Statement

Fragment–continuum: The polarity of these words’ interaction seems to me of growing significance as key to art appreciation in our everyday lives. The question whether a polarising tension might have new meaning in the context of a radical cultural globalisation – and the change of values and increasing alterability of perception, the latter brings about – imposes the patience on me to let things happen instead of producing them. This orientation of mine, aiming at and actually representing more of a question than a statement, didn’t occur by chance but is, retrospectively, a logical development requiring further exploration and reflection.

... The metamorphosis from the natural state of things to culture defines the place of humanity in the fabric of things. I choose this metamorphosis, seen as movement in time and space (dance of things) as the basis for my choreographic quest. The basis is matter, matter is physical. The act of creation, the creating and exhibiting of bodily features holds the possibility of contemplating the creation. The endless “play” with matter has begun, it is what keeps us going. Time springs from the change of things- space results from the movements that lend its significance. We start to grasp the implications of the play with the matter and the participation of the other (collective motions increase the substance). If we create something (dances), we form identities, establish links and structures between ethics and aesthetics, and realize the importance of the tension field in which rhythms and resonances start to develop a meaning. We start to understand our tendency of embellishing the sensual and of searching answers to the non-existent phenomenons in the existent world.

Fragments (flashes) affected by the transitory element in the movement of bodies–excitingly changeable–are the point of departure, the eye-catcher. In a measured, appropriate attitude towards the dancers, choreography appears as a vast field of research. During the act of dancing, time is differentiated, structured, and potentiated. We dance (tell) of the changeability of things, the movements in and around us, and thereby shape the outside world. The beholder (the audience) follows these states of being and fuses them into pictures, scenes, greater temporal structures (pieces): abundance–scarcity, revitalization–exhaustion, rhythm–resonances… theatre in the sense of imaginary time-space comes to life! The enthusiasm in this art becomes an issue on both sides of a dividing line (orchestra pit). It is transported, it becomes stronger! Dance consists (springs) of (from) the contemplation of a counterpart (the other). The resulting world of imagery ends up embracing the opposite parts of a given space. It consists of images that we dream, that we long for.

It does not take an expert to tell the sweat-soaked masks from the real faces of the dancers. It does not take any aural expertise to behold the hollow undertone in the steps that take us towards our future–our “progress”. However, it is necessary to listen very carefully in order to tell the kind of hollowness these steps betray. There are various kinds… If it can’t be compared, it can’t be understood. Are we producing tomorrow’s events? Are we supporting yesterday’s traditions? Do we surrender to the musicals of the present? Are we celebrating holy masses? The first thing that comes to mind is baroque hollowness (a baroque party all over Vienna). Back then, the entire Western humanity was walking over stages, in pompous progress. The baroque excesses caused all actions to become grand gestures. Our current excesses, on the other hand, seem destined to reduce all of our actions to fragments. The difference might be the origin of the excesses: While the baroque hollowness resulted from a subversive loss of faith in the dogmas of religion, our own hollowness stems from the loss of faith in ourselves.

During the study of spontaneous, complex factors of movement, awareness is paramount. The body has a multitude of sensors at its disposal. These sensors are devised to reach and overcome limits. Integrative dancing helps to create new working structures beyond piece making; this calls for a change of the greater frame conditions: architecture itself, setup in space, time codes, organisation of the ensemble, etc. So the individual expression of the performers are coloured by the changed frame conditions and result therefore in diversified structures of movement: different modes of behaviour. It is the challenge of the choreographer to understand and further develop these results. The task lies in maintaining and cultivating the “household” of the growing imagery, always taking care to put equal emphasis on the physical and the spiritual elements. It takes a long-term process and a deep insight of the choreographer to distil and understand individual dancing structures. Thus, choreography is the result of different qualities and their meta-significance that are not allowed in repertory systems. It is the art of expressing time spatially – periods of time are vested with quality.
Is the gaze of the choreographer manipulating, gentle, encouraging? Does the mere contemplation of things effect their change?

Fragment-continuum: the collector sees it as a collection of experiences. Never forgetting, however, that the personal view can not but remain a fragment of the whole.

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