January 20, 2008

I Think All Choreography is Site Specific

I think all choreography is site specific. The site, in essence, dictates the internal logic of the work.

The choreographer creates a specific movement language. Inside that language is a deeply ingrained sense of space: the density of the space, where the space is weighted, the proximity of bodies to one another.

Inside that language is a sense of time: the speed of the movement as it moves through space and as it progresses through time; the speed with which the subject changes, when things happen.

That language dictates how sound is used, when it is used, why it used.

Embedded inside that internal logic lays the maker's relationship to the viewer. That relationship can shift but the shift ought to shift as part of the intention of the work.

As a choreographic work unfolds the internal logic of the choreography is revealed. Sometimes the internal logic reveals itself within the first 3 second; sometimes within the first 3 minutes; sometimes it takes the entire piece to be revealed. That trajectory is, in itself, an internal logic.

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