fragments of a teddy boy (2012)
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This booklet aims to reflect upon my compositional strategies in
the making of Fragments of a Teddy Boy.
My composition is cross disciplinary and I borrow strategies from
across art forms. Music, creative writing, map making andstorytelling are blended together in this booklet as a personal
compositional strategy. Bogart & Landau ((2005) suggest the
key to compositional work is to do a lot in little
timewonderful work often emergesfrom our impulses, our
dreams, our emotions.(138)
As an artist who creates work based on storytelling and anecdotalexperience my practice seemed to blend perfectly with the
process of developing fragments of material. The fragments are
joined through the connective tissue of self despite them being
created impulsively. The fragments can be read inter-relationally,
as they have all developed from related stimuli, or they can be
read alone. It is important to remember whilst reading this
booklet that the artist, by definition is someone who works in anexpressive idiom, rather than a cognitive one, and for whom the
great project is an extension or development (Schon: 1983)
Fragments are the fragments of the memory, my memory, her
memory, his memory, your memory, fragments of biography and
of autobiography. They are fragments that I want to be whole yet
the pieces dont quite fit, bits are missing.
Fragments of a Teddy Boy is a reflection on memory which all
began with a loss in my family. This happening in my personal
life triggered a visual memory which kept playing over and over,
in my mind, like a tape recording on repeat
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Music
The C.D is
the instrumental version of the song Running Bear Loved Little
White Dove.
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The song played over and over like a tape recording on repeat in
my visual memory. The song became the heartbeat to the
performance and played a vital part in the process, in both
composing material and generating material. The repetitive
agenda stayed with me from the beginning to the end, becoming acompositional strategy in itself. Lone Twin discuss how music is
often integral to their performances and central to their
storytelling practice. They explain how they associate songs with
trying to feel at home and seeking the familiar in an unfamiliar
place. We often associate particular songs to particular memories
of experiences in such that every time we hear that song we are
reminded of that particular experience. (see Williams & Lavery:
2011) Anne Bogart identifies a slight dilemma in her viewpoints
which I can relate to as part of my process using music How
long, How short do you leave a piece of music? When do you
change and in response to what? (Bogart: 2005: 102) Early in the
process I considered removing the backing track completely from
the performance but decided it was either all or nothing. When Iremoved the music there was a flat feeling to the performance,
something was missing. The song in practice seemed to set a
particular tone and tempo and this restricted the rhythm of the
performance. Performing alongside a constant, repetitive
instrumental felt like being stuck in a rut, there were no highs and
lows in the performance, it was all on the same level. Toward the
end of the process I decided to use the song alongside every newfragment of information (see repetition) in order to mirror my
material generating processes. As emphasised by Donald Schon
(1983) these decisions are difficult to reflect upon he (the
practitioner) is dependent on tacit recognitions, judgements and
skilful performances. (1983: 50)
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It is often difficult to discuss my compositional practice as it is an
embodied knowledge, a knowing from doing and often my
reasoning behind certain decision making is difficult to articulate,
it is just a feeling, a knowing I cannot describe.
As part of the process I began experimenting with the
compositional structure of the song in order to structure my
material. Some of these influences still reflect in the overall
compositional structure of the performance. (Introduction, verse,
bridge, chorus, verse bridge chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, finale)
The song is similar in terms of structure to a story and the song
tells a whole story of its own.
The story that the song tells made an impact on the compositional
strategies at play in the performance. It is the story of two star-
crossed lovers, a real Romeo and Juliet story. The story ends
when the pair drown in a river in their efforts to be together. (see
distortion) The fish bowl, which came into play initially through
automatic writing, aimed to substitute the rhythm of the songwhich I removed away from this fragment. As a strategy this was
difficult to sustain and could have been polished more in the
rehearsal process. As a non-musical individual it was difficult to
sustain the rhythm of the song and continue telling the story at
the same time. The compositional element explored through the
fish bowl could be further explored, the bowl made some
beautiful sounds as an instrument..In reflection I would like to
use the song as a literal heartbeat (particularly in the Elvis
Station) and have it decreasing as the fragments progress,
reflecting the story of Running Bear and Little White Dove, but
also the nature of the personal stories I am sharing (my initial
starting points reflected death and loss.)
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Distortion
I would like to
tell you a story.
It is the story oftwo star-
crossed lovers.
A real Romeo
and Juliet
story.
Distortion as a compositional strategy is discussed by SimonWaters in his article Living Without Boundaries.(1994) in the
section entitled Maskinghe suggests the essence of masking is
therefore that something is concealed, but that it is still present,
and that its presence is somehow sensed, despite the intrusion of
the second (masking) element. In line with Waters discussion the
story became the concealed element whilst the fish bowl filled
the role of the masking element. The story became distorted as itwas told underwater.
The story of the song is the story of two star-crossed lovers, a
real Romeo and Juliet story. The story ends when the pair drown
in a river in their efforts to be together.
My head submerged in the water aimed to reflect the star crossedlovers fate and their experiences of the water which was keeping
them apart.
As their hands touched and their lips met the raging river pulled
them down. Now they will always be together in their happy
hunting ground.
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I have begun to think of the distortion evident in memory and
how stories are changed over a course of generation. The stories
are subject to multiple translations, memory storage and,
repetitive telling and are filtered through beliefs, behaviours and
ideals. In this light the telling of the story through distortionreflects modes of storytelling in that each time a story is told it is
tampered with and parts are lost, leaving only a small fragment of
the story. The story is based on layers and layers of trace and
becomes about what is left rather than what is lost as Pollock
adds Liveness means articulating the multiple layers of
translations and draft that make up (for) memory (Pollock:
2005:11) Initially when I began this it was the chorus of the story
which was on repeat in my mind, I have filled in my memory
gaps but the distortion through the fish bowl reflects these gaps.
I was particularly conscious of the storytelling in a fishbowl and
as a performer this strategy was a challenge as I was unable to see
the audience reactions and responses. This made it hard to judge
the impact of the storytelling process. As a performer I can
normally intuitively sense the success of individual strategies
through the reaction of the audience. With my head in a fishbowl
there was no awareness of my surroundings and it became
difficult to measure the impact of the fragment. I did experiment
with holding the fish bowl rather than placing it on the floor to
make it more visible; however this was un-practical the fishbowl was too heavy. Additionally I experimented with my feet in
the fish bowl in line with the personal anecdote One toe goes in
the fish tank. However the mode of distortion supported both
the cognitive nature of memory and the story of the song.
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Repetition
Repetition as a compositional strategy seemed unavoidable when
developing these fragments. Firstly the process began with an
experience which played over and over in my head. Secondly theinfluence of the concept of habitus as a repetative matrix of
perceptions (Bourdieu: 1968: xx) transposed through the
multigenerational line. Thirdly the nature of storytelling, we tell
and re-tell episodes both minor and major to colleagues, loved
ones, therapist and priests, strangers on the train, a wedding
guest. (Bolton: 2010: 7) Finally the influence the repetative
nature, attached to the rehearsal/ compositional process, has onthe development of ideas. Professional practice also includes an
element of repetition. A professional practitoner is a specialist
who encounters certain types of situations again and again. (60)
I hoped that the repetetive nature would become familiar with the
audience in order to set the scene/ repaint the picture in the build
up to new snippets of information (see accumilation.) as Goulashidentifies What we call learning may arise through repetition
(2000:37) I hoped repetition would enable audience members to
remember specific parts of the story, the parts of the story that are
repeated are essentially the backbones to the performance. The
bits that are solid memories.
I have always been a little weary of repetition in performance andmy composition is not solely repetative. A slight change in the
narrative is added each time reflecting Mcgowans statement
Everytime we remember, it seems, we add new details, shade the
facts, prune and tweak. Without realising it, we continually
rewrite the stories of our lives. (Mcgowan: 2009)
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Repetition also challenges the material as a process strategy.
Repeating and repeating material allows me to recognise the
habits, restrictions and familiarities that re-occur through the
practice and material. The music also reflects the looping of these
stations and as Waters interprets the loop has much to do withnarrative, acting as an essential component of memory and recall
(Waters: 2004: 88) Accumulation reflects narrative structures and
as Waters adds can be used to great effect in combination with
fragmentation . The following is a map of an accumilation
process evident in the composition.
Repetition is discussed by Freud in his discussion of the death
drive. Repetition helps aid our experiences and memories of the
world in which we live and is a strategy evident in the storage of
memory and memory retrieval. What appears to be reality is in
fact only a reflection of a forgotton past. (Freud: 1920: 19) We
constantly repeat experience, we educate ourselves particularlythrough repetative modes of behaviour Repetition as a
compositional strategy aims to give the audience an embodied
version which can then be subject to multiple layers of further
translations. T
2,3,4
Elvis Accumilation
Sideburns,
glasses,
wig.
I am not Elvis, he was
not Elvis.
1, 2,3,4
The chorus
on repeat.
3,4
Elvis movement
iconography.
4
The story of
the visual
image .
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Mapping
Mapmaking
fulfils one of
our deepestdesires:
understanding
the world
around us and
our place in it
(Harmon: 2004
1)
I often map my
work and
material as part
of my
compositional
process. A mapbecomes part of
a story to be
created and
enactedit
becomes a
subjective
imagining
instead of an
objective tool
(Perkins: 2003: 6) Mapping can be seen as a strategy to compose,
a strategy to edit and a strategy to document. As Waters
emphasises mapping as involving the making of diagrammatic
Created on 02 02 2012
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or symbolic representation of a route or journey. This sense
allows mapping to become a form of trace leaving or
documentation in itself, or to function as a stimulus for more
metaphorical interpretation. (Waters: 2004: 87)
Mapping forms an overseeing position in order to fragment re-
organise and play with the stations and material practically This
particular map demonstrates images, actions, ideas and texts
halfway through the process of developing Fragments of a
Teddy Boy.
The performance space is split into three, mirroring the stationsevident in the work. Some ideas, text, images objects,
movements overlap and these are the materials I am undecided
on categorising. Reading diagonally the material divided in each
station defines how the material currently exists alongside the
other material. (e.g. fishbowl, coughing, a flask of peppermint
tea) Some of the materials are developed at this stage, some are
not.
Mapping as a compositional strategy and research methodology
is widely discussed as a process in social sciences and history and
there is much discourse centred on maps as related to lived
experience. Maps of my practice include cognitive maps or mind
maps, geographical maps, spatial maps and material maps. I map
for multiple reasons, to push my composition forwards, togenerate ideas, to visually define the composition in written form
and to understand. Mapping is a process, it is a composition, I
could give it to someone else to perform, It is a way of
interweaving material, of interweaving stories, it is overlooking,
it is reflecting, it is constant editing, it is playing, it is breaking up
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the pieces and putting them back together again, a compositional
jigsaw. My journey with material can be documented through
these maps and each map is a separate composition in itself.
Stations are also another compositional strategy I favour in thatthey allow me to incorporate multiple fragmented narratives in
my work.
This idea of stations as a compositional strategy was introduced
in the first weekend after bringing to the table four separate
pieces of material, (two stories about my life, an automatic
writing text, a flask, and a text borrowed from Scar Tissue byGrewel.) I improvised with the material using stations. Changing
the shape, size and placement of the stations allowed a lens to
challenge the material. Stations are also realised through mapping
strategies and the pair are interdisciplinary in my compositional
process. For the purpose of discussing stations I am going to
continue my discussion on mapping as a compositional strategy.
The following are a series of simple station maps which recordmultiple compositional ideas for placing initial material into
space.
Station1
Auto-writing.
Flask as an
interruption
Station2
Recital of Scar tissue
autobiographical female
perspective A 21 year old
woman discusses the abuse she
has suffered at the hands of her
partner.
Station3 Two stories
of my life. An Elvis
lookalike singing
running bear on
Karaoke.
1 2
3
1
2
331
2
Created 03/10/2011
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This method of composing material allowed a lens for me to
explore material, edit material, construct new material and blend
existing material
There are several narratives at play throughout the performancebut they are fragmented through the composition of the stations.
The following is a map of my final stations and a breakdown of
the material.
1.
1.My visual window
Who he was.
Who he became.
The life of the King.
How it is.
The zooming man
Interrupted by the Story of
Running Bear and Little White
Dove distorted by the water. And
the creation of the raging river.
2.
2.Chorus.
Elvis. I am not Elvis.
Iconography
The story of the story.
Memory Fragment Hard Bastard.
Memory Fragment Ibiza.
Memory fragment lobster
Memory fragment dual carriageway.
3.
4.
3. When I was an
egg.
4. List of inheritance. (intro)
Teddy how she became.
Interruption Christmas time
Teddy how she is
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The station maps I created on the previous pages are a way of not only
experimenting with my material and layout of stage space but also a
way of collectively documenting and placing the stories of the
performance space. I aim for the maps to provide a graphic stance on
my performance but also to communicate my performance to an
outsider. Mapping is certainly a process I would like to explore further
in that there are many other maps I can develop in regards to memory
and storytelling. There is much more to be said about mapping as a
process, as an experience, as a cognitive process, as a document (of
both memory and event), as a composition and as a space.
Mapping binds my arts compositional practice to scientific practice
and to geographical practice. The relationship between the social
sciences and mapping is of particular interest to future projects and
perhaps can be implemented in other areas of my practice. How can I
develop ways of mapping? How can I measure my results differently as
a process? How can I map stories in different ways?
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Moving forwards
with mapping it is
important to note
Jake Bartons works
Barton exploresmaps as a collective
storytelling
memory. In the
work spectators are
asked to enter a
tunnel like
structure andattach a memory to the place on the map where it occurred. As a
compositional strategy the spatial and geographical areas of mapping
can be explored further as a personal compositional strategy
alongside the concept and material structuring maps presented in this
booklet. How do collective multigenerational histories and stories sit
on a geographical map. What shapes, patterns, lines (if any) do they
encounter? And how, then, can these reflect in final performance
structures?
Images from Winter: 2006)
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TEXT
Here are 26 letters ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWQYZ Now write a
text for performance. (Etchells: 1999)
01/10/11 A method for generating automatic texts (exercise with
Claire Hind)
1) Face a wall.
2) Talk non-stop even if it is repetitive, do not stop talking, if it
helps imagine an open window. Talk for five minutes.
3) Jot down anything you remember from talking
The following is a fragment of the response.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
An old man on a mobility scooter zooms by the window.
IT MEANS GOING FAST.
He is wearing breathing apparatus and there are wires
coming out everywhere.
There is an elderly lady holding a stack of paper. She
looks exhausted. Ash hangs to the ceiling.
And I am stuck on a supermarket slide.
And my shoes are missing
And my feet hurt.
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These methods for composing material sit alongside Dadaist notions of
developing discourse. write quickly, without any pre-conceived
subject, fast enough so you will not remember what youre writing and
be tempted to re-read what you have written. (Breton quoted in
Meizer: 1994: 168) The text on the previous page was developedthrough a series on rinses and re-writes and elements of the initial text
sit in the final performance of Fragments of a Teddy boy. The text is a
complex collage of perspectives on people, experiences and self. And
although generated impulsively still can be related to experiences of
self as Butler argues There is no I that can stand apart from the social
conditions of its emergence. I began to relate this text to my own
recent experiences in line with the material I had already composed.The stations began to connect via the connective tissue of recent self-
related experiences.
The thought process for generating text around improvisation
techniques is problematic in linguistic articulation. Etchells(1999)
discusses this language as not concerned with linguistics and discourse
but with the event, in that the speaking of an improvised text bringsabout different textures which are important to the final outcome of
the performance text such as thought, repetition, self-correction,
hesitation and so on These elements are evident in the initial
automatic composition as I consider the ways in which the text is
documented alongside the way in which the text is spoken. This is
articulated in the score of the automatic writing through the way I use
different fonts, bold lettering and so on.
I use language in my performance as a way of painting a picture and
entering the audience into a mimetic contract (Culler: 1975: 193).
The final performance text, circulated through repetition, was a way
for spectators to re-imagine and re-imagine, through Barthes notions
on the realism effect, the scenario I was painting with language.
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OBJECTS
A Teddy bear,
seemingly un-precious
its innards spilling
out, A handwritten
list with no meaning,
A Visual image
playing over and over
like a tape recording
on repeat, A mirror
and brush filled withprecious few tangled
hair, A bible scribbled
with crayon. A
porcelain doll neat in
her box, A
photograph hanging
on the wall, Aninsubstantial chair
empty.
Memories will begin to surface as you go away to hunt through
treasured belongings and personal memorabilia. Says Elaine
Aston she goes on to discuss memory props as ways of getting
started on autobiographical performance projects and listsclothing, childhood toys, popular songs, childrens books and
teenage magazines, images of icons and family photographs as
examples of these aids. (Aston:1999: 102)
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I began bringing objects into my work initially as an
improvisation tool and this process stuck as a development tool.
The initial objects were the teddy bear (used in the final
fragments) a statue of a fairy and some string. I was also toying
with the idea of objects as associated with people, such as
inherited items or gifts and used this notion to develop stories
based upon personal histories and stories.
Similarities in this method can be highlighted in Walter
Benjamins discussions on childs play theory in which he
suggests a process of bringing oddly found materials into play to
be creative with such as a web of stories. And my web of
stories in relation to the objects can be seen below in the form
of a mind map. The many stories associated with the objects
could form many more performance fragments.
Created on 24/11/2011
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Developing Movement.
My strategy for composing material normally associates itself
with the transference of the somatic into the semantic and in
order to develop movement sections for the performance Ireversed this strategy. Beginning with a list of ten words
(semantic) I sought to develop embodied movement sequences
(somatic) realising the linguistic word. I then recorded and
monitored movement sequences by placing myself in a
witnessing position and using automatic writing as a textual
document. The first and final results of this strategy can be seen
below as a textual record.
Ten Action Words - 14/11/2011 - Knotting. Crumpling.
Forgiving. Arguing. Persevering. Zooming. Paddling. Breaking.
Neglecting. Leaving.
A Movement Based Response to the Sematic with the Somatic -
Backward fast, left arm signal wave. FSR - BSR. - Right leg wrap
round left leg, arms stretch to touch floor (balance lost) BSR. -
Sprint fast diagonally, chest jump up. BSR - FSL. - Bang hard
attempting a conversation with the floor, monkey like. FSL - Fall
to CS. - Attempt floor star sideways. Stand turn to side, lift left
leg, point foot, place to floor, lift right leg, point foot, place to
floor, repeat. CS. stand, mimic 'oar sequence.
A Dialogic Response to Movement- Reversing like a ticking clock
tick tock tick tock. Vines entwining, ducking below. A breaking
free from all thats pulling down. Banging like an ape, melodic,
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rhythmic. Scared to dip a toe in the
water in the fishtank and fight with a
sword.
A Final text - 30/4/2012 She ageingbeside a ticking clock tick tock tick tock
vines entwine and she struggles against
balance. Scared to go near the fist tank
in case she is reminded
Movement material was later
developed through research into the
1950s teddy boy culture, rock and roll
dancing, observations of Elvis and
personal observations and memories.
These movement sequences sit
alongside the teddy boy image. The movements throughout the
process have mainly been stylised, restrained, gesturalmovements which lend themselves to the performances of Meg
Stuart. The development of movement sequence particularly
borrows from dance choreography.
Many of these ideas realised themselves in the second weekend
with Beth Cassani. Instrumental in this weekend was automatic
writing responses to fellow artists work. The responses aided a
moving forward compositionally. The following text
demonstrates a dialogic (Bakhtin) response relational to the
initial performance movement work.
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The smell of burnt mince, running bear goes on for a long time, like
the chocolate game, confetti becomes something, a shape a word.
(Response by Holly Johnson)
A story generally speaking has a gist, something that the whole
story is about and I can relate my gist to the visual image, the
visual image and sound of a man who I didnt meet till four years
later, singing in the pub on the Karaoke. It is a story of him
through my eyes.
A story generally speaking is a linear structure, something
constructed with a clear beginning, middle and end with highsand lows in-between. (see diagram) Although my practice, I
would say, lends itself to this form the straight line seen in the
diagram is broken, the lines do not quite join up. I tend to leave
gaps as a performance strategy in order for them to be filled by
the spectators. I fragment the telling of my stories so that they
are never read with certainty and so that they they reflect thenature of memory, I can not remember everything!
The fragmented methodology challenges the general structure
of a story and lends itself more leniently to storytelling through
the form of a diary. But I did generate some of the text with the
structure of a story in mind,
a beginning and middle witha climax before the end.
(see story structure map
http://www.musik-
therapie.at/PederHill/images
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/Struct1.gif)
How he was, the beginning. A fully fledged ted thick ginger sidies
way passed each ear an original teen rebel. Combining strands of
hair the comb is used on a regular basis like a routine the rightside is combed first, the results an overblown quiff with a ducks
arse at the back.
How I remember him, the middle. A chorus of swear words, a
love for a dog, a ropey cough, an arm in a bandage, you better
have plenty of food in he is coming to eat you out of house and
home. How ironic.
How it is now, the end. Everything as it was nothing moved
museum like, nicotine hangs from the ceiling and the ashtray
overflows with an essence of nicotine hunger the chair is empty
and everything is silent, eerily silent.
The story as a whole is fragmented as part of a
particular station, and a different part of it is
told each time the station is entered.
The telling of multiple short stories, or
fragments of stories in line with memory
amnesia lend themselves to the compositional
structure of the performance, in that fragments
of stories are told, broken up, mixed back
together and split across four separate stations.
I would estimate that there are around 40
fragments of anecdotes from different times,
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perspectives and settings evident in the performance Fragments
of a Teddy Boy. However I would suggest truth is a
compositional strategy at play in the development of my work.
The stories I tell are to the best of my knowledge the truth and
up until now I have stuck to the strategy. Perhaps it is time to
break this familiarity, to twist the truth, to manipulate the
autobiography, after all oral strategies are made problematic by
the influence of self- perception, the nature of storytelling
(Chinese whispers), and memory storage. So what truth are they
anyway?
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Collaboration 03/03/2012 - 30/04/2012
Whilst working as part of an ensemble I used my collaborators in
order to further open up the qualities of my objects. (see phase 1)
The objects at this stage included Elvis accessories, 12 eggs, afish-bowl, a mirror and brush, a flask, a teddy bear and a ball of
wool. Because I had been devising with these objects for a long
period of time, and because the objects were all of significance
personally, I began to believe that they were over-coded or as
Barthes puts it readerly. In order to open these objects up to
further meaning I devised a workshop with prime focus on
improvisation with the objects in order to open them up further tointerpretation or as Barthes put it writerly. The group helped
open up my imagination to the possibilities of the objects through
the development of a three minute performance piece using the
objects as stimuli. The results are as follows
The Fish Bowl The pair focused on the sounds you can develop
using a fish bowl. Their three minute piece was a soundcomposition using the fish bowl as an instrument.
The Teddy- The pair focused on childhood and childhood games
you can play with the teddy bear, using a common skipping game
in which the bear became the rope. This could have been added to
the ensemble piece alongside the string on the floor. There was
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also a quite sinister approach added through personal stories of
their childhood innocence. Every night I made sure I kissed
every bear, if I thought one had more kisses than the other I had
to start again and felt terribly guilty afterwards They take it in
turns to sleep with me. (Clare Henderson: 2012)
The Eggs The final pair focused on many connotations of an
egg, through the individual identities of each of the eggs raising
the debate surrounding stereotypes through clever language play.
Elements of these mini
performances realised themselvesin my final fragments and many of
the other ideas such as the
identities of the eggs were
experimented with personally. I
played around with the identities
of the eggs and decorated them in
line with a different identity andupon reflection I realised they
were no longer eggs and by giving
them identities they were no longer
serving their purpose as eggs; When I was an egg, When I was an
egg, When I was an egg. The decorated eggs also have too many
connotations with Easter. Even decorating eggs reminded me of
stories which are untold
Every Easter my school held the decorated egg competition and
every year me and my Nan would decorate eggs to try and win
the Easter egg prize. We decorated a bunny (which might I add
won.), Santa stuck up a chimney and Elvis. We also decorated
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some for fun after being inspired by a craft magazine, these were
ornate eggs.
Working as part of a larger group allowed me to sit as part of a
circle which as a solo artist I have missed. It made me feel like Iwas in the right place for sharing stories as oppose to on my own
trying to recall memories. Describing the knowing in action
(Schon: 1983) evident in the collaborative process is easier than
defining my own practice I think this is partly because I stood in
the role of dramaturge orchestrating and developing form and
compositional strategy whilst also directing and assisting in the
writing of. The reflective position this role placed me in allowsme to write more at ease about the process. The compositional
process has already been shared.
The Process Plan.
Phase 1) Introduction to my materials, objects and concepts.
In pairs engage with the object and develop a three minute
composition based around the object as Stimuli (collaboration
and objects.)
Phase 2) Develop an automatic writing text whilst listening to
an instrumental (Running Bear loved Little White Dove
(karaoke version by Johnny Preston.))
Phase 3) Develop an automatic writing text whilst observing
the sound wave document (Running Bear loved Little White
Dove (karaoke version by Johnny Preston.))
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Phase 4) Group improvisation incorporating phases 1,2 & 3
with an on/off space for discussion.
Phase 5) Adding Rules to the improvisation
Performers can only move in a certain way. Performers have to follow a specific floor plan. Play the game Grandmothers footsteps as part of
the improvisation.
Only one person is allowed to speak at a time.Phase 6) Write a story about your own life (this could be
anything such as what you did yesterday.)
Phase 7) Replace engagement with my materials with
collaborators autobiographical texts and materials.
Phase 8) Map each individual journey (reflection of sound wave)
with a different coloured string. (aesthetic)
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Phase 9) Direct, map, organize and rehearse materials and form.
The Sound wave as a
Compositional Strategy
Lines, Lines, Lines Up Lines
Down lines All around lines
Actually, no all around lines Only
up lines And down lines My line
Your line Our line Our family line
Our washing line Youre a line Ya
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mas a line Your mas my ma ya
stupid line Sound line Little bit
blurred line Stop it line, youre
making no sense You never make
any sense you stupid line Mum, hecalled me a line Sam, stop calling
your sister a line (Automatic
writing text in response to the
sound wave by Clare Henderson)
The sound wave became instrumental in the collaborative
compositional strategy. It provided a basis for the composing of
text, a way of moving through the space and reflected as a floor
pattern highlighted by the multiple layers of string. The floor
pattern works as topography, a way of visibly recording ones
movement through the space. This way of moving developed
from workshop sessions surrounding the sound wave as a stimulifor generating automatic writing text. The performance,
documented in map form, has similarities with Samuel Becketts
documentation of Quad however the actual pattern cannot be
pre-determined as there is an element of chance and
unpredictability in the collaborative performance.
Chance elements are added through the structuring of theperformance as a game of Grandmothers footsteps.
Grandmothers Footsteps as a compositional strategy developed
after being involved in workshop sessions playing with the
mathematical concept of Pi as a compositional strategy (Claire
Hind). As part of my practice led research I have been focusing
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on theories of habitus as a multigenerational disposition of
thinking, feeling and behaving; the idea that we follow in the
footsteps of our ancestors. Grandmothers footsteps was a strategy
for reflecting these ideas. Initially I added Grandmothers
footsteps as an improvisational rule (phase 5). Come with me mylittle innocents, theres a game that we can play. See how much
we can change your world whilst you look the other way. I have
been toying with following in the footsteps of my own mother
line and the idea of Grandmothers footsteps seemed to
compliment the stories that the group shared. Each individual
brought differing creativities conceptually and the challenge was
in making them sit together as part of the same fragment.
One collaborator in particular shared his autobiographical
experience of the violin. (phase6) He described his hatred for the
object, how useless he was with it and the awkwardness of it
underneath his chin. The particular story he shared told of the
first time he played for his parents after dinner, how nervous he
was, how he spent time shuffling the papers and how he played it
that dreadfully his dad left. I took the visual imagery from this
autobiography and realised it in the collaborative fragment with
the violinist in the role of Grandmother.
In reflection there was so much more that could be done with this
collaborative piece and it is something I am interested in re-
visiting in the future. I think I should have placed more faith in
the capabilities of my collaborators and incorporated more of the
texts that we generated in the workshop process. The decision to
use Grandmothers Footsteps as a compositional strategy added
comedic values to the performance and the girls sneaking behind
a crazy violinist and freezing when he turned around certainly
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added to the humour. I dont think I realised its humorous content
until the performance and this could have further potential to play
a more integral part to the fragment. In saying this, the
performers did increase their performance levels in the final
performance, this poses the question to myself in the role ofdramaturge how do I push my collaborators to work at
performance level in the rehearsal process?
The violinist sat in contrast to the girls whose movements in the
background were slower. The string under the lights omitted an
aesthetic glow which made the routes more prominent in the
space and the darker lit areas in the middle provided a void spacebetween the girls and the violinist.
The gender positions, the male as grandmother orchestrating
three females, is something I didnt think much about in the
process (there was another male initially involved in the process
as a sneaker.) However it became prominent in my witnessing of
the performance. The male appeared to be orchestrating thefemales but was not in full control over them and perhaps this is
something I could play with more as part of the compositional
ensemble process.
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