28 Cheryl Stock is a researcher, choreographer and artistic practitioner working across many aspects of the field in the Asia-Pacific Region.

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Additionally, Clare Dyson29, a choreographer and researcher whose works such as Absence(s) asks audiences to travel through varying spatial environments, Trade Winds by Polytoxic Dance Theatre30 where videography, choreography and site synchronise within water bound spaces, Erin Brannigan’s31 ReelDance Installation Series, the work of Raewyn Hill (see Chapter 3), and my own works Boiling Point, de-generator and The Paratrooper Project. Mike Leggett (2005, 37) discusses how works of this nature offer divergent audience experiences where ‘the cognitive faculties of the visitor are central to [the] experience… with the process of perception completing the creative cycle’. This paradigm provides an opportunity to apply choreographic knowledge to a totality of performance experiences where the landscape of body, both audience and performer, and site are woven. The scenic space is carefully constructed to offer intimacy and audience-driven encounter where the performative fourth wall is removed and reshaped. In this practice the choreographer can experiment with varying degrees of audience interactivity and immersion as elements within the crafting process and the audience relationship is crucial to the work’s evolution. Clare Dyson (2015, 1) argues that ‘the creation and presentation of contemporary dance affects audience engagement by positing the body of the audience member as a site of meaning making from the inception of a creative work’ and this can be applied through varying techniques specific to the design of each environment. This provides opportunity to move beyond that of two- dimensional experiential understandings engaging mind-body immersion, an experience, described as choreographic situations by theorist Fabiana Dultra Britto in 2011 (in Cvejić 2015). Shiller and Rubidge (2014, 2) discuss the possibilities of installation dance in the follow way,

29 Clare Dyson is a Brisbane based choreographer known for experimental performance work that crosses art-form boundaries, art theory and audience experience. 30 Polytoxic is a Brisbane company creating work fusing the traditions of the Pacific, physical performance and pop culture aesthetics (Polytoxic Dance Theatre 2016). 31 Erin Brannigan, a dance and film lecturer at the University of New South Wales, is an academic, curator and the founding Director of ReelDance (Ausdance National 2012). ReelDance is an internationally recognised cross disciplinary arts organisation supporting innovative creative practice in dance, film and new media arts (ReelDance 2012).

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kinaesthetic inhabitance and the role of the public as performative agent is constructed. Here constructed spaces become embodied places for the public. Here we slip outside of the traditional forms of choreographic practice.

Consideration of non-traditional landscapes in performance offers opportunity to witness, to become accomplices, to manipulate and to choreograph dynamic participatory relationships (Spanghero 2014). This form of choreographic exploration is also regularly explored in negotiation with performative digital technology assimilations (Dixon 2007; Stock 2008).

1.3.4 Intersecting Tracks – collaborative practices In light of these trends, what becomes apparent is the increasing use of collaborative processes in choreographic practice. Collaboration has played a vital role in the evolution of the performing arts, throughout the modernist to postmodernist periods, and ‘continues to be a key component of creative processes in Western arts contexts’ (Colin and Sachsenmaier 2016, 31). This paradigm is not a new one. For example, 100 years ago, the famous collaborative partnerships engineered by Serge Diaghilev, brought artists Pablo Picasso and Léonide Massine together on the 1917 production of Parade (Crickmay 2015). Collaborative choreographic methods, as with other art-forms, rely on the integration of multiple knowledge bases, whether it be via choreographic exchange between lived bodies, inclusions of personal narratives, the use of technologies and/or works created across location via digital technologies. This form of collaboration is multitudinal and dynamic, and thus can shift with each choreographic purpose and each creative team (Barr 2015). Martina Ruhsan (2016, 191-192) describes it in the following way,

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many contemporary choreographies are developed in collaborative working processes that are not dedicated to the realisation of the ideas of one choreographer but rather emerge from the confrontation of the involved artists, the experimentation with their singular propositions and the interweaving of their materials… the act of choreographing takes place in the complex and often inscrutable processes of communication and interaction between those involved.

The structure of collaboration can involve incorporating, and in some cases relying on, the dancers’ creativity to directly influence the compositional process using task-based procedures. On this dancer- researcher Jennifer Roche (2015) questions the role of the dancer as process, as instrument, or as canvas, where the boundaries of collaborative transmission determine choreographic emergence. This implicates a collaborative process between dancer and choreographer, yet also that of the dancer-choreographer where the creative process is emergent inside the corporeal act. The body is of the choreography and the choreography is of the body, and active investigation is the creation tool (Nicely 2005). Understandably, collaborative choreographic praxis has in certain circumstances instigated questions regarding authorship and intellectual property, particularly around the dancer and choreographer relationship where their contribution is vital, yet in flux and specific to each process (Roche 2015). For instance, should a collaborative choreographer be called a choreographic director if the dancers contribution is not directly acknowledged? Should the performers be acknowledged as collaborative performers for their artistic contribution? The answers to these questions are as complex as the questions. The dancer choreographer relationship is

27 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei malleable, where agency and autonomy are mutable in an expansive nexus of choreographic pathways (Roche 2015). Currently, the contemporary choreographic milieu operates without specific protocols for this issue, for example copyrighting or public acknowledgement, and thus each scenario must negotiate the most equitable path. Additionally, and in recent years, collaborative praxis has, in conjunction with the nature of project work where, to borrow a term from Amanda Card (2006), dancers act as bodies for hire, instigated a transference of signature choreographic aesthetics between differing artists’ work – marking generations of creators as similar. For instance, it is possible that, if a choreographer relies on a performer for their choreographic input in the devising process, this performer’s aesthetic is then identifiable within that of each choreographer with whom they work. Following this, the performer creates their own work, with a seemingly borrowed and replicatory aesthetic (Card 2006; Roche 2015). Whilst this could be viewed as the development of a lineage, via the dissemination of praxis, it can also be seen as a challenge within the landscape of collaborative praxis. However, as the function of choreographic collaboration is unique to artist, process and project, the manner in which it evolves methodologically, and ethically, will also be unique. The collaborative nature of my work depends on the needs of each project, and thus, the processual structure will shift to suit.

1.4 Summary In summary, western choreographic practice is a mutating, idiosyncratic multiverse of art makers working in multimodal environments consistently reappraising and challenging conventions of practice. The form is evolutionary, hybridised and interdisciplinary in its aesthetic and conceptual landscape. As aptly put by Iranian choreographer Hooman Sharifi (2012, 167), ‘no limits exist except the limits which exist within me’. The traditions of choreographic theory have transmuted, ‘not only from aesthetic to political strategies, but also from a universal course to a complex and parallel geography of routes’ (Kunst 2012, 171). Perceptions of choreography continually shift due to consistent questioning. A form of

28 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei questioning, which whilst shifting and irregular in its functionality, is grounded in legacy and the nature of praxis remains responsive to the needs of individual artists (Dempster 2010). The field continues to reflect, deconstruct, invent and challenge, much like predecessors such as Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Trisha Brown (Dempster 2010). Pursuing risk and acknowledging failure can be part of the process, and in turn exemplify innovation in the unexpected. As Jenn Joy (2014 190) states, choreographic enquiry ‘requires falling into catastrophe to see where we land’ and thus risk- driven procedures have become inherent and, according to Jo Pollitt32, a choreographer and creative arts researcher, are continuing to be cultivated. Thus, and in agreement with choreographer William Forsythe (2011, 90), ‘to reduce choreography to a single definition is not to understand the most crucial of its mechanisms: to resist and reform previous conceptions of its definition’. Yet, it is through understanding these definitions, singular or multiple, that we enable the ability to recontextualise our own praxis within unique methodological frames. This contextual review assisted in underpinning my understandings of contemporary choreographic practice and offered a grounding for this research project. Inspired by forerunners in the field and the words of choreographer Wayne Macgregor (2012) who said, one must ‘find [their] own personal physical signature and [their] own cognitive habits and use that as a point of departure to misbehave beautifully’, Thus, I have designed this research project to build upon and contribute to existing knowledge, and continue digging new tracks of practice for the sake of rerouting and recontextualisating my choreographic self.

32 Discussed at the Australian National Dance Forum 2015, held at the Footscray Arts Centre and hosted by Ausdance National and the Australia Council for the Arts.

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CHAPTER 2. SCAFFOLDING: A Hybrid Methodology

Practice-led research underpinned by reflexive practice, embodied processes and creative case studies.

In response to the needs of my practice, and the implications of the site and field in which it is a part, the research design is one of hybridity, where practice-led methodologies are underpinned by reflexive practice, embodied processes and creative case study analysis. Donald Schon (1983, 62-63) states, ‘our knowing is ordinarily tacit, implicit in our action and in our feel for the stuff with which we are dealing… our knowing is in our doing’. Therefore, the employment of a hybrid research approach, privileging the emergent and fluctuating nature of choreographic investigation, was necessary to develop practical and theoretical data based in action. Thus, this research design incorporates both artistic and scholarly perspectives, in tandem with embodied and danced knowledge emergent in choreographic practice. Stinson and Dils (2008) suggest amalgamating specific and apposite strategies intrinsic to individual practice, thus the scaffolding for this project adopted a multi-layered and permeable methodology, suited to the experiential needs of practice-led choreographic research, analysed through my insider-outsider and artist-researcher lens.

2.1 An Insider-Researcher Choreographic Lens The research framework of this study, by its nature, necessitates an insider perspective, as described by Costley, Elliot and Gibbs (2010) and further elaborated by Southgate and Shying (2014, 225) who claim that:

Insider researchers are those that have a broad identification with [the] study and are thought to possess intimate cultural knowledge of the contexts of their research due to individualistic artistic skill sets.

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Utilising this lens offers complex and in-depth professional and personal perspectives and privileges participatory observation and participant driven data, offering the ability to comprehend intricate complications (Milligan 2016; Mills and Stewart 2015; Costley, Elliot and Gibbs 2010). The benefits of this framework, as argued by Mills and Stewart (2015), is the positioning of the study inside practice, capturing nuanced perspectives, and amalgamating both academia and artistic practice. Thus, as a choreographer and dance practitioner I have, in this research study, investigated choreographic strategies through my specialised practitioner expertise.

2.2 Practice-led Research Practice-led research, and its affiliate terms practice as research and practice based research, is a fluid methodological state offering polyvocality for the artist-researcher enquiry (Dean and Smith 2009; Harper 2014; Protopapa 2012; Hawkins and Wilson 2016). Dean and Smith (2009) discuss a bi-directional focus in practice-led research where a reciprocal relationship between creative practice and research can eventuate in specialised insights, conceptualisations and theorisations due to the unique perspective of each artistic practitioner. Gray and Delday (2011) call this a Pedagogy of Poiesis where research and art making can evolve concurrently. Gray (1998, 3), in describing the methodology, states practice-led research is,

Initiated in practice, where questions, problems, challenges are identified and formed by the needs of practice and practitioners; and secondly, that the research strategy is carried out through practice, using predominantly methodologies and specific methods familiar to us as practitioners.

The value in this methodology lies in its ability to be a ‘generative enquiry that draws on subjective, interdisciplinary and emergent

31 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei methodologies that have the potential to extend the frontiers of research’ (Barrett 2007, 1) and in turn, artistic enquiry. Practice-led research offers the freedom to mould, re-mould and create emergent structures suited to the individual artistic aesthetic of the artist-researcher. This process is nascent, unfolding from the inside out, where the ‘insider’ view is vital in leading the research and informs the methodological research design (Phillips, Stock and Vincs 2008). Whilst practice-led research in the academic landscape, as discussed by researchers including Sarah Crews (2014), continues to be consistently scrutinised forcing a fluctuating position with variable strategic approaches, it also, due to these factors, aligns with the complexities of choreographic practice. As detailed by choreographer-researcher Kim Vincs, (2007, 100), the ‘dances are the actual process of thinking, and this process is the core methodology’ connecting research and choreographic practice within a research frame. The practice-led process in this research project has allowed me, as the artist-researcher, to work through choreographic based problems resulting in practical outcomes that can be viewed as the ‘production of knowledge’ (Barrett 2007, 1). My practice as artist-researcher has fluctuated in a constant interrelationship between theoretical, conceptual and metaphoric choreographic questioning, where the research needs determined the investigative choreographic process, and vice versa. This approach permitted me to interrogate ‘relationships between process and text, action and reflection, studio practice and critical commentary’ (Barrett 2007, 5) provoking the discovery of new knowledge systems. The synthesis of research and artistic perspective was important for positioning my artist voice, and that of other artist-researchers, within the academic setting (Blom, Bennett and Wright 2011; Daichendt 2011; McKechnie and Stevens 2009; Barrett and Bolt 2007). This approach, in turn offered the challenge of finding personal methods suited to the commensurate needs of artistic practice and academia, or, as Haseman and Mafe (2009, 215) suggest, ‘identifying and deploying emerging critical contexts which are networked’ out of my practice. This,

32 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei therefore, required the repurposing of techniques specific to both contexts in an ongoing dialogue. With this in mind, and led by the strategies of other researchers in the field, I worked between structured gathering of data and an evolving and spontaneous process within the studio environment, drawing the investigation into choreographic strategies and processes that produced new coalitions between research, choreography and creative practice, exemplified by original creative work (Phillips, Stock and Vincs 2008; Vincs 2007). My focus throughout this research primarily centred on the investigation and development of contemporary choreographic strategies trialled through the creation of new work. The methods deployed within the practice-led enquiry, repurposed to align in, on and for the emergent choreographic research process, were embodied reflexivity and the analysis of two creative case studies.

2.3 Reflexive Practices Reflexivity, a key process in practice-led research, is the process of deeply considering what has been, what is, and what may be, in a critical and diagnostic manner. Invoking, as discussed by Libby Byrne (2017, 200),

thinking from within experiences… [with] a willingness to make aspects of the self strange in order to stand back from assumptions and habitual thinking, and notice what may have been previously missed…[and] ask what am I seeing and why is this so?

This process thus fosters insight into an area of interest with a critical focus on new comprehensions, and facilitates ‘the development of effective practice by learning through everyday lived experience’ (Johns 2000, 34), resulting in a practitioner-learner-centred process. Choreographer Twyla Tharp (2006, 66) states that the reflexive process describes ‘skills imprinted by action’, where learning data can be uncovered through discovery-led firsthand experience.

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Reflexive data discovery, in this research, was led by choreographic interest aiming to problem solve, articulate and comprehend emergent approaches to creative enquiry. The manipulation of data involved focusing on outcomes, whilst also positioning my artistic viewpoint within the research in order to discover altered and new areas of practice (Barrett 2007). Reflexivity in this research project, and as discussed by Lara Tembrioti (2014), has fortified interweaving the needs of academia and artistry in practice-led processes. The integration of which, as discussed by fellow Doctorate of Creative Industries researchers, Cake et al (2015, 7) requires practicing heightened states of mindfulness and owning personal artist- researcher narratives to,

develop an epistemology of practice that enables us to apply rigorous academic enquiry to expose our tacit professional knowledge and establish new methods for dealing with uncertainty in our different practices.

Therefore, procedures personal to each practitioner’s approach must be identified to differentiate it from the plethora of reflective methods (Tembrioti 2014). Jennifer Leigh (2013) suggests that methods of reflective practice are ill-defined, and thus require individual design and application to function within practical parameters. Graeme Sullivan (2001, 2) suggests that by ‘using personal insight, intuition and creative thinking, ideas are brought to fruition through imaginative application… [and] through connections drawn from parallels and juxtapositional questioning’, offering a way into reflexive creative practice. Therefore, to achieve this, it became evident to me that I needed to devise specific reflexive methods tailored to the need of this choreographic research project. When considering the emergent nature of choreographic process, it can be said that the concept of reflexivity aligns well with danced investigation due to the process of instinctive self-analysis for both the

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dancer and choreographer. In fact, the practice of choreography relies on reflection to define processual areas relevant to the work as well as the research. Jennifer Moon (2004) discusses how creativity and imagination can broaden the reflexive experience, specifically using creative disciplines in both abstract and narrative-based ways, which has proven to be key to enhancing choreographic analysis and examination across this research. For example, in this project I employed the methods of cyclic reflexive states, mirroring and embodied reflexivity to enable explicit critical analysis of the processual complexities of my research.

2.3.1 Cyclic States of Reflexivity As an independent practitioner, my professional practice has run in parallel to this doctoral research study. In particular The Paratrooper Project (see Chapter 5) acted as a feeding mechanism and an unconscious testing ground for processual and theoretical questioning, informing elements of this research. The practicalities of the creative process across all creative works associated with this research, benefited from producing a cyclical reflexive structure that moved concurrently in and out of differing research and creative states to gain multiple perspectives. During Project 1, I developed an adaptation of the Kolb Model33 of reflexive action (Image 2), similar to that developed by Avery and Bergensteiner (2014). This focussed on a spiralling cycle of critique privileging an insider lens reflecting in and on action, whilst also permitting the mind-body to actively test, formalise and compose choreographic interrogation. Kolb developed his model based on ‘learning [as a] process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience’ (Kolb in Russ 1998, 304), which I found to be helpful for flow between practice and research.

33 The Kolb Model of reflection developed by David Kolb and associates between 1975-84, is a continuous cyclic journey of experiential learning and reflection based of four categories that form its theoretical basis (Russ 1998; Bergsteiner, Avery and Neumann 2010). The model is an old model and has been criticised for its insufficient inclusion of areas including emotion and culture, yet it is often adapted to correspond to the specific needs of particular contexts (Avery and Bergsteiner 2014).

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Image 2 - The Kolb Model (Avery and Bergsteiner 2014)

However, during the early stages of the research, I discovered that this method of reflection did not holistically acknowledge the broader field of my practice. As I began the research for Project 1, and simultaneously the work for other projects in my professional life, I became aware of knowledge flicking back and forth between each project, manipulating and utilising aspects of new knowledge – multiple cycles, akin to side-by-side tornadoes that cross paths occasionally sharing pieces of debris. This metaphor best describes the process of exploring choreographic and research based problems across multiple circumstances that led to the advancement of choreographic theorising in practice.

2.3.2 Mirroring States of Reflexivity Choreography can be considered the processual solving of dance related problems, where an individual aesthetic leads the ‘solving’. However, I suggest that there is an important precursor, the conceptualisation of the ‘problem’ that also must be understood. As the ‘problem’ is primarily instinctive in my process I found repurposing the concept of mirroring, from the field of psychotherapy, as a metaphorical conceptual framework enabled me to explicitly articulate my conceptual choreographic process. This was an important step for me to activate a reflexive process critically examining my methodologies in deeper personal and external contexts. According to Pines (in Schermer 2010), mirroring can provide the opportunity to perceive oneself via reflexive analysis with potential for self and social insight. Whilst, as outlined above, Pines discusses this concept as

36 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei a mechanism specific to psychotherapy, I saw the foundations of the metaphor as an instrument to assist in demystifying my creative thinking and articulate conceptualisation processes. Christopher Johns (2013, 2) suggests reflexivity is ‘a mirror in which the practitioner can view and focus self within the context of a particular experience, in order to confront, understand and move towards resolving contradiction between one’s vision and actual practice’. Informed by Gillie Bolton’s (2010) through-the-mirror34 reflective paradigm, Donald Brackett (1951) the dark mirror35 theory, and Jerome Bruner’s (in Popova 2014) metaphorical effectiveness36, along with influences drawn from Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) rhizomic network concepts and choreographer Twyla Tharp’s (2006) data scratching37, I began to develop a greater understanding of my creative process. This brought more clarity about my journey from the specific conceptualisation pathways onwards in the evolution of a new idea or work. Through consistent mindful reflection during practice and awareness of when ideas emerged, I was able to piece together a framework of understanding. My variation of this framework can be understood as a cognitive network where knowledge, ideas and experiences, are represented by sections of a mirror, a visualisation metaphor inspired by Robert Smithson’s Yucatan Mirror Displacements (Smithson 1969). Each mirror, a metaphor for ideas and concepts, in the network is free to cross paths, refract, be

34 Through-the-mirror is a reflective model designed for writers to reflect on the world aiming to explore narrative, metaphor and description of experience with an alternate lens and thus produce new areas of practice (Bolton 2010). 35 The dark mirror theory relates to the construct of the singer-songwriter and their use of personal experience as lyrical conceptualisation. 36 Metaphorical effectiveness is a visionary artistic theory, as opposed to scientific or logical, detailing how creativity is manifested by connecting domains of knowledge that were previously apart, relying on the connectivity of imagination (Popova 2014). 37 Data scratching, a term coined by choreographer Twyla Tharp (2006), is an individualistic and diverse process seeking to begin a creative process through searching amongst multi- mediums and within the work of composers, cookbooks, locations, literature, artwork, and fabric for example: in search of multi-faceted creativity. This technique was utilised as a stimulus gathering method explored in Project 1 as a choreographic strategy utilising varied non-dance resources as creative provocation. I was able to scratch amongst the work of Khan and Hill to extract and repurpose areas of interest. This method was also applied to the creative development of The Paratrooper Project through the extrapolation of various thematic research areas relating to war and conflict.

37 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei shattered and recontextualise, or be re-assembled, coalescing into creative imaginings. The process can be likened to that of a philosophical echo, or a patchwork of warped reflections that may coalesce to generate an idea for choreographic work. It describes a complex layered system eventuating in the emergence of varying investigative starting points – or choreographic problems. An example of how I used mirroring as a choreographic method is the mind map I created detailing the evolution of the work The Paratrooper Project (Image 3) showing the pathway to the works conceptualisation and answers to the problem. The importance of this state of reflection lies in how it enables me to implicitly elucidate the preliminary stages of creative questioning.

Image 3 - The Paratrooper Project Mirroring Mind Map

2.3.3 Embodied Reflexivity Embodied Reflexivity in this research has proven to be an effective method to disseminate and generate research data situated in the academic and artistic fields, offering an alternative physical mode of reflexive enquiry, and leading to the discovery of new areas of practice and new choreographic work investigated in action.

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In commencing this study I struggled to find a specific method for connecting the conventional academic research rigour traditionally based in written contributions to knowledge, with that of my artistic practice. In finding the solution, I devised a method, led by leading theorists in the field, seeking to connect reflexivity with my embodied and danced choreographic knowledge within an explorative studio process (Tembrioti 2014; Leigh 2013; Stock 2000, 2014). Patrice Pavis (1992, 88), a Professor for Theatre Studies at the University of Kent, suggests ‘creation and reflection are two different modes of knowledge, which may coincide in a single individual, but not in the same discourse, or only at different moments of the same discourse’. Whilst Pavis’ description is useful here, it is precisely this gap between the different moments of discourse that I attempted to bridge through an Embodied Reflexive dialogue. This led me to develop a model of Embodied Reflexivity for this research that holistically exploits the synergistic body-mind of dance practice. Such a method, that is ‘multiple, synergetic and fluid… to reflect the multiplicity of activities and worlds’ (Doughty and Fitzpatrick 2016, 29) that artist-researchers inhabit, also provides an appropriate environment for my choreographic practice to flourish. Embodied knowledge38 is experiential knowledge that is embedded in a tacit manner and produced and mediated through the body-mind (Pastore and Pentassuglia 2015). To comprehend that which is embodied requires an understanding of the body’s capabilities as a vehicle for experience and expression, as well as its function as a biological organism, that furthermore, can be accessed as a knowledge centre (Gunn, Normann and Gallagher 2015). The practice of accessing this knowledge ‘focuses on an increased self-awareness grounded in physical sensation’ (Leigh 2013, 163). This focus is identified within somatic practices such as Yoga39, the Feldenkrais

38 Embodied knowledge is a theory linked to Merleau-Ponty’s embodiment (1995), the embodied mind investigated by Levin (2016) and Verela, Thompson et al (2017) and the neuroscientific paradigm embodied cognition. 39 Yoga originated in ancient India. The modern form is a physical practice encompassing body, mind and meditative states. Popular styles of Yoga include Hatha, Yin, Power and Hot (Pradhan 2014).

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Method40, Body-Mind Centering41, Alexander Technique42 and body based therapeutic practices, and aligns with the corporeality of dance and choreographic practice. An embodied dance practice, a term used by Marie Hay (2011, 203), denotes an ‘engagement with tacit experiences and reflection in action to develop performed practice’ specific to the field of dance. An example is the embodied philosophy recently developed by Katan Einav (2016) in response to Ohad Naharin’s Gaga43 movement language. Einav (2016, 33) found that physical knowledge can be reformed via embodied reflexivity when ‘body- mind correlation as an inner integration between abstract knowledge and concrete understanding’ are formed and reformed in dance. For Hay (2011), the principles that can be implicitly understood through dance practice include the understanding of tacit experience through reflective bodily awareness, the understanding of self, via metacognitive and reflective learning and the automatic nature of in-action response where ability, control, physical manipulation is experienced. Thus, the dance experience is deeply- rooted to embodied reflexivity. With these considerations in mind, I developed the specific methods of Embodied Reflexivity, as a methodological choreographic scaffold, detailed below, and as a choreographic strategy discussed in Chapter 5.

40 Moshé Feldenkrais, Doctor and martial artist, developed movement the Feldenkrais Method in the 1940s aimed at improving the functioning of the mind-body through simple re- education activities (Mattes 2016). 41 Body-Mind Centering, developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, is an experiential and embodied methodology integrating movement, touch, voice and mind seeking to re-pattern and describe body-mind relationships (The School of Body-Mind The School of Body-Mind Centering 2017). 42 Alexander Technique, developed by Frederick Matthias Alexander, involves guided sensory direction, either self led or with a teacher, focusing on bypassing habitual patterns aiming to recalibrate and improve functionality of body and mind (Rosenberg 2016). 43 Gaga is a movement language developed for dancers to connect the body and soul via sensing the range of their physicality, away from athleticism, and towards imagination and the unfamiliar (Dance Consortium 2012). The emphasis is on finite gesture, awareness and clarity of form.

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Embodied Reflexivity as a Methodological Choreographic Scaffold Embodied Reflexivity is a vehicle available to explore and connect mind, body, thought and action within the choreographic process as a tool for reflexive self-analysis. According to Katan-Schmid Einav (2016, 31),

embodied reflection is an exchange between tacit knowledge, which is physically embodied, and the consciousness that new situations evoke. Accordingly, there is an exchange between consciousness and unconsciousness, as well as between direction and letting go (or letting undergo).

This concept aligns well within a choreographic context where physical response can be directed and redirected by both structured and instinctive processes. In a phenomenological context, as discussed by Gunn, Normann and Gallagher (2015, 2) in relation to physical therapy, the individual can perceive ‘one’s body and can view it in an objective manner (the body-as- object) and, on the other hand, the perceiver (the subject, the agent) is the body and, therefore, perceives, experiences, and acts in an embodied way (body-as-subject)’. Therefore, in this research, via Embodied Reflexivity, my choreographic mind-body journey was simultaneously object and subject. In agreement with the embodied theories of Elizabeth Kinsella (2007, 396), the choreographic process is emergent and analysis occurs,

through the bodily, lived experience of the practitioner and is revealed through action [becoming relevant in the] conceptualisations of reflection in the professional practice.

This process has enabled me to tap into tacit knowledge and reveal new insights, knowledge, and processes via choreographic play, resulting in

41 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei the holistic integration of mind and body. Whilst these concepts are not uncommon in the process of many choreographers, the specific form in which they are utilised in this context is novel, as detailed in Chapter 5. This process, and resulting knowledge, was used to challenge habitual patterns, work consciously and unconsciously, and as a point of departure to recontextualise information drawn from the creative case studies, which underpin the initial stages of this study.

2.4 Creative Case Study – an adapted method An initial methodology that assisted in grounding this research project, particularly Project 1, was a qualitative enquiry employing aspects of case study structures seeking to analyse the choreographic practice of two leading choreographic artists, Akram Khan and Raewyn Hill (see Chapter 3). Ordinarily case study theory is a malleable method associated with qualitative research and is known for its extensive investigation of interpreting, describing and defining a contemporary, or multidimensional, phenomenon in diverse and real world contexts (Merriam 2009; Yin 2014; Wilson 2009; Stake 2005). Whilst not using case study as a primary methodology in this research, I adapted aspects of this approach to frame the choreographic work of Khan and Hill who were subjects of what I termed creative case studies in relationship to my overall hybrid methodology. I designed a case study structure specific to the needs of this research and adapted known case study theories to suit my choreographic investigations. The term, creative case study, acknowledges the methodological groundings of the approach yet also its adaptation, delineating its application as a research tool within a creative practice context. It has proven to be a useful method informing the initial practice-led research approach by ‘provid[ing] a wider palette to paint a broader portrait with the data’ (Wilson 2009, 3). The study drew on existing case study examples such as the intensive case study defined by Peter Swanborn (2010), Creative People at

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Work44 by Wallace and Gruber (1992), Choreographers’ Archive45 by LaFrance (2011) and Doing Duo46 by Waterhouse (2014), influencing a template to ground the creative case study methodology as used in this research. Through the above mentioned examples, I discovered approaches relating to the demystification of creative process, analysis of choreographic choices as well as creative work, via a lens directed by the researcher. The creative case studies in this research were designed to investigate multidimensional contemporary choreographic phenomena via analyses into the work of acclaimed choreographers Akram Khan and Raewyn Hill. Using this analysis to initiate new avenues within my own practice-led creation process. For the purposes of this study I focused on the analysis of particular elements of their choreographic work as interpreted through my own lens, however acknowledge that their international status relies on their individual artistic methodological approaches. The understandings gained from these processes became a springboard into practice-led choreographic enquiry. The creative case study approach I utilised, based on methods discussed by Stock (2017), Simons (2009) and Yin (2014), can be understood in the below table.

Creative Case Study Approach Approach Investigation into the choreographic practices of leading artists Akram Khan and Raewyn Hill Parameters - Contextual scan and analysis of works per case - Choreographic researcher interpretation and practice-led exploration

44 A cognitive study investigating twelve artists, from varying art-forms, and their creative practices. This study interested me due to its purpose of demystifying creative process through an evolving structure with emphasis on the individual (Wallace and Gruber 1992). 45 Three case studies focussing on choreographic legacy preservation. They focussed on articulating and analysing established contemporary choreographers’ choices and concerns whilst creating, which I drew on in my case study design (LaFrance 2011). 46 A case study analysing William Forsythe’s choreographic work Duo, an approach which I found interesting as, whilst it analysed the choreographic work of an established choreographer, it did so within a lens specific to their research concerns.

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- Embodied reflexive analysis Methods - Face-to-face unstructured interviews47 with both Khan and Hill, whilst in Brisbane for performance seasons. These were both followed up via email and phone correspondence. - Observation and analysis of creative works in performance and via video footage. - Participation in a repertoire and choreographic practice workshop with Khan. This was particularly helpful in gathering embodied understandings to support the theoretical research. - Contextual scan of critical reviews. - Embodied Reflection - Reflexive analysis Results - Springboard into recontextualised choreographic investigations - Distilled choreographic principles utilised to initiate new processes and creative work.

The distinction between the creative case study structure used in this research, and that of traditional case study, is differentiated in the manner in which the data was interpreted. The approach undertaken in this research aligns with Helen Simons (2009, 117) who suggests,

47 An uninhibited and fluid interview approach where the subject can lead the dialogue without the fragmentation of structured methods, and the interest lies in the individual’s experience (Gillham 2007).

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interpretation is a highly skilled cognitive and intuitive process, often involving total immersion in the data, re-reading transcripts, field notes, observations and other forms of data in the data set, such as poems, vignettes, cameos or narratives. It is open to different senses of understanding, such as dancing with the data.

In this study, the analysis of these two creative case studies focussed on the unpacking and interpretation of choreographic strategies used by Khan and Hill in devising their work. Through the process of gathering and analysing data from these studies, I began quite literally ‘dancing with the data’ (Simons 2009) as collected areas of interest were understood and explored in a practice-led choreographic enquiry leading to the development of new choreographic work and adding to the embodied reflexive processes grounding this research. Examples of themes explored whilst dancing with the data include surrealism extracted from the Hill study and Cinematic Structures extracted from the Khan study. Thus I situated myself within the research as an insider-outsider-researcher, interpreting and reinterpreting the data, in addition to using my practitioner experience and knowledge. The point of difference in my approach was the use of an analytical choreographic lens through which I viewed the Khan case study as a creative springboard into a first stage of creative development – leading to the creation of new work (see Chapter 4) and development of new choreographic processual strategies (see Chapter 5). The Embodied Reflexivity strategies (see Chapter 3.3.3 and 5) developed during this process were vital in physically analysing the data and undertaking embodied investigation bringing the case studies’ data into choreographic practice. Additionally, I was able to identify alterations influenced by the research; for example identifying shifts in my usual patterns of

45 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei physicalisation, which assisted in highlighting new avenues for processual experimentation, and shaping the subsequent stages of choreographic experimentation. The case studies acted as a mechanism to look outside of my own practice, in order to again view it with a renewed perspective and an altered lens.

The embodied reflection improvisation was quite easy. My mind was full of different concepts relating to Khan’s physicality that came through quite naturally. It was a fusion of his influence through my own artistic lens. Key differences in the resulting physicality were…

eyes following the focus of the hands and feet... turning, turning, blade hands, playful… hopping, standing on one foot, walking on the balls of grotesque feet, uncertainty… circular arms above the head.

The amount of reading and research that has come prior made it easy to reinterpret and explore Khans movement ideologies through my own body.

Journal Reflection, Project 1

2.5 Hybrid Scaffold in Practice The above combination of methodological tools required a hybridised structure to interweave diverse methods into a singular research design (Image 4). As Brad Haseman (2007, 147) suggests, a specific framework must be devised to support individual practitioner needs, in conjunction with the practice and the research focus, in order to ‘deepen… and document… emerging understandings of practice’ in action. Within this hybrid scaffold I integrated reflexive and embodied practitioner methods, with the creative case studies, inside a practice-led research framework where theory and practice were viewed through an insider-outsider lens, as apposite tools for

46 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei choreographic investigation. The methodology fostered discourse via emergent practical and theoretical frameworks, informing processual intersections, leading to art-form discoveries and new knowledge. Or as Dianne Reid (2007, 47) states, to ‘make tangible the theoretical by making connections between the actual and the virtual, the objective and the subjective, the technical and the creative, the body and the mind’, allowing for an expanded praxis to emerge in the creation of new works.

Image 4 - Hybrid Research Scaffold Map

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CHAPTER 3. SPRINGBOARDS: A Creative Case Study Approach

As outlined above, the initiating principles that influenced the development of the key choreographic strategy outcomes of this project (see Chapter 5), were motivated by two creative case studies undertaken during Project 1, at the start of this study. The data extracted from the creative case study research created a springboard into the discovery, articulation and application of new choreographic strategies (see Chapter 5) and influenced the creation of new works (see Chapter 4). This chapter presents the findings of these case study investigations.

3.1 Creative Case Study 1 - Akram Khan

a melting pot of creative and cultural synergy

People say that my style is unique…and yes, it is different. Some describe it as chaotic because it comes from so many sources… I can't define it… and I hope I never find out! (Akram Khan in Willis 2001, 588)

Akram Khan (1974), a dancer and choreographer of Bangladeshi-British origin, has developed an esteemed international reputation and is known for a unique cross-cultural aesthetic and intelligent storytelling (Willis 2001). Founding the Akram Khan Company48 in 2000, Khan has made a significant impact as a unique dance creator of numerous works49 including Sacred Monsters with French ballerina Sylvie Guillem (2006) and a solo work Desh

48 Located in London, United Kingdom. 49 Loose in Flight (1995), Fix (1995) Desert Steps (with Jonathan Burrows 1999), No Male Egos (with Mavin Khoo 1999), Rush (2000), Fix (2000), Related Rocks (2001), Polaroid Feet (2001), Kaash (2002), Ronin (2003), Red or White (2003), A God of Small Things (2004), Ma (2004), Third Catalogue (2005), Zero Degrees with Moroccan-Flemish artist Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (2005), Variations For Vibes, Strings and Pianos (2006), Lost Shadows (2007), Bahok (2008), In-i (2008), Confluences (2009), Gnosis (2009), Vertical Road (2010), ITMOI (2013), Torobaka (2014) and extensive commissioned works including a solo performed at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony (2012) (Newman 2010; Norridge 2010; Sanders 2008; Akram Khan Company 2014b; Willis 2001; Akram Khan Company 2014d; Sanders 2004; Akram Khan Company 2014a; Bremser and Sanders 2011).

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(2011), which have also seen him win numerous accolades.50 Innovation in Khan’s work is widely considered to be the result of the complex cross- cultural influence, in both artistic and cultural manifestations, which he has applied to his creative process. Khan has formed a hybrid choreographic approach that can be viewed through diverse cultural influences, a southern Asian approach, derived from his Bangladeshi heritage, and a western approach, where he adopts contemporary dance paradigms.

3.1.1 Diverse Cultural Approaches The strategies Khan has used in developing his signature choreographic style have come from a merger between his Bangladeshi-British cultural identity leading to the creation of a stylistically unique dance form, which critics named Contemporary Kathak. Amalgamating two key influences, Kathak Indian classical dance (see Appendix 1) and western contemporary dance (see Appendix 2), saw Khan develop a movement vocabulary that shifted both forms. On this merger Khan (in Akram Khan Company, 2006) states,

When I am in one place, the contemporary dance world, then I feel I can't reach somewhere higher; there is no sense of spirituality; and when I am entirely in the classical world, I feel, I have no freedom to reach out there; so the most beautiful place for me to be is a place where I can reach both worlds at the same time.

When considering the way in which the two styles are utilised, according to Khan, fusion is not the correct term. In a personal

50 Khan’s awards include The Laurence Olivier Award, International Society for the Performing Arts Distinguished Artist Award, the South Bank Sky Arts Award, several Critics' Circle National Dance Awards, a Bessie Award for Outstanding Production, an MBE for services to dance, an Honorary Graduate of Roehampton and De Montfort Universities and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban.

49 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei communication51 in 2014 he mentioned a deep confusion within his body, prompted by the roots of each style. The two opposing systems are written in his embodied knowing and eventuate in a subconscious integration, emerging as a multimodal technique (Sanders 2008, 2004). Khan (in Willis 2001, 588) said, ‘I wanted to present different aspects of Kathak since the way I dance it is very different from how it is performed in India’, thus permitting himself to reinterpret the boundaries of the form. The results of this approach are rich in cultural and physical intricacy, nuanced and ambiguous in its genre and origin. The qualities of the movements are re-inscripted, not simply transferred between sites, not relocated, but transformed into a new choreographic aesthetic (Sanders 2008). The resulting movement style incorporates characteristics including the exploration of physical energy routes, gestural languages, hand and eye focus specificity, percussive movement of the feet, diverse use of speed, precise articulations and an emphasis on emotion and narrative (Sanders 2004). On this process Khan (in Piccirillo 2008, 5) stated,

My image of Kathak is based on a formless hunch…Imagine a person standing still within a cube or box. The body is filled with sand and the fingertips have holes, the sand is flowing out of there and the body is deflating. However, there is a small turbine on the top of the box and a vacuum pulls you creating a sandstorm. The clarity of the dancer is the feet on the ground while it is chaotic around. It is finding clarity within chaos. What I’m exploring is Kathak, the dynamics and energies of Kathak. It is Kathak that informs the contemporary.

51 I met with Khan in 2014 whilst in Brisbane presenting his work Desh. We met and discussed his work at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane.

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In terms of content, Norridge (2010, 86) suggests that the intention of Khan’s work is to grasp a ‘complex identity [of] politics and cross-cultural encounters… employing a range of strategies to encourage empathy between performance and audience, including simultaneous spoken narratives and movement synchrony’. An additional perspective is offered by Seibert (2013 1), who sees Khan’s work as a ‘timely metaphor for second- generation immigrant identity and multiculturalism’, where the choreographic act represents dual cultural perspectives influencing conceptual ideologies, yet interpreted through a Western lens. Some conceptual examples include reimagining stories of culture, socio-political themes and a consistent utilisation of characteristics relating to Indian gods. In terms of form, Khan relies heavily on the characteristics of Kathak musicality and this also influences his choreographic process52. The resulting choreographic languages used across Khan’s work offer a unique amalgamation of eastern and western movement and music philosophies, hybridised and moulded into highly intricate and layered vocabularies53. Khan’s choreographic ideology utilises a dynamic physical attack, a trait found in both Kathak and contemporary dance, allowing the body to retract before projecting powerfully through the body with precise articulation (Stahl 2014). Newman (2010, 415) suggests the movement quality contains a ‘whiplash[ing] force of their [energies]’, utilising fast and articulate precision, which equates to Khan’s Kathak training, and the more grounded fluid vocabularies emerging from his Western influences.

52 Khan’s relationship to music is significant with each work establishing a unique musical signature grounded in recurring themes of minimalism, complexity and intricacy (Sanders 2004). The musicality of his choreography includes rhythmical patterns influenced by the intricacies of traditional Indian and Turkish music, in conjunction with pop culture influences, including Kylie Minogue and Michael Jackson (Cripps 2005; Stahl 2014). In a workshop given during the 2014 Brisbane Festival Khan taught the complexities of Indian rhythms, known as ‘Tal’, by reciting sets of rhythmical syllables called ‘boles’. An example of its use in a work is Rush (2000) where Khan used ‘a rare Indian time cycle of nine and a half beats… to capture the experience of being on edge or the fear felt before a parachute jump’ (Sanders 2004 54), another is a collaboration with dancer Israel Galvan integrating the rhythms of Flamenco and Kathak in the creation of Torobaka (2014) (Stahl 2014). 53 This was discussed at an invitation only choreographic workshop with Khan in 2014 at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane.

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Instinctive and Collaborative Structures In the analysis of Khan’s work, it has been said that his creative process is structured into three areas: solo work, company work and collaborative work. However, Khan states that he has always allowed the idea of each work to dictate its own structure and process, and this can be different in each instance54 (Norridge 2010). On this process Khan (2008) has stated,

when you are discovering an aesthetic… and presenting in a way that you are not used to… there is no map… it is not a regurgitation… [but] responding instinctively… the other brings something out of you that you cannot bring from yourself.

He suggests that there is not a formula and that no two approaches are exactly the same, he said (in Stock 2012, 569),

I believe the mind and body are like a library that holds not only your own experiences but also those of your ancestors, and so when external forces…are presented to you, it triggers something within the library of your memory bank… and the language of inspiration begins.

Thus, as with many choreographers, Khan’s process is evolving and emergent utilising visualisations and thematic intention to connect kinaesthesia and visual awareness through the performance of movement55

54 This concept was discussed in person with Khan during a discussion with him in 2014 at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane. 55 For example in the development of Rush, inspired by the feeling of free-fall, he used improvisation ‘focussed on visualising movements/positions that would directly relate to free- fall and the effect on the five senses [and] posing himself a series of questions’ (Sanders 2004, 53) to generate the choreographic language. He also went skydiving to experience the

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(Brisbane Festival 2014 Program). Thematically, he is always seeking narrative inspiration and no movement is created without purpose (Stahl 2014). He will often use visualisation in a process to extrapolate new vocabularies. For example, in a workshop with Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Company he instructed the dancers to ‘catch the butterfly, turn it around, pop the chest… your arm moves with the weight of a roller coaster’ (Khan in Stahl 2014, 40) to reach the intended choreographic vision. These visualisations are often grounded in cultural, spiritual or narratively driven themes, for instance, in the process of creating Kaash (2002), he used qualities associated with Hindu gods, such as ‘Krishna, playful, darting actions and four beats’ (Sanders 2008 56), to lead processual experimentation. Additionally he uses the well-known chance operations56 as a choreographic tool to avoid habitual patterns, for example the use of each dancer’s phone number to devise individual floor patterns in the development of the work Rush (2000) (Sanders 2004). Furthermore, another common contemporary choreographic trait, is to utilise auto-ethnographic content, his own and that of his dance collaborators, within thematic narratives57. In addition, Khan’s focus lies in the exchange and collaboration of creative energies between the cerebral influence and the embodied response. Within a Brisbane Festival forum58 that I attended, he stated that there is not one collaborative structure; each collaboration will work differently with an alternate purpose. This impressed on me that the work’s purpose and performers’ roles within, is dictated by the work itself, which allows it to unfold organically. During Khan’s career he has collaborated with a diverse list of artists59 in varying spheres of expression (Akram Khan Company 2014a).

feeling first hand, and then fed this experience into the development of choreography (Sanders 2004). 56 A technique of seminal post-modern dance choreographer Merce Cunningham. 57 In the work ma Khan asked his dancers to create movement drawn from childhood memories to inspire content and thereby engage in a collaborative devising process (Sanders 2008). 58 A post show forum I attended, hosted by Brisbane Festival in Sept 2014. Akram Khan discussed the work Desh and responded to audience questions. 59 Khan has worked with companies and artists including the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographer/dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, singer Kylie Minogue, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip,

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Some collaborators of note are international sculptor Anish Kapoor on the work Kaash (2002), dancer-choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on Zero Degrees (2005) and arguably his most famous collaboration Sacred Monsters working with French ballerina Sylvie Guillem (Strauss and Nadel 2012; Stahl 2014; Sanders 2004; Crompton 2013). In viewing Khan’s choreographic practice holistically, it can be seen that his cultural makeup has resulted in a unique synergy between tradition and the contemporary, Eastern and Western, spirituality and personality, that arises through his creative work (Khan in Eastern Eye 2012). Themes surrounding the influences of cultural concepts of homeland, family, heritage, and tradition are key inspirations in his work, the most profound example of which is Desh.

3.1.2 Desh – An Analysis

‘A by-product of contaminated culture’ (Khan in Creative Bangladesh 2011)

Desh60, meaning homeland in Bengali, explores tales of land, nation, resistance, convergence and the nature of his own dual Anglo/Bangladeshi identity (Brisbane Festival 2014; Norman 2011b). The eighty-minute solo ‘weaves threads of memory, experience and myth’ (Akram Khan Company 2014b) from both British and Bangladeshi culture into a surreal world shifting between various characters. It is a biographical solo distinctly representational of his Contemporary Kathak signature aesthetic and incorporating humour, emotion and narrative (Crompton 2013). The narrative explores Khan’s personal celebrations, struggles and rediscoveries of origin, culture, family, individuality and fatherhood. Khan (2011, 2) speaks of Desh stating,

writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost. 60 Desh was co-commissioned by the Sadler’s Wells and premiered in 2011 at Curve Theatre in Leicester, United Kingdom and has toured consistently since (Crompton 2013; Akram Khan Company 2014b). Viewed in the Sept 2014 Brisbane Festival season at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s Playhouse Theatre (Brisbane Festival 2014). Creative team included Oscar winning visual artist Tim Yip and the Olivier Award winning composer Jocelyn Pook.

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the voice of this journey is Bengali, the first language and sounds I heard as a child. Bengali provokes thoughts of home, but despite being at my core, I cannot dream or think in Bengali, only in English. This duality of self, of origin and of lives lived is explored through Desh.

Sulcas (2011, 1) described the work’s themes as,

the ever-present tensions between history and identity, the collective past and the personal present; the paradoxical state of being that is the condition of the second-generation immigrant… it's a meditation on social identity, a journey to the mythical land of one's ancestors, an evocation of childhood as a place of stories and mystery, and a quest for the self.

The concept of Khan’s heritage is represented in the beginning of the work when Khan uses a sledgehammer to crack a cast iron mound and dig out the roots of a tree, a metaphor for homeland. Khan (in Creative Bangladesh 2011, 6 Mar) states, ‘the piece feels a little like returning to some place that I may dare to call “home”, but in saying that, what is home?... I feel “home” is a place where you have to escape in order to find yourself’. Through Desh, Khan has been able to reflect with a new perspective on his heritage. Via the merging of traditional Kathak storytelling and his imagined histories, he has developed many representations of home (Seibert 2013). Khan explained, in a personal conversation, that when creating Desh, he unconsciously began making the work about his relationship with his

55 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei father, who became a key figure in the work. During the performance Khan embodies a number of different characters, the most significant being his father, and his daughter61, however he also represents characterisations of self and that of a generation62. The depiction of his Father, as an example, is achieved by having a face painted on top of his bald head and is performed bent over in a puppet-like action (Norman 2011b; Seibert 2013). Khan’s body transforms into an elderly physique, a hunched torso emphasising the ducking movements of the head, the gestural language of the arms interwoven with textual reference and the legs buckled yet swiftly travelling across the space (Brown 2011, Dance). An important motif is the repetitive gesture of the feet, the soles are twisted upwards towards his face in order to inspect them, signifying a psychological tick. Through repetition we understand that as a freedom fighter the bottoms of the character’s feet were cut off by Pakistani soldiers during the 1971 war (Mackrell 2011; Coates 2012). Khan explained, through a personal communication in Sept 2014, that this story is true, however not his father’s story, but his uncle’s which he has appropriated in this context. The creative tool of imagining histories explored by Khan initiated the key choreographic strategy of Imagined Heritage within this research and is explained in Chapter 5. The choreographic language of Desh incorporates Contemporary Kathak and physical theatre traits such as mime, voice and puppetry. Together these elements construct a semi-abstract narrative that is woven within and supported by the theatrical elements63 of set, animation,

61 The character Mashitah was originally created as an imagined representation of Khan’s niece, however over time became a representative of Khan’s daughter and his relationship to parenthood. Through her, we see a parent attempting to disseminate cultural stories, however she is more interested in contemporary culture. This scenario becomes a metaphor for Khan’s own struggle with cultural transference. The choreography is mimic, gestural and highly specific to generate physical representations of an imaginary second performer. 62 Through his exploration of homeland, Khan explores the current Bangladeshi lifestyle and reflects on its past that can be seen in two vignettes, a city street of Dhaka and a protest against the Liberation War of 1971(Gilbert 2011). In devising these scenes the creative team worked on location in Bangladesh responding to the environment developing choreographic floor patterns based on traversing busy streets, soundscapes recorded on location and observations of the local physicality. 63 Visual Design - Tim Yip, Music Composition - Jocelyn Pook, Lighting Design - Michael Hulls and Visual Animation created by Yeast Culture.

56 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei composition, and lighting to enhance the overall aesthetic. The physical language complements the narrative themes with the amalgamated dance and cultural languages together building a layered performance embedded in personal truth. The choreography is fluid and has a full-bodied muscularity performed with urgent precision, transforming body language and technique into what has been described as physical poetry (Monahan 2011; Hutera 2011). Khan utilises many techniques, from Kathak classical footwork appropriate to the work’s cultural themes, to various choreographic representations based on narrative choices (Brown 2011). The structure of the work is separated into a number of scenes, or vignettes, that are placed outside of a noticeable narrative arch. The non- linear structure both connects and disconnects narrative via simple shifts from one to the other. The shifting of scenes fosters an ability to transport the audience to alternate locations and times in a non-sequential order as told by differing characters. The presence of ambiguity allows for the viewers themselves to question the work’s meaning, creating a deeper connection, and a personal reflective response within the work. The work can be seen as a dual metaphor bringing the viewer into Khan’s world, celebrating his history and culture. The placement of scenes, however, is meticulously designed through dramaturgical planning, progressing through a lens that is both retrospective and future driven. Desh can be interpreted as a representation of Khan’s autobiographical psychological journey, or as Norman (2011b,

Desh) puts it, an ‘exercise in psychological exorcism’. In analysing Desh it is clear that the work resonated with critics and audience members due to the sophisticated connections between choreographic language, personal narrative, meticulous yet non-linear structure, Khan’s skill as a performer, and the theme’s exploration of culture, heritage and spirituality. However, the intensely personal nature of the work, without access to information in relation to Khan’s process and motivation, has in some instances inhibited widespread understanding (Norman 2011a). The personal elements of the work could be seen as introspective and not inclusive enough for the viewer, equally, the constant change in form, scenes

57 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei and creative elements may have been too unexpected, thus diffusing readability, which again, could have alienated some viewers. For Khan, the purpose of the work was part cathartic and part self-discovery, on this he said (in Creative Bangladesh 2011, 6 Mar),

most cultures have been contaminated in some way or another, and I am a ‘by-product’ of that contaminated culture… my roots are an important part of my history, but my history is not what defines me, it is the present that defines my journey.

In Desh, Khan has merged his artistic and personal ideologies resulting in a distinct performance work rich in both dance and theatrical forms, and moving in its intimate narration honouring his ancestry (Poesio 2011; Mackrell 2011; Leicester Mercury 2011; Norman 2011b; Monahan 2011; Brown 2011; Seibert 2013).

3.1.3 Principles Distilled from Creative Case Study 1 In viewing Khan’s work as a springboard into practice-led experimentation, it was evident that his approach to practice is multi-dimensional, with a plethora of influences impacting on the way in which he creates work. Key choreographic strategies that emerged, influenced by my research into Khan’s process, include,

• Embodied Reflection as a research approach (see Chapters 2.3.3 and 5.1), permitting and acknowledging one’s embodied knowledge to emerge tacitly in the development of reflexive choreographic vocabularies. • Imagined Heritage (see Chapter 5.2) investigating biographical and personal belief systems, particularly those surrounding culture, family, tradition and heritage as a mechanism for creative imaginings and choreographic discovery.

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• Choreographic Cinematic Structures (see Chapter 5.3) investigating non-linear narratives influenced by Khan’s interest in cinematic narratives.

The case study research into Khan’s practice initiated the formulation and use of the above key strategies for choreographic enquiry, new to my practice, and relevant to the creation of new work. These key principles distilled from the study were then developed in a practice-led studio process creating the solo work #angel-monster, which is unpacked in the following Chapters 4 and 5.

3.2 Creative Case Study 2 - Raewyn Hill

Abstracting stereotypes through surrealist choreography

‘My work provokes thought about our place in the world. We work with current and historical social issues and abstract them through contemporary dance’ (Hill 2012, 23 Nov)

Raewyn Hill64 has been described as one of New Zealand’s leading female dancers and a world-class choreographic voice (Frazer 2010; Hill 2004). She has an artistic reputation for creating intense work, unsparing in subject matter and daring in the exploration of physical and emotional stereotypes (Horsley 2007). Having always worked exclusively in the arts, Hill has held a variety of positions65 ranging from independent artist to artistic director (Appendix 3) (Dancenorth 2012; Frazer 2010; Arts Hub 2012; The Australia Council and Ausdance National 2013). The power of Hill’s work lies in

64 Hill grew up in Oamaru in New Zealand (Hill, 2012a). Having graduated from the New Zealand School of Dance in 1992, she went on to become a leading artist in New Zealand, Australia and internationally ( !!! INVALID CITATION !!! (Frazer 2010; Moriarty 2004; Horsley 2007; Holley 2011)). 65 Royal New Zealand Ballet (NZ), Cite Des Arts (Paris), Baryshnikov Arts Centre (New York), Juilliard (New York), Bolshoi Ballet Academy (Moscow), Beijing Dance Academy (China), Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (China), New Zealand School of Dance (NZ), WAAPA (Australia) Dancenorth (Australia) and recently as the inaugural Artistic Director of Co3 (Australia).

59 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei provoking controversial concepts investigated via contemporary choreographic practice.

3.2.1 Approaches to Practice Hill’s approach to choreographic practice, like Khan, is multi-layered. Inspired by breaking stereotypes found in social-political issues66, her devising process is influenced by in-depth research and fieldwork, often drawing upon the visual arts for inspiration. The process of recontextualising these influences into physical vocabulary is for Hill, as with Khan, specific to, and led by, the needs of each work (The Australia Council and Ausdance National 2013). The process of discovery, as with many choreographers, is instinctive, which, as she told Arts Hub (2012, 23 Nov), is a methodology that ‘you just know, it’s something you can feel deep in your gut’.

Fieldwork Hill’s choreographic practice seeks to value and demystify humanity via a conceptualisation process embedded in background research incorporating world realities. The concept of authenticity is particularly important to Hill in the exploration of real life situations, developed in consultation with communities, bringing elements of fact and biographical content into a work’s processual development (Francis 2012; Arts Hub 2012). An example of this is Angels With Dirty Feet (2004), a work investigating drug addiction, which was influenced by data gathered by Hill via attending detox meetings and interviewing addicts, counsellors and chemists. Her findings then contributed to the work’s conceptual journey, whilst also displacing Hill’s, and arguably the audience’s, views on addiction (McLean 2004). The aim, feeding into the end result, was a deepened understanding of a topic, with potential to break down stereotypes and displace societal perceptions.

66 Issues explored in Hill’s work include drug addiction, explored in Angels With Dirty Feet, war and survival discussed in Black Crows, the Dancing Plague of 1518 in Fugue and the 1996 Port Arthur massacre contributing to A Dance For The Forgotten (Horsley 2007; Pina 2014; Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2012; Frazer 2010; Hutchinson 2012; Moriarty 2004).

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‘Scratching’ the Visual Arts In contrast to the above strategy, Hill also derives choreographic stimulus from visual art, religious iconography and literature. In a similar vein to the scratching techniques of Twyla Tharp (2006) (see page 37) and this case study approach, Hill seeks ideas through the works of others. Hill stated (in Arts Hub 2012, 23 Nov) ‘visual art and sculpture has been an important source of creative stimulus’, becoming a catalyst for developing movement content, with a particular interest in the Renaissance period. This process involves using visual cues found within the artwork to develop an emotively driven choreographic starting point, using a tacit response to develop vocabulary, that would eventually be applied to the greater subject matter (Horsley 2009). Use of this procedure formed the basis for works including Flock67 (2013) where artworks selected from the Louvre Museum in Paris became the conceptual basis for the new piece (Horsley 2009). Further examples Be Still, My Soul (2007) inspired by the artwork The Seven Sorrows by German artist Albrecht Dürer, and a collaboration with photographer Garrige Ho, recontextualising images of the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens 200768 with the aim of shifting stereotypes of rugby union against the beauty and athleticism of danced forms (Hill 2008).

Aesthetics of Movement Language Within choreographic exploration, Hill uses both visual and movement-based imagery to develop a signature movement aesthetic that is fast paced, physically demanding, seamlessly liquid in motion, with consistent use of floor-work (Pringle 2013; Hutchinson 2012). The qualities within the movement are broad, ranging from sensual to high velocity, often parallel to the volatile subject matter, whilst also often providing juxtaposition in dynamic and mood (Beattie 2004; Pringle 2013). Horsley (2007, 18) describes Hill’s work as ‘passionate, no-holds-barred, knee crunching and eloquent’.

67 Developed during her residency at La Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. 68 An annual rugby union event held in Hong Kong bringing together some of the worlds greatest players.

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Similarly, Hill (2012, 23 Nov) describes her work as ‘extremely physical… raw and visceral, yet with a technical refinement’ with foundation techniques that are individualistically rich. This can be seen to have similarities to colleagues such as Gavin Webber, Garry Stewart and Ross McCormack who also utilise high impact floor bound pathways such as grounded slides, rolls, swivels and elevations moving in and out of the floor with fluidity and explosive agility simultaneously (Francis 2012). The definition of Hill’s signature style has developed over time, stemming from her earlier training influences in New Zealand where many artists of her generation collaborated with the same choreographers, such as Michael Parmenter and Douglas Wright, and in Hill’s opinion, began to constitute similar aesthetic footprints. Retrospectively, Hill says (2004, 2) ‘I have previously had a distinct aesthetic in my work, [such as] using only dances with a heavy lighting component… I [have now] rejected these tools’, in the pursuit of breaking patterns and seeking alternate methodologies of practice. She, much like many artists including Khan and myself in the context of this research project (see Chapter 2.3), has developed a process for self analysis, recoding her practice and strengthening her choreographic voice (Horsley 2009). The form of Hill’s work is closely associated to the broad genre of contemporary dance, however she has previously worked within dance theatre, incorporating dancers, actors, movement and textual materials. Hill stated (in McLean 2004, 2) that the reasoning for this is simple, ‘when I see theatre I often think “I just want you to dance” and with dance sometimes I think “I just want you to say something” so for me there's often a gap’. Therefore, for Hill, the nexus between the corporeal and the textual in performance is determined by the needs of each work, leading Hill to branch into divergent areas of choreographic form.

The Convergence Process In Hill’s work the process of convergence from research, fieldwork and ‘scratchings’ amongst the visual arts, into a performative aesthetic unfolds through a circular process. The data becomes the thematic pulse feeding the

62 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei development of imagery and physicality that embody an abstracted and psychological presence. The emotive qualities evoked from her research are utilised, rather than a narrative intention, to create a lens for the viewer to interpret the subject matter individually. Discussing this process (in relation to White 2004) Hill says that (in Moriarty 2004, 18) a `feeling is expressed through the creation of an image and environment for the audience’. Symbolism within the imagery evokes the narrative intention crafting an overall picture that is an ambiguous thematic representation of the work’s, or movement’s, purpose leaving it open to interpretation. Hill identifies with the beauty associated with mystery and obscurity inherent in subjective contemporary choreographic work and thus sanctions individual audience perception in the viewing of her work (National Dance Forum 2013). In summary, Raewyn Hill’s choreographic practice is embedded in personal belief systems, draws from socio-political themes, grounds creative development in fieldwork, seeks innovation through the shifting of processual methods, utilises the visual arts as a mechanism for inspiration and is known for a grounded and visceral physical aesthetic. Her choreographic vocabularies are layered with meaning, incorporating abstracted yet specific movement symbols relevant to the message of each artwork. Hill’s approach is similar to my own in many ways, therefore a key strategy of this research project which emerged from the Hill case study is the use of surrealism as a creative tool. This strategy is unpacked in the analysis of Hill’s work Mass (2011), inspired by the effects of natural disasters and informed by surrealist art principles.

3.2.2 Mass – An Analysis

A surrealist approach to contemporary trauma

Mass69 explores global and local disconnection in response to experiencing a disaster70 (Ashley 2011; Francis 2012; Hill 2012; Stewart 2012; Armitstead

69 Mass was created and premiered at Dancenorth in July 2011, then toured throughout Australia. The original cast included Lauren Carr, Thomas Gundry Greenfield, Jessica

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2012; Townsville Sun 2013). The title Mass is a metaphor for the psychological process in which communities interact, react, disintegrate and restrict each other in response to a disaster. The external forces of nature, society, government and culture are explored, bringing attention to the traumas of humanity. The creative process for this work was influenced by disaster environments and surrealist creative principles.

‘Scratching’ The Surrealists On Mass Hill’s investigation into surrealism71 focused on the work of artists Salvador Dali,72 Rene Magritte73 and Francis Bacon74 whose work provided key theories in the development of Mass (Ashley 2011; Purdon 2011). Hill (in Simmons 2012, 77) discusses the purpose of using a surrealist approach, stating,

the pictures are not quite real. Superimpose that with the idea of natural disasters, which are relentless by nature… what's left behind

Jefferies, Nicola Leahey and Jeremy Poi. The work was a finalist for a 2012 Helpmann Award in the Best Ballet or Dance Work category and dancers Alice Hinde (second cast) and Jeremy Poi received nominations in the 2013 Australian Dance Awards for best female and male dancers. 70 The term disaster is viewed broadly in this context, encapsulating events including natural weather events to the complexities of human interaction. 71 Surrealism is an experimental movement of the 20th century defined by movement leader Andrew Breton (Finger 2013; Greene et al. 2012). The theory is considered to be based upon beliefs of a heightened primal reality, where the subconscious is unlocked in order to liberate the dominance of reason within altered mental states to create, free from culturally enforced norms (Finger 2013; National Museum of National Gallery of Australia 2008). Surrealist characteristics pertaining to both creative process and philosophies of the mind were developed with a commitment to a dream world integrating the unconscious with the conscious aiming to break conventions and bring to light previously repressed feelings (Greene et al. 2012; Isaacs 1944; Aspley 2010; Finger 2013; National Gallery of Australia 2008). Surrealism adopts abstract contemporary thinking around subjectivity and alternate systems of philosophy, seeking to ‘mingle imagination, expression, and desire in ways that involve all the institutions and social forms that affected modern life’ (Greene et al. 2012, 1377). 72 Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was a painter, designer, author and filmmaker, and is one of the most famous Surrealists alongside Buñuel, Lorca, Picasso and Breton (Charles 2011). 73 Renee Magritte (1898-1967) was a Belgian surrealist painter whose work recontextualised everyday objects, forcing the viewer to analyse altered representations (Rene Magritte Organisation 2009). 74 Painter Francis Bacon is not classified as a surrealist, however his art is said to be controversial and unforgettable in its exploration of the struggles of human condition (Art Gallery NSW 2012).

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are the images, which are surreal. That's what contributes to the texture and the energy of this work.

Whilst using surrealism as a tool for influencing physical form is not a new methodology75, the characteristic of pursuing social revolution via initiating discourse through arts practice, and addressing taboo subjects, is a core value in the work of Hill and the Surrealists (National Gallery of Australia 2008, 3; Finger 2013). Furthermore, the absurdist76 and abstract77 nature of aesthetics present in Hill’s work, and the form of surrealism she engages with, seems to have complemented the creative process (Andrews 2010; Bolick 2009; Keylor 2007). Surrealist strategies that can be identified within Mass include dissociative narrative, emphasis on idea over form, concepts relating to the unexpected, the contradictory and perverse, and the unexpected juxtaposition of objects (Isaacs 1944). Purdon said (2011, 5), Hill’s work consistently looks to probe the ‘boundaries of normality and abstraction, it is not surprising that she has turned to surrealism for inspiration’ in the investigation of choreographic language and structure.

Surrealist Imprint The choreographic language of Mass can be described as violent and empathetic, fuelled by Hill’s characteristic visceral contemporary dance physicality utilising commanding floor work in conjunction with symbolic gestures. The overall intention of exploring disaster led to the development of

75 Other artists exploring the transformative possibilities within embodied surrealist investigation includes Hans Bellmer’s articulated dolls in La Poupée, Andre Kertesz’s human distortions, the work of Sergey Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and also Marcel Duchamp in collaboration with choreographer Merce Cunningham on works such as Walkaround Time (1968) (Dawson 2013; Mackrell 2005; Scheijen 2010; Lawson 2011). 76 Absurdism relates to a philosophy, developed through the writing of Albert Camus, holding humanity and existence as nonsensical, irrational and without order. The movement constructs strategies for rationalising the irrational through artistic representation, including the ‘Theater of the Absurd’, named by critic Martin Esslin in 1961, and works such as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. 77 Abstraction in art relates to a 20th Century movement that abandoned traditional western aesthetics of representing nature to focus on analytical and imaginative processes resulting in nonrepresentational form. When considering choreographic abstraction the nonrepresentational is also favoured through physical expression.

65 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei a gestural movement language layered in and out of unison via the established tools of repetition and canon, emphasising physical metaphors of community and trauma. In support of this, Hill’s surrealist approach has contributed to the development of a distorted and grotesque aesthetic that can function as a dissociative and juxtapositional structural tool, whilst also strongly symbolising trauma. The physicality and expressive use of the face, such as an extreme open mouth, embodies angst, horror, psychological trauma and absurdity of the intense scenarios of natural disaster. For example, in the opening scene the dancers hang their bodies over the set, creating imagery of storm upheaval, dead bodies, debris, crucifixion, a tangled clothesline and a mantelpiece to place and view your loved one’s ashes. The performers’ hair falls over their faces as they perform heavy and disjointed rag doll like movements propelled by the weight of the head, whilst the limbs are limp. Pringle discusses (2013, 55-56) the relevance of this image as a,

connection to another force in dealing with natural disasters. The dancers create a crucifixion motif with their bodies using the set structure to hang themselves from… [creating] movement that conjures a need for resurrection and transcendence.

Later, the ensemble is portrayed as a community unit, where bodies are collectively fighting against an unseen force as they travel through the space creating images of plastic bags caught in a current. They jump repeatedly higher, reaching up to an invisible force or spiritual saviour. The way in which their bodies are flung, lifeless into the air on a horizontal plain, at varying times and heights, references a fish out of water, struggling to survive. They begin to writhe on the floor in agony, as if suffocating, occasionally bringing their shoulders off the ground as if gasping for air. This scene explores the pain, fear and agony of those trapped within a disaster

66 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei experience and its seeming unreality. The dancers represent debris, bodies and objects that are floating, falling, stuck and blown away. The non-linear narrative structure consists of a series of vignettes exploring loss, upheaval, uncertainty and varying psychological states, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Hill has also chosen to contrast ideas within the same scene, where two physical ideas are placed alongside each other, creating a sense of disjointedness. An example is a highly emotive solo driven by angst, incorporating violent and grotesque gestural choreography that displays a manic psychological state. This solo is placed in the foreground of a pedestrian movement vignette where a male dancer’s body is repeatedly placed into hanging positions. The resulting picture resembles a juxtapositional jigsaw where the context of each vignette is seemingly non-specific. However, via the use of repetition and duration, the narrative accumulates and comprehension can formulate. As the evolution of scenes begins to cycle through we are reintroduced to prior symbols and metaphors that now hold greater meaning and context in the work as a whole. The seemingly obscure selection of surrealist vignettes begins to form a narrative. The music changes to sounds evocative of a clock and the passing of time. Two of the women perform the gestural phrase from an earlier section involving a circle of the eyes, which now reads as a parable for grief. We begin to understand the story of trauma, looking both retrospectively and introspectively. The non-linear placements of scenes, which are chaotic in themselves, focus on thematic content rather than the form in which it is expressed. The structure seems disconnected, yet can be interpreted as a representation of global disasters and the resulting disconnected aftermath. Mass is a cacophony of context and influences built on a series of surrealist choreographic vignettes that enable multiple interpretations. Hill has developed the scenes using abstract movement vocabularies and surrealist influences making it mostly a subjective experience, thereby allowing the viewer to draw on their own personal experiences. The intensity of the choreographic aesthetic and paired theatrical elements ‘succeeds in creating a strong sense of alienation and disturbing unease’ (Stewart 2012,

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40). Through the use of symbolic gesture and key repetitive phrasing, Hill has recreated the broken unity within communities during the challenging states of disaster and trauma scenarios. The structure of the work is distinctive through its particular surrealist displacement of narrative but this can also obfuscate the over all meaning of the work. Mass is a visceral, psychological performative work that challenges understandings of trauma through distorted and surrealist contemporary dance aesthetics.

3.2.3 Principles Distilled from Creative Case Study 2 Many aspects of Hill’s practice align with my own, for example socio-political foci, gestural physicality and an openness to form. In analysing her work, I could interpret more deeply, in contrast to that of Khan, the choreographic strategies used and their desired intent. This familiarity required me to look into Hill’s practice, and then out again, into other avenues of influence, such as surrealism, in order to find methods for rerouting my practice. This process, proceeding from the principles distilled from the Khan study, bolstered the formation of the new strategies, whilst also spring-boarding new avenues for exploration. The key themes that emerged through the Hill case study, that were dissimilar to my usual ways of working, include,

• Choreographic Recontextualisation (see Chapter 5.4) where seven surrealist techniques became a catalyst for choreographic movement development. • Embodied Reflection (see Chapters 2.3.3 and 5) investigating surrealist ideologies of the unconscious mind, contributing to principles already distilled from the Khan study. In conjunction with using reflective and embodied self-analysis to shift habituality and break creative patterns. Adding another layer to the strategies used in a practice-led choreographic research study. • Imagined Heritage (see Chapter 5.2) mining the self, and collaborative performers, to generate personal contributions leading the conceptual process. This bolstered the concept

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as already explored in the Khan study and developed narrative and thematic connections with past, present and future. • Choreographing Cinematic Structures (see Chapter 5.3) using juxtapositional non-linear narrative concepts to inform subjective choreographic meaning and influence the development of the strategy.

The case study research into Hill’s practice initiated exploration into a new area of creative process, surrealism, and augmented the strategies for choreographic enquiry initiated by the Khan study. The principles distilled from the study were then developed in a practice-led studio process creating the solo work A Collection of Me-Isms, which is unpacked in the following Chapters 4 and 5.

3.3 Summary The research described in this thesis demonstrates that the outcomes of these creative case studies eventuated in a number of principles of practice new to my process. These principles then initiated practice-led and theoretical research avenues exploring choreographic process and leading to the development of new strategies for creation. It can be seen that, even though each case study has followed the same design of contextual research and analysis of works, the principles distilled have offered comparable and yet different findings. These findings were pulled apart, further analysed and recontextualised within a practice-led enquiry functioning through a lens of choreographic curiosity and investigation. The design of these creative case studies has then permitted me to broaden my understanding of practice, branch out in multiple directions, and then extract areas of interest for expansion into new creative strategies beyond, or as a complement to, those previously known to me. It was the creative case study research that has provided a foundation, a springboard and new launching point, which was then investigated in practice with a view to finding new processual and conceptual choreographic avenues. The particular methods of discovery

69 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei were idiosyncratic to my practice, specific to my embodied and tacit knowledge, utilising planned and instinctive methods within the goal orientated methodological framework of developing new choreographic strategies and performance work. The outcomes of this exploration are discussed in detail in the following chapters.

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CHAPTER 4. PRAXIS: Mapping The Creative Work

This chapter details the choreographic works developed in this research and maps their creative journey in relation to the design and findings of the study. Further details relating to the specific choreographic strategies utilised in each work’s creation are provided in Chapter 5. Each new work was created across one of the doctoral projects, Project 1 and Project 2, with the first informing the latter. In between the major projects there was a transitional period, where a new work The Paratrooper Project was created. While this took place outside of the doctoral study, on reflection, it provided a testing ground influenced by the study. The process can be understood in the below diagram.

#angel- monster

The A Paratrooper angel-monster Collection Project of Me-Isms

Transition Period - Full- Project 2 - Full-length Project 1 Solo Works length Ensemble Work Ensemble Work

Image 5 - Creative Works Diagram

4.1 Project 1 – Solo Works The Project 1 creative case studies (see Chapter 3) provided a point of departure informing practice-led investigation, responding to principles distilled and eventuating in the development of two new solo works #angel- monster and A Collection of Me-Isms. The purpose of working as a solo practitioner in this project was integral to allow in-depth and specific investigative unpacking of my choreographic practice without the outside

71 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei influence of other bodies and voices in space. However, there were periodic focus groups78 held to assist in analysis and inform the future stages of research.

4.1.1 - #angel-monster

Video Documentation https://vimeo.com/neridance/angel-monster (password n4685474)

Led by the themes distilled via the Akram Khan creative case study, I undertook practice-led studio research resulting in the development of a solo work titled #angel-monster. As mentioned earlier, the main strategies that began to emerge during the Khan study, were Embodied Reflexivity, Imagined Heritage and Choreographing Cinematic Structures. In addition, responding to the self-discovery themes of Desh, I became interested in exploring Germanic folklore and fairy-tale, particularly to narrative of Snow White – connecting to my German heritage, and the role of fable in discussing social issues. The solo is a collation of 9.29 minutes of new choreographic material. The practice-led process can be described in the following four steps.

Step 1. Embodied Reflexivity In order to recontextualise the research gathered from the Akram Khan creative case study inside a choreographic enquiry, I used the process of Embodied Reflexivity (see Chapter 5.1 and 2.3.3) to instinctively physicalise the information of interest, resulting in a danced interpretation. This process, repeated a number of times for various lengths of time, was improvised, fluid and mindful, responding to the gathered Khan data, and resulted in, as an example, movements led by the hands and feet. I filmed and analysed these improvisations through reflexive process. The aim of this was to garner choreographic understanding of the gathered information and commence a

78 Once each solo had been created I performed the work to a focus group of colleagues and fellow researchers. Focus group participants included Gareth Belling, Andrew Mills and Anja Ali-Haapala. This part of the research received ethical clearance through Queensland Universities Research Ethics Committee.

72 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei process of self-analysis, identifying alterations in my habitual patterns as they emerged, or did not emerge, in action. I paid particular attention to movement vocabularies that had shifted and those that had not, in the process. The identified alterations included, but were not limited to:

• A heightened and specific use of eye focus where the hands and feet lead the movement of the head, yet at key points diverge autonomously. In analysis, viewing the footage, I noticed the portrayal of an unexpected internal/external dialogue, depending on where the eyes were focused. This concept was utilised in #angel-monster in the development of repetitive eye and head movements focusing on the downstage opposite of prompt top corner (or stage right), symbolising a metaphorical mirror and referencing the Snow White narrative. • A heightened articulation of the hands and feet as a means of initiating choreographic vocabulary. Utilising the hands, as a movement instigator, particularly in improvisation, is a habitual pattern of mine. However, in this context there was a greater articulation. In contrast, the use of the feet as a movement driver required deeper mindful concentration as it felt unnatural. • A shift in physical response to gravity. Khan considers the feet a connector to earth, a methodology that can be identified in his choreography, through grounded and downwardly accented leg movements. In my improvisations I noticed I had unconsciously juxtaposed this technique by exploring an off balance quality, where gravity was consistently shifting underneath my feet, creating an undulating aesthetic.

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I found that the resulting physicality, after analysing footage of the improvisations, reflected some influence from Khan’s aesthetic, however, it also represented some of my usual ways of moving. Whilst this research project investigated mainly conceptual influences, the first Embodied Reflexion results, surprisingly, showed more stylistic influences. Whilst the stylistic analysis did not progress further into the following stages of research, the aesthetic influences did provide some alteration to my embodied physicality. The identified physical shifts were utilised as a further instigator into the next stage of investigation and in the creation of movement scenes.

Step 2. Conceptualising an Imagined History Khan’s connection, or process of re-connection, to culture via the exploration of personal and cultural stories of heritage instigated the concept of Imagined Heritage (see Chapter 5.2) in this process. Whilst Imagined Heritage has in this research project been explored in a number of ways, for this solo experimentation and its first inference, it manifested through my investigation of Germanic79 folklore, specifically the tale Little Snow-White80 by the Grimm Brothers. Subsequently, this led into the investigation of issues of anti-feminism81. As the fairy-tale, according to Craven (2002, 2), is ‘a genre [that] tends to be seen as patriarchal folklore’ the two themes amalgamated well in the instigation of choreographic research. Key themes explored included the symbolic narrative of Snow White, known to ‘dramatise the essential but equivocal relationship between the angel-woman and the monster woman’ (Craven 2002, 6) in parallel with current feminist trends and events. This conceptual paradigm has a through line into the Project 2

79 I am a first generation Australian, with my father's family migrating from Germany. Most of the records of my family perished in World War II and thus my heritage is predominantly imagined. Khan’s exploration of disconnection and connection to heritage inspired my own creative response in this area of interest. 80 Versions of the Snow White story used in this research were Little Snow-White published in the 1995 Grimm’s Folk Tales published by Smithmark Publishers Inc and Snow White in Pullman’s Grimm Tales for Young and Old published by Penguin Group. 81 A component of the third wave of feminism (1990s to the present day), anti-feminism is said to be a regression in feminist understanding and support, considered to be linked to misleading and negative representations of feminism in the media (Cowman, 2010; Hannam, 2013; Russell 2013; Whelehan 2014)

74 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei research where these themes are further unpacked and formed the basis for a full-length exploration (see Chapter 4.3).

Step 3. Development of Choreographic Language The choreographic language of this solo piece was developed using movements collated and repurposed from the Embodied Reflexive analysis (Step 1), and created in response to sourced textual and visual materials, including the Snow White story and online feminist discourse82, such as the #imnotafeministbecause online trend. This content was utilised to parallel and juxtapose the key narratives of Snow White and that of an evil stepmother83 or Monster. The conceptualisation of movement languages was developed considering character intention and structured into five scenes.

• Scene 1 – Monster I am not the fairest of them all84 This movement vocabulary reflects socio-political patriarchal ideologies relating to self-image, femininity and equality. The choreographic language symbolises grotesque and monster-like qualities where dynamic accents and facial expressions move between alluring and aggressive. Thematic influences include the recurring evil stepmother character, anti-feminism and controversial statements made by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop (see pages 75-76). • Scene 2 – Angel I am not a pattern of beauty

82 Including but not limited to the #imnotafeministbecause trend, high rates of spousal abuse currently in Australia, comments made by Julie Bishop and continuing issues surrounding sexism in Australian politics. 83 A recurrent and evil character in Disney fairy-tales. 84 Each scene is accompanied by text developed in response to key phrases drawn from the Snow White narrative and Julie Bishop quotes. This text is represented on hand held signs within the solo performance.

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This movement vocabulary reflects the beauty and poise of the Snow White character. The soft movement qualities were juxtaposed by sharp accents referencing frustration. Thematic influences include the Snow White character, expectations of femininity including beauty, purity and innocence. • Scene 3 – Journey Mirror Mirror… I am not viewing the world through a prism of gender This movement vocabulary repurposes movements collated from the Embodied Reflexivity processes (Step 1). The resulting movement phrase was used to represent a crossing of time between each narrative and uses travelling through space as a metaphor acknowledging the dual narrative purposes and their locality in past and present. • Scene 4 – Three Deaths I do not self describe as a princess, it is not a term I find useful The movement vocabularies in this scene depict the attempted murder/s of the Snow White character. Thematic influences drawn from the text, including the death and rebirth of Snow White, were used to develop choreographic material. An example is a movement created in response to being poisoned by the apple. I replicated the shape of falling to the ground after biting an apple, the resulting shape I then placed vertically, standing rather than lying, creating a statuesque shape. This shape then evolves through three repetitions where the shape crumbles and rebirths. The resulting phrase was used as a symbol of my views on the death of patriarchy and the death of feminism. • Scene 5 – She Wakes I am not a victim, I am not a fairy-tale, get over it.

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This scene was created but discarded later in the process, as it was no longer necessary in the broader narrative structure, due to the layering of scenes via the cinematic structuring influences, and a disconnection with the resulting choreography. Thematic influences include being saved by a male hero, being kissed by a prince and feminist culture. The hand-held sign that goes with this scene was kept to assist in building the overall narrative.

The main process in the creation of the movement content for this solo, in support of that developed via Embodied Reflexivity, was the use of descriptive text to develop gestural and abstract vocabularies. An example of this is a grotesque physical vocabulary, utilised in Scene 1, representing the monster woman. The following dissected text was recontextualised to create choreographic content,

A Queen sat at her palace window… she pricked her finger, and three drops of blood fell… the mother died… beautiful, but so proud and haughty… possessed… mirror, mirror… Who is the fairest of us all? (Andersen, Grimm and Grimm 1995, 401)

The resulting movement phrase was then intermittently spliced by movement responding to the below quotes, offering narrative and aesthetic polarity. It is worth noting that these texts also influenced the creation of hand-held signs included in the solo.

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I don't find the need to self-describe in that way… "feminist" is not a term that I find particularly useful these days (Julie Bishop in Ireland 2014, Political News)

I don't view the world through a prism of gender, I never have and I never will (Julie Bishop in Massola 2014, Political News)

This descriptive language assisted in developing an abstracted gestural movement vocabulary embedded in character and narrative intention. For example, the three drops of blood became a repetitive movement of threes, and the pricking of one’s finger was explored dynamically rather than physically. This choreographic process was led by the text, yet explored instinctively. In contrast, other texts that described the Snow White character in terms of her beauty and innocence, were also utilised to create fluid and light choreography, such as long lunges and flowing ripples through the limbs and torso that reference ‘classical’ lines. These were then juxtaposed against further harsh and grotesque symbols, such as a sickled foot, the use of the tongue and a cutting motion across the abdomen. In support of this movement language, images were used as a source of stimuli, following similar procedures to that described above to instruct the choreographic process. In addition to this, and drawing from the Khan study, I allowed the work to lead itself through an open instinctive practice. During rehearsal I was reminded of a viral anti-feminist trend #womenagainstfeminism85 (Image 6), that highlights a contradictory and regressive idea of feminism (Craven 2002; Bulbeck 2014). I repurposed the construct of this trend, developing hand- written signs that were displayed as part of the performance (Image 7).

85 The anti-feminist trend #womenagainstfeminism became a viral online trend as females posted pictures of themselves holding hand written signs expressing why individuals don’t need feminism.

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Image 6 – Conceptual Stimulus, #womenagainstfeminism (News Limited 2014, 2 Aug)

Image 7 - relates to the use of hand written signs in #angel-monster at 0.42, 2.39, 4.15, 6.38 and 8.51-9.15 minutes, which can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/neridance/angel-monster (password n4685474)

Step 4 Use of Choreographic Cinematic Structures At the conclusion of the practice-led choreographic creation stage, I had created five scenes ordered chronologically and based on the narrative structure of the original Snow White story. Utilising the concept of cinematic structures (see Chapter 5.3) I explored weaving a patchwork of scenes into a non-linear format. The characteristics by which I chose to manipulate the choreographic score were juxtaposing a non-progressive ordering of scenes with emphasis on the emotive over narrative, working within a time based structure, and placing the final scene first, as well as last, to form a cyclic progression – a known cinematic technique used by directors such as Quentin Tarantino (Sillery, 2014; Dancyger and Rush, 2014; Cameron, 2008).

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Whilst this technique may be similar to other choreographic structuring methods, what this approach allowed me to do was add complexity to my understandings of structure and explore new methods within my practice. This resulted in transitioning from differing narrative states and a complex spatial mapping dictated by each scene’s relationship to time, for instance, the oldest part of the story is placed furthest away in space, and the most recent closer to the viewer. The signage, however remained in its chronological order, now out of synchrony with the scene to which it related providing further juxtaposition between narrative elements, whilst also offering some chronological understanding. This created a layered mesh of non-linear and subjective narrative. Whilst this could have confused the narrative into obscurity, the focus group commented they were able to follow the non-linear progression, perhaps due to the familiar base narrative of Snow White. The use of cinematic structuring brought forth a number of new tools for crafting choreographic content. These included the use of time as a spatial direction and narrative structuring tool, and the re-structuring of scenes within a non-linear format. I was able to view the arc of the choreography and its overall performance function externally, a new strategy for me, resulting in a heightened use of narrative and structure. A detailed description of the use of cinematic structuring in this context and its development into the next stages of research can be read in Chapter 5.3.

Analysis of #angel-monster In analysing #angel-monster, it is evident that the Khan creative case study instigated conceptual and aesthetic shifts in my process and practice. Aspects of the solo’s development provided areas of innovation in relation to my habitual practice including, but not limited to,

• A deepened mindfulness that opened my process to alternative and instinctive choices. This included remaining physically and mentally agile through performance whilst

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letting the work lead itself in action and in reflection of action. • The emergence of the Embodied Reflexivity strategy which resulted in the collation and repurposing of movement languages incorporating new physical aesthetics (explained in Step 1 and further elaborated on in Chapter 5.1). • The initiation of the strategy Imagined Heritage (Chapter 5.2) as a conceptual instigator connecting past and present, fictional and factual. • The early stages of recontextualisation of cinematic structures in a choreographic context, resulting in a more complex use of time, narrative and scenic structure.

It is clear that some aspects of the solo can be considered an extension of known areas of my practice, for example, the use of gestural physical languages derived from recontextualisation processes and socio- political influence. It was evident that further work to reroute some of my habitual patterns was required in the following stages of research. However, I can see a more complex and layered approach to multiple choreographic considerations in the construction of movement phrases and their relationship to each other. The most significant aspects of this solo research were the instigation of key concepts of practice developed in this research project, but also the signposting of areas that required further investigation. The methods explored in the creation of this solo, the resulting movement material and the extracted case study principles, were all utilised to influence the following stages of research. It is significant to note that the conceptual and physical results of this solo became the foundation for the Project 2 creation detailed in Chapter 4.3.

4.1.2 A Collection of Me-Isms Led by the principles distilled from the Raewyn Hill creative case study (see Chapter 3.2) I underwent a period of practice-led studio research experimenting with choreographic adaptations of various surrealist strategies

81 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei utilising Embodied Reflexivity as an investigatory tool. This resulted in a series of physical experiments titled A Collection of Me-isms. These physical experiments equate to 26 minutes of new choreographic material and one photographic series. Each experiment can be understood via the following discussion.

Choreographing Surrealism Following the Hill study, I was drawn to the exploration of surrealist theories, seeing potential in the form to metamorphose practice by delving into ‘an alternative culture that championed the absurd, the irrational, and the spontaneous’ (Finger 2013, 12) through multi-genre practice. The surrealist strategies that I focussed on for choreographic adaptation were Decalcomania, Exquisite Corpse and Collage. However, the strategies of Dream States86, Frottage87/Grattage88, and Fumage89, whilst not directly adapted for this enquiry, did influence my understanding of mindful exploration, as well as assisting in broadening my creative cognition processes and encouraging an interdisciplinary approach (Aspley 2010). Similar to Australian surrealists90 James Gleeson, Robert Klippel and Clifford Bayliss, who were known for their individualistic reappropriation of surrealist techniques, my process of adaptation investigated each method via a choreographic lens (National Gallery of Australia 2008).

Experiment 1. Untapping Choreographic Consciousness An important surrealist theme, and a paradigm illuminated in both the Khan and Hill studies, is the untapping of the unconscious mind. The purpose of this process is to discover new areas of artistic interpretation, which may

86 Dream States is the process of being mindful to states of dreaming in order to inspire conceptual concepts and feed an artistic practice. 87 Frottage, devised by Max Ernst, utilises textural rubbings as a visual basis for artwork. 88 Grattage is an adaptation of Frottage developed by Ernst and Joan Miro, where patterns were created by scraping paint off a surface, which then dictate the beginnings of another creative exploration. 89 Fumage is an image generating technique devised in 1937 by Wolfgang Paalen, where burning a medium created patterns. Also named sfumato by Dali who later adopted the technique. 90 The impact of surrealism in Australia, according to The National Gallery of Australia (2008) was highly influential yet not as organised as it was in Europe.

82 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei otherwise be stilted by conscious critical thought, disallowing the unusual, or inhibiting behavioural patterns dictated by the prior knowledge of a form already distilled in the body. This unconscious artistic view, fusing the internal and the external, sees practice through an open lens permitting unharnessed expression and a freedom within abstraction (Caws 2011). This can lead to ‘coincidences, correspondences, the marvellous, the uncanny, a reciprocal exchange [and] connecting the conscious with the unconscious thought’ (Caws 2011, 15). In this study I focussed on allowing my unconscious mind, my instinct and tacit knowledge, to respond spontaneously and lead artistic choice. Whilst responding instinctively is a natural part of my artistic process, I was able to become more mindful of these thoughts and allow them to lead the decision making process91. This strategy was useful in the creation of A Collection of Me-Isms and has since become a foundation of my practice.

Experiment 2. Automatism as Embodied Reflexivity

Video Documentation https://vimeo.com/neridance/strategy2 (password n4685474)

The strategy of Embodied Reflexivity, developed in response to this research study and tested in the creation of #angel-monster, was also used in this creative development period to disseminate the Hill study principles. In this instance, the reflexive improvised explorations were prompted more by conceptual principles over physical characteristics, a difference from that undertaken in response to the Khan study. I found that attempting a technique-driven embodied reflexive period to explore Hill’s grounded and visceral movement aesthetic was disingenuous. I believe this was due to the fact that these characteristics are not unfamiliar to my own training and were not fully achieving the research goals. However, once the process began to

91 This is similar to the way in which Salvador Dali, an acclaimed surrealist artist who created The Persistence of Memory - his most famous work involving melting clocks, inspired by eating soft cheese during dinner (Finger 2013).

83 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei be influenced by conceptual surrealist theories, the physical flow became unhindered, leading to shifts in my habitual approach. Additionally, in this instance the process was further informed by automatism, developed by Andrew Masson, who described it (in Bradley 1997, 21) as a process to ‘catch the unconscious mind unawares and… capture the images of the unbridled imagination [using methods to] short-circuit the mind’s rational apparatus’. This assisted in placing additional trust in the instinctual body - the creative apparatus, keeping it in constant motion, also known as non- idiomatic improvisation, where practice can emerge and evolve in action (Museum of Modern Masson 1924; Finger 2013). Through this I was able to identify the following alterations in my practice:

• There was an unconscious physical disconnection where unexpected physicalities emerged during exploration. This included, but was not limited to, full body grounded repetitions, repetitive dynamic vibrations, a weighted quality through the head and pelvis, kinaesthetic sense of being out of control, and being led by an external force (examples can be seen at footage times 4.10-4.18, 4.43-5.02, 5.40- 6.05 and 6.11-6.37 mins in the above video link). • The breaking of physical patterns mid exploration disallowed the perceived end of a physical idea to be found. My usual pattern of kinaesthetic guidance became disjointed via purposeful, yet also illogical, separation of movement pathways, shifting choreographic progression.

These alterations in physicality represented a shift in my normal cerebral approach to movement creating whilst in action. This represented a considerable shift in my process and became a key influence moving forward in the research process.

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Experiment 3 – Dancing Danseuse

Video Documentation https://vimeo.com/neridance/strategy3 (password n4685474)

Continuing to be mindful of the surrealist creative process, I explored a semi- structured improvisational strategy based on Danseuse (1925) by Jean Arp92 (Image 8). Responding to the architecture of shape, line and texture found in the image, I improvised in a way that allowed my embodied response to emerge. In this process I drew upon the concept of slow motion, inspired by the slow motion techniques used by surrealist filmmaker Rene Clair93 to alter the motion of physical subjects, for example in the work Entr'acte (1924), to distort my sense of time and space whilst moving. The physicality that emerged was unexpected, due to a new alteration in internal musicality. However, in this instance, the process had a more direct and purposeful conscious and unconscious improvisation allowing for new patterns to emerge across time. Examples of the resulting movements can be seen in the Images 9-13, below.

Image 8 - Danseuse by Jean Arp (1925) (The Centre Pompidou 2015, The Work)

92 Jean Arp (1885-1966) was a painter, sculptor and founding Dadist and Surrealist artist. 93 Rene Clair (1898-1981) was a French film director whose productions were noted for humour, burlesque, fantasy and surrealism.

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Images 9-13, Experiment 3 - Dancing Danseuse

The following physical characteristics were identified through this process,

• An alteration in quality, generating a smoother and considered musicality within varying degrees of slow motion highlighting articulations and physical details throughout. • The film technique of slow motion assisted in altering internal time signatures, and the creation of sustained movement characteristics. This slowed time signature also allowed for heightened physical detail and a breaking of expected movement pathways. • The feet played a primary part in delineating my spatial journey in response to the artwork’s architecture, perhaps a flow-on effect from the Khan study. • The use of visual arts became a stimulus to develop physical architecture responding to shape, line and texture.

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The image provided a consistent source of information, yet the automative and kinaesthetic continuance allowed for development in action. • Alterations in physical habitual patterns, such as jarring dynamics of collapse and control, a less frequent use of symbolic gesture, repetitive movements and patterns being led by the head and eye where the hands and fingers respond. These alterations are in opposition to that explored in the Khan study.

Moreover, Dancing Danseuse led to considerations regarding the performativity of dance as an art-form. The original Danseuse artwork is a multidisciplinary oil, paint and wood three-dimensionally sculptured painting. This ignited for me concepts of collaborative multimedia presence with possibilities to translate the ephemeral action of dance into a lasting artwork. I began to consider that the space in which the dance occurs is an artwork in itself, a canvas for physicality, where the fleeting visceral activity can be transcribed in the space. I became interested in using chalk, or a similar medium, to create a physically devised pattern, built via movement phrasing that may result in a connected, yet disconnected remnant in the work’s conclusion. Whilst this line of thinking is not uncommon amongst choreographers, for example It’s A Draw by Trisha Brown94 (2008), I see it as an area worthy of further experimentation. This was not explored in this research project due to logistical reasons; but could be seen as a precursor to set design implications for The Paratrooper Project and angel-monster works.

Experiment 4. Social Currency Collage

Video Documentation

94 It’s A Draw by Trisha Brown is an improvised piece, performed at the Walker Arts Centre as one part of a series title So That The Audience Does Not Know Whether I Have Stopped Dancing, where Brown dances across a large piece of paper tracing her movements using various textiles (Brown 2008).

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https://vimeo.com/neridance/strategy4 (password n4685474)

As previously identified, my work is conceptually motivated by societal issues (see Chapter 1). In exploring surrealism, my initial response was to develop a physical collage of current events as found within The Courier Mail, Brisbane’s daily newspaper. To collage is to compare like with unlike, where the literal can become disconnected due to a juxtapositional relationship to each other, presenting inexplicable contexts of understanding (Bradley 1997). Breton (in Bradley 1997, 27-8) described collage as 'the marvellous faculty of attaining two widely separate realities without departing from the realm of our experience; of bringing them together and drawing a spark from their contact'. In this study I used true events to choreograph an illogical, yet factual, three dimensional choreographic collage. This was achieved in the following steps,

• Step 1 - I researched newspaper articles (Images 14-16) identifying events of interest and coded the content based on emotive, factual and active words found in the text. This coding was then used to create a non-linear physical narrative collage95 (Finger 2013), where the data was realigned and placed out of order. This experiment can be identified as a precursor to choreographing cinematic structural assemblage techniques described in Chapter 5.3.1.

Images 14-16, newspaper collage from The Courier Mail Jan 2015

95 The use of social narrative within surrealist art has been seen through many works such as Rene Magritte’s The Son of Man, or Kay Sage’s Tomorrow is Never.

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The resulting physical language eventuated in characteristics such as an altered time signature moving through slow to fast motion whilst maintaining a continuous flow, a highly symbolic and gestural language, and emphasis of emotive qualities within the movement to show narrative elements using facial expression as a tool. The physicality of the work was closely related to my usual choreographic language, yet the strategy in generating the language was innovative for me in this context. This strategy, similar to the use of cinematic structures in #angel-monster, was at the time identified as holding potential for the continuing exploration of non-linear narrative in choreographic phrasing.

Experiment 5 – Decalcomania and an Unconscious Monster

Video Documentation https://vimeo.com/neridance/strategy5 (password n4685474)

Decalcomania96 is a process of transferring one image to another. Specifically, it is when a surface is treated with paint or ink and is pressed against another surface, such as a canvas, eventuating in a random and detached composition that can then be used as a starting point for another artwork (Finger 2013; Bradley 1997; Chilvers 2004). I explored translating this tool into a choreographic context using the body as apparatus, glass as the canvas, and photography as secondary medium resulting in a series of images. Sourcing a large window, and being assisted by unbriefed97 participants (E May and M Barnett), through an instinctive process my body was pressed into the glass and a still image was taken (Images 17-18). This eventuated in unexpected shapes where a layering of imagery occurred, influenced by body shape, the angle of the camera and the reflective nature of the surface.

96 Invented in 1935 by Spanish surrealist Oscar Dominguez. 97 In that the research and task goals were not provided to the participants prior to the activity and their participation was instinctual, not premeditated. The use of uninformed bystanders was in order to increase and allow for unconscious response to drive the outcome.

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Images 17-18, Physical Decalcomania Examples (assisted by E May and M Barnett)

The images were then printed and collated using a similar technique to that of pareidolia98 or Leonardo Da Vinci’s cloud gazing99, recontextualising the context of the images to warp the original form and create what I called an Unconscious Monster (Image 19). This process was fluid, tacit and juxtapositional, placing one unexpected image next to another to develop a new abstracted image.

Image 19 – Unconscious Monster

98 Pareidolia is a process where objects are perceived differently from their actual form, often in the form of a face. 99 Cloud gazing in this context is where patterns and imagery are recognised within random data (Takahashi 2013).

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The abstracted image was then used as an improvisational basis for physical exploration considering its character, architecture and spatial arrangement, similar to that undertaken in Experiment 3 Dancing Danseuse. However, the resulting physical process was unsuccessful in initiating relevant movement and I concluded that the imagery, as a visual art piece, was more engaging than the movement response. The process felt stilted and there was inadequate new inspiration in the images, and therefore process, to inspire an altered choreographic progression. That being said, the experiment had noteworthy choreographic potential for an ensemble exploration. The monster has multiple limbs, abstracted shapes and an intertwined physical form that might lend itself to partner work. This aspect was not further explored in this context however may be explored in future research activities.

Experiments 6 & 7 – Additional Strategies During this research phase there were two other strategies considered but not acted upon in this project. Details can be read in Appendix 5.

Analysis of A Collection of Me-Isms The development of A Collection of Me-Isms utilised the principles distilled from the Hill case study to develop new choreographic content. The research eventuated in seven new choreographic strategies grounded in adaptions of surrealist methodology and further contributed to defining and testing the choreographic strategies of Embodied Reflexivity, Imagined Heritage and Choreographic Cinematic Structures. Areas that were identified as shifts in my practice are detailed in the above statements. However, in a broader analysis, it can be seen that the work incorporated both new and common techniques of my practice, some of which were carried forward into the next stage of the research and some that were not. Some beneficial alterations to my practice include;

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• Further understanding of unconscious and instinctual processes where the unlocking of the unconscious mind in processual action is employed. This was a development on strategies explored in the Khan study. • Further use, understanding and efficacy of Embodied Reflexivity processes in relation to conceptual development as well as physical language creation. This was a progression of the concept explored in the Khan study, however it was now also influenced by Automatism and the Dancing Danseuse investigations. • The instigation of greater consideration of the ephemeral nature of dance and consideration of environment in performance. Whilst installation concepts were present in my work prior to this point, for example, the work Boiling Point (2009-2012) and de-generator (2014-2015), I could identify a more complex consideration from this point onwards. • Further use and understanding of Choreographic Cinematic Structure processes and validation of its use in a choreographic collage process. This was a development of the strategy explored in the Khan study, however, it was now also influenced by surrealist collage theories. • Further development of physical languages breaking choreographic habits and the identification of altered movement characteristics.

It can also be seen that some areas of the development align again with common traits of my work, such as socio-political influences and the use of recontextualising sourced data in the creation of movement materials. However, this time the process was applied to new areas of practice. Commonly I would utilise found materials and interpret them in a physical

92 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei dance language, but now, I was able to reroute processual methods of the surrealist in a choreographic context.

4.2 Transitional Project The creative development period for The Paratrooper Project100 ran in parallel with the timeline of my doctoral research. Even though The Paratrooper Project was not directly connected to my research, on reflection it became evident that both processes of exploration fed the other and research knowledge was shared across projects. The developing choreographic strategies were further understood and applied simultaneously between the creation of Project 1 research and The Paratrooper Project.

4.2.1 The Paratrooper Project The Paratrooper Project acted as a transitional project, bridging Project 1 and Project 2, further developing the emerging choreographic strategies as investigated in the solo creations, now applied to a collaborative ensemble creative process. The collaborative ensemble included external participants who acted as a focus group supporting the research.

Video Documentation

Excerpt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4UGYUTHPKk

Creative Process Documentary

100 A Phluxus2 Dance Collective production developed between 2012-2015. The creative team included myself as artistic director, producer and performer, co-creators and performers Margi Brown Ash, Gareth Belling and Gabriel Comerford, set design and realisation by myself and Libby McDonnell, costume design by Lisa Fa’alafi, lighting design by Ben Hughes, sound composition by Andrew Mills, rigging by Donald Mackenzie and Cam Brown, production management by Keith Clark, communications and producing assistance by Stephen Quinn and understudies Rob Flehr, Leah Shelton, Amelia Stokes, Asher Bowen Saunders and Liesel Zink. The production is a 55-minute contemporary dance theatre installation piece produced by Phluxus2 Dance Collective in partnership with The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts with funding from Arts Queensland. This work was developed whilst as an artist in residency at The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts between 2012 and its premiere season in 2015.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOLQk7-v77I&feature=youtu.be

Image 20 – The Paratrooper Project flyer

The Paratrooper Project is a contemporary dance theatre installation created by Phluxus2 Dance Collective101 premiered in 2015 at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts102. The underlying thematic pulse of the work is the interrogation of historical and current conflicts alongside the political regimes responsible for them, in order to examine and discuss humankind’s past, present and future. Inspired by firsthand accounts of World War II by paratrooper Richard Matthaei, my German Opa103, or Grandfather, the work is an entangled non-linear exploration of stories from and of war, historical imaginings and military, political and personal realities, that have imprinted

101 Phluxus2 is an independent dance theatre company based in Brisbane. Founded by Skye Sewell, Chafia Brooks and I in 2006 as a vehicle for choreographic practice. In 2010 I became artistic director and the company now works with over 25 artists a year in various productions, and community and education engagement projects. The Paratrooper Project is the sixth full-length work produced and created by Phluxus2 Dance Collective since the company’s inception. Further information can be found at www.phluxus2.com. 102 The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts is an arts centre and venue located in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. 103 His death in 2007 instigated the work’s creation.

94 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei our present, divided generations and potentially stained our future selves. The work utilised choreographic understanding of dance and theatre constructs whilst also developing a set made of twelve army issue parachutes that were choreographed to move in and around performers and audience in a sculptural dance of their own. I knew from an early stage in the planning of this piece that its vision would be realised via a collaborative team, directed by my concept and process tools but created through multiple voices with equal degrees of investigatory contribution. My vision required artists holding a diverse skill set, including a high level of technical abilities in their art-form practice, analytical and philosophical knowledge, creative experience in choreography and/or theatre, and mature life experiences and opinions that could be unpacked to generate discussion, debate and multiplicity of opinion. Moreover, I considered the age of the artists and the embodied knowledge, both historically and artistically, gained by engaging practitioners from differing generations, whose practices would be open to a devised and evolving creative process. The team included performer-collaborators Gareth Belling104, Margi Brown Ash105 and Gabriel Comerford106 and a creative team of artists to reach the overall creative goals. As a performer-choreographer- producer, I undertook various roles in the creation and presentation of The Paratrooper Project including artistic director, collaborative performer, producer and designer. The creative process for this work, and specifically how this research project influenced its creation, is provided in the following chapter on choreographic strategies (see Chapter 5) as an exemplar of their use in practice.

4.3 PROJECT 2 – Ensemble Work Project 2 represented the final stage of research where the principles distilled from the creative case studies, the newly developing choreographic

104 Gareth Belling is a mid-career Brisbane based dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Collusion, a dance and music creation company. 105 Margi Brown Ash is an award winning senior artist working as an actress, director and writer. 106 Gabriel Comerford is an early career contemporary dancer and member of Makeshift Collective.

95 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei strategies, along with the solo works #angel-monster and A Collection of Me- Isms culminated in the creation of a new full-length ensemble work titled angel-monster. In this final project I worked as choreographer within an ensemble of five collaborative performers107, this decision was partly due to the work’s artistic vision, however, it was also to diversify the research and investigate the strategies with a number of performers.

4.3.1 angel-monster

Video Documentation REFER TO VIDEO FILE ON PROVIDED USB

Image 21 – angel-monster showing flyer

107 Across the creative development period I worked with ten different female artists. This was mainly due to artist availability within an unpaid project. In the final stages five performers became the core ensemble, however all involved remained in voice recordings present in the work’s audio.

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she is part angelic beauty, part monstrous seductress. She is hysterical, honest, old and nubile. We are partly experiential and partly realist. We are angel-monsters.

Do you see her lilies and lotuses... or is she the dragon?

Conceptualisation angel-monster108 is a seventy-minute contemporary dance theatre installation work and the culmination of this research project developed across three stages with outcomes between 2013 to November 2016. Moving forward from the previous projects, the conceptual instigation for this work came from themes explored in the solo work #angel-monster. Following the exploration, I found myself still questioning elements of feminist culture109,

108 A Phluxus2 Dance Collective production developed between 2015-2016. The creative team included myself as choreographer, artistic director, producer, set and sound designer, with collaborative performers Hsin-Ju Ely, Lauren Graham, Essie Horn, Courtney Scheu and Amelia Stokes, lighting design and technical management by Keith Clark, set realisation Vilma Mattila, partial sound composition by Andrew Mills, voicescape performers Hsin-Ju Ely, Ellen Bailey, Asher Bowen Saunders, Lauren Graham, Caitlin Mackenzie, Keia McGrady, Belinda Raisin, Leane Ungerer and myself, rehearsal collaborators Ellen Bailey, Asher Bowen Saunders, Lauren Jackson, Caitlin Mackenzie, Keia McGrady and Leane Ungerer, rigging advisor Donald Mackenzie, textual advisor Margi Brown Ash, graphic design by Sean Dowling. This production was self-produced within my independent dance company, Phluxus2 Dance Collective, and an unfunded production. The final rehearsal process received in-kind space and technical assistance provided by Queensland University of Technology. All creative development rehearsal space was arranged via trade agreements between myself and external partners. All creative team members worked voluntarily and performers were paid a stipend of $500 each. A $1000 production fund was supplied by Queensland University of Technology to assist in costs. 109 Historically women have been idolised as mysterious creatures, thought to live within the burden of genetic and physiological restrictions where the bodily existence is fixated on the pedestrian and away from that of the sexual or athletic (Young 1980). The gendered social role of the female has been fashioned to fit within the constraints of the wife-mother archetype. The feminist movement, revolting against these inaccurate social constructs, allowed the disempowered to seek empowerment through political and intellectual activism aiming to commence shifts in social culture (Calvini-Lefebvre et al. 2010). The chronological history of the movement has been categorised within the generational framework of first (1860s-1920s), second (1930s-1980s) and third (1990s-current) waves (Cowman 2010;

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What is feminism? How do I relate to feminism as a contemporary woman? Within what context does a young women invest in the anti-feminist ideal? How and why are we taught about equalitarian understandings? How do we continue to break boundaries of social programming? How can I explore these questions through artistic discourse?

I ask myself, as a thirty something-business owner-artist-academic- unmarried stepmother, how do I fit into the feminist legacy and how can I contribute to the discussion? As a contemporary artist and feminist, I, like many others, ‘interpret the world while trying to change it’ (Scott in Cowman 2010, 2) through contesting, re-thinking and sharing our constructed narratives as modes of agency within the contemporary dance theatre choreographic process (Calvini-Lefebvre et al. 2010). It is clear and necessary to answer these interrogations by exploring contemporary ideas about feminism within the art-making process to initiate a chain of discourse through process and performance. The art-making environment for angel- monster was one of community, of activism, of confession, where individual understandings of womanhood are shared in an all-female creative process110. The choreographic space was an environment open to discovering what is feminism for us, providing a vehicle for the propagation of our identities and finding a collective voice in the analysis of our contemporary feminist selves. The process fostered choreographic practice as a conduit for open discussion and possibly an initiator to assist in breaking social constructs and broadening our understandings of contemporary feminism. Jacqueline Rose (in Mitchell, Rose and Radford, 2010, 97) discusses the artistry of Silvia Plath and Virginia Woolf as a vehicle for radical second wave protagonism stating,

Russell 2013; Calvini-Lefebvre et al. 2010; Hannam 2013). The movement in Australia is said to have commenced in the 1800s. Leading Australian theorists include Edith Cowan, Germaine Greer, Bobbi Sykes and Clementine Ford. 110 The choreographic process has incorporated a focus group of ten women of differing ages and cultures.

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they were scraping the skin off the surface and saying look what’s underneath; and we can write about it and we can survive it.

The art became their voice, and their feminist values became creative and conceptual operatives. In that vein, I sought to develop a creative work inspired by theoretical and cultural understandings of contemporary feminism, built upon the fostering of self-empowerment and the re-thinking of anti- feminist constructs via contemporary choreographic practice. However, while the creative team’s experience of contemporary feminism was the underlying question behind the creative work, this exegesis does not claim to comprehensively interrogate contemporary feminism, an endeavour that is beyond the scope of this research. The creative process for this work, and specifically how this research project influenced its creation, is provided in the following chapter on choreographic strategies as an exemplar of their use in practice.

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CHAPTER 5. CHOREOGRAPHIC PATHWAYS: Building Strategies For Experimentation

The outcomes of this research project have led to the development of six new, or newly reconstructed, choreographic strategies relevant to recoding my choreographic practice and the creation of new contemporary dance work. The aim in developing these strategies came from the research objective of destabilising my practice, discovering new contributions to choreography and my choreographic practice, thereby redefining my choreographic self. The research journey has enabled me to identify, solidify and articulate implicit creative concepts leading to multifaceted perceptions of my choreographic self. The following key choreographic strategies were developed and utilised.

5.1 Embodied Reflexivity as a Choreographic Strategy Through the use of Embodied Reflexivity (see Chapter 2.3.3) as a choreographic strategy, I established a mechanism for interrogating theoretical and thematic based research within the arena of research-driven academic choreographic practice. The interrogation process worked across two choreographic constructs within this research, as a solo practitioner and as a collaborative choreographic director working with an ensemble of performers. In the initial stages of this study I found it challenging to translate the theoretical and written research, particularly the case study data, into my practice-led choreographic process. It took some time for me to adapt the known methodologies of practice-led research into a bespoke approach to enable a deep enquiry within my choreographic practice whilst also maintaining the academic rigour required. However, by combining embodied knowledge with reflective practice principles within a choreographic exploration, I was able to reflect upon and access the researched knowledge inside physical manifestations of dance language. The process, whilst not dissimilar to common uses of improvisation and somatic practices, became an important and recurring connection within the research nexus. The

100 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei specific mechanisms in working in this way were emergent and evolved across each creative project. The expectation was to connect the theoretical to the practice and facilitate choreographic exploration of the data. This was achieved, yet also evolved tacitly allowing the process to shift in response to the research needs. An example of the method’s first use, actioned during initial stages of Project 1 as a key process in the Akram Khan creative case study, can be read in Chapter 4.1.1. The process, which eventuated into being an important aspect of this research project and its progressive enhancement of cerebral and embodied exploration, can also be understood in the following ways,

Approach 1 - Embodied Reflexivity for the Solo Practitioner 1. Research theoretical materials, for example Creative case study data or thematic articles of interest. 2. Continuously improvise for a minimum of 20 minutes, reflecting upon the research and responding intuitively with the body in fluid motion. 3. Video document the improvisation. 4. Analyse the video taking notes of elements of interest and/or variations in the resulting dance. Areas to which I paid particular interest were alterations in habitual physical patterns, musicality, gesture, aesthetic and thematic influence. 5. Repeat stages 1 to 4, now exploring new theoretical materials or responding to the notes taken from prior improvisation111. 6. Allow the results from stage 4 to initiate the next stage of creative exploration; options include collating movement images or phrases within a solo performance work instigated by the embodied reflexivity results.

111 For example, during the Akram Khan case study I was able to acknowledge some shifts in my usual physical patterns and then use these as a starting point for another embodied reflexive process. This allowed a deeper exploration of the new information being located with the physical. This is explained further in Chapter 4.1.1.

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The above Embodied Reflexive Approach 1, was repeated consistently within the stages of Project 1 of this research and resulted in the new solo work #angel-monster (see Chapter 4.1.1). Approach 1 was the first practice-led component of this study and became a grounding method for the following stages and development of new choreographic work. Moving forward into Project 2, and the development of angel-monster as an ensemble work, I altered the solo practitioner embodied reflexive process to allow application to an ensemble choreographic process. The process evolved to become a rehearsal ritual, focusing on the themes of the work in question, allowing for the contribution of the dancers and providing specific reflective emphasis. This was a helpful tool in shifting my own expectation of choreographic progression and finding ways to incorporate the dancers’ interpretations within my own. This process evolved into Approach 2.

Approach 2 – Embodied Reflexivity for a Collaborative Choreographic Director

Stage 1: Initiating Cycle 1. Approximately two months prior to the commencement of the rehearsal period, I initiated a discourse with the ensemble performer-collaborators, providing and inviting information relevant to the overall thematic impulse of the project, including articles, video, images, theories and autobiographical content. This material was shared via a private Facebook group to stimulate dialogue112 into the main themes for this creative enquiry – issues of the contemporary female. 2. On Day 1 of studio practice, at a time when all members of the group had been actively engaged in thematic analysis and discourse, I directed the group to continuously improvise,

112 It is interesting to note that the performer-collaborators and I still maintain this free-flowing discourse – sharing and commenting on new articles of interest spontaneously.

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both physically and vocally, if the impulse arose, for a minimum of 20 minutes, reflecting upon the discourse and responding intuitively. The same process was undertaken in Approach 1, however now I, the researcher-choreographer, acted as an external observer of the resulting movement exploration. 3. During the exploration, I observed the dancers’ responses and took notes on images, ideas and/or movements of interest as they occurred, or as they came to me during viewing of the actions in process. The note taking was spontaneous and intuitive (see process journal entry below) yet in direct response to the dancers’ embodied reflexive process.

moose horns, tip toes, hit foot walks, pulling chest out like suffocating, looking up but falling down, shirt over face and reaching up, walking the iris, ‘we are one in six’, tied self up, tied up shape on floor, rolling tied up… pushing ribs, chin up and vagina down, tuck shop lady arms in high release, moose horns large, grab foot and ties self up on one leg, foetus, right leg up convulsions and head bouncing

angel-monster Process Journal Entry 1 - 2016, Project 2

4. In concluding the improvisation, we held a reflective discussion, with attention to the dancers’ kinaesthetic response, their experience with the task and the sharing of the notes that I had taken. 5. The notes taken during the improvisation were then used as a pathway into the development of new creative experiments

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and performance material. Additionally, the information explored prior to the rehearsal process had now shifted into a physical representation and assisted in building the choreographic context for the work within the ensemble.

Stage 2: Continuous Cycle This ongoing practice of Embodied Reflexivity was used consistently throughout the rehearsal period, after Stage 1, at various key points in the process. On occasion this was daily, while at other times only once or twice a week. The process of reflection unfolded in the same way as described above, however in this context, rather than reflecting on external researched materials, the group specifically reflected on the creative process and the embodied knowledge created and experienced in the practice-led process. This alteration in the strategy allowed me, as the observer, to become aware of movement vocabularies and concepts that were the most prominent for the dancers from the prior stage and also become aware of previously explored movement concepts that manifested in new embodiments.

the body arches through the spine with head and pelvis jutting backward allowing the head to high release, arms broken above the head in a ritualistic and animalistic gesture.

angel-monster Process Journal Entry 2 - 2016 Project 2

The Embodied Reflexivity strategies developed here assisted me in recontextualising my choreographic self by altering habitual patterns and exploring researched data in danced contexts where new avenues of creativity could emerge. The resulting choreographic strategies enabled physical reflection, which simultaneously bound theoretical and corporeal worlds. It also facilitated the identification of physical metaphors instigated by research data, developed collaborative and ensemble awareness and

104 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei provided creative pathways into new ideas and movement concepts relevant to the thematic impulse. An important element to the Embodied Reflexive strategy, as outlined above, is its flexibility in being tailored to suit various project designs, for example solo and ensemble practice, and to be applied to any thematic conceptualisation process. Additionally, the strategy is useful for projects where rehearsals are held in shorter intensive periods of time. Use of Embodied Reflexivity in each intensive period allowed the dancers to reconnect to the thematic drive via instinctive embodied processes, assisted in retaining prior choreography and in reconnecting to earlier kinaesthetic responses. Collaborative ensemble member Amelia Stokes113 discusses the process from her perspective in the following way,

The [choreographic] method that stands out from the process was Nerida's use of Embodied Reflexivity to create new movement without boundaries… I was learning choreography for the final showing from developments I hadn't been involved in, but still somehow felt a part of and understood innately.

angel-monster Reflection, A Stokes, Jan 2017

I noticed through the process that to achieve the best results an ongoing commitment was required to ensure that the outcomes extended beyond the superficial, allowing the bodymind to respond intuitively, rerouting movement habits yet with a particular focus. The longer the duration of each embodied reflexive period, the more interesting the results seemed to be. An example of how this process eventuated in choreographic material is a phrase titled ‘Embodied Reflexive phrase’. This phrase was an accumulation of various movement concepts that eventuated from embodied

113 Amelia is a Phluxus2 Dance Collective member and an independent dancer based in Brisbane. Amelia has worked with me on various projects since 2013 and was part of the angel-monster creative development and showing.

105 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei reflexive tasks across the angel-monster process. As the movement was reflective and a holistic representation of the work and process, the phrase was used as a symbol of time passing, past-present-future, including multiple influences from across the process. The resulting choreographic phrase can be viewed at 34:47 to 36.29 in the video footage and described as follows,

She, the number of she’s, line diagonally across the space and are still. The left hand, symbolic of the role of the wife, reaches behind and presents itself to be viewed, the focus follows. The hand quickly, and as if controlled by another, rotates and hits the side of her face. Rolls in to the hip in a contortion as the nails flick and the head rotates from side to side in grotesque shifts in expression – a presentation smile – flick – a blank stare – flick. She walks, heels off, head bowed, thorax hunched, the knee kicks and lifts up sharply, her balance tips…. One foot she hops, the breath pushes out repeatedly and slap… the hips push to the ceiling in a convulsion, part ritual, part sexual.

Choreographic Notation 1 - 2016 Project 2 - angel-monster, Embodied Reflection phrase

A further example is the grotesque phrase that was inspired by the repetition of grotesque movement eventuating from the embodied reflexive tasks. Further details on the development of this phrase/s can be seen in Chapter 5.3.1. In summary the choreographic strategy of Embodied Reflexivity resulted in an evolving and malleable tool for physical discovery and thematic

106 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei analysis. Supported by the emergent nature of the strategy, we instilled an openness to failure. Meaning, there were no boundaries to exploration and any perceived mistakes were viewed as a stimulus for recontextualisation. For example, during the creation of a section of angel-monster, called Blowback Duet, we searched for particular weight sharing lifts I had envisioned, but allowing the natural connections, and disconnections, of the bodies during our exploration to lead us in and out of new unplanned pathways. Another example, within the same scene, is the choreographic content for three dancers with their faces covered. Initially we explored movements representing air rushing from the feet up through the body into the fingers above the head. The natural response to having the eyes covered presented an off-balance quality that at first was attempted to be controlled, but eventually was allowed to influence their physicality in moment. Therefore, the unplanned was a potential pathway to new aspects of practice – in alignment with surrealist principles explored in A Collection of Me-isms (see Chapter 4.1.2) and the Hill study (see Chapter 3.2). This philosophy assisted the Embodied Reflexive approaches and the overall research process.

[The Embodied Reflexivity] process [made] one feel as if you can offer anything artistically and [Nerida] would, rather than critique it, guide you to make it better and develop your idea to fit her image or motivation without taking away too much from your initial response.

angel-monster Reflection, Leane Ungerer, Jan 2017

5.2 Imagined Heritage Imagined Heritage, as designed in the context of this research, describes the imprint of cultural inheritance left on and within a person, leaving a residue of

107 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei knowledge, personality and inference that is inherent. It is tacit knowledge, conceivably passed part genetically, potentially even epigenetically114, or part by way of ancestral embodied knowledge transferred across generations. The concept of Imagined Heritage as a choreographic strategy was formulated and actualised simultaneously in both this doctoral research and in my professional practice within the creation of The Paratrooper Project (see Chapter 4.2). The concept was instigated during the analysis of Akram Khan’s work (Project 1 Creative case study 1, Chapter 3.1) and then further cultivated as part of the overall conceptual framework for the final creative work angel-monster (see Chapter 4.3). The purpose of this strategy was to draw from my heritage and use what eventuated as a mechanism for choreographic enquiry. As a German- Australian, my heritage is primarily imagined115 where joining the dots in my overall cultural schema has been required for me to develop a sense of self. As with Khan (see Chapter 3.1), who is of English-Bangladeshi origin, the imprint of his Bengali heritage itself is extant, but a direct knowledge, due to his English upbringing, is limited. This, for Khan and myself, initiated a searching for identity where, through our artistic practice, envisaged histories became an artistic drive. It can be seen, through my own experiences and through scanning the field, that there is an emergent necessity for individual cultural discovery within the now globalised, and satellite-like, nature of culture. According to cultural researchers Yudhisthir Raj Isar, Dacia Viejo-Rose and Helmut K. Anheier (2011, 1), past perceptions of identity were mostly familial concepts, where in the present, terms such as identity and heritage ‘swim in a self-

114 Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene function, resulting in shifting and reversible behaviour patterns and susceptibility to disease, that as yet cannot be explained by changes in DNA sequence (Diwakar 2014). Discoveries in the field of behavioural epigenetics have revealed that environments play a role in how genes are affected by their contexts. Environmental factors, such as social status, diet and upbringing, can influence genetic activity, for example a person’s health and intellect (Moore 2017). Recent developments suggest that transference of personality and experiential traits can be passed genetically without direct familial contact – meaning the experiences of the past generations can filter through to present generations influencing behavioural and thought patterns – and perhaps ignite missing links. 115 I was born and raised in Australia after my father and his family migrated from Germany in the 1950s.

108 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei congratulatory swamp of collective memory [and] heritage is now that with which we all individually or collectively identify’. Culture is now deterritorialised, and borders have merged eventuating in a new transnational milieu (Raj Isar, Viejo-Rose and Anheier 2011). Similarly, Bronwyn Winter (2012, 1) states,

amidst all the noise of our transnationalisms, hybridities and interstitialities, the idea of what it is to be ‘Australian’ or ‘French’ or ‘Filipino’ or ‘Asian’ reaffirms itself, in mental geographies and constructed histories, as our ‘imagined community’… or indeed, ‘imagined Other,’… that we would somehow wish to incorporate into our newly hybridised Self.

Thus articulating one’s cultural hybridity can become a form of self- questioning, making connections to identity and personal cultural histories. The search for self-identification acknowledging the ‘other’ is what led me to define, design and conceptualise Imagined Heritage as a tool for artistic investigation. Similar themes can be identified in cultural globalisation theories, as a vehicle for the modern application of religious beliefs, and as a creative tool where fictional textual adaptations of history are made116 (Bossman 2002; Winter 2012; Cowart 2000). However, within this research, exploration has been limited to its usefulness as a creative strategy for dance.

5.2.1 Imagined Heritage as a Methodological Approach In the context of angel-monster and The Paratrooper Project, the creative process of Imagined Heritage facilitated connection with the past - through the present - allowing for ‘critical reflection that opened pathways of mindful awareness to [our] own deeply ingrained, habitual thought patterns, biases,

116 For example in the novel History Made, History Imagined by David W. Price or Ben Elton’s Two Brothers.

109 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei and feelings’ (LeBaron, MacLeod and Floyer Acland 2013, xviii). Firstly explored in The Paratrooper Project this approach unfolded in relation to the work’s themes of war, conflict and remembrance, facilitated by each collaborator’s own hereditary groundings. The initial creative provocation was propagated from photo albums left by my German Grandfather, Opa Richard Rudolf Adolf Matthaei, documenting his experiences as a paratrooper for the German Army in World War II. My family’s assimilation into Australian culture, and a purposeful disconnection to ancestry post World War II, left me feeling culturally fragmented.

The experience of war had a great impact on my Opa’s life… As an ageing man he felt it was important to share these stories. It wasn’t until his passing that I really began to understand what these images represent, from a historical perspective, but also for my family and our heritage. The conflicts that we are currently seeing in many layers of Australian society, and around the world, have been the instigator to explore these images, their meaning and how this might tie in with our lives now.

Process Journal Entry 3 - 2015 Transitional Project – The Paratrooper Project creative development.

It is the reluctance to pass down familial knowledge between generations, perhaps as a result of collective shame, which has forced a disconnection in my lineal identity. This, according to Dagmar (2005), is not uncommon, as shortly after the conclusion of World War II, a process of memory stigmatisation commenced amongst German communities making the experiences of war inaccessible to future generations. German

110 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei remembrance was and continues to be ‘deemed inappropriate… because it might take away from the greater intensity, the “uniqueness,” of other groups’ suffering’ (Dagmar 2005, xiii). The effects of this separation from memory, when considering the effects of generational ties, have polarising cultural and psychological implications117. As a ripple effect moving through generations, the trait of silence has, at least for me, forced a reliance on imagination and embodiment of experience to connect to heritage. Therefore my disconnection to heritage, and that of Akram Khan’s as understood through the creative case study analysis (see Chapter 3.1), instigated investigation into reconnecting to heritage via imagination-led artistic processes. In The Paratrooper Project creative process, the collaborators and I recontextualised historical artefacts through illusory explorations, recreating histories from which we were personally disconnected. For example, we developed conceptual and dramaturgical materials in textual scripts and choreographic phrases drawn from, but not limited to, the images left by my Opa. These initial investigations became the grounding for further research, in an altered context, in the creation of angel-monster where discourse related to issues of the contemporary female (see Chapter 4.3). Utilising the strategy of Imagined Heritage the collaborative team and I investigated femininity and female lineage foregrounding the tacitly embodied, experiential and historical, to unpack feminism and question societal perceptions. The all- female cast revealed, analysed and activated issues of their past, present and future, via sharing personal experiences, and artefacts, such as images and articles, relevant to the subject. Attempting to explore the breadth of what it is to be female, the collaborative team of female artists118, utilised concepts of the Imagined Heritage strategy, to activate a deeply concentrated creative process, unpacking concepts of self, feminist lineage,

117 Evidence of this is the 2006-7 nation-wide German orientation and integration project, that showed civic emotion as still ‘distinctly negative… with a rejection of national pride’ (Autumn Brown 2014) and functioning in an imagined community built on shameful collective memories and silence. 118 The lighting and sound designers were male. We did seek a local female lighting designer but unfortunately the industry is lacking in experienced female technicians. I chose to work with my regular sound designer to allow for a depth of collaboration in a short turn around. To counteract the male contribution I set up task based external collaborative arrangements, see Chapter 5.6 for details.

111 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei and imaginings of the future. This process resulted in multi-layered artistic responses useful in the development of the overall work. The use of Imagined Heritage techniques therefore evolved, from their use in The Paratrooper Project to angel-monster, and functioned in contexts utilising both sourced materials and autobiographical content. Through the mindful consideration of heritage, I found that reflecting on the past enabled a nurturing of the present, creating new metaphorical understandings of issues across time. This also meant that by exploring a crossing of time, the temporal locality of choreographic intention in the final work became ambiguous for the observer. I was able to bring attention to issues relevant across time to make a statement about our choices for the future. The purpose of both works was to stimulate discourse and incite change for tomorrow. Therefore, while the conceptual contributions that Imagined Heritage provided in both projects aligned, the explorative structures diverged through the variety of choreographic investigatory methods driven by the contrasting thematic stimuli.

5.2.2 Imagined Heritage as a Choreographic Strategy In order for me to access, and develop new connections, to my own cultural heritage, and that of my collaborators during the choreographic process, I needed to structure informed, yet imagined creative tasks, supported by experiential and/or factual research. This required commitment to imaginary states where aspects of knowing and dreaming were united with fragments of truth, for instance - ancestries, factual data and artefacts, personal experiences, epigenetic behaviours, and historical occurrences in time and place. Through the use of creative process tasks, I was able to draw lines connecting cultural dots between illusory enactments, imagined narrative, reformed imagery, by embodying memory and mining kinaesthetic fragments of myself and that of the collaborative performers. This strategy in its ideological groundings is not dissimilar to that developed by Isar, Viejo-Rose and Anheier (2011) in their research investigating the conceptualisation of collective memory. In their study, tangible and intangible cultural artefacts were utilised to mediate remembrances, thus linking heritage, memory and

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identity, and constructing and revitalising representations of history and influencing identity narratives. I acknowledge that this method requires a delicate approach, as coalescing fact and imagination can lead to falsehood. It is therefore imperative that research and personal connection reinforce the creative process. The fictive is supported by the factual, at the same time as the subjective and emotive live in our embodied lineage. Imagined Heritage has allowed multilayered questioning to decode and recode the cultural self within embodied and creative relationships to heritage, broadening concepts of identity and artistry, yet also providing the general public with the opportunity for remembrance and empowerment in the act of performance. An example, and important element of The Paratrooper Project’s purpose, was to provide opportunity to reflect and offer remembrance without prejudice to those affected by conflict, and to celebrate those who have passed through an interactive enactment of imagined heritage techniques.

The parachutes are lowered, hung and collapsed throughout the space separating the audience. The work has climaxed to a point of exhaustion and it is now silent. Margi Brown Ash speaks,

I want to tell you something

That continues even when we walk away from this place…

Consider this. Consider this

I wonder if there will be green and blue and breeze and seasons

We have to ask the courageous question of the ones who have gone before.

Bring them tea and biscuits

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Those who cracked the door of their hearts so that we could have the wind behind us…

Write their name Write them a message

Write their name Write them a message

I give each audience member a piece of chalk and permission to write a message on the floor (Image 22). The audience wrote…

‘Dear Sonya, I will never stop trying for you X’

‘I forgive you, I will think, pause, then act’

Dear Pop, I’m sorry I didn’t know you better…

Dear Great Grand-mother, your daughter is okay…

I remember you…

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Image 22 - Ash, Matthaei and audience in The Paratrooper Project, image by FenLan Photography

The work to this point delivered numerous abstract and subjective understandings of heritage and conflict throughout time with reference, but not direct association to country, culture or era. This collective remembrance enabled audience members, regardless of their personal lineage or generation, to connect to the work and their understandings of conflict. The audience was given opportunity to consider the weight of their own histories, their relationship to past, present and future. Both The Paratrooper Project and angel-monster processes enabled, through Imagined Heritage concepts, the re-telling of familial and personal narratives, factual experiential accounts, creative adaptations of conflict and choices in a choreographic context. Utilising the strategy of Imagined Heritage in a practice-led choreographic enquiry can function through a number of adaptive tasks, with specifically designed experimental strategies suited to each enquiry. A key philosophy I developed in the process was to allow for personal intervention from all collaborators. I found that inserting the personal into that which is imagined cultivates a deeper connectivity between the thematic historical impulse and the creative work’s evolution. I designed

115 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei creative tasks relating to each investigation specifically to assist in answering the two key choreographic provocations. The answers for each resulted in the two creative works.

How can I investigate my lost German heritage through images left by my Opa in order to discuss conflict across generations?

How can I contribute to the conversation surrounding the contemporary female and illuminate avenues for change?

As both creative processes eventuated in exploring an array of choreographic techniques influenced by Imagined Heritage I will focus on the development of collective heritage.

Connecting to Collective Heritage As the angel-monster and The Paratrooper Project teams were collaborative, it was vital to develop collective understandings of Imagined Heritage in order to unlock and decode inherited understandings, instigate dialogue, experimentation and artistic play. Forming a thematic collaborative grounding, in addition to the common choreographer/dancer collaborative grounding (see Chapter 1.3.4), provided informed points of departure into choreographic creation, in both physical and written forms. The collective nexus between the collaborative team members became vital to crafting imagined connections to past, facilitating experimentation in the present, and fostering trust in personal intervention. Through connecting to collective Imagined Heritage by devising new processes, we were able to generate original physical, textual, interactive and design concepts that grounded both the choreographic and conceptualisation journey. An example of this process is the task Mining the Choreographic Unconscious.

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Collective Heritage Task - Mining the Choreographic Unconscious This task was instigated by findings discovered during the Raewyn Hill creative case study (see Chapter 3.2), tested in surrealist choreographic strategies developed in the creation of the solo A Collection of Me-isms and utilised in both the Paratrooper Project and angel-monster processes. Drawing from surrealist theories investigated through the Hill creative case study I sought to metamorphose practice by tapping into ‘an alternative culture that championed the absurd, the irrational, and the spontaneous’ (Finger 2013 12). An important surrealist theme, relevant to this strategy, is the untapping of the unconscious mind in order to explore artistic interpretation, free of stilted critical thought, that may disallow the unusual, the honest, or that may remain in habitual knowledge distilled in the mind and body dictating behaviour patterns. The unconscious artistic view, fusing the internal and the external, looking through an open lens, triggers an unharnessed expression, an ability to be free within abstraction and develop unknown connections, individually and collectively (Caws 2011). Characteristics of the resulting artwork, according to Caws (2011, 15), incorporates ‘coincidences, correspondences, the marvellous, the uncanny, a reciprocal exchange [and] connecting the conscious with the unconscious thought’. Utilising this philosophy in the rehearsal process allowed the mind to roam freely, stimulating synaptic connections spontaneously, resulting in creative content. These led to a variety of choreographic experiments, or creative tasks, an example of which follows,

1. Ensure that all participants are aware of the conceptual basis for the overall creative enquiry, which for angel-monster was investigating the contemporary female. 2. Introduce a number of images (see Images 23-25), chosen due to their relation to the underlying conceptual themes. The included examples were used in the angel-monster process and sourced from investigating female surrealist artists

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Leonor Fini (1972), Meret Oppenheim (1936) and Inez de Vega (2010). 3. Reflecting on these images I asked each participant to write unconsciously for 5 minutes. I encouraged the participants to follow these guidelines; do not let the pen stop moving, any thought, memory or image that comes to mind should be notated, spelling and grammar are not important, structure and style of writing is not important, use the images to instigate writing but allow your thoughts to take over. If focus is lost you can write a safety sentence, such as ‘I am one in six’, that can be repeated until a new thought emerges.

Images 23-25, Mining the Choreographic Unconscious images, de Vega, Fini and Oppenheim

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4. At the conclusion read the resulting text. At times we read our writing out aloud and at others I read it alone depending on how the rehearsal was situated at that time. For example, in one task we wrote personal experiences that eventuated into autobiographical content relating to physical abuse. These writings were not all shared amongst the group, although mine were used in a cold read119 to generate authentic performative response. These texts were then layered and used in the sound world for the section of angel- monster titled Penthouse (see angel-monster video footage from 40:28-45:05)

The ways in which the above strategy was used in the angel-monster process are detailed below.

Imagined Heritage as Textual Script The resulting writings from the process described above were distilled, recontextualised and edited into a script that was recorded and contributed to the sound world of angel-monster. During the rehearsal process the task was repeated multiple times, each time with a different number of dancer participants, thus developing a considerable amount of content to redesign. For example, during the writing process, five minutes on average resulted in 1-2 pages of A4 writing, which, multiplied by six participants including myself, results in 6-12 pages of new textual material to explore. During the angel- monster process I found that the resulting material was highly personal, political, reflective of issues of currency and written in poetic structure.

Suffocate and truss me, tie me down, smother me, yes dear, dinner will be ready at six…. I wonder if you could pick her

119 Two performers read two different memories to each other and had not seen the written content before doing so.

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black iris from a line-up, do you study it, worship it? Do you see its intricate folds? Do you see her orchids, her lilies and lotuses?

Unconscious Writing, written by Amelia Stokes – 2016 Project 2 - angel-monster creative development

The writing then went through a process of editing whereby, in response to created choreographic content and overarching themes of scenes, the writings were collated, elaborated and constructed. An example of the resulting edited script is as follows,

This is our confession. We are horned rippled beasts With painful mouths and rotten insides. We’re alluring and Disgusting and Unsafe. Too loud too dominating? We can’t hide enough of ourselves for your liking. We are thousands within thousands.

This is our confession. Yes Dear. Yes Dear. We are one in six dear. Would you enjoy Me or Us Dear? If our words were removed from our faces, never to see the day of light, never to be inked or spoken Would you enjoy Me or Us Dear? we are thousands within thousands and

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this is our confession.

This strategy resulted in eight coalesced textual scenes. Each of these scenes became part of numerous soundscapes generating the sound world for the work. It was a purposeful choice to have the spoken word disconnected from the performers themselves, via recording only, to recognise the external voice whilst disallowing our own voices, representing the voices, and silenced voices, of many. In the creation of the soundscapes120, another editing process took place where scenes were layered, repeated and morphed to again abstract the original text. I did this relying on instinctual choices, yet informed by the Choreographing Cinematic Structures strategy (see Chapter 5.3), in reflection of the purpose of each scene and its place in the work (see 38:38 to 51:21 minutes of the video footage for an example of the resulting content). The soundscapes became a poetic dimension that added to narrative understandings within the work, yet also led some audience members to abstract its meaning within their own interpretations.

Imagined Heritage for Choreographic Mining and Instigation The resulting texts were also used as an instigator for new choreographic content and as a springboard for new ideas. The process relied on spontaneous comprehension to lead the exchange once the texts had been considered. An example is a scene titled Blowback Duet (Image 26). This scene was instigated by Imagined Heritage theories and supported by the collective textual responses, yet came instinctively during the process. The choreographic exploration commenced considering the women of our heritage, grandmothers, mothers and feminist ancestors who built us to become the women that we are today. The starting concept was to have one performer, representing current female struggles with patriarchally-instigated

120 I worked with a sound designer for around 25% of the work, however all text layers where recorded and edited by me. This was dictated by funding restraints, however allowed me to deeply explore choreographic concepts in the editing process. There are aspects of the sound that would be improved in another iteration of the work.

121 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei inequality, blown back and forth across space by an external force that controls her ability to progress forward.

Image 26 - Blowback Duet, A Stokes and H Ely, Image taken by FenLan Photography

Another performer, representing the women of our histories, nurtures her and assists her to battle against the external force. They perform partner based movement vocabularies utilising gravity and tension, between their bodies and the imagined force, to create a naturalistic struggle between them whilst maintaining a nurturing aesthetic (Image 27, and video footage 15:14 – 19:24). The remainder of the performers are stuck in place, in limbo, their faces covered, performing movement inspired by the air dancer121, where an external force blows the body uncontrollably from the ground up. Their presence represents the intransigence of society and the constructs that have, and continue to, disallow personal choice or progression. The resulting phrase incorporated less-stylised and gestural choreography, a more fluid and organic aesthetic, that offered metaphor and space for a layering of personal interpretation, rather than the specific imagery present within many of the other phrases. I found that in informally discussing the work with some

121 A large man-shaped inflatable often seen in car yards.

122 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei audience members that there were many varying interpretations of this section, however all related to a generational relationship.

Image 27 - Blowback Duet, A Stokes and H Ely, Image taken by FenLan Photography

A further example is a process of mining the textual content to generate new choreographic phrases. This was achieved through the following steps,

1. Reread your unconscious writing and make a list of active instigators (see Appendix 6 for an example). This can be singular verbs or phrases that spark particular choreographic inspiration. 2. Reread your unconscious writing again, this time making a list of emotive instigators (see Appendix 6 for an example). Again this can be in singular word form or a larger concept that sparks an idea. 3. You now have two lists of words drawn from the writing. Draw a line from each active instigator, linking it to an emotive instigator. The choice can be led with a particular aesthetic in mind or can be instinctual, for example you may want the links to match, be juxtaposed, or happen via chance.

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There may be odd numbers, however let your instinct take over in the process to repeat, discard or evolve the words. 4. You now have a list of instigators containing both active and emotive directives. Create a movement response for each. The choreographic outcomes can be placed in sequential order or, as with the angel-monster process, be placed in a choreographic cinematic structure122.

5.3 Choreographing Cinematic Structures The strategy of Choreographing Cinematic Structures, an adaptation of the filmic concept of cinematic structures, is useful as a tool for choreographic design, both in the assemblage of scenes and overall scores. Initiated within the train of thinking of Project 1, and instigated by a personal conversation with Akram Khan123 (see Creative case study 1, Chapter 3.1), the strategy was conceived in practice in the processual progression of #angel-monster, The Paratrooper Project and angel-monster. Cinematic structures refers to the elemental structuring and representation of narrative through time and motion in the medium of film (Sillery 2014). There are various narrative tools associated within the broad area of cinematic structuring and I chose to focus only on those of interest to my practice. These included the narrative complexities found in, what Allan Cameron (2008, 1) called the Database Aesthetic, where narrative ‘is divided into discrete segments and subjected to complex articulations [of] modular narrative’ to manipulate time, often resulting in non-linear structures. My attraction to this method was the potential to dissect elements of narrative, or choreographic language, and recontextualise its placement, rupturing habitual sequential patterns, exploring juxtaposition and illogical scene

122 It is interesting to note that these steps have become a frequent and useful tool within education focused workshops aiming to assist students in creating thematic based movement. 123 Held at Queensland Performing Arts Centre in September 2015. Cinematic structuring was mentioned briefly by Khan as an aesthetic influence, possibly shaping the creation of Desh, which initiated my own interest in seeking out this form and recontextualising it as a defined choreographic strategy.

124 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei progression. I foresaw how this method could be applied to the entirety of a work, and through exploration, also to minute physical details. Whilst non- linear structuring in the contemporary dance field, and within in my own work, is a common methodology, the application of this particular method to an entire work and finite detail is a new approach that I foresaw as an area for investigation. Non-linear structures in film are generally a creative voice orientated genre, where the voice of the creator and/or director, or in this case the choreographer, is of higher importance than that of the characters (Dancyger and Rush 2014). Characteristics of this structural form include narrative fragmentation and subjectivity, juxtaposition of elements, a lack of succession, and emotive rather than event driven emphasis. The viewer experience can shift in observation as their ability to identify and define characters becomes complex, and a broader sense of interpretation is increased. Examples in the film sector include Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Terence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, Christopher Nolan’s Memento, Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day and Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali’s Un Chien Andalou made in 1919, the latter of which is considered to be the original application of such formats (Dancyger and Rush 2014; Cameron 2008).

5.3.1 Choreographic Cinematic Assemblage Strategies The exploration of this approach in choreographic practice has culminated in two key strategies – the assemblage of scenes, and assemblage of choreographic scores.

Assemblage of Scenes The first iteration of exploring choreographing cinematic assemblage of scenes was during project 1. For instance, characteristics of the overall choreographic score for #angel-monster were juxtapositionally developed in a non-progressive ordering of scenes with emphasis on the emotive narrative content rather than that of event driven narrative content. The narrative framework for the solo was constructed in five scenes, created in personal

125 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei response to issues of feminism explored in the context of Disney fairy-tales, ordered chronologically, based on the structure of the original Snow White story (Image 28).

Image 28 – #angel-monster chronological map of scenes

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Utilising the concept of cinematic structures, I then created a patchwork of scenes woven into a non-linear format using narrative time to direct the assemblage process. The assemblage process identified scenes situated in the past and placed them furthest away from the audience, with ideas in the present placed closer. Additionally, the final scene was placed first as well as last in a cyclic progression in alignment with some examples of the filmic theory (Image 29).

Image 29 – #angel-monster non-linear map of scenes

However, I did choose to keep the hand held signs (see Chapter 4) in their chronological order, mismatched with the scene to which each one related to provide further juxtaposition between narrative elements whilst also providing some chronological narrative markers for the audience. This resulted in a transitioning from differing narrative and emotional states,

127 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei requiring a quick alteration of physical and facial aesthetics, and a complex use of time based spatial relationship. This fostered an external viewpoint wherein moulding the arc of the choreography and its performative function offered new and altered consideration compared with my prior methods, resulting in the use of a more complex web of non-linear narrative. However, the focus group in viewing the work did comment that, whilst the work was successful in delivering a layered, yet clearly non-linear narrative, the movement vocabulary remained in my familiar aesthetic and the reintroduction of the fourth wall between performer and audience was a move away from my usual creative use of spatial relationship. Thus, it was clear that the choreographic cinematic structuring methodology was a useful strategy in finding new construction methods, the physicalisation process, however, required broader exploration with further attention to the implications of habitual patterns. In retrospect it can be seen that this solo became an important initiator in exploring and expanding my knowledge and application of movement construction, which in the following stages of research, became further detailed and mathematically complex. Moving forward, transitioning between Projects 1 and 2, the strategy was further put into action and explored in the creative development of The Paratrooper Project. Similar to the process described above, utilising the database and juxtapositional formulaic approach to narrative progression, the collaborative team and I developed a non-linear structure for The Paratrooper Project that also relied on time and space to dictate scenic order - however, this time with greater complexity, and through application to a full-length work. Firstly, the scenes were considered as separate entities, not progressive narrative elements. Secondly, the space itself was divided into areas with an associated time frame, for example World War I, World War II and what we called World War Current. Lastly, each scene used imagined narrative and factual narrative to dictate the amount of space between performers and their proximity to the audience, utilising the strategy’s concepts in a new spatial relationship – performer to audience, performer to performer and performer to space. Therefore, within the thematic construct of the works connection to

128 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei narrative time, for instance the scenes’ relationship to past, present or future, dictated the location each scene would take place within the performance space, and eventuated in a complex map of scenes (Images 30-32). An example of how I came to this construction is shown in the below images.

Images 30-32 – The Paratrooper Project map of scenes

Following on from this, and bringing in considerations of the fourth wall, the audience’s journey was also choreographed to ensure that the audience spatial pattern was negotiated around and in the performance content in

129 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei varied, autonomous and constructed, patterns. Finally, the choreographic manipulation of the set, consisting of twelve full size parachutes attached to complex pulley systems, was reshaped and continuously evolving, directing and restricting the performer and audience pathways. The dissection process and oppositional concept was again applied to their movement pathways, complementing the overall use of the strategy and adding yet another layer. In this way, the strategy of Choreographing Cinematic Structures was further pulled apart and contributed to three new strategies for choreographic assemblage, now also considering performance, audience and set design pathways. The use of Choreographic Cinematic Structures within The Paratrooper Project offered a metaphor for complex construction on many planes, adding to the work holistically as a metaphor for chaos and conflict. The work disallowed passivity within all aspects of performing and viewing the work, supporting the overall purpose. However this complexity created additional work for the collaborative team in the creative process and did take considerable time to negotiate. From feedback124 provided by the audience and reviewers, the work was predominantly considered unique, holding a heightened sense of experiential and relatable abstract narrative. However the non-linear subjectivity, also providing symbolic personal attachment for some, was also considered to be overly conceptual by others. The final stage of exploration defining Choreographic Cinematic Structures was the angel-monster process where I again built upon the cinematic assemblage of overall scenes and explored processes of finding the overall narrative journey. However, in this instance, the driving force behind the scene’s construction revolved around the needs of set items – the pathway and use of the used clothing items - and the audience journey in space. The strategy of choreographing installations (see Chapter 5.5) discusses this in detail, yet evolved in conjunction with the cinematic structural paradigm. On this occasion, the scenes were each assigned a sheet of paper, where elements were able to be listed and colour coded, then manipulated and shifted in sequence (see Image 33). This gave the overall

124 Gathered via written survey, discussion and published review.

130 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei structure a malleability that was altered, that is, choreographed, into differing formations during rehearsal explorations. The final structure was decided upon due to scene progression, juxtaposition of audience journey (or perceived choreographic front) whilst also allowing the set to dictate progression.

Image 33 – angel-monster cinematic assemblage of overall scenes

This cerebral approach to aligning scenes was useful in bringing together the fragmented experiments across the work’s creation journey, however this also brought a thematic juxtaposition that eventuated in a diverse viewer response. As with The Paratrooper Project, some viewers appreciated the juxtaposition of narrative whilst others wanted a more linear grounding. For me, I believe offering an abstracted journey where personal interpretation is invited is important when exploring socio-political themes. I want to avoid didactic interpretation and offer open engagement. It can be seen that progression of Choreographic Cinematic Structures in the assemblage of scenes has offered me heightened processes in

131 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei choreographic construction that have gone on to become a consistent part of my choreographic paradigm125.

Assemblage of Choreographic Scores Additionally, during the angel-monster process I was able to further amplify the choreographing cinematic structures strategy’s potential via its application in the assemblage of choreographic vocabulary. Here the construction of finite choreographic phrasing to develop complex scores became possible. Using a detailed database structure, singular movement and short phrases of movement could be manipulated and reconstructed in unfamiliar partnerships with other created elements. Initial stages of exploration, whilst a simplistic approach when reflecting on the strategy’s progression across the research, related to the modification of the #angel- monster solo choreography for its use with an ensemble of performers. The assemblage process for this initial stage is detailed below (see Image 34),

1. Taking the first section of #angel-monster solo choreography, I segmented it into a series of 8 count sections – 1 to 8 2. Next I sectioned the dancers into groups – 1 to 3 3. I then created a grid of the 8 count sections for each group. The distribution of sections between the groups was decided instinctually, considering complementary patterns and incorporating unison, accumulation, juxtaposition and canon possibilities. 4. To further diversify the grid, I then altered phrases via retrograde (see below image R above right of section numbers).

125 After completing the practical element of this research project I have begun to use this approach within the creation of a new work, currently titled Intertidal.

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Image 34 – Choreographic Cinematic Structures, assemblage of scenes experiment

The resulting choreography was successful in offering a more complex and layered physical vocabulary whilst maintaining the narrative context. The process for the dancers however, required notable consideration demanding a cerebral, and as well as a corporeal level of complexity to which they were not accustomed, and one that worked in opposition to the instinctual and reflexive processes also explored in the studio. This same procedure, however this time shortening and differentiating the number of counts in each section, was further utilised eventuating in an early scene in angel-monster. Additional elements, such as repetitive gestural metaphors from the works’ entirety were then also included to further layer metaphor across the whole work, and use the scene as a form of overture at the start of the piece (see video footage 02:21 – 5:00). This variation with differentiated count patterns between each section of movement, along with the spliced in metaphors, was challenging when finding synchronicity within the individual timings of the dancers’ phrases. The complexity required some unification to show the performers’ narrative connections.

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Moving further into the angel-monster creative development, the assemblage of choreographic scores strategy, as detailed above, was further dissected in order for the theories of Choreographic Cinematic Structuring to be applied to singular movement, rather than phrases of eight counts, creating a complex movement nexus or choreographic database structure. An example of this, as used in the creation of grotesque scene, played out as follows (see Image 34),

1. As a group we wrote a list of behaviours that for a female is considered grotesque (the grotesque movement exploration was initiated by movements notated in an Embodied Reflexivity task), for example laughing loudly, smelling one’s arm pit, scratching your crutch or sitting with your legs open. 2. Each dancer was directed to create a short movement or gestural phrase in response to each grotesque behaviour. Vocals and facial expressions were encouraged to coincide with the physical. 3. These behaviours were adapted, combined and manipulated through a process of collaboration until ten short phrases remained. Each phrase was given a number from 1 to 10 4. Each behavioural phrase was then learnt by all the dancers. 5. Five behavioural phrases were then adapted into duet material, these are each given letters from A to F 6. Each behavioural duet phrase was then learnt by all dancers, working in pairs. 7. Throughout the learning process some phrases were further manipulated becoming a phrase deviation, these were then given their own identifier, for example 42, 52, or 8B. All dancers also learnt these variations. 8. Each behavioural phrase, duet and variation was written on a piece of paper and placed in a jar. The phrases that I considered the strongest were written on two separate

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pieces of paper and also placed in the jar – giving them possibilities for a higher rotation. 9. Each dancer then created their own list of phrases by drawing out 21 numbers. This was notated horizontally generating a map of behavioural phrases relevant to each dancer and the ensemble, but directed by chance. 10. Any unison or canon matches between dancers was highlighted (see yellow highlights in Image 34). 11. Each phrase was learned and performed simultaneously. The resultant scene was a multipart choreographic schema with unison, canon, repetition, adaptation and variation. Once the phrase was complete, choreographic alterations could be fabricated, adding to the overall physical patterns. 12.

Image 35 –angel-monster cinematic structure database score

The above process was challenging for the dancers, as with the previous example, due to the sporadic and fragmented nature of the

135 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei choreographic content. The pattern of creating, dissecting and relearning in a non-typical ordering offered considerable challenge to the retaining of choreographic material. The dancers found new challenges in muscle memory, musicality and physical association to each movement. The scene took much longer to rehearse and refine due to its unusual qualities providing a challenge, yet offering new avenues to develop a choreographic language. In using this method, there is the risk of the material being overly complex and overpowering for the eye. However, with refinement and particular attention to finding moments of synchronicity, the vocabulary became juxtapositional and synchronistic simultaneously, bringing the phrasing together as a cohesive movement scene. I found that building the phrase, beyond that offered in Image 34, from ensemble and duet unison structuring developed satisfaction as an external viewer, where chaos evolved into unity and resolved the scene from both movement and conceptual aspects (see grotesque scene at 27:48 – 32:40 of video footage126). The impact of cinematic structuring concepts, understood through this research and the Khan creative case study, eventuated in considerable alteration to my choreographic assemblage methodologies. Whilst this strategy can be viewed as similar to other choreographic coding approaches such as Trisha Brown’s Locus127 (Sulzman 1978; Nicely 2005), this enquiry has brought forth new tools and viewpoints relevant to rerouting my crafting processes. The assemblage of my work has become mathematical, offering a cerebral approach where it was once instinctual. This strategy has resulted in a myriad of alterations to my practice including greater complexity in time- spatial relationships, the layering and juxtapositioning of phrasing and non- linear intentionality, and the installation design of set and audience engagement.

126 Note that the timing of movement is out at the start of this footage due to two of the performers being late in their costume change. 127 Locus is a coded cube that randomly directs spatial physicalisations and directionality altering habitual patterns.

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5.4 Choreographic Recontextualisation

As a choreographer, I often create performance work that acts as a catalyst to discuss, counter and advance societal issues. A key choreographic principle, supported by the strategy Imagined Heritage, in achieving a theatrical-real polarity is the recontextualisation of various stimuli, such as imagery, video, texts, imaginings and experiential offers, to create new movement vocabularies. My process has consistently encompassed more than just the physical, through exploration of relationships with vocalisation and environment design, which has opened my process into new avenues of investigation. Via the exploration of recontextualisation strategies, I have altered my practice, moving from texts created from amalgamated materials to original poetic creations of both text, sound and design, based on reflection and experiential knowledge. The recontextualisation process can be applied in different ways and is useful in adapting my choreographic thinking, as the ‘articulations and inscriptions of dance knowledge… [allowing] choreographic ideas to move freely from their instantiation in the body to other domains and back again’ (Shaw 2014, 118). Choreographic Recontextualisation is heavily used in both the angel-monster and The Paratrooper Project processes, offering methods to develop, fragment and generate poetic languages utilising choreographic understandings as a processual approach, yet resulting in a multiplicity of creative avenues (Graham 2006). In Project 2, the strategies developed during Project 1 and The Paratrooper Project were further pulled apart and explored in the creation of angel-monster. One example is the processual steps that were taken in the creation of a phrase called like a girl. During some background research into areas of feminism, I came across an article by Iris Young (1980) that critiqued the theories of Erwin Straus, a phenomenologist and neurologist noted for his work in the 1960s. In this paper, Young particularly focuses on Straus’ ill-informed postulations detailing ‘‘the remarkable difference in the manner of throwing of the two

137 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei sexes’!’ [p. 157]. This attitude towards female physical prowess is evident through stereotypical phrases such as, ‘you throw like a girl’ - ‘don’t be such a girl’, and is not an accurate representation of female physiology. In response I was interested in exploring the text as a metaphor bringing light to the absurdity of this stereotyping, which is still present in today’s society. In response, we developed two movement phrases recontextualising the text.

1. The first was an exploration of the act of throwing a ball, as naturally as possible, with and without the ball as object. This experiment allowed us to identify the different physical pathways for each body type when throwing with force. This experiment was then recontextualised again, turning the throwing action into a durational performative act where over time the action transmogrified, becoming a punch, ‘you punch like a girl’. The linking between the two actions became a symbol of protest, against stereotypes of prowess, and through durational exhaustion, intended to elicit an emotive response from the performer and viewer. In the final incarnation we watched performer Courtney Scheu throw, then punch, continuously (Image 36), the duration of which altered each time it was performed and was reliant on the other performers instinctive will to stop her.

She throws her arm forward, powerful, stretched, her head is bent, part exhaustion, part focus, part dragon, her breath is rapid, heavy and she unconsciously groans with pain as the muscles tire. We watch, we urge her to stop. She starts to slow and when you think she will give in, new energy surmounts.

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Choreographic Notation 2 - 2016 Project 2 - angel-monster, Choreographic Recontextualisation, like a girl - punching

Image 36 – Punch Like a Girl, angel-monster, Image by FenLan Photography

2. Descriptive text found in the article was broken down into a series of movement directions (see example below). I then asked the dancers to move instinctively but also to utilise precision and abrupt dynamics.

use of lateral space. stretch arm sideward twist trunk move legs lift her right arm forward to the horizontal bend the forearm backward do not stretch right arm sideward

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do not go backwards do not supinate the forearm do not twist, turn or bend the trunk do not move foot backward.

The intention behind the phrase became a metaphor for the nature of female physicality, strength and individualism that challenges common expressions such as ‘throwing like a girl’. In the final stages of creative development this exploration was shifted into two different scenes, one was amalgamated with other movement concepts in the cinematic structuring process, and the other became a standalone durational scene. Both scenes can be viewed at the below video time signatures,

- Recontextualisation 1, Throwing and Punching, 45:27 – 48:37 minutes - Recontextualisation 2, Throwing Like A Girl, A Stokes, dancer to right of screen with short hair, 03:17 – 03:31 minutes.

Whilst Choreographic Recontextualisation is a strategy I have used within my creative work prior to this research project, what has shifted now is a more detailed and deeper perspective when dissecting the information and reforming it into choreographic ideas. The lens in which I view information has become more critical and the methods in which I analyse it have broadened, expanding avenues for recontextualisation.

5.5 Choreographing Active Installations A consistent approach in my practice is to consider the audience journey and explore multiple mechanisms for the performative environment (see Chapter 1.2). Whilst not a key area in this research, this approach has been enhanced via this investigation process and resulting choreographic strategies. Each strategy, for various reasons, has advanced the installation design process and expanded my thinking to respond to multiple new considerations. The methodology in finding specific environmental designs

140 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei for each work was an instinctive process, yet supported by the research strategies. The design for The Paratrooper Project entailed twelve full size parachutes on pulley systems that enabled the manipulation of the stage space, creating multiple spatial and aesthetic variations. The inspiration for this design came to me tacitly, however the application of their use was informed by this research – particularly Choreographic Cinematic Structures (see Chapter 5.4). In contrast, for angel-monster, the environment consisted of four hanging uteri-shaped sculptures full of second hand women’s clothing (Image 37) that, when released, were utilised in multiple ways, such as to dissect the space into linear shapes (Images 38).

Image 37-38 - angel-monster, installation design

The set, being hundreds of pieces of women’s second hand clothing, is manipulated through and in support of the choreography. The clothing provides a metaphor for many women, many voices and supports issues of social programming whereby clothing items portray concepts of feminine body image: for example, many pairs of short denim shorts. Again, the initiating design concept came to me instinctually, however this time it was

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Imagined Heritage and concepts of Embodied Reflexivity that informed the set journey. The designs in each work offered differing aesthetics instigated through thematic explorations, yet they did have some underlying commonalities, such as installed hanging objects, the shifting of space, and attention to the audience’s embodied journey. The key alterations in my practice, in comparison to my earlier works Boiling Point and de-generator utilising installation concepts, can be seen in a greater consideration to choreographing the active nature of the set and the audience pathways within the work. That being said, the installation and audience experience aspects of angel-monster was not fully realised, but is planned to be completed for future incarnations of the work.

5.6 Instinctive Structures and Micro Experiments As outlined in Chapter 3, led by findings discovered in the Raewyn Hill creative case study Project 1, I underwent a period of investigation into various surrealist methodologies128. The exploratory process initiated fresh approaches to choreographic thinking, relying on my instinctive responses with greater conviction and allowed rehearsal processes to lead themselves, rather than over planning each session as I had previously. An example of this approach is the collaborative arrangement I set up with my lighting designer, Keith Clark. Clark and I have worked together on a number of my works, and our collaborative relationship is well established. For the angel- monster process, rather than our usual method of designing in response to choreographic content shown in the studio, I gave him a set of written provocations leading him to create the lighting design without detailed context or viewing of choreographic material; thus instilling an instinctive process and unconscious collaboration, within the design of the work. Clark, in reflective discussion, stated that he found this a new and challenging

128 The surrealist strategies explored include Dream States, Frottage, Grattage, Decalcomania, Exquisite Corpse, Collage and Fumage (2015).

142 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei process, describing it as an exciting alteration to his creative process and our collaborative methods.

What lighting state would you create to embody a woman?

What lighting state would you create to be grotesque?

What lighting state would you create for a Disney fairy-tale?

How can you light hanging ovums?

Lighting Design Provocations - 2016 Project 2 - angel-monster, email to K Clark.

Once his designs were complete we then paired them with each scene and we did not need to make any alterations other than intensity levels. It was surprising to both of us how effective the process was and eventuated into a design that reinforced the choreographic content. Additionally, I began working with micro experiments where small ideas were explored and permitted to succeed or fail without judgement, for example, any movement vocabularies that did not feel or sit right in the broader context where used as an opportunity, rather than a set back. Failure was seen as an unexpected avenue where the unplanned can be again recontextualised as a point of departure into new ideas. In the angel-monster process there were over 30 micro experiments explored across the creative enquiry (see Appendix 7). This approach created a rehearsal culture where all offers were possible and encouraged, leading the team into new avenues of interest and steering us away from habituality, both choreographically and performatively. The benefits of this approach have influenced all stages of the practice-led enquiry, unlocking the unconscious mind and allowing intuition and chance to direct the flow of creative play. These tacitly driven approaches, in conjunction with the other highly structured strategies such as Choreographing Cinematic Structures, provided a diverse tool kit for

143 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei processual exploration, the findings of which are discussed in the following summary.

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CHAPTER 6. DESTINATIONS: The Recontextualised Choreographic Self

In this practice-led research study, I have developed new choreographic strategies, through the investigation and recontextualisation of my choreographic praxis in the creation of new performance work. This is significant for my practice which functions within the current ecology, where the nature of project based independent working environments necessitates self-innovation. As the field demands continuous reinvention, it is crucial for contemporary choreographers, such as myself, to seek ways to transform our practice. I instigated this study to address a gap in the evolution of the mid- career choreographer, where advanced artistic and professional development opportunities are limited, and in order to reroute my practice through doctoral enquiry. Consequently, the core function of this study is aligned to Stevens and Leach’s (2015, S404) description of,

breaking [of] perceptual sets, exploring new cognitive pathways, keeping response options open, suspending judgment, using ‘‘wide’’ categories and seeing or forming relations between diverse bits of information, remembering accurately and breaking out of performance scripts.

The methodological design of this research engendered the demystification of my established conceptual and embodied tacit approaches to practice, and fostered processual experimentation. Employing practice-led methodological paradigms was key, however, it was the reshaping of them to fit my specific choreographic research needs that became most influential, particularly Reflexive Practices (see Chapter 2.3) and Creative Case Study (see Chapter 2.4 and 3).

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An important platform for this research, and I would suggest other practice-led creative research projects, was the examination and possibilising of my choreographic self via re-mapping individualistic creative mechanisms. The process of possibilising, as suggested by Protopapa (2016, 181) is:

invitation to create new analytical frameworks for contemporary choreographic work… such approaches would seek to identify the possibilities themselves opened out for dance through choreography. This would allow in turn, for further choreographic practice to develop on the basis of its need to explore possibilities, which may include new kinds of movement, or new relationship to movement.

Thus, the self-analytical aspect of this research, particularly Embodied Reflexivity (see Chapter 2.3.3, 4.1.1 and 5.1), developed more explicit choreographic comprehension, enabling me to work with a heightened degree of mind-body awareness and discover new pathways for praxis (see Chapter 5). This research process has instigated an elevated degree of analysis and reshaped all spheres of my practice. This investigation, working in conjunction with the creative case studies (see Chapter 3), offered an initiating creative springboard beyond the habitual and the possibility to destabilise my comfortable methods of practice. I have been able to explicitly challenge these tacit methods leading to the emergence, and testing, of new choreographic strategies. The process was methodical yet experimental. I was able to mine what was known and use this to shatter my praxis, finding new tracks into unknown territory. The developed choreographic strategies (see Chapter 5) Embodied Reflexivity, Imagined Heritage, Choreographic Cinematic Structures,

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Choreographic Recontexualisation, Choreographing Active Installations, and Instinctive Structures and Micro Experiments, were significant in facilitating the recoding and reshaping of my choreographic characteristics. They each became intertwined and, via the reflexive aspects of the research, informed each other, becoming significant to the research objectives – to recontextualise my choreographic self. The strategies allowed me to reroute, and then expand, my conceptual and processual choreographic praxis, merging cerebral and embodied approaches in the creation of the solo works #angel-monster and A Collection of Me-Isms, and full-length ensemble works The Paratrooper Project and angel-monster. Each strategy was developed across the four creative works, understood via solo and ensemble processes and tested in multiple scenarios via cycles of practice-led analysis. In evaluating the strategies and the creative work it is clear that each became more layered and sophisticated as the research process progressed. The choreographic strategies named above have each cultivated diverse tools that can function individually, yet also in conjunction with each other, across diverse conceptual visions. They are each ingrained in the embodied and instinctual, yet also cerebral, mathematical and conceptual, which together shifted my habituality and cultivated innovation. Some primary findings of the research generated by practice in the final creative work angel-monster can be understood as follows.

6.1 Summary of Primary Findings Generated in angel-monster An important aspect of angel-monster’s developmental process was the use of the choreographic strategies developed across this research. Each strategy was significant in it’s individual application as described in Chapter 5. However, in this final creative process they emerged as amalgamated concepts that were entwined to influence my choreographic praxis. My creation process became simultaneously influenced by all the previously explored research areas, driven by the newly formed knowledge milieu throughout the choreographic enquiry. The cyclical reflexive structure, which began as twin tornadoes (see Chapter 2.3.1), now represent a multiplicity of interconnected tornadoes offering vast perspectives.

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The initiating strategies of Embodied Reflexivity and Imagined Heritage worked in conjunction to develop a collaborative ecology where personal histories, my own and that of the ensemble of dancers, emerged via reflexive explorations. The collaborative ecology was an important aspect of this projects structure, where a more complex working relationship was established and required greater creative and personal input from all dancers and creatives within the process. The resulting reflections then became points of departure for choreographic interrogation using Choreographic Recontextualisation and Instinctive Structures and Micro Experiments to lead the processual routes. The choreographic enquiries resulted in a diverse range of aesthetic responses, for example the emergence of a strong gestural language driven by thematic impulse. Sections of the movement language were then further recontextualised using Choreographing Cinematic Structures as an underpinning corporeal structuring device. This led to a complex layering of movement, destablising habitual patterns and developing new articulations of narrative meaning. The overall choreographic aesthetic of angel-monster became layered with fragmentations of metaphoric gesture, producing an aesthetic that differs from the virtuosity of my previous works, where complex partnering and highly ‘danced’ movements have usually been incorporated. This was not a conscious shift, but emergent, and an outcome of my newly transformed approaches to praxis. Additionally, and in support of the performative language, the design of the performance environment and creative elements also evolved responding to the newly developed strategies. The set and spatial design was developed instinctively throughout the research, yet also in response to Choreographing Active Installations. The technical design team, lighting designer Keith Clark and composer Andrew Mills, were kept separate to the studio process and guided via thematic provocations. This method of exchange was a divergence from our previous collaborative relationships, and whilst challenging their usual working methods, also resulted in a more complex context to their creations, supporting the overall choreographic and

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conceptual contexts. In structuring the work the choreographic and creative elements were then brought together responding to the Choreographic Cinematic Structure strategy, further manipulating the overall arc of the work. Whilst the assemblage of the scenes aspect of angel-monster could be revisited for further exploration, this strategy has resulted in a major shift in my structuring approaches. The use of Choreographing Cinematic Structures, in conjunction with the other strategies, allowed for the juxtaposing elements to sit with each other in a more complex and layered non-linear narrative than I had previously explored. The results were a series of fragmented narratives designed to provide insight into issues of the contemporary female and offer a subjective audience journey, in both interpretation and experience. The collective use of the choreographic strategies led to the creation of angel-monster via an all-female performative collaborative cast. The work offers choreographic representations of issues surrounding what it is to be female, and contributes to current discourse surrounding contemporary choreographic practice and cultural expressions of protest129. angel-monster, developed utilising the newly formed choreographic pathways discovered in this research project, is a representation of my recontextualised choreographic self. The research project focused on rigorous investigation into praxis and choreographic processual routes. Whilst the work, from an artistic perspective, is not yet complete with further consideration into audience pathways and set design elements required, it does represent considerable recontextualisation of my choreographic approach.

In summary, this research project has resulted in an expansion, and then distillation, of my creative process, through choreographic experimentation using the research approaches described above. The study has revealed, fostered and amalgamated heightened states of both cerebral and

129 The cultural protest approach relates to the work of artists such as Hot Brown Honey (Black Honey Company 2014), Adrienne Truscott’s Asking for It: a one-lady rape about comedy starring her pussy and little else! (Truscott 2013) and Elbow Room’s We Get It (Room 2015), all of which have a no-holds-barred approach to their artistic social message.

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embodied approaches to choreographic process, resulting in a multiplicity of new practice-led processual responses. The integration of these juxtaposing elements has challenged, yet also inspired, new avenues of practice where alternative methods have emerged. The methodological design, and insider-outsider lens with myself as artist-researcher, allowed for this cultivation and collaboration illuminating and recoding my understandings of choreographic practice and shifting my artistic self. The results have seen a strengthening of my voice in the field of contemporary choreography, through the articulation of newly formed processual pathways and the extension of my repertoire of creative work, thus adding another artist-centered voice to the field of dance research. This research project represents the research claims in both the symbolic forms of performance and in-text form, consistent with the theories and methods of practice-led research. Moving forward, there are elements of this research that I would continue to investigate, for example, further exploring the processual tools explored in A Collection of Me-Isms and investigating Imagined Heritage in new conceptual avenues130. Whilst this research has focused on what is self-innovating through my practice-led lens, the research model could arguably be applied to the practice of others, particularly the Reflexive Practices (see Chapter 2.3) and Creative Case Study (see Chapter 2.4) methodological approaches, thus adding to the diversity of choreographic voices in the field and further expanding insight into choreographic strategies. Other contemporary choreographers can use this research design and the strategies developed as their own springboard into practice-led experimentation. The research journey has been an unspecified adventure where, through a deep investigation into praxis, I have cut new paths, negotiated speed bumps, gotten lost and then found my way again, as I created new articulations of my choreographic practice. These research findings have relevance to the field of dance studies and choreographic theory, and more directly early- and mid-career

130 I am currently exploring this strategy in a new short work currently titled Intertidal and also in a collaborative enquiry with students from the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts.

150 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei choreographers in pursuit of their own artistic evolution. Further application of this research could impact on the dance landscape by providing strategies for other artists to destabilise habituality and reroute their own practice, thus inspiring the discovery of new paradigms of dance making, and more broadly to contribute to a redefining of processual choreographic strategies in the field.

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APPENDIX

1. Akram Khan - Kathak Kathak, a classical dance originally from Northern India and Pakistan, is one of the eight Indian dance forms (Kothari 2014; Piccirillo 2008). The style has been influenced by both court and temple dances, developed as a chamber art and ‘is the only classical dance in India that has links with Muslim culture’ (Sanders 2004, 29). Developed over centuries Kathak is a solo art that expects the performer to be versatile in dance and also music, mime, song and percussion (Kothari 2014). There are two schools of Kathak that focus on different qualities within the movement, the Lucknow school teaches a lyrical technique and the Jaipur school focus’ on the intricacies of musicality and vigorous details (Kothari 2014). Characteristics of Kathak include a physical language of complex variations and changing tempos, vigorous body movements, vertical stance, pirouettes, footwork, spontaneous improvisation and perfect rapport with the accompanying percussionist (Kothari 2014 ; Piccirillo 2008). Akram Khan began training in Indian classical Kathak dance under Sri Pratap Pawar (Sanders 2004; Willis 2001). Khan (in Sanders 2004, 3) describes the characteristics of Pawar’s training as ‘geometric…[with] mathematical precision, masculine yet graceful’. It is evident that Khan’s training in Kathak has become the grounding of his artistry and influences his creative process in a number of ways including choreographic methodologies surrounding aesthetic and vocabulary, and his relationship to theme and musicality. It wasn’t until later in his adult life that Khan became interested in contemporary dance.

2. Akram Khan - Western Contemporary Dance and Theatre Influences At the age of twenty-two, Khan began to train in contemporary dance at the De Monfort University (1994-96) and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance131 (1996-97) in the techniques of Graham, Cunningham, Alexander,

131 In Leeds, United Kingdom.

172 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei release and improvisation, learning alongside artists such as Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker132, and influenced by the work of Bausch, DV8, Jiri Kylian and Jonathan Burrows (Newman 2010; Sanders 2008; Stock 2012; Bremser and Sanders 2011; Sanders 2004; Crompton 2013; Willis 2001). Prior to this, Khan, at the age of fourteen, had already performed professionally as an actor working with acclaimed theatre director Peter Brook in Mahabharata133, an eleven-hour durational work that toured internationally (Willis 2001). In a personal communication with Khan, in September 2014, he described how Brook’s processual ideologies, for instance deep mindful consideration and powerful yet simplistic communication, was an influential force on Khan’s development as an artist (Willis 2001, 588; Crompton 2013). Additionally, Khan had an interest in Western pop-culture, drawing inspiration from films including Kill Bill, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, and The Incredibles, the non-fiction autobiographies of Charlie Chaplin, Muhammad Ali and playwright Robert Lepage (Sanders 2004; Cripps 2005). Khan (in Creative Creative Bangladesh 2011) said,

I become interested in a particular art-form, when I recognise something within it, that reflects some part of me, and so a relationship takes place between my body and the art-form, and I then move forwards towards learning and researching it.

Yet it is the process of amalgamating the entirety of Khan’s influences that has resulted in his unique artistic vision and methodological approach.

3. Raewyn Hill - Career Positioning Hill's career has been grounded in independent practice, where her continued development of project-based companies has made her a leader in

132 In the Brussels based X-Group project. 133 Directed by Brook and co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

173 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei the sector. From 2001 to 2009 Hill established Soapbox Productions134 an independent company working out of Wellington (Moriarty 2004; Francis 2012; Horsley 2007), ‘as a vehicle for her growing choreographic voice and as a platform for contemporary dance in New Zealand’ (Hill 2004, 1). Coming out of Soapbox, she founded and became CEO, artistic director and choreographer of Raewyn Hill and Dancers (Hill 2008; Francis 2012; Holley 2011). In 2007 she announced her retirement as a dancer, due to the unsustainable nature of the performer-choreographer-producer format, in order to focus on her choreographic career (Horsley 2007). Hill then went on to work internationally, creating works135 such as A Dance For The Forgotten (2007) for Tasdance and Ten Days on the Island Festival, Vespers (2009) for the Asia Pacific Dance Platform and Hong Kong International Arts Festival and also Bolshoi Ballet Academy (Horsley 2009, 2007; Machen 2013; Holley 2011). A significant project was her residency at Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts (2007-09), that was not only a catalyst for the expansion of her international network, but also an experience in further defining her aesthetic (Holley 2011). After a two month development project in Paris (2009), Hill was appointed artistic director of Dancenorth136, a position she held from 2010 to 2014 (Dancenorth 2012; Quagliata 2009). Her repertoire whilst at the company includes137 The cry (2010), Mass (2011), Fugue (2012), and Abandon (2013) (Dancenorth 2012; Frazer 2010). Hill is currently the inaugural Artistic Director of Co3 based in Perth, Western Australia.

134 Whilst working as Soapbox Productions Hill created works including When Love Comes Calling (2001), White (2002), Night (2002), Angels With Dirty Feet (2004) and commissions from organisations such as Footnote Dance Company. 135 Other works created in this time included We Are Gathered Here Today at Auckland’s Tempo° Festival, Nest, In time of Flight and Forgotten for Footnote Dance Company, Hanging between Heaven and Earth for the New Zealand School of Dance, An ocean of Tears for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and Til Death do us Part for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. 136 A contemporary dance company in Townsville, Queensland. 137 Other works created whilst at Dancenorth include Grace (2010), Black Crows (2010-11), Allegories for Brisbane Festival (2012), A Fall From Grace (2013) that premiered at Australian Festival of Chamber Music and Together into the Abyss (2014) for Expressions Dance Company’s Solo Season.

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4. #angel-monster - Image Recontextualisation The below selection of images with accompanying video links show the transference from imagery stimulus to physicality.

Image 39 – Choreographic stimulus, J Bishop, credit Alex Ellinghausen (Price 2014, Opinion) relates to movement between 3.12-3.17 minutes of #angel-monster, which can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/neridance/angel-monster (password n4685474)

Image 40 - Choreographic Stimulus, J Bishop, image credit Jez Smith (Matthewson 2014, 10 Nov) relates to movement between 3.45-3.54 minutes of #angel-monster, which can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/neridance/angel-monster (password n4685474)

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Image 41 - Choreographic Stimulus, Snow White, image credit Deviant artist Lilou (Belladonna Belladonna 2012, Apples) relates to movement between 0.53-1.08 minutes of #angel-monster, which can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/neridance/angel-monster (password n4685474)

5. A Collection of Me-Isms - Additional Strategies

Strategy 6. Physical animation of the Exquisite Corpse Finding the Exquisite corpse138 is an automatic process allowing for unplanned text and image to be developed via chance, resulting in a collage of multiple artistic voices within a singular artwork. Breton (in Finger 2013, 88) discussed the resulting artwork stating,

they bore the mark of something that could not be created by one brain… [and the process was an] infallible way of holding the critical intellect in abeyance, and of fully liberating the mind’s metaphorical activity.

The process of accumulative vision through unhinged collaboration is an interesting strategy to explore within choreographic process. Whilst I was unable to explore this aspect in this research it has potential to be applied to a choreographic process working with multiple choreographic voices, using an accumulation of choreography on a single cast. I plan to investigate this strategy as post-doctoral research.

Strategy 7. Weaving Concepts of Performance When considering how these choreographic strategies can be woven together to develop a full-length work, there are a few options. For example, it could be used as a format for an installation performance where explorations are woven together. This format would align with the surrealist

138 Adapted from a parlour game Petits Papiers in 1925.

176 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei principles of presenting the illogical, and drawing upon the surrealist approaches of interaction139, immersion140 and the absurdist141. I envision A Collection of Me-Isms to become a performance work where the choreographic objects are structured unconsciously, incorporating audience interactivity and implications of chance in a gallery style environment. Similarly to, and partly inspired by, the collaborative installation titled Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical paintings, or the abstract landscapes of artists such as Yves Tanguy. I plan to investigate this strategy as post-doctoral research.

6. Unconscious Writing Example Example of Active Instigators derived from unconscious writings, written by rehearsal collaborator Leane Ungerer, during the angel-monster process. Yellow highlighted words delineate the active words. Blue highlighted words delineate the emotive words.

She was staring, staring off in the distance, he looked at her, not looked but excited with lust. The lust in his eyes were revolting they made her feel wanted but not in a good way no! in some fucked up way like he had already owned her without even knowing, knowing anything about her. He probably hasn’t even noticed the scars, all along her arm under the crease of her shirt. Probably only thinking about the piece of meat he sees in front of him. Take your ticket and wait. Number 1, number 2. How long till it’s her turn will someone ever claim their ticket. Then again her scars, her imperfections, just like every other girl but just uglier, just a little bit more fragile, an easy target. I am one in 6.

139 Such as Breton’s Bureau of Surrealist Research where the public contributed automatic artworks inspired by their dream encounters (Finger 2013). 140 Such as Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme at Galerie Beaux-Arts in Paris 1938, which provided viewers with an immersive experience providing visual, aural and olfactory. Artists included Duchamp, Dali, Ray, Tanguy, Miro and others (Finger, 2013). 141 The absurdist technique was where works are compiled of found objects placed awkwardly upon the other to create an unusual and unexpected configuration.

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7. angel-monster micro experiments 1. #angel-monster solo choreography 2. penthouse phrase 3. #like a girl phrase 4. Improv 1 -Ear phone task - Wives and Lovers (1 sing, one movement response with hum, one natural response to lyrics and pedestrian response i.e. facials) 5. Improv 2 - Ear phone task - Political Speech by Mhairi Black, Yoga Janelle Monae and Train your Wife ‘Yes Dear’ 6. Improv 3 - Ear phone task - Rumpelstiltskin, Ava Gun Granny and Mad Fuckin Witches 7. Embodied Reflection accumulation phrase 1 8. Throwing like a girl 1 – like a girl 9. Throwing like a girl 2 - like a boy 10. Throwing like a girl 3 - authentic 11. Blow back Duet 12. Vulva/Black Iris spatial pattern and Embodied Reflection travelling phrase with text 13. Baking barbie phrase with cinematic structural device 14. Snow White # phrase with undressing and clothes line creation 15. Tuck Shop Lady Arms Phrase 16. Painful dress phrase 17. Hair dryer walking with light bulb joke 18. #evil Bishop phrase with cinematic structure 19. Imagined Heritage Writings x 8 20. Fairy-tale Corpse Script 21. Suspended ovum installation set pieces 22. Second hand women’s clothing as set and costume items 23. Rape (control/shape) wear as base layer costume 24. Flower heads as costume 25. Stockings and contouring makeup as costume elements

178 Recontextualising My Choreographic Self Nerida Matthaei

26. Grotesque phrase 27. Grotesque duet 28. Improve (girls of porn and tampon ad) 29. Kick Ass Chicks on Film recontextualisation Experiment 30. As a teenager writing 31. As a 22 year old writing

* Please note some of above will have been amalgamated, adapted and/or discarded, and may not appear in the showing.

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