Within the practice of choreography it is far harder to identify the ‘art’ from the ‘craft’. Such recognition involves both philosophical and practical aspects. Aesthetic theory and process should be just as important to a choreographer’s training and development than the understanding of compositional structures and devices. The choreographer works with a highly symbolic art form. Since all symbols are abstractions, the process of creating a dance requires the process of abstracting.
In art, each perceiver, audience member and observer, uses his or her imagination to grasp the symbolic abstraction that the artist has presented. The specific meaning of the artwork, or symbol, is not agreed or specified but requires that the viewer interprets its form from their own frame of reference. As a example; in everyday speech, the abstract word chair refers to a class of objects that share a common property however, in art we are more concerned with one specific chair, it colour, shape and how it is used within the work. Art can be seen to come from the breaks, rifts, euphoria and gouges that are created in all experiences. Variations of the craft and technique are employed to the aesthetic form, creating art in its abstracted form.
Abstraction and art
To abstract is to remove, separate from, and condense. Art isolates and refines such qualities from life. There is no desire to copy reality. Instead the artist focuses of one particular thing and works with it, exploring its composition, subtleties and shadings in order to present an interpretation of the original object to the viewer. The artist’s task is to pull some of the essential aspects out of life and isolate it, therefore bringing attention to it. An example of this can be demonstrated when looking at a landscape with a small tree in the background and then looking at the same tree through a lens.
Emotional response
Abstraction is a philosophical construct of a process. However, in order to be realised, choreographic devices must be used. Each artist has his or her own filtering system in order to ensure abstraction is presented and each system can be a very personal process dependent on what aspect of an idea artist wishes to focus upon. Any abstraction depicts the essence of an image, emotion or idea and shows the artist’s perception on some level-sometimes obviously, sometimes subtly. A successful dance will always reach some sentience within, to such that an observer can see a dance and ‘know’ what it’s about even though they may not be able to ‘say’ it.
Such an identifiable essence is the aspect that imprints most clearly on the brain. It relates to experience and therefor is easily registered when ‘reading’ and responding to an art form. The mode of knowing is a natural place for synaesthesia to occur, allowing muscular tension to happen when viewing certain arrangements of paint on a canvas, to have a sensory recall when watching a dance work and to see motion or colours when listening to music.
Abstract dance
In dance, the viewer is inundated with kinaesthetic responses. This is partly due to the medium of the art form: the human body. Because of this, dance is thought to be one of the least abstract art forms. Music is thought to be the most abstract, however, within its repertory there is a wide range, from absolute music which is considered to possess no narrative or literal reference, to program music. However, even the most emotive dance abstracts to some degree purely because it is an art form and therefore different to life. Dance becomes abstract when it is derived from any plot or emotional message. When emphasis is on pure movement or design dance is capable of high levels of abstraction. The more a dance is abstracted the more it is reliant on pure movement, qualities, timing, line and shape. However, even the most abstract dance cannot overcome the humanness of the dancer.
Dance abstract from behaviour, tangible things, gestures, other works of art, images, emotions, symbols, stories, and pedestrian movement. Regardless of which of the above is being abstracted, the process is the same. The choreographer singles out a specific quality and focuses on one small detail to bring attention to it through movement, time, and space.
Source
- Blom, Lynne, Anne (1982) The Intimate Act of Choreography, University of Pittsburgh Press: USA
- Adshead-Lansdale, Janet (1994) Dance Analysis, Theory and Practice, Dance Books: London
- Preston-Dunlop, Valerie (1998) Looking at Dances: Choreological Perspective on Choreography, Verve Publishing, Penzance
Amy Watson - Amy-Louise is Artistic Director of the dance theatre company 90 Degree Rotations and has a PGCE in Dance Teaching.
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