CARPET SESSION – 26 March 2015
Cacophony of dis/balances– exchange session with Hong Kong

Introduction
In this carpet session entitled ‘cacophony of disbalance’ we will research a small element of a bigger cross cultural interdisciplinary art research/collaboration entitled ‘home’ in which the Netherlands, Hong Kong and Japan are participating (2014-2017). ‘Home’ explores the process of deconstruction/reconstruction. More information about this concept/project you can find below in ‘background information’.

Content
We start from the idea that a transformation process has three basic stages: deconstruction, liminal space and reconstruction. After deconstruction, we have either chosen for or it chose us, we are no longer the same. We leave and let go of things that were apparently not part of our essence and purpose. Out of the chaos (liminal space) of not knowing, we rebuild and reconstruct. In this process we do not seem to have the luxury to just through away remains of ‘the old’.

In reality, reconstruction often means starting from dis/balance….a body or a city that was affected by the shaking deconstruction brings along. Rather than disciplining ‘it’ to function as it used to, or in line with what we determine as ‘better’, we will curiously look for the disturbances, the dis/balances that were created and take that as a point of departure to lead us into reconstruction. While ‘exploiting’ the possibilities that dis/balances provide and resisting the temptation to go for harmony, we hope to create a nice zoo of sounds, a physical cacophony of dis/balances leading us into surprisingly new ways to reconstruct.

In the carpet sessions we will let idea to reconstruct from a liminal space of dis/balance lead us into instant composition dialogues between dancers/musicians/space in the following manner:

• taking the time to become aware of any possible mental or physical dis/balance in the body, in the NOW moment. Sinking into the dis/balance and take it as a point of departure for movement/music to develop.
• work with limitations (e.g. no use of voice only sounds, or isolate certain body
  parts, or only use ‘between sounds’) to guide us into instant composition
• exploitation of dis/balance. Resist the temptation as a musician/dancer to work towards a point of harmony…exploit the dis/balance, the being in two separate worlds.
  

Photo´s are from the Hong Kong village Shui Tau Tsuen we currently interact and work in to do interdisciplinary instant composition research

Practicalities
Date: 26 March 2015
Time: 2-5 pm, arrive a bit early (1.30 pm) to change and share tea, so we can really start at 2 pm
Location: dansstudio Vredenburgersteeg, 5 minutes from Amsterdam Central Station (Vredenburgersteeg 31-35).
Register: In order to join a session you are asked to announce that you are coming by writing a Comment to the session invitation that has been posted on the blog (www.instantcomposition.nl). Please also RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/1440503489574335/
Fee: 5 euro (to share the costs for the space).
Background of the bigger project ‘Home’
‘Home’ is a concept researched in a three year project entitled ‘home’; a cross cultural dance collaboration including Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Japan (see http://bit.ly/17ylrQF). During the collaboration artists are traveling back and forth to share movement material, to create performances and give joined paper presentations. The project researches: What is it that Hong Kong, Japan, the Netherlands can learn from each other when it comes to: (a) the effects of the current global turmoil/shaking on the social, spatial and political cartography of our cities and our lives. What does the shaking reveal in terms of the power structures in place? How resilient are we under such circumstances? How willing to let go of old things? To end up in a state of ‘not-knowing’ when the new has not yet arrived? What remains? (b) the role artists can play to rethink our own (city) identities and to make decisions about which stories, myths and narratives we want to let go of to make room for the development of new meta-narratives better in line with our yearnings to co-create a place/space called home?

Facilitators

Marloes van Houten

Marloes is a movement educator, performing artist, researcher, and expressive arts trainer/coach. While raised in the Netherlands she lived, did research and danced in Eastern Europe, South Asia, Canada, Brasil, Mexico and Hong Kong, on development, civic education, peace building, movement and community art projects. In 2013, she founded an expressive art coaching practice (www.zoecoaching.nl) and a platform on Arts for Transformation (www.hearttohard.nl, https://www.facebook.com/hearttohardhq). Whether art is being used for coaching, performance or educational purposes, Marloes includes spirituality, nature, self-inquiry and prefers to work intermodal such as with poetry, movement, and visual art.

She currently works and lives in Hong Kong where she teaches movement and academic classes at the Lingnan University, and does a PhD research focused on “movement/ performance in personal and community transformation & resilience”. She also started to mix and mingle with the local arts scene, and acted as a dancer/singer in ‘The Second Tower of Babel’, a Japanese/ Cantonese on-site dance theatre project (September 2014). Afterwards Marloes initiated a follow up project, entitled ` home’, in which she acts as a (co) art director, a dancer and a movement researcher.
Henk Kraaijeveld

Henk’s musical career started with playing the harmonium as a child, however he felt relieved to switch to the piano soon. At home and in church, ensemble singing was a natural thing to do. Still he had to overcome a career as a jurist first to find out that his heart and true talents lie in music. After studying in Utrecht and New York, he won the 2013th edition of the Dutch Jazz Vocalists Competition. Whatever role you ask him to play in TJ, he’s up for it, whether singing bass lines, warm timbered solos or tenor choir parts. Henk finds musical inspiration in Take6, Sting, U2, John Coltrane, Avishai Cohen and his fellow Junctioneers. He is always eager to get the harmonies even tighter than tight and the voices super-connected to have them blended as one blast of sound.
See also: http://www.thejunctionofficial.com/ and http://www.henkkraaijeveld.com/