November 2, 2007

Scores - Creating Improvised Structures

In our dance studio work, my dancers and I create scores. By this I mean we create improvised rules structures for prescribed movement events.

For instance if person A does a jumping action, up and down, person B assigns that jumping as a cue for herself to run in a circle around the jumping person. The jumping person decides when this movement event is over by simply stopping and moving elsewhere in the space or by performing a very different action.

Usually person A and person B alternate who calls the cues. That way there is no one leader.

Sometimes I assign an "alpha" which means that I identify which member of the duet gets to call all the cues.

Sometimes we assign numbers to the rules and an outside person calls which rule the dancers must play. The outside caller becomes the choreographer.

We play with a strict adherence to the rules. When we get very good at this I allow for disobedience. Interruptions become acceptable. Rules can include splices from other rules. Often this process yields a new set of rules.

Then we take our scoring process into our work with the horses. The horses' behavior become the cues for rules.

Scoring keeps us in real time. Scoring tests our ability to make instantaneous movement decisions. Scores keep our dancing ego-less.

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