What does it mean to watch and be watched? performance in the mind-body and on the proscenium stage

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WATCH AND BE WATCHED? PERFORMANCE IN THE MIND-BODY AND ON THE PROSCENIUM STAGE by Angeline Bourgeault A Senior Honors Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The University of Utah In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Honors Degree in Bachelor of Fine Arts In Modern Dance Approved: ______________________________ Molly Heller Thesis Faculty Supervisor _____________________________ Melonie Murray Director, School of Dance _______________________________ Christopher Alloways-Ramsey Honors Faculty Advisor _____________________________ Sylvia D. Torti, PhD Dean, Honors College May 2023 Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved Bourgeault 1 Introduction This written portion of my thesis is a reflection of the rehearsal and creation process of my work, “This is a performance about performance.”1 It is a work for the proscenium stage on four dancers and was shown in the Modern Dance Class of 2023’s concert, Why Walk When You Could Dance. It is the culmination of a seven week rehearsal process with my cast and also serves as a capstone work of four years of choreographic study in the Modern Dance program. My writing looks at the multiple inspirations, efforts, choices, and collaborations that went into realizing and producing this piece.2 Beginning the process The motivation to make this piece began last semester with a film I found on the Library of Congress website3. It is a black-and-white film made in 1901 titled, “What happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City”. The film, which is about a minute and twenty seconds long, depicts a busy city scene with people and carriages making their way along the street and sidewalk. What drew me in to the film was the person standing still on the sidewalk as all the other people walk by around, in front, and behind him. He is wearing a plain white button-down and black pants. He is standing with arms behind his back, looking towards the camera as if he knows he is being filmed, while the others don’t seem to know about the camera. His feet shuffle as he takes small steps toward the camera, looking behind or around himself from time to time, as if taking in the happenings of people moving around him. Ultimately, though, I get the sense that he is aware of the fact he is being filmed. As passersby walk around and in front of him, he 1 https://youtu.be/LUeL5PlZQno The names of my cast are kept anonymous, however their thoughts and contributions were integral to the piece in both its conceptual and physical components. 3 https://www.loc.gov/ 2 Bourgeault 2 is covered from the viewer, then reappears as he begins to walk again towards the camera, his white shirt standing out against the crowd, before the film cuts out. After watching the video, I was struck by how this person, our main character4, carries his body as he regards his audience. He knows something the others on the street do not. He watches the people watching him, a stark contrast from the other people oblivious to the fact of the film. The video captures the casual nature of the everyday goings-on of the city, but my attention returns consistently to the person standing still. There almost seems to be a dance happening here, using a simple staging mechanism where stillness draws attention while everything or everyone else is moving. The idea of staging returned to my mind after watching this film several times. The bustle of a busy street couldn’t possibly be choreographed or ‘set’, as choreographers call it, but there is a sense of synchrony in the patterns of movement that I couldn’t help but view as artistic. The main character, a person who looks just like everyone else on screen, is set apart from the rest by knowing that there is something or someone there, watching him. I knew he was behaving differently because of this knowledge. His intentional gaze towards the camera creates a sense of watching-and-being-watched. My question became, what elements of performance are happening here? Is our main character exaggerating his stillness and his frontal posture so as to create contrast between himself and other movers, for example? I began to draw upon these questions to consider what it means to be known by a watcher or an audience. In what ways or instances are we performing in our everyday lives? What physical reactions, either consciously or unconsciously, happen in the body when it knows it is being watched? These questions led me to the statement that ended up being my program note: What happens to you when you know someone is watching? 4 I will be herein referring to the man as the main character for clarity sake. Bourgeault 3 I knew from the beginning I wanted the rehearsal process to be collaborative. I had worked with these dancers before and knew that I trusted their artistic input. More importantly, I wanted them to feel like they had agency in the dance and could take artistic ownership of the movement. It was important for them to contribute their ideas because the process began with personal explorations of what performance meant to each individual. I began my first rehearsal by asking the dancers to think about what it feels like for them to perform on stage. All five of us had just come off the heels of a previous performance, so I asked them to recall the reactions that came up for them in their mind-bodies during the shows. One dancer reported that she noticed her breathing had changed. In some moments, she had forgotten to keep breathing deeply, supplying muscles with necessary air to complete cardio-intensive actions, whereas other times, nerves caused her breathing to become shallow and quick, which sometimes causes the body to shake. Another dancer said that she often feels hyper-aware of the darkness and seeming vastness of the audience, when she looks out from the stage and sees mostly black. I then asked them to consider what they consciously think about when they perform. What questions do they ask themselves in consideration to the dancing, authenticity of the performance, etc? What do they think about to make sure that they feel as though they did a good job? How do they mentally prepare for things going differently than expected in the moment? What about being a performer turns on different types of awarenesses? How do our heightened awareness of self contribute to our assessments of ourselves and others in real time? I came with my own ideas of elements of performance and created a mind-map. Together with my cast, we added on to this map until we had several ideas and words that came to mind surrounding different elements of performance. Bourgeault 4 Fig. 1. Journal notes showing a mind map about elements of performance. Using this map as a jumping-off point, I asked them to create movement in pairs that represented some of their ideas around performance as succinctly as possible. One pair, using the ideas of “impressive movement” and “eliminate mistakes”, created a phrase that included a long balance on one leg in arabesque5. They said that sometimes when something is hard to do, it elevates the attention on doing that thing well in performance. The focus for that moment is on not messing up, so as not to disrupt the suspension of time, as the hard thing is being executed well. Another pair used the idea of the frontal focus and awareness of the viewer to create moments of stillness and looking at the audience. There is no movement happening, but performance is happening. Seeing the first draft of this phrase, where for much of the time the dancers are standing still, I started asking myself, how do we associate performance with entertainment? How does the audience read the performance when the performers aren’t ‘doing’ anything? Something about this stillness evoked a feeling that the audience might be aware of being perceived as much as they are perceiving the performers. 5 https://vimeo.com/818594867 Bourgeault 5 I also knew I wanted to work with the depth and edges of the stage space. Something drew me to the upstage and downstage corners of the space, because I believe they are underused in concert pieces and are full of potential to create interesting spatial relationships. This spacing idea called for the proximity of dancers to one another to vary more widely. In the beginning of the piece, one pair is on opposite sides of the stage while the other pair are standing side by side. When dancers are right next to each other, they don’t need to be so externally aware to receive information from the other person, to stay together for example. Having the pairs in these different spatial relationships created a dichotomy of focuses that felt intriguing to watch unfold. While the upstage pair were tasked with seeing each other and seeing the downstage pair, the downstage pair were focused on the small world happening in their immediate space. It became clear to me that these two groups represented different ways of seeing, more specifically the internal and external awarenesses that performers have to take on. From these duets also emerged a cohesive sense of patience, watchfulness, and acknowledgement that continued through the rest of the dance. In the beginning section, the duets both alternate between motion and stillness. Creating pacing in this way felt effective to me because it created the feeling of calm I wanted to see, and it also breaks up the focus of the viewer between the two groups. When the downstage pair walk out to the far downstage line and stand still, it feels like they are calmly confronting the audience. They are immediately recognizing the viewers as the viewers are recognizing them. Moments of acknowledgement like this, for me, attempt to create the sense of reciprocity that I feel is sometimes missing between performer and viewer in some concert pieces. It also feels like an authentic way to conceptualize the fact of the performance for the dancers. Sometimes to me it feels like ignoring the audience makes it seem like the dancers are pretending there isn’t a performance happening. I think this Bourgeault 6 device works in many pieces very well, but for this one it felt important for the dancers to concede the fact they were being watched by an audience. It also felt important to acknowledge that the dance was made with this more overt recognition of the performer-audience relationship at the forefront, rather than as a side effect of the dance happening on a proscenium stage. To simplify, it is clear that the dance is happening because of the audience. In my mind this idea seems to be both inorganic and also an authentic way to recognize the absurdity of performing. Themes and considerations As a general consideration, I wanted to create a piece where the elements other than choreography were just as important as the dancing. I hoped to create an immersive experience that spoke to a more universal human experience by making the piece less saturated or dense with dance material. There are parts of the piece with mainly pedestrian6 movement, within a larger idea which highlights performing, which serves the purpose of breaking the barrier between human and performer. I find that oftentimes a show or performance has an air of curation to the point of desired perfection, which does not accurately reflect the multiplicities of the human experience. I think it feels potent to see a performer engage with the act of performing as human first and foremost, which speaks to bringing the whole self into the space. I think maybe the idea of portrayed authenticity7 requires a sense of wholeness that can be easily tapped into by engaging the personhood of the performer. The idea here is that the performer is not pretending they are not themself, but also slipping into a characterized version of what it means to exist naturally by ‘presenting’ themself in that way. 6 Standing, walking, less bound/held energy in the body This feels oxymoronic to write because of the tensions between reality and what is shown to an audience. I think the point of exaggerating both ideas in the piece lay the groundwork for a sense of honesty. 7 Bourgeault 7 An idea from the discussion on elements of performance from the first day was a heightened self-awareness and self-consciousness while on stage. This ended up manifesting in the small ways dancers are referencing their own bodies throughout the piece, beginning in the first solo and also when they put on coats. This idea being sprinkled into the framework of the piece evoked once again the personhood of the performers and eliminates the expectation of perfection. Intentional stillness became an important part of the dance. As well as creating a sense of calm that I find integral to my work, it continued to evoke the conversation between performer and audience by requiring patience from both. Since there are many prolonged stillnesses in the piece, the viewer is asked to be present for the whole time. Something I realized after watching the piece on stage is that these moments may produce some discomfort, and I think they are necessary for establishing that the time is needed to convey the idea. The stillnesses also began to develop the relationships the performers had with each other on stage. I learned that seeing the dancers watch each other dance created the sense of observation that I saw in the Edison film. When I began to play with the timing of the two duets happening on stage at the same time, I saw that the watchfulness created the synchrony I was looking for in the different movement styles of the phrases. Back to the mindmap, something we discussed was sometimes you might not remember clearly how things happened on stage because the nerves, anxiety, overstimulation, etcetera prevent you from absorbing all the information. Having performers watch each other in various instances was a way to help them take in what was happening in real time and be able to process for themselves. As a viewer, I liked being able to watch people watching other people. It made me feel like I was watching a vignette of people interacting on their own, without my interference or participation. Bourgeault 8 Fig. 2. Watching other performers. Choreographically, I played with using unison as a device in both theatrical and non-theatrical ways. I think that unison can be a powerful mechanism for conveying the tone of the movement and might change based on how many people are in unison at a time. The downstage duet at the beginning was in unison, which was important for this particular movement because it conveyed intimacy between the duet partners especially since they are so close in proximity that they have no choice but to interact8. The duet’s intention is to remain calm and soft in the body while doing hard things like standing on one leg for a long time (Fig 2). This unison, while being the focal point, still felt subtle to me because of the softness and the understated nature of the choreography. To be contrasted by the unison of the group “In Dreams” section, downstage center in a bright spotlight (Fig 6). This unison feels very in your face about 8 Having to navigate space with another body so close immediately creates connection without explicitly stating there is a connection. Bourgeault 9 what it’s meant to do, which is to grab the attention of and entertain the viewer. The energy in the body is much more held and projected outward and forward, as opposed to previous softer energies. We worked on making the choreography exaggerated, punchy and in sync to create the effect of a ‘curated’ show. The movement aligns closely with the rhythm of the music9, which feels very grand and whimsical to me. I wanted to evoke the grandeur I felt in the sound with the material, and make it very obvious, or on-the-nose. While the choreography remains rooted in contemporary dance aesthetic, the idea is that it feels a little bit like a theater experience for a time. Video and live feed projection The beginning solo of the piece has a pedestrian nature resembling that of the film. Details were drawn from the main character’s mannerisms, which included his posture, stance, and arm movements. The solo is improvisational, and uses a combination of these mannerisms to establish the connection to the film and set the scene for the dance. As a result of practicing these ideas, the soloist used a posture that was held in the upper body. Placements of the arms and feet became more careful and thoughtful. While still mirroring the pedestrian quality of movement, this slight increase of efforts in the body provides a subtle contrast to the casualness of the film. The soloist is tasked with looking around the space and out into the audience. Like the main character of the film, she knows about her audience. She knows she is being watched. 9 As opposed to the previous unison where movement is layered on top of music rather than being set to counts or having a set timing in relation to the sound. Bourgeault 10 Fig. 3. Beginning solo with video projection. At the end of the piece, when we return to the same person alone on stage, a live feed camera projects the image of the dancer on the cyc behind her. The reason for this is to mirror the video projection at the beginning, this time with a focus on the dancer. As we return to the idea of the everyday performer, we zoom in to the details of her movement. The live feed captures her posturing and the specificity of the fidgety pedestrian movement. I think there is something slightly comical in using projection to draw focus when there is only one person on stage to look at. With the image of one person being seen twice, with one image being blown up on the screen, the audience gets a chance to really see, and almost scrutinize, her movement. Within the simplicity of this moment, we return to ways a person can be watched and studied. I think the use of the feed plays into this absurdity and it also just is an interesting visual effect to end the piece with. Bourgeault 11 Fig. 5. Ending solo with live feed projection. Costumes, lighting, staging For costumes I once again drew inspiration from the film and music. The looks were inspired by a vintage menswear aesthetic. I worked with staff at the School of Dance costume shop to create looks for each dancer that were similar but different to one another. We chose navy blue high-waisted pleated pants and adjusted the hem to be slightly too short on each dancer. They each had button-ups of different colors, and two of them had vests over. I wanted to incorporate coats into the look as well but didn’t want them to be on the whole time. This eventually led me to the idea of having them put coats on in the middle of the piece. I worked with a lighting designer who created the lighting looks for the piece. We decided on a warm tone throughout, with subtle hues of pink, purple, and yellow. My favorite lighting look was the stark downpool for the “In Dreams” section where the dancers are lined up Bourgeault 12 center downstage. I liked leaning into the cliche of the spotlight in front and center of the stage because it played on the drama of the moment.. For most of the other looks, we kept it simple, with side lighting to continue to call attention to the edges of the space. To further emphasize the edges and to help frame the projections, we pulled in the uspstage travelers10 a bit on each side so the back of the space appeared more boxy. It took me back to the feeling of seeing a vignette, almost evocative of a movie theater, which felt fitting for the aesthetic of the work. Fig. 6. Lighting and spacing amplify the drama of the movement in this theatrical sequence. Reflection and acknowledgements This piece was a triumph for me in many small ways and I was proud of the dancers for taking on the ideas I wanted to translate to the stage. While big ideas evolved into more specific ones, I enjoyed the process of the piece becoming itself throughout the rehearsal process. As a leader of rehearsals I found that I enjoy creating circumstances for action to happen rather than making all the decisions. Allowing space for not knowing what was next or what was right 10 curtains Bourgeault 13 provided a big relief to me. Letting something be what it is for a while actually helped me make the next decisions a lot more easily. When I took the time to see things and also try things that wouldn’t be my first choice, synchronous and satisfying moments emerged from it. I realized just how true it feels to ‘trust the process’, as is often said of artmaking. And I was never alone in the making because my wonderful cast contributed through creative choice-making, problem-solving, and being lovely to work with. I appreciate my cast for creating this piece in collaboration with me and for performing it like a dream. I appreciate all the staff and crew I worked with to realize the vision and produce the show, including the costume shop staff, lighting designer, A/V specialist, and stage crew. Thank you. Bourgeault 14 Name of Candidate: Angeline Bourgeault Date of Submission: 5/1/2023