“For me, choreography is a process
of physical thinking. It's very much in mind as well as in body.” — Wayne McGregor
This quote really did stand out for me
because of I found it to be true with what McGregor was saying and what Mark
Hill explained to us when we did our workshops with him. One thing that I found
really relatable between Mark Hill and Wayne McGregor is the movement of body
using mental imagery. While we were learning Butoh from Mark, he taught us to isolate
our body part and use them to imitate an image that we would have in our head
(hair in a river, snake in the desert, etc.). In the TED Talk, McGregor talks
about having an image set in specific space, and working around that image. For example he uses the letter ‘T’ to imagine it
in front of him, and moves his body around that image. He then goes on to
demonstrate this, using his dancers, with a few images and shapes to create a
beautiful choreographed dance routine. I found it absolutely fascinating to
watch the dancers create such a beautiful dance out of nothing but a few images
in their minds and without being told what specific moves to do.
I think this way of creating a physical
image, in your mind, in front of you is such a simple yet remarkable way of
creating art with your body. It really is painting the image with your body. It
never occurred to me that such a simple tactic as working around something,
rather than trying to imitate it, could be considered dance or theatre.
While I was watching the video, I
couldn’t help but wonder what was going through the minds of the dancers while
they were doing this. I recall that when I was doing the Butoh activity, the
only thing in my mind were the different images we were acting out with our
bodies. McGregor’s way of physical thinking, however, seems like it encourages
the dancers to imagine themselves in a different world. A world where what they
see in their minds are obstacles around them which are always moving and
changing, forcing them to work around the images, to maneuver between them,
dodge them and play with them.
Lastly, another thing that stood out to
me was the McGregor’s saying that physical thinking allows us to “Misbehave
beautifully”. This little quote is just so beautiful and relevant to me because
I feel as though this idea of misbehaving beautifully is the basic foundation
for all forms of art.
Mark Hill and Wayne McGregor have both
taught me really fascinating new ways of looking at physical theatre and
creating it. Even though I have learnt a lot from these two people, I feel as
though my understanding of the possibilities of physical theatre is still immature
and only skims the surface. Physical theatre is a very new idea to me but from
what I’ve learnt about it so far, there is SO MUCH of it out there and I can’t
wait to learn more about it and expand my understanding of this vital form of
theatre.
“Misbehave beautifully”
-Emma-
