Text by Thomas Bradley

on a dancing*

* dancing is used here as a noun, as distinct from dance. A dancing denotes one’s psychological state during, but not limited to, any physical activity, or indeed the course of a dance. Its essence is compositional, as derived from choreographic thinking, in organising actions and possibilities. For example, one can feel a dancing when combining opposing actions, like smiling while saying something disturbing. It is also possible to be in a dancing while standing still, and realising every possibility for motion.

i]
It is an exorcism of ideas, and the eventual liberation from ideology. That is the goal of his dancing, as an act of personal transfiguration. (Don’t ask why!) It begins with realising something equating the distance and perspective between the origin of an idea, and the idea itself.

MORE THAN DISTANCE;

Convention aligns the body with an agenda to dance, perhaps as sensational, relational or symbolic configurations. These tend to be rationalised the closer one gets to production, formalising an understandable need to ‘show’ itself. By contrast, the rationale of his dancing agenda treats their total comprehension as irrelevant, and rather detrimental to the ultimate cause; that is, to arrest the imagination of the observer, by framing creative digression. In this way, these statutory configurations are valued only as points of departure.

And so, he utilises such configurations as navigational tools to identify that which is otherwise foreign. He moves between them, seemingly restless and hesitant as his physicality hints at temporary engagements. The most important, exploratory space here is in-between that which is familiar; just as a prolonged breath mid-word, mid-sentence rearranges the atmosphere of one’s speaking. Privy to the potency of familiarity, he is cautious of lingering, tempted by ideological possession and imposition.

N.B. To know a dancing, he has already been dancing,
and that is the precise distance I am referring to.

MORE THAN PERSPECTIVE;

his dancing is a psychological expedition through the clarity of a production. It is a rake through sand, a census of every grain that contributes to the sand being. And it is by this act he discovers what constitutes a dance beyond mere, choreographic sensations; a real-time listening, and observing of thoughts and behaviour, that networks:

architecture (choreography),
ambition (dancing),
ideology** (concept) and
perception (performance),

as the components of his dancing. This formality of separation reduces all four elements to a base-line value, levelling any hold one may have over another. It’s usually architecture and ideology that require the most destabilising, as he tends to over-craft and over-intellectualise choreography. A good result is sensing Self and Ego independent from ideology, and that’s a decent attempt at objectivity, a practice of self-reflection via his dancing agenda.

**ideology is used here to refer to conceptual
constraints and motivations relating to desire and
ambition: to be heard, seen or understood rather than
enduring the experience as a dynamic translation.

As a psychosomatic tool, the dancing simultaneously connects and differentiates the aforementioned elements. There is, of course, an inevitable engagement with ideological spaces, to formalise the existence of the dance. However, it is the responsibility of the dancing to ensure they are resisted as resting points, no matter the temptation of familiarity.

Momentary engagements with this familiarity, echo across foreign, and less symbolic postures. Each psychological departure is simultaneously a rendezvous with the familiar, contributing to its transformation, eventually including the body. And it is these residual effects that facilitate a transformational process for him, and his audience, as moments of retrospect. At the same time, his performative desires come to the fore: to be seen; to be heard; and, to be understood. These tend to conjoin ambition and ideology, with an over-exerted clarity that he prefers to avoid, resisting his dancing as propaganda.

N.B. It’s very simple if you listen to what you

think.

If he is engaged as such, an aesthetic observation of his movement is not necessarily necessary. He monitors his dancing body through an archetypal lens, charting emotional reverberations over pleasing images. A similar, ‘unambitious’ state is encouraged towards his dancing psychology-the exorcism of ideas: brief departure; permanent shift; and, the acute as monumental.

ii]
It is not a declaration of ideas, rather the mechanism for their extrapolation. (Don’t ask why!)

The declaration is a precursor to the dancing, akin to preparation rather than a recipe. Ideas must be extradited from consciousness through speech or writing, like a clarification of behaviour, or practice of exorcism. And it is after these literary articulations that his liberation, and Good Dancing, will begin: post-declaration, and its attendant extrapolation. In this space, cliché postures may emerge, like archetypes of meaning and value, yet they remain personal somehow; the politics of the action must not be engaged as a communicative tool.

N.B. It’s important the audience see me not knowing,
so they know when I know, I don’t know.

The distinction he is searching for is that between the personal and political. Though, perhaps there can be some value in flirting with politics just as he flirts with clarity. Generally, that should be encouraged, rather than the rampant fucking of art by ideology and ambition.

Do you prefer clarity to nuance?

Are clarity and dynamism mutually exclusive?

N.B. In this context, clarity gains its whole value by the creative digression that frames it.
As a measure of universality, clarity is vital in a dancing scene, where so often the desire to communicate
something directly overrides the expression of the dancing experience.
In this sense, clarity must be understood as a prelude to chaos.

What about the becoming of clarity?

There is a meta-epoch of sorts, the clearing***, existing between the death of an idea (clarity), and the naissance of a consecutive idea (realised only after the fact). Here, ambition and perception are challenged, as the dancing produces unfamiliar behaviour, contradicting the usual choreographic conditions of energetic momentum; focussed time; and consumption of space. He returns to the clearing as in a loop cycle, accumulating particular behaviours and mechanisms, and so, an historical truth.

***the clearing is a term coined by
the German philosopher Martin Heidegger.
- that which facilitates the disclosure of Beings
(as in the physical thing), ideas and actions.
- a psychosomatic state in which a person experiences
paradoxical sensations of emptiness, and potential.

At this stage, it is likely more valuable as a personal exorcism, in its experiential dancing and limited dancing way. It is certainly relatable, possibly interpersonal, before it is interrupted by the politics of production. Seeking validation, either through defined teaching strategies or popularity, is irrelevant because the dancing agenda should be appreciated as working for him, the individual. Under constant evaluation, the experience moves beyond the initial expression of its existence; that is, its truth evolves. Its observation attracts questions that shape it beyond its conception, which shifts the discourse from personal to interpersonal to social. This is how, and where, most dancing ideas become propaganda-like, crossing from private to public to political, via a need to validate itself.

the clearing is often regarded self-indulgent, and
discarding of interconnectedness as a pocket of ‘no thing’.
This is precisely why the dancing is described as a loophole;
that which monitors itself by catching and disturbing
moments of familiarity with the body and thoughts. Each
loop holds residual potential, and is therefore more than its
purported

nothingness – potentiality

as a patient for the curation of Being-toward-death****.

****Being-toward-death is a term coined by the
German philosopher Martin Heidegger -
an authentic way of living, having
realised the potential for one’s finitude
at any given moment. This reveals an angst
having observed itself uncanny.

He is personified as uber-fertile in isolation and purity,
formalising and mystifying codes of conduct simultaneously,
though this is not uniquely his attribute.

For the creative who focuses so, the clearing is self-fulfilling as a meta-psychological act; to align with this potential is to meet between the death and birth of the politics of meaning and value. His work is a by-product of the persistent willingness to disengage the rationalisation of architecture, ambition, perception and ideology.

In this position, he hosts a dancing with his Self.

Text was produced by Thomas Bradley as part of a new initIative of Delving into Dance publishing written content that explores different aspects of dance from a range of perspectives. Edited by Teik-Kim pok.

This initIative is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. If you enjoy Delving into Dance please consider leaving a contribution.Contribute here.