Korak u prazninu - pukotine u koreografiji / A Step into the Void: Cracks in Choreography

Ivana Ivković

iz: "A Step into the Void: Cracks in Choreography", /The Art of Making Dances/, ur./ed. Chase Granoff, Jenn Joy, The Kitchen, New York, 2009.

 

Koreografski solo Chew Selme Banich (produkcija koautorske inicijative OOUR) poziva se na rad američke fotografkinje i redateljice Cindy Sherman. U plavoj perici, s velikim crnim sunčanim naočalama i štitnicima na koljenima, Banich poput kakve junakinje B-filma uhvaćene objektivom Cindy Sherman staje pred publiku u tišini, okrenuta profilom, nepomična. Tek nakon nekoliko minuta kreće vrlo, vrlo sporo spuštati glavu i ruke prema podu, zatim se spušta na dlanove i koljena i u tom položaju ostaje drhtavo nepomična nekoliko minuta. Kada se napokon počne kretati naprijed, klizanje dlanova i koljena po plesnom podu se ritmički izmjenjuje s pauzama, duljim periodima nepomičnosti, nakon kojih slijedi kretanje unatrag do početne pozicije, pa naprijed, i tako više puta, ritmizirano, usporeno, uz nalete intenziteta i napetog mirovanja naizmjence. S vremenom se kretanje usporava, kratke pauze gube, a dulji periodi mirovanja na početnoj točki produžuju.

Tek nakon tridesetak minuta izvođačica se diže na noge, kratko nepomično stoji, zatim izlazi sa scene i vraća se s velikim crnim naočalama i mikrofonom u ruci. Namješta žicu mikrofona u niz kolutova dijagonalno preko scene poput linije vrludavog puta, da bi zatim napustila taj zadatak, polako sjela na pod i (pretpostavljamo, jer velike naočale nam zaklanjaju njezine oči) nastavila gledati u publiku. Nepomičnost, napeto mirovanje, dah, glasno kruljenje želuca, namatanje žice mikrofona oko gležnjeva.

Svaka promjena položaja na sceni, trenutak skoka ili ritmično zibanje tijela u repetitivnosti brišu dojam da se tijelo uistinu kreće - sve se zaustavlja u vibratilnom gibanju udova, pa i čitavog tijela. Uspravno tijelo ne gubi kvalitete onog položenog na pod - repetitivnost koraka jednostavno zamjenjuju udarci šaka kroz zrak, a klizanje dlanova na podu lateralno njihanje bokova.

Mirovanje (i kada je riječ o aktivnom titranju ili repetitivnosti) kao koreografska strategija omogućuje koreografiji poput Chew da iskorači iz polja reprezentacije u drugačiju ekonomiju prisutnosti.

A Step into the Void: Cracks in Choreography

Ivana Ivković
from: "A Step into the Void: Cracks in Choreography", /The Art of Making Dances/, ur./ed. Chase Granoff, Jenn Joy, The Kitchen, New York, 2009

Chew, a choreographic solo by Croatian choreographer Selma Banich (production of the OOUR co-authorial initiative) draws on the work of American photographer and filmmaker Cindy Sherman. In her blond wig, wearing large sunglasses and kneepads, resembling a B-film heroine caught in the photographic lens of Cindy Sherman, Banich steps before the audience in the dark, her profile turned toward them, motionless. It is only a few minutes later that she begins to lower her head and hands toward the floor very, very slowly, after which she goes down on her hands and knees, remaining in that posture for a few minutes, tremulously inert. When she finally begins to move forward, her sliding on hands and knees along the dance podium rhythmically alternates with spells of standstill, rather long at times, after which she moves backward to the initial position, then forward again; and that goes on and on, rhythmically, in slow motion, with alternating gushes of intensity and tensed stillness. With time, Banich’s movements become slower, the short breaks are missing, while the longer static periods spent at the initial point are prolonged.

It is only after thirty minutes that the performer gets up on her feet and, having stood still for a moment, exits the stage, only to return with a microphone in her hand. She adjusts the wire in several loops across the stage, diagonally like a winding path, but then abandons the project, slowly sits down on the floor, and fixes her gaze on the audience (presumably, that is, since we cannot see her eyes behind the large sunglasses). What remains is her motionless, tensed stillness, her breathing, and the audible growling of her stomach while she wraps the microphone wire around her ankles.

Every change of posture on stage, the jumping moment or the rhythmical rocking of the body, erases the impression that the body is actually moving, owing to its repetitiveness – everything stops in the vibratile motion of the limbs, or even the entire body. The erect body does not lose the qualities of the body laid down on the floor – the repetitiveness of steps is merely substituted by the beating of fists through the air, while hands sliding along the floor are exchanged for the lateral swinging of hips.

Stillness (both as active tremor and as repetitiveness) is a choreographic strategy that makes it possible for a choreography like Chew to step out from the well-known field of representation into a different economy of presence.