“(B) r e a c h” – an article from the WM call
By: Jaan Ulst
Darkness.
In the depth of the left side of the stage a spot of light appears.
A blind girl Hedy, dressed in her white cosmic dress, her hairdo reminding of a peafowl, is standing in that spot. Hedy’s head is tilting forward.
In the shadow, in front of her legs, Kärt lies like a cat, at ease on the ground. Mart Aas
(before starting to read this article, take an apple by your side)
Project Fragile (2011–2013) was an international project which included visually impaired people in performing arts. The project was led by three organizations: Baerum Kulturhus (Norway), Vo’Arte (Portugal) and Tallinn University (Estonia). Fragile was founded by the Norwegian choreographer Kjersti Kramm Engebrigtsen. Stimulated by her desire to share and develop her experience of dance with blind people, Kjersti invited Ajjar Ausma, an Estonian choreographer, and Ana Rita Barata, a Portuguese choreographer, to join her in developing the project.
After an intense rehearsal period which lasted for two months and was carried through by the project leaders in their resident countries, Project Fragile performances premiered in Teatro de Almada in Lissabon on March 29th, 2013. In April, all three performances were also shown in Oslo and Tallinn.
It is common to build creative projects up so that the process ends with a performance, which is considered the highlight of the project. In Project Fragile, the focus and highlight was the process itself. Collaboration between visually impaired and professional dancers was meant to add new perspectives on dance for both sides. To document the process, each participating country had a team of filmmakers, who followed the activities of the participants. The documentary film about the Estonian team was produced by Vahur Laiapea and premiered in Tallinn at the KUMU Art Museum in December, 2013.
“Seeing with the brain is often called imagination” Oliver Sacks
Ajjar Ausma, choreographer of the performance “Plexus”, worked hard on finding a deeper connection between the performers Hedy Haavalaid, Kärt Tõnisson and Jaan Ulst. He was not mainly working with forms and shapes but with the concept of meeting people. As this was the first time our artistic team worked together, there was a lot to discover.
Hedy has been blind since the age of 26. She has had previous experience with dance – she has practiced folk dance and ballroom dancing. Moving in space was not new for her but in the past years she had not danced much. Kärt and I are professional dancers. For us, dancing is a way of expressing ourselves on a daily basis. Thus, as one may imagine, in addition to getting to know each other on a personal level, we had a lot to discover also on the physical level. Ajjar was particularly interested in this aspect: imagining and connecting bodies through physical exploration.
Ajjar describes this process as a way of travelling. It was important for him to observe his performers interacting and to create a common ground for communication. He used different games to open our minds in order to reach the next level – trusting each other. In a performing act, trusting oneself and one’s partners is very important. This was a big task for Hedy: “It was very important that our team got along fine. The support was important for my confidence, especially when we had to go on stage. I knew that whatever happens, they are there for me.”
For Kärt and me, it was a challenge to build up the necessary trust between us and Hedy. How to compare dancing bodies and to teach each other the various ways to move? Hedy could not see us and we could not see inside Hedy. The solution came through extensive contact improvisation sessions. The path began with endless moving patterns and games, which were then fixed into dance phrases. The aim never was to show these phrases in public but to use them as tools for ourselves, to create continuity during rehearsals and to find the invisible connection to bring with us on stage.
“You have to want to work with yourself, otherwise you will not endure the tension.” Hedy Haavalaid
The dance phrases included, among others, a simple standing session during which we felt the rhythm of breathing; running across the space in various patterns two by two, three at once or even alone (when Hedy ran, we had to keep her safe); even a traditional waltz and an attempt to create maximum contact by crawling and lying on each other, all the while trying to transport the pile of bodies across space.
This was Ajjar’s way of building up a world where creating a performance was not the main aim, but, as he put it – a side effect.
Hedy raises her arms on her side. By lowering her hands she creates a figure of a man in front of her. His head. His shoulders. Hands. Mart Aas
Looking at blind dancers was very inspiring for me. They all had their own sense of space. Hedy’s standing direction was never in accordance with the space’s symmetry. I called those lines Hedy’s diagonals. Those lines drew attention on her body’s movement patterns. It made me think what are my lines like? Since then, I have often found myself analyzing the pose I am in, thereby discovering quite a lot of unnecessary tension in my muscles. “Relax!”
It is said that blind people loose many words. Their vocabulary diminishes, because they cannot see objects to remind them of words. I was curious to know if this had happened also to Hedy’s movement language. As I mentioned earlier, she has practiced some dance styles in her youth, thus I expected to see some sort of recollection of those movements. Of course, her balance and orientation in the room is aggravated due to the absence of a focal point. Try standing on one leg blindfolded! Observing her made me think on a wider scale about the use of focus in the Western dance culture. In most dance styles, the dancers have to fix their focus on something while performing a dance. Where does this come from? Why in some parts of the world inner focus is more used during a performance?These questions popped up in my mind but are the subject of another article.
“It does not matter how well you can imagine your destination, you will always be surprised by it!” Ajjar Ausma
(Now close your eyes and take a minute to touch your apple.)
“Plexus is a bundle, a maze of channels where information is continuously flowing. It explores the relation between the outer and inner space – in chaos and regularity. How do we relate to the distance between them?” Ajjar Ausma
“Plexus” is a contemporary dance performance for three dancers. During the performance, one can see how dancers hold on to and pass on control in the situations created. It is about having power over someone else. Dancers manipulate each other’s bodies both directly by having strong body contact, and indirectly – from distance by visual signs. Through these movement patterns an abstrat world is created where audience can place themselves into.
Now all three dancers are guided by Hedy, who is directing Kärt’s walk and wavy movements with her hands on Kärt’s head. Jaan is forced to imitate them from the distance. Mart Aas
The most remarkable moments in the later stage of the rehearsals and also during the performance was when Hedy took charge in a situation. This brought forward the fragility of a blind person and the determination to accept the challenge.
All three dancers are standing in the back of the stage, perplexedly in a row.
(Change in music)
They are standing. Observing each other.
Kärt and Jaan are gaily poking each other, switching places repeatedly in the row. Hedy is trying to understand what is going on.
The game continues. Rapid shuffling in the row. Mart Aas
This article is embellished with the texts by Mart Aas from his scenario, which he wrote to translate the performance “Plexus” for the visually impaired audience. It is the first time in Estonia when this has been done for a dance performance. I added the text in the hope that it will give you an idea of the performance and also show the way the visually impaired receive visual information. For me, his scenario is an art in text and should be analyzed more closely.
His assignment was to create a scenario which is similar to a radio drama scenario or a movie script. It had to have specific details depending on the performance. Mart’s job was to translate into words the concept that the choreographer had put into movements during two months of work. In the later stage of the rehearsals, Mart joined the artistic team to observe the performance. He asked the team members what should be highlighted in the script and where was the essence of the performance hidden. This was important for him because he also participated in the performance as a storyteller by reading the script to the audience.
“Imagine all the people living for today” John Lennon
I am very happy for Hedy, who discovered a lot of new things about herself during this process. She is not the same person anymore and neither are we. In January 2014, a year passed from the moment we first sat down in the studio. To celebrate, the team came together in Kärt’s house and watched the pictures of our travels. Hedy is participating in a new dance project! It seems there is a strong performer hidden inside her! I think she enjoys the storytelling opportunities a theater production offers. It is a way to feel free!
In our dance performance, destination is a living organism. It is a state after being surprised by several meetings with new characters in your life. It is a feeling you have in your ears after a party where music was too loud. Vibration of the rhythms of your own breath. Ajjar Ausma
Jaan and Kärt are crawling backwards into the shadow, from where they came.
Hedy is left alone in the spotlight. She is turning and walking very slowly.
Light vibrates.
Light fades.
Darkness. Mart Aas
(Enjoy eating your apple! Head isu!)
References:
- Interview with Ajjar Ausma, 17th December 2013
- Interview with Hedy Haavalaid, October 2013
- “Fragile feedback”, Hedy Haavalaid, 13th June 2013
- “Plexus text”, Mart Aas, 20th April 2013
- Interview with Mart Aas, 27th December 2013
- “Imagine”, John Lennon, May 1971
- Oliver Sacks talk on “Mind’s Eye” at the American Natural museum, 11th October 2011
- Project Fragile homepage, www.fragiledance.com, last visited 11th January 2014
- Fragile program, Baerum Kulturhus, 16th April 2013