RETURN OF THE CHICKEN

If you missed my chicken dance (as I have fondly renamed Dismantle Map) the first time round or if you loved it so much that you fancy seeing it again (albeit a new and improved version) then I have a date for you diaries…April 10th at about 4pm (time still to be confirmed) at Chisenhale Dance Space, 64 – 84 Chisenhale Road, London E3. It will be part of a ‘Field’ event that Matt Davis (musician / my trumpet player and co-performer) organises at the venue on a regular basis. Check the Chisenhale website: www.chisenhaledancespace.co.uk/events for more information.

I’ve also just recently applied for Choreodrome which happens every two years at The Place (London Contemporary Dance School). Choreodrome is a scheme for dance artists to research work without the pressure of having to create a final product. To check it out visit The Place website: www.theplace.org.uk

Anyway, I’ve proposed to research the idea of what it would be like to give the chicken dance images (see previous posting) to other people and see how they interpret them in terms of movement/dance. I think this would be really interesting because the chicken dance was made from looking at the uniqueness of my own body. In fact, here’s the old programme note from the first performance of Dismantle Map:

“April Nunes uses the idea that everyone's body contains within it a map of their past experiences which manifest themselves as physical characteristics. She explores the concepts of individuality and adaptation as images between the raw and the refined question the experience of habitation in our human form.”

Admittedly, this programme note makes little sense but I’ve already analysed the reason for that in a previous posting (October 8th 2004) if you’re interested…

Right, back to the point….what I’m really interested in is:

How then do the past experiences of others (which give them their unique physical forms) change the way the images are translated into movement?

The more I perform Dismantle Map the more important the relationship between Matt and myself becomes and the more important the relationship between the sound and movement becomes. So, this would also be interesting to explore…what relationships develop between Matt and the others (the ‘others’ being my Choreodrome project participants --- provided they accept my proposal) and also how does the sound/movement relationship unfold for each different person?

Hope I get the chance to find out!

We shall see…