Semio-Rave 2019
is an improvised collective movement/performance practice which lasts along a DJ-Mix of approx. 40-minutes. The practice consists of several modules and is guided each time by a different person. The practice was developed out of two separate needs: On one hand, as a physical “coming together” focussing on the communal aspect of the group and on the other hand, as movement score that focusses on a physical listening of complex arrangements of rhythmical gestures. It has to date been (self-)organized in Brussels, Vienna, Berlin and Taipei.
1.) Start moving in a continuous pace without any interruption or sudden changes. Try to be aware of every current movement and how it unfolds into the next one. The tempo can fluctuate. Try this for an extended period of time.
Context: While the body warms up, one's awareness and problem-solving gets to be quicker. Further, one starts to see it as less of a burden to move bigger and take more risks once feeling “ready”. The discrepancy between what one wants to do and what one can do/ project into starts to dissolve.
2.) Once you feel ready, start to take in the “phonic materiality” of the music and slowly mark your continuous movement with the pulsating beat of the music. Take time for that and try to make this shift as subtle as possible together with the whole group. Try to merge into longer and clearer stops within the beats.
Context: As the music is following complex arrangements of rhythmical gestures and processes throughout, one tends to understand the rhythmical patterns and wants to break out of this continuous movement. The slowness makes one more susceptible on how the “phonic materiality” of the music affects the doing.
3.) Continue to merge into even longer stops and slowly bleed into ever changing static positions to positions within the beats. Move closer together.
Context: One starts to collectively shift in space with other people. A shift from an internal experience to an external production tends to happen. Therefore the communal aspect starts to be more evident and relevant for one's own doing.
4.) Once established, see what constellations emerge and play with them. Once you feel the pattern is exhausted, try to move into the continuity as in beginning again. Try to change slowly and within the group. Take roughly the same time to move out than when you moved into the constellations.
Context: While the constellation disassembles, a residue of the rhythmic encounter stays in the body. In many cases the movements takes on a faster pace and the vocabulary of movement pathways gets to be more complex and specific.
5.) Find the groove within your own material and try to work with each other. Move more in space and start relating to each others movement bit by bit.
Context: As before “the score” (continuity in movement) and later on “the music” (relation to beats) gave structure, now the “communal force” within the group provides the framework. It starts to be a collective system built upon an improvised social organization in space.
6.) While you move, either try to find one movement gesture within the continuity that repeats itself and try to make it precise as possible so people can follow it OR try to follow someone’s movement as precise as possible.
Context: Regardless if one produces or tries to follow, everyone must decipher individually their following actions in the new interpretive communal framework while staying in their own doing. Further, the kinesthetic awareness is challenged as one needs to sense what other persons bodily movements could feel like and how they're executed.
7.) Slowly try to find one common movement within the group. Again, make it precise as possible so everyone follows exactly the same pattern. Once established, try collectively to slowly change the movement pattern into a new one. Repeat that for a couple of times.
Context: If we understand said “common movement” at this point as highly repetitive and precise, we can see that the images used to describe the body and it's actions become one single apparent body. Through the slow common modulation of this single body, now metaphors can open up into newly related metaphors: a self-reflexive process constantly changing in its signifiers.
8.) Once you feel that the number of changes where sufficient, slowly stop, stand still, recognize what happened in the last time and try to close your eyes. Resolve and re-think about what happened.
Context: One tries to exist alongside others that remain longer involved in the doing. This can urge either a personal contemplation about one's own experience within it as well as thinking in a more abstract manner, relating more to the dramaturgical/ compositional aspects and prospects of the work.
Context: While the body warms up, one's awareness and problem-solving gets to be quicker. Further, one starts to see it as less of a burden to move bigger and take more risks once feeling “ready”. The discrepancy between what one wants to do and what one can do/ project into starts to dissolve.
2.) Once you feel ready, start to take in the “phonic materiality” of the music and slowly mark your continuous movement with the pulsating beat of the music. Take time for that and try to make this shift as subtle as possible together with the whole group. Try to merge into longer and clearer stops within the beats.
Context: As the music is following complex arrangements of rhythmical gestures and processes throughout, one tends to understand the rhythmical patterns and wants to break out of this continuous movement. The slowness makes one more susceptible on how the “phonic materiality” of the music affects the doing.
3.) Continue to merge into even longer stops and slowly bleed into ever changing static positions to positions within the beats. Move closer together.
Context: One starts to collectively shift in space with other people. A shift from an internal experience to an external production tends to happen. Therefore the communal aspect starts to be more evident and relevant for one's own doing.
4.) Once established, see what constellations emerge and play with them. Once you feel the pattern is exhausted, try to move into the continuity as in beginning again. Try to change slowly and within the group. Take roughly the same time to move out than when you moved into the constellations.
Context: While the constellation disassembles, a residue of the rhythmic encounter stays in the body. In many cases the movements takes on a faster pace and the vocabulary of movement pathways gets to be more complex and specific.
5.) Find the groove within your own material and try to work with each other. Move more in space and start relating to each others movement bit by bit.
Context: As before “the score” (continuity in movement) and later on “the music” (relation to beats) gave structure, now the “communal force” within the group provides the framework. It starts to be a collective system built upon an improvised social organization in space.
6.) While you move, either try to find one movement gesture within the continuity that repeats itself and try to make it precise as possible so people can follow it OR try to follow someone’s movement as precise as possible.
Context: Regardless if one produces or tries to follow, everyone must decipher individually their following actions in the new interpretive communal framework while staying in their own doing. Further, the kinesthetic awareness is challenged as one needs to sense what other persons bodily movements could feel like and how they're executed.
7.) Slowly try to find one common movement within the group. Again, make it precise as possible so everyone follows exactly the same pattern. Once established, try collectively to slowly change the movement pattern into a new one. Repeat that for a couple of times.
Context: If we understand said “common movement” at this point as highly repetitive and precise, we can see that the images used to describe the body and it's actions become one single apparent body. Through the slow common modulation of this single body, now metaphors can open up into newly related metaphors: a self-reflexive process constantly changing in its signifiers.
8.) Once you feel that the number of changes where sufficient, slowly stop, stand still, recognize what happened in the last time and try to close your eyes. Resolve and re-think about what happened.
Context: One tries to exist alongside others that remain longer involved in the doing. This can urge either a personal contemplation about one's own experience within it as well as thinking in a more abstract manner, relating more to the dramaturgical/ compositional aspects and prospects of the work.
backround media by P.A.R.T.S & CN-D:Centre national de la danse.