Carpenters,
The cycle for the next three thursdays will start at 14.00 – 17.00. The research will be about process in improvisation. How can we describe different phases, stages and shifting points in Improvisation. And what can we learn from and how can we use these insights. As a first starting point we’re gonna use the 5Rhythms (see previous post). I hope you can join this research with me this coming Thursday.
Léon
Dear improvisers/researchers,
after a little break, there are two new research cycles on the roll, that you are invited to join:
Leon Beckx will explore ways of using the 5Rythms practise for interdisciplinary instant composition work.
Maaike van de Westeringh will follow up by doing similar research with the background she has in ‘Passing Through’.
Leon already posted about his sessions (see below).
Please announce whether you will be joining a session or research cycle by leaving a comment to the respective posts. Also questions can be asked that way.
Overview of the coming Thursdays and their session leaders:
26 april Leon
3 mei Leon
10 mei Leon
17 mei –
24 mei Maaike
31 mei Maaike
7 juni –
14 juni Maaike
If you are interested to lead a session with your own research, just let yourself be heard.
By Léon
The 5Rhythms is a movement practise that has been developed by Gabrielle Roth (www.gabrielleroth.com). You could say that the 5 Rhythms (Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness) are a map that describe the process of transformation. Each rhythm has its own moving & musical vocabulary and dynamic and comes with specific focus points in sensing and relating. In comparison to many other dance forms the 5Rhythms puts more emphasis on the spiritual & healing aspects of dance and is seldom used in a performance context. In these 3 carpet sessions I want to offer a introduction in these rhythms and explore their value in improvisation and performance. How can we use the language of the 5Rhythms to inform and reflect on our improvisations? And do these rhythms open up new doors for multidisciplinary impro… Join me for this research Thursday the 26 of April and 3, 10 May.
Next week we start up a new round of carpet sessions.
Starting with a kecak session by me (Marije Nie), then The Five Rhythms by Leon Beckx and Passing Through by Maaike vd Westering
Starting with a basic kecak, where new people can join in and learn the form and we get deeper into the rhythms and basic movements as a group. Then we blend in more improvisations, both in group and individual using any disicpline and technique that people bring in, song/movements/texts/instruments/etc. From there we move into group improvisations with kecak form is the underlying structure, but going in and out of it, working with tensions like expansion/contraction, rhythm/no-rhythm, individuals/group, story (or theater)/music, and so on.
Please comment on this post if you are certain to come!
Thnx and hope to see some of you next week.
After three kecak sessions in January we decided to add two more sessions in February. They will be on 16th Feb and 23 feb.
New people are welcome to join!
We will continue working as we did, starting with a basic kecak, where new people can join in and learn the form and we get deeper into it as a group. Then we blend in more improvisations, both in group and solistic using any disicpline and technique that people bring in, song/movements/texts/instruments/etc. From there we move into group improvisations where all the elements can be integrated, working with tensions like expansion/contraction, rhythm/no-rhythm, individuals/group, story (or theater)/music, and so on.
It was great to see that there is already a level of ease with the kecak form that we can really work with it. This opens up a lot of possible avenues for exploration…
Moving
While sitting in a focused circle or while doing precise and coördinated movements it is pretty easy to keep the rhythms connected. It was more of a challenge when we were moving about without order. The first session we had some difficulty keeping the rhythms locked in together while moving. We tried walking on the beat to keep us together, but this is actually didn’t help at all, almost like it was distracting from the subtle sharing of the rhythms, like the feet had a denser, heavier way of matching up all the bodies… Kecak is voice and the feeling is very light and fast, like water molecules moving…
What worked very well this time was when we actually moved as atoms around eachother while making contact with our eyes and matching the rhythms with everyone we met. This faster and faster, so in the end we only took a small ‘check’ to make sure we were locked in. This gives a strong bonding and at the same time the individual freedom that is a necessary element, both for improvisation and kecak.
Here are some things that happened in the individual improvisations:
violin – interesting to explore the ‘other sound’ of solo instrument in a vocal context. Can it match with the voices? Can it float on top of the rhythm? How can a voice be ‘out’ and float on top of the group, not pulling or fighting them.
text – different interaction with the group, immediate and direct. She was telling US her story. Lots of interesting tension between words, sounds and music.
taps – can communicate rhythmically very strong, like a conductor or caller. Can also float non-rhythmically on top
dance- lovely direct energetic connection between the dancer and groupsound, with great waves.
duet- voice duet on supported by the kecak
song- very intense long song frases, with a strong identity, it was easy for the kecak to flow underneath. Created strong moments of silence, too. I think because the song feeling made it clear that the frases would follow and were connected. That gave the group trust to carry silence.
Levels
The possibility in the kecak to move between different levels of focus (on sound, on rhythm, on story, on movement), different group ‘architectures’ (flocks, circles, alone’s, subgroups), different political structures (with a leader, organically growing, anarchic), and flavours (rhythmic drones, choatic and wild, suspenseful with sudden outbursts, swelling and ebbing, strict cycles, silent and still happening)…
Text
Last sessions Jeanette brought texts from Under the Milkwood by Dylan Thomas. These enigmatic texts worked very well in this context, moving fluidly between concrete/poetic/abstract/words/sounds. It was interesting to see the resulting fluïd changes in the group improv. The text and the way Jeanette moved between her modes of performance had a strong relationship with the way the group moved too.
See you next week?!
We have done two energetic and inspiring sessions learning and improvising with kecak, also going in and out of the kecak rhythms and combining it with other disciplines. It turns out to be a powerful tool for group cohesion and a rhythmic way to be connected as a group. It is easy enough to learn fast, so come to the last kecak session this thursday and have a go!
After a basic kecak session we had it down pretty well, and we were able to play around with various modes (fast, slow, loud, soft, different sounds, tones, movements etc). It creates a flexible and yet stable rhythmic carpet that is strangely similar to the drone.
We improvised with both group improvisation and solo’s. For the group improv it was much more difficult to find eachother rhyhmically when we were all moving in space, but when we touched base with eachother separately while moving around it came together really well, like you would touch with your hand but now with the rhythms. After that we ‘touched’ eachother more and more quickly, untill we were able to move and stay together. At this point we were ready to also drop it completely and let the rhythms appear again from that silence.
The kecak created an interesting dynamic between group and soloïst, both with movement, text and vocal improvisation. Soundwise it creates a rhythm that can be fragmented, thinned out, or otherwise manipulated easily and both with and without a leader.
This is definately something to explore more coming thursday, moving through different layers of attention fluidly (musicality, movement, story, flocking, individual choices and voices, chorus, moving out in space and into the circle, moving in and out of the kecak all together ). It was also fun to feel the (dis)connection of movement to this ongoing rhythm.
I hope to see many of you thursday, and we will take some time to talk about the upcoming thursdays.
PS. I just lost my whole post by backspacing…Somehow this browser (firefox) interpreted this as ‘go back a page’. That is pretty upsetting.. This post is but a meager second try… :-((
hi all,
just a small note to remind you that there are at the moment no session leaders for Februray. I heard from Leon, Makiko and Tom who are interested to lead session cycles, but they are only available from March… Please come forward with your plans and data options, so that we don’t create too big a gap.
thanks for all the good work that you make us be part of !
greetings,
Thomas
Kecak – interlocking voices, bodies, minds
In a series of three afternoons I will present the theme of Interlocking Voices (Bodies/Spaces/Etc’s) through practise of the Balinese kecak. Kecak is a complex system of vocal percussion and singing, dance, and storytelling, with its roots in ancient ritual and it’s present in a thriving, passionate and unique music / artform. Kecak usually retells a scene of the Hindu epic Ramayana, in which Rama and monkey king Hanuman rescue Sita, who was abducted.
This is a vocal percussion system where one specific simple rhythm is sung by many voices, each starting on a different beat. The result is a swirling texture of interlocking rhythms, it almost feels like a beehive, or very active drone!
As kecak itself is very interdisciplinary and open, making it an interesting startingpoint for improvisation, using circle forms and polyphony to group movement, translating (the idea) of interlocking rhythms into other disciplines.
Every session will start with a kecack practise, to get comfortable with basic kecak forms. Then we’ll start to bring our own disciplines and styles into the kecak, and finally introducing kecak and its principles into our own work. There are definate links with previous sessions, like polyphony.
I hope to see you then,
Marije
This one off session will be a chance to work again on the processes which we developed in the series of Polyphony in Autumn 2011.
In this method we work from a directed approach to group voices…..working for understanding how we give our voice to a group sound. The work was building on the existence of the drone as a basis for the movement of sound and voices. The Drone mimics the collective carpet which we hold common.
Once we have worked within the sounding circle we take this listening with us as we move into a wider physical sphere i.e opening the space for all disciplines. We work to maintain the deep level of listening which we developed in the sound circle based on the subtles of giving sound or silence, of supporting or proposing, and of understanding where the focus of the group lies, as well as maintaining common responsibility from beginning to end.
In this session I aim to rework some of these principles giving the collective chance to see how the time between has given opportunity to develop deeper understanding which can apply across the sessions.
And also I will take the opportunity to show the results of an intensive period of working in a new project called the 6 Songs – which developed from this concept of group voices as access to instant composition – with a small group of the members of the collective.
This project – The 6 Songs – will be taking residency at the Maartin Luther Kerk Amsterdam Zuid from January 2012, and we also seek some new members, so this session is an opportunity for new and old members of the collective to re-work the method seeing whether it would be beneficial to involve in a professional performance development.
Looking forwards to seeing all again, at the beginning of a year which promises many changes!
Please contact me with further questions before Thursday and also drop a comment below/mail/sms regard your attending.
With Love
MOnique
Interdisciplinary Instant Composition 