Università Roma Tre

Alessandra Cristiani

Dance Laboratory
Dance research utilizing the practices of Butoh and Eurythmy

The goal of this project is to offer an experience of training in and exploration of movement and dance. The laboratory is open to students and will allow them to come into contact with their personal creative ability. The intent is to deepen an holistic approach to movement which will manifest the individual’s humanity, allowing a corresponding dance to emerge: the only dance possible. Methodological tools will be introduced to guide in the process of thinking about and creating from the specific nature of the human being. The identification of internal physical dynamics and deeply rooted organic reflex mechanisms will be explored.
The meetings will consist of a first part dedicated to a warm-up, followed by structured dance exercises, leading to improvisation work.
The training phase is not only important as a physical warm-up, but above all as a necessary condition to awaken a readiness to dance. Through specific exercises, the students will gradually acquire elasticity and balance and an intuitive intelligence of the body. This will prepare the body to be ready and efficient for an authentic, bold performance action.
Emphasis will be given to the use of simple and accurate breathing techniques which render the bone and muscle structures softer, allowing more freedom in the joints. In Asian practices, the joints are considered to be creative, acoustic spaces which permit a more organic flow of energy in an action and therefor a more intense physical presence in the space.
Vocal work will be introduced, specifically vocalization of vowel and consonant sounds of language for a heightened awareness of the dynamic between internal/personal space and a choral,shared external space. The power of vocalization will subtly intercept the invisible, essential and regenerative energy of the creative act.
Steinerian Eurythmy forms will be explored to train the body to move organically through space in all directions, perceiving it in all of its volumes.
Concerning artistic creation, the work will pass from the breathing exercises visited in the training phase, to the expression of defined dance exercises. The natural mechanics of the body will be translated poetically through both dance imagery and themes to work with and explore. These physical states will be investigated in their diverse quantitive and qualitative levels in order to come closer to a more personal dance. Students will work from an initial inspirational dance into a free dance later.
The dance will not be considered as a succession of poses, but seen in its more profound nature: a movement in constant becoming.
The participants will begin to develop more intuitive creative faculties through the strategic use of dance imagery. Words, phrases and verse from both Western and Eastern cultures will be offered as a mysterious orientation, an enigmatic path to follow in the discovery of an internal landscape. Surprising and efficient in this sense, the suggestive, alogical force of Haiku will be utilized. These short compositions, considered the highest form of expression in zen culture, are recognized for the concise and fleeting nature of their images. The poems bring external reality beyond its visible aspect. They unify the spirit and the material, suggesting an instantaneous and emotive perception of reality. This perception is transmitted directly through the senses and an intimate comprehension of reality is gathered. In translating this image poetry into a creative methodology, the effect of the Haiku is found not in the attempt to appeal to a codified system, nor a creative talent, nor to a need for definition. It is found rather, in an attempt to find a sensibility, a personal essence, something which springs out of real moments of existence and that remain profoundly imprinted, waiting to be realized in dance.
The laboratory expects to conclude with a final action, open to the public.