CHOREOGRAPHING TIME

Dance can offer unexpected and contradictory things – limitation that enables freedom; possibilities of something specific. Dance is like a living organism in its own right. It consists of different parts but behaves as a whole. It grows, changes, responds to stimuli and sometimes it needs some fresh air. As a dance maker, I suppose that's what I've spent the last 20 years trying to capture.

The creative outcome of my Master's practice-led research, 17 Square Brackets, is based on the framework of 17 questions to speculate possible ways to negotiate space and time in the performance. A pair of square brackets [] is often used to clarify or modify the original text. Over time, the brackets started to give shape to the piece but allow it to still be alive, expand, condense, grow wings, shred skin and acquire breathing space. The audience are also another factor that the content of the brackets could wiggle.

This possibility to wiggle is where time can be choreographed, in fact, even before the performance begins. I listened to the sound of the audience and took in their level of attention to mine. In the first encounter between myself and the spectators, a shared space began to form and continued to unfold throughout the performance. Time in 17 Square Brackets was composed while dancing, based on the reciprocation between the performer and audience.

This Master's research project was supported by VCA Faculty Small Grant Scheme and Faculty Graduate Assistance Grant, the Faculty of VCA and MCM, University of Melbourne Southbank Campus. 

The full-length version of 17 Square Brackets and my Masters thesis can be viewed here.

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