these words that reoccurred
Europe in Motion is all over. Back in London, and was remembering a couple of things I heard a lot in the last two weeks. I mention these not as any implied criticism, but rather as a smiling nod to the way in which particular ways of talking to and about dance (or any discipline I suspect!) go through cycles.
“What are you busy with?” was a question I heard a lot. I like the tone of it, the way it resists any heirarchy of thinking or doing.
It would also appear that ‘curious’ is the new ‘interesting’. Instead of saying “I am interested in …” we were saying “I am curious about …”. Both words tend to shift between implied criticism or support (depending on the context). At the same time, I felt myself resisting the trend a little bit, and returning to expressing interest rather than curiosity.
And here is a bit of a list of words that we used a lot, but that mean so many things to so many different people. One of the things Nicole and Igor were interested in doing was challenging what it was that we meant when we used some of these words.
Real-life
Theatrical
Honesty (when talking about movement/performing)
Presence
Language (as in ‘dance as a language’)
Content
Dance (!)
Truth (and variations of in relation to moving)
Dramaturgy
Boredom
Method (as in choreographic method)
Formal (e.g. ‘formalistic approach’)
Choreographic
Witnessing (how is this different from someone watching?)
Binaries (as in working to avoid them)
Sensation
