The foam lab provided an invaluable space for this exploration, fostering an environment where uncertainty was embraced as part of the creative process. The ethos was one of continuous progress, acknowledging that even without immediate resolutions, every step forward contributes to the journey.
Auriea Harvey, the artist leading this initiative, identifies as a dedicated drawer, deeply immersed in the practice both privately and publicly. Her long-held fascination with dance performances sparked a desire to formalize the act of drawing within these kinetic environments. The vision was to create art that directly integrates dancers, forging a profound connection between dance and drawing. This concept of dancing drawing had been a persistent vision for years, waiting to be explored.
Unveiling the Vision: Presentation and Initial Concepts
The residency commenced with a presentation outlining the motivations and conceptual framework behind dancing drawing. Harvey openly shared her contemplations and uncertainties, questioning the core essence of the idea. Was it simply about capturing the beauty of dancers’ movements in static form? Or could it evolve into something more profound, a new artistic language where dance and drawing are intrinsically linked? As a representational artist, she acknowledged the captivating forms and subjects dancers offer, yet her ambition extended beyond mere representation.
While uninterested in becoming a public performer of dance herself – finding the idea of performative drawing with her own body before an audience unappealing – Harvey was deeply curious about using her body to understand dance from within. She questioned whether a deeper understanding of dance could enrich her drawing practice and lead to more insightful artistic outcomes. However, she emphasized that the ultimate goal remained the creation of a compelling drawing, a lasting artifact born from this exploration. The process, the embodied research, was acknowledged as a crucial, yet personal and preparatory phase.
Inspirational precedents were showcased, featuring artists who have explored the dancing drawing concept in diverse ways. These included Anne-Teresa de Keersmaeker, known for her choreographic structures and geometric patterns; William Kentridge, whose animated drawings capture movement and time; Nicolas Gansterer, exploring performative drawing and spatial notation; and Andros Zins-Browne, whose work blurs the lines between dance, performance, and visual art. Harvey expressed a particular affinity for performances that capture everyday and even absurd motions, contrasting them with traditional dance forms like ballet. When engaging with traditional dance, she preferred interpretations that revealed the underlying structure or historical context. Similarly, in drawing, she admired works that either demonstrated rigorous traditional discipline or a radical awareness of the act of drawing itself. This presentation set the stage for a rich discussion, exploring the theoretical underpinnings of dancing drawing.
Deep Dive into Synthesis and Composition: Discussion Highlights
The ensuing discussion steered away from the notion of dancing drawing as mere representation or using dance solely as a tool for drawing. Instead, the focus shifted towards synthesis. The aim was to achieve a genuine fusion of dance and drawing, creating an artifact that transcends both representational drawing and the performance that might inspire it. Composition emerged as another key concept, encapsulating the desired integration of dance and drawing elements into a cohesive artwork.
The historical parallels between musical composition and choreography were explored, prompting a consideration of how dance was documented alongside musical notation during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. References were made to Hildegard von Bingen’s manuscripts and Thoinot Arbeau’s work as potential sources for understanding the historical intertwining of music and dance notation. The grammar of gesture in Baroque dance was also mentioned, suggesting a potential avenue for further research. Anna Yepes, a specialist in Spanish Baroque dance, was proposed as a valuable contact for deeper exploration in this area.
While the discussion only briefly touched upon tools, the idea of experimenting with Zoetropes and other animated forms was raised, hinting at the potential to capture movement and time within drawing. The concept of a black mirror, perhaps as a performance floor, was envisioned as a way to alter perspectives and reflection in dance and drawing. The core intention was repeatedly emphasized: to create a visually compelling artifact, distinct from the live performance itself.
Drawing from life was deemed crucial, not to merely record gestures or static poses, but to actively engage visual memory in capturing movement. The importance of visual memory, a cornerstone of representational art from sight-size techniques to gesture drawing, was highlighted. The discussion pondered whether a static drawing could embody a time-based element, reflecting the ephemeral nature of performance. It was proposed that drawing could extend the lifespan of a performance within memory, allowing for continued interpretation and re-experiencing. This idea challenged conventional notions of time, suggesting a performative dimension to visual experience, bridging the “now” of creation and the “then” of the performance. The question of repetition in drawing was raised – what happens when a drawing is repeated multiple times? While personal experience with copying old masters was acknowledged, the group recognized the unexplored potential of repeating one’s own drawings to further understand the process and outcome.
Contemporary dance choreography methods were considered for their potential to inform dancing drawing. The idea of a direct collaboration between dancer and drawer, rather than a simple observation-response dynamic, was favored, moving beyond a mere “ping-pong dialog.” Yves Klein’s Anthropometries were briefly mentioned, but ultimately deemed to lead away from the desired aesthetic towards a performative role for the artist that was explicitly being avoided in this context. William Forsythe’s choreographic principles were considered as a more aligned approach, alongside Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s focus on the musicality inherent in movement. The role of music in dancing drawing was questioned, acknowledging the spectrum from music as mere support to a juxtaposed, independent entity. However, Harvey expressed a leaning towards de Keersmaeker’s view of “musicality emerging from motion,” suggesting music might not be a primary element in her exploration of dancing drawing. Fueled by these rich discussions, the group transitioned from theory to practice.
Embodied Exploration: Try Out Exercises in Dancing Drawing
The “Try Out” phase was initiated with the equation: Time + Relationships + Gestures = A Choreographic Score. The central question became: What could a score for dancing drawing look like? Several exercises were designed to explore this.
The participants began by inventing individual, repeatable body gestures. A table served as the action space. Walking around the table, each participant became a “dancer” performing their gesture three times on the shorter side. On the opposite side, they transitioned into the role of “drawer,” sketching the “dancer” at the other end of the table.
These gestures were then translated onto paper. Walking around the table again, each person performed their gesture as a mark on the paper three times, creating a collective dancing drawing score.
This drawing then became a dance score. The group evaluated the score, considering two approaches: interpreting each person’s mark as an individual instrument or dividing the paper into sections, each representing a motion to be improvised upon.
They opted to bring each mark to life through movement. A space was marked on the floor, and each participant improvised a dance movement inspired by a line from the drawing score. Dancing commenced, and the movements were iterated upon until a shared understanding of the dance vocabulary emerged within the group.
Next, on a mural-sized paper, the participants created marks reflecting what they perceived as the most compelling motions from the drawn score.
This mural drawing was envisioned as a “piano roll,” guiding the dancers’ improvisations from left to right across the paper. An easel was set up with paper on the floor as Stevie provided musical accompaniment on her hurdy-gurdy. Her music responded both to the evolving drawing and the group dance, creating a multi-sensory exploration of dancing drawing. The process was described as a struggle to find order within chaos, yet filled with enjoyment.
Finally, Harvey selected elements from the invented dance that resonated most aesthetically to serve as the subjects for a final sketching session. The dancers further developed these selected parts, and after their dance, Harvey elaborated on their positions from memory, creating drawings informed by both observation and recall.
Evaluation and Reflections on the Dancing Drawing Experiment
The evaluation of the dancing drawing residency was overwhelmingly positive. Despite the intensive work, participants felt a sense of accomplishment and exhilaration. The inherent endorphin release from both dancing and drawing contributed to a joyful and productive atmosphere. A repeatable movement vocabulary had been developed, forming the “sentences” within this new artistic language.
Reflecting on the initial intentions, Harvey acknowledged a paradox: she had engaged in performance – something she initially wished to avoid – while perhaps not fully realizing her goal of creating a visually compelling artifact entirely independent of its origin story. However, venturing outside of one’s comfort zone was recognized as a valuable outcome in itself. The joy of choreographing and dancing collaboratively, followed by the act of drawing inspired by this shared movement experience, was a significant takeaway. Although time constraints prevented a deep exploration of a structural representational style, the exercises provided a visceral approach to initiating drawing, developing poses, and even creating a choreographic outline for future drawing endeavors with models or performers. The potential for incorporating a specific theme or narrative to further enrich the visual outcomes was also noted. Overall, the experience left a strong desire to revisit and expand upon these dancing drawing explorations.
Conclusion: The Enduring Value of Artistic Exploration
In conclusion, the author reflects on the poignant note that this micro-residency might be among the last hosted by FOAM lab in its current form, as they embark on a period of re-imagining and sabbatical. Having a long-standing relationship with the organization, the reasons for this shift were understood, yet the potential loss of such a valuable resource for artistic exploration was keenly felt. The sentiment that “anything’s possible” often remains just a saying, but FOAM lab provided a rare space where this maxim was actively pursued. The world undeniably needs spaces where artists can freely experiment, engage in meaningful discussions, and transform nascent ideas into tangible plans. Indeed, the residency underscored the vital role of such spaces in fostering artistic innovation and unlocking “possible futures.”
