Q&A: A Performance By daniel k by jun hao soh

Commissioned by

Singapore Arts Festival

Premiered in 6 Jun 2009, 8pm & 7 June 2009, 3pm Esplanade Theatre Studio Singapore Arts Festival 25 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 30 August, 11.30am New Town Theatre (Mysterious) Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Content

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Audience: Spectatorship as an economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

(excerpt from ‘Credo’)

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance A Reflexive Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5 An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance A Quantitative Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 How-To Choreography / Dance The Artist’s Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3 Reflecting on Q&A: the Process of Questioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3 Biographies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 9 CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2

ter p a h

FOREWORD by daniel k

Question

What do the artist and the audience expect from each other? Post-show Q&As can be so boring. Well-meaning, enthusiastic members of the public invariably field questions like: “What is the meaning that you are trying to convey”[a] or “What would you like your audience to go away thinking?”[b] Compare this with how the artist is also often unprepared for the Q&A, preferring to shoot a generic “Are there any questions about the show?”[c] at the audience when he could predict very well, had he taken but a moment to consider, that the question will inevitably be met by an uncomfortable silence. The truth is that most audience members stay behind for a Q&A without the intention of asking a question. Most continue to sit by, as passively as during the performance, and observe the proceedings. Besides, those armed with some critical language about contemporary dance would often want to engage the artist with comments rather than questions. But curiously, comments are not usually solicited. It is questions that are. What good could possibly come out of this limited exchange? Does this general impassivity constitute the net result of an artistic encounter? Question [a]: “What is the meaning that you are trying to convey?” This question assumes that the performance as a work of art consistently approaches the audience with rational and intelligible meaning, and that meaning is also necessarily authored by the artist. The audience is again, merely a learner of that meaning. What is identified here is that there is meaning, but either the artist has not conveyed it successfully or it has unfortunately evaded the specific member of the audience.

FOREWORD

Question [b]: “What would you like your audience to go away thinking?” This question is a variation of question [a]. It makes similar assumptions and is asked probably out of similar intentions. Yet it is more open-ended, it tacitly gives more freedom to the audience to THINK independently of the artist. The latter may have a clear objective and would like his audience to think in a preferred way about his work. The audience may, however, regardless of those intentions, make his own reading. Here, he is merely giving the artist an opportunity to clarify his position. It may turn out that the artist’s desired outcomes for his work do not match with the audience’s responses, but this question does not assume this difference in outcomes to be a failure. Question [c]: “Are there any questions about the show?” This question takes several assumptions as a priori. To begin with, it takes for granted that the performance has a set of meanings that has been cogently conveyed to the audience and that the audience should merely be a passive recipient of information. This leads to the concern that there might be a miscommunication of ideas; the audience is perceived to have doubts (not about the show but about their inability to understand it) so that clarification is warranted, answers that the artist is also generally assumed to be able to provide.

Answer

Q&A thus begins with a(nother) basic question: I ask my audience: What would you like to see? Between the artist and the audience, whose interests are ultimately more important in the theatre? Will a decisive answer to this question not force us to reassess the raison d’etre of a performance?

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what my audience wants exactly. But if I know, I want to be able to give it to them. Is it an ability to make them think? Cry? Tap their feet? Do they want to see me jump and fly around? Share my thoughts? Bare my soul? Bare my body? The project commences by reversing the production process, whereby the artist encounters his audience before the work is created. I invite my audience to clarify what he desires from a theatrical experience and what he expects of me. I adopt a consultative approach whereby the audience gets to dictate, or at least have an input to, the creative product. This reconfigured creation process follows a pyramidal sequence in which the number of stakeholders increases with each consecutive step: First, I enlist the assistance of a team of four researchers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a dramaturge, a sociologist and an economist. We set the parameters of our research by outlining the questions that we wish to investigate and dividing them into qualitative and quantitative components. Second, a focus group consisting of ten guests are interviewed one at a time. These ten guests constitute a cross section of my presumed contemporary dance audience. They range from fellow practitioners, arts administrators, other professionals to students. Here, we ask them to identify their likes and dislikes in order to deduce a set of qualitative criteria for a desirable performance of dance. After we have analysed our data, a prototype of the dance product is tested on the focus group in a meeting during which my guests collectively evaluate my work-in-progress.

FOREWORD

Third, a public survey is administered to about fifty individuals who have all had encounters with contemporary dance. Respondents consist of local residents of the city of our research. We stationed ourselves at theatre exits… we approached our colleagues… their quantitative responses are mapped out by our economist consultant in charts. Finally, the resultant dance work is pushed into the marketplace of the theatre where all the abovementioned participants are also present as witnesses. The presentation is however, not final. To maintain the integrity of the project, the live audience is given one more chance to adjust the dance to better fit their liking. Only at this juncture is the artist’s role as social service provider considered fulfilled.

These are the Desired Outcomes of Q&A:

1 An engaged audience. Through systematic scaffolding of the audience’s experience and by incorporating spectators as fellow collaborators, passivity in the theatre is all but eradicated.

2 An efficient production. Optimal deployment of

resources; maximum satisfaction amongst members of the audience in the given duration of the performance.

3 A desirable dance work that synthesises the conceptual with the aesthetic, the cerebral and the sensual. The dancer becomes an agent of desire.*

* I consider this third outcome a bonus since here I have added an additional hypothesis – I assume that the highly desirable artist is one who can amalgamate being witty and brainy with being able to razzle-dazzle the audience. I also suspect that the highly desired artist is one who can manufacture desire.

But even all that is easier said than done! In my bid to refashion myself as an artist who ‘reaches across the table’, I will have to relinquish part of my authorial rights. Along the way, I expected myself to find some of my audience’s demands so much at odds with my taste, or indeed my abilities, that I may have to subvert the very rules I created, find ‘creative’ ways to renegotiate my audience’s demands. While the challenge to give my audience what they want remained exciting throughout, I find myself ripping my hair out half the time. Who likes to have their creative wings clipped? The marriage between conceptual rigor and sensual appeal has also never felt more awkward. After mulling over the ideas, I couldn’t dance. After a lot of movement, it was hard to articulate what’s going on anymore. How do you create desire by trying to be desirable in a dance about Desire? Most postmodern manoeuvres conclude with more questions than answers. I must admit that Q&A is no different. But I promise you, my dear audience that I will pull the stops to dance my a** off, make you think and make you clap. Hope to see you again soon.

Conclusion

The Premise of such a Performance: The heart of the dance describes an encounter between a subject and the love-object. It remains indefinite (or inconsequential) who the subject or what the love-object essentially is. In the case of the dancer and the dance, the subject and the love-object are interchangeable. The audience should be also implicated and must be led to consider this ambiguity at some point. The performance is then a process of substitution, almost always about desire and the expression of it.

ter p a h

The Audience: Spectatorship as an economy

(excerpt from ‘Credo’) produced by Thank God I’m An Atheist, João Evangelista In my first years performing for an audience I was terrified of looking back at that dark mass, this one object that was looking into me and into what I was busy doing. Their gaze was inquisitive and ruthless. The fear that ‘this thing I’m busy with’ wouldn’t be spectacular enough… wouldn’t be good enough, amazing enough. Then, I got tired of performing for one big dark mass, and started to interrogate this particular event. What does it mean to be watched? What is an audience? And what mean to do something to this massed individuals? Being watched implies a certain desire from both parts, a desire to provide and a desire to consume, a wanting of something, which the audience is lacking.

Watching is a wanting. Performing is a giving. It sounds quite abstract, which is the best of it all. Reducing the activity of watching to such abstract terms gives birth to potentialities.

daniel k came across João Evangelista’s manifesto recently and found that his artistic concerns parallel that of Q&A. He has obtained João’s kind permission to include this elegantly articulated piece into this publication.

Is audience always a spectator? Does this wanting imply always a need for spectacle, or it can go even further? Does the audience desire for something real? Then if I perform, if I give them something real, they will not be any longer spectators, they will be witnesses. Does the audience desire for something personal, intimate? Then if I perform, if I give them something intimate, personal, they will be no longer witnesses, they will be voyeurs.

The Audience: Spectatorship as an economy

But to be able to sense these desires, this lacking and all the pushes and pulls from an audience, I cannot only be busy with what I am delivering, giving or even performing. I must be as much with the material I am performing as I am with the audience itself, sensing the echo of each of my own actions. How do I achieve this? By answering a very simple, though tricky question: How many people are needed to make an audience?

One. Myself. One is always an audience for oneself. By splitting my attention on what I am doing right now, for example, typing at the computer, and imagining how this image looks like from the outside. For someone who grows in a state of constant Closed Circuit Tele-Vision, this should be a common awareness, the awareness of being constantly an image on someone elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s screen. While performing I might have to add a certain degree of sensing and listening to how the tension in the space changes, but not more different than talking with another person. What an audience wants is a wholly different chapter on structures of desire, social/ideological/cultural/historical values and differences.

courtship noun

a period during which a couple develop a romantic relationship, esp. with a view to marriage. • behavior designed to persuade someone to marry one. • the behavior of male birds and other animals aimed at attracting a mate. • the process of attempting to win a person's favor or support : the country's courtship of foreign investors.

1 2

a whirlwind courtship romance, love affair, affair; engagement. his courtship of Emma wooing, courting, suit, pursuit.

The transgression potential resides in the possibility of the role of the audience not being clearly defined, and put into a grey zone of constant shifts of the codes that signify the real, the intimate act and the spectacle. Each one of them has a certain body performativity and movement patterns (extracted from situations recognized by an audience). Extracting the codes of each and playing with them, shifting around is a potential way of constructing this grey zone, where the audience has to constantly readapt to the shifts that the contract endures.

João Evangelista is a performance artist who operates within different mediums, such as dance theater, live art, video, installations and writing. The medium chosen usually refers to the subject matter which is approached. His work takes the form of creative responses, exposing matters of the invisible, derived and abstracted from personal obsessions, curiosities, anxieties, banalities, about the everyday life. Transformed through popular language codes, wrapped in bitter sweet dried out humour and an honest liar performativity, it looks for affection to an audience. His background varies between Computer Science at University of Lisbon, to Choreography at School for New Dance Development of Amsterdam, passing through Performance Art studies and works with various artists such as Forced Entertainment, Goat Island, Xavier Le Roy, Thomas Lehmen, Didier Dorvillier, Debora Hay, Keren Cytter, Zhana Ivanova, among others. He is the artistic director of Anonymous Bystanders Cie. He lives and works in Amsterdam.

Chapter 3

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance A Reflexive Reading by Eddie Koh

Introduction Studies on contemporary dance have, to some extent, remained resistant to sociological analysis. Available literature linking sociology to dance is concentrated on its cultural production and close association with cultural anthropology. What is clear is that many theories and practitioners of contemporary dance distinguish it from classical, if not, Eurocentric forms such as ballet (McDonagh,1970; Kealiinohomoku, 2001; Thomas, 1995). Tied to its break with the linear expressions apparent in formal classical ballet, this distinction imparts a distinctive ethos to contemporary dance. The list of performances cited as references by interviewees testify to this claim. They range from renowned international groups like Nederlands Dans Theater, Taiwanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Melbourne-based Chunky Move, to noted choreographers like William Forsythe, Sidi Larbi and Jiri Kylian. The interests and knowledge of contemporary dance consumers and other important stakeholders who were chosen for the interview. This paper aims to decode audience perceptions towards the art and the language they use to describe their impressions and expectations of contemporary dance performance.

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance

Methodology

A total 9 respondents contributed to this qualitative study. All names have been omitted for privacy and by request. Their professions are wide-ranging; from teachers, journalists to entrepreneurs and managers of arts companies. The list also includes a seasoned practitioner as well as regular consumers of contemporary dance culture. In a field more well-known for its corporeal expression rather than rhetorical or textual formulations, it was difficult to put into words an artistic practice which I was not trained for.

However, the respondents’ passion and knowledge about dance offered a broad range of insights which may have eluded conventional post-show Q&A sessions. The face-to-face interview sessions were organised over 3 weeks, each lasting for about an hour. To check for clarity and accuracy of response, all statements were recorded on digital voice recorders. The transcripts of the interview served as a rich resource for comparative analysis. While the questions helped to shape the focus for discussion, opportunities were open for serendipitous findings in uncovering other facets to audience’s expectations towards dance choreography.

As such, we remained sensitive as and when our prompts led respondents to invest further interest in any of these questions asked-

1 2 3 4 5

Describe contemporary dance in 5 words. Comment on a contemporary dance performance that you like and dislike. How do you think a dancer creates a dance piece? How do you feel when you watch a dancer’s body on stage? Fantasy or reality: Which word best describes the dancer and dancer for you? Why?

6 Which is more important: the artist’s intentions or the audience’s expectations?

Formulation of Research Questions: Some Preliminary Comments While questions 1, 2, 5 and 6 pertain directly to audience’s expectations and perceptions toward contemporary dance, the rest are focused on the process and form involved in creating dance. Consistencies to these questions were noted and the critique offered on the primary data gained was based on further insights extracted from secondary references. The brief theoretical forays made in this essay would not be possible without the generous, at times spontaneous contributions and insights provided by our interviewees. The patterns that emerge became useful motifs and conceptual clusters for further interpretation. While these components may supply us with key ideas about audience perceptions and expectations toward contemporary dance, it may also be necessary at some point, to distance oneself from further claims of ‘understanding’ how the views of audience can indeed influence the artist. It is important that this paper undertakes a reflexive posture to these ‘findings’ given that it is written from the angle of an observer trained in sociology, with limited exposure to contemporary dance.

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance

Perceptions & Expectations towards Contemporary Dance Interestingly, perceptions and definitions about contemporary dance seep deeply into many levels of discourse observed during interviews. Interviewee 1 describes her understanding of contemporary dance as a ‘dynamic’ craft for ‘it has the capacity to absorb different ...ideas and concepts...within the limits of space... where one can ‘really mix and mingle the desires of the choreographer.’ She relates it closely to theater as she felt it is defined by “free” and “unrestricted” movements using sound, lights, costume design and music to construct meaning.

“If you have an interesting performance/piece to show as an artist, and you’re doing it well, I think the communication will be there...the audience will feel and see that you have been thinking about this, what kind of music, movement (sic)...you have a story as if the audience gets it…then it will be there... then you have a connection.” Interviewee 5

This is a clear break from classical dance genres such as ballet where artists adhere to compositional forms or structures in dance enshrined in a formal body of knowledge or tradition (Kealiinohomoku, 2001).

This also includes repetitious movements that add little value to what is represented on stage.

Expectations towards contemporary dance performance stretch beyond the formal criteria of technical competency and dance physique apparent for such a craft. Interviewee 7 stated that it is not sufficient for contemporary dancers to ‘dance around the music.’ For a contemporary dance to be successful, the dancer or choreographer needs to actively ‘respond’ and ‘interpret’ the process of dance-making and ensure that different elements of set, music and lighting are integrated holistically ‘without detracting or overburdening’ the audience with ‘overconceptualised’ ideas.

Primacy is given to artistic intent. Interviewee 9 feels it is important for the artists not to ‘create a work purely to satisfy the audience as they would not be ‘pushing the knowledge for (themselves).’ He claims that artists also need to ‘think about what they want to express’ since the expressions from their bodies (will) ‘bring a history... they have been inbuilt with.’ Another perspective points to the importance of mitigating between audience expectations and artistes’ intentions.

Interviewee 2 claims that the manipulation of performance space allows both artist and audience to ‘suspend’ their lifeworld, so as to ‘reflect’ about it before ‘judging the work.’ The desire is not to let external expectations overwhelm the dancers’ expressions and intent towards the craft. The focus placed on quiet reflections and active interpretation is of paramount importance to dance consumers. It would appear that the appreciation of contemporary dance involves forging a circle of interpretation that is heavily dependent on the dancer’s ability to reflect the audience’s experience of being human and not accept them as passive spectators. Interviewee 5, a seasoned member of the arts community also maintains that desires in audience expectations ‘sculpts’ the dancer even as the latter works toward ‘pushing boundaries’, to ‘provoke intellectual thought’ and by making the ‘mundane look interesting.’ Interviewee 2 felt that this may be communicated in ways that are ‘animalistic (or) sexual’ or further convey other experiences like ‘excitement, joy, celebration or sadness.’ Interviewee 3 argues that the impact of any performance is most discernable when artists do not work within a vacuum. Strong reliance on skills alone will not suffice.

“The artist must be aware of the audience expectat ions, as in the context- where they live, their society, their cultural bias. And whether you must estimate or guess to what extent your performance will shock them, if you want it to shock them. You have to know somehow, (but) of course you can’t always know. 19

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance

Audience expectations are important because they are the receiving end of the dance piece, so the effect that they get is important, but whether the performance succeeds is up to the skill of the artist... does he want to influence the audience to receive it this way?” Interviewee 3

Originally conceived by Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), phenomenology is an area of philosophy that examines the essence of phenomena in light of our subjective consciousness. Apart from Thomas (1995), another rich secondary resource would be Sokolowski’s Introduction to Phenomenology (1999), New York: Cambridge University Press

Both audience and artist seek an interactive connection which would impact them in a meaningful way. The overwhelming respect for artists’ intent suggests that the audience empowers the dancer / choreographer to bear the intellectual and artistic responsibility to ‘illuminate the lived experiences or structures’ (Thomas, 1995: 171) in how we experience our world. An understanding contemporary dance bears affinity to 1 the phenomenological frame . Sheets-Johnstone (1979: 10-11) addresses dance as the ‘pre-reflective...encounter of human experience with the existential present’. One may argue that contemporary dance seeks to ‘illuminate the lived experiences of the structures through which we orientate ourselves to the world’ (Thomas, 1995: 171). Indeed the whole stress is on ‘embodiment’ (ibid), using the body as a medium and a ‘living context’ as it engenders a particular set of techniques and aesthetics in physique and movement to execute and construct meaning within performance space. The next argument reflects more about this insight.

Body, Meaning, Movement “It is rather intuitive because you can’t really plan for it, or you must be very open to what the music is generating and you respond in a very deep way.” Interviewee 3 The body is of primary importance to dance. The artist is totally reliant on physique to express his / her mastery of the craft. Dancers as artists, energise their bodies with intuitive sensibility, availing themselves to a variety of images and experiences to accompany dance technique and movements (Synott, 1993). Thomas (1995) prescribes proxemics and kinesics as valid academic fields to further enrich our understanding of this area. These theoretical forays into the body bear strong resonance to what many interviewees said. Interviewee 7, an experienced practitioner of modern dance defines it as a ‘melting of bodies in space’, knowing the ‘adrenalin in (her) body will make (her) move a little bit unnoticeably.’ For her, to experience the body “sweating and panting” is seen as a way of re-presenting reality, not fantasy, even though some theorists would maintain that elements of contemporary dance harbour imagistic or fantastical constructs (Hanna: 1980). She further describes the body as a ‘vessel for one’s imagination...and (subject) to grace under pressure.’ In short, the contemporary dance-artist brings forth or executes the interpretive richness of a piece of work from the amount of thought invested into its genesis. Interviewee 1, a photographer, feels that a successful dance piece is one that arouses “intellectual, sexual, visual and aural’ impact while interviewee 2 ranks ‘intellect and novelty’ as critical elements that add quality and depth to contemporary dance.

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance

While the sheer physicality of a body can inspire desire or admiration, the audience is more likely to enjoy a piece when they are provoked to think about the dance and what it means to them. Some feel that any genesis to contemporary dance begins with a certain idea in mind, inchoate as it seems. Practice alone does not inspire meaning in form and expression.

“You have a particular concept in mind... from this concept you start to explore different kinds of movements or you create a moment out of the exercise that is given to yourself..that is how you come up with a new movement vocab... (sic)” Interviewee 6 Interviewee 3 comments that every piece of contemporary dance works like a ‘thought experiment’ in which ‘the motivation needs to be new every time.’ She details her own experiences this way-

“I would start off with a situation in my mind, improvise and if I think of images that inspire me I will add on. Maybe I see water and I want to bring that out in my dance. But I will start with a situation.” Interviewee 3 She further elaborates that a dancer’s ‘ability to deliver’ rests on the skilled integration of spontaneity, intuition, skill and ‘physicality.’ Much also depends on the ‘intimacy of space’ which the dancer operates. This allows one to ‘observe the really minor details like sweat...(and) tension of certain muscles...which adds a human element to it.’

Others look to the inclusion of different media to help the body sculpt meaning within a given space. This can include film, video, music and even a body of tradition to inject into the choreographic activity. Mention was made of Sutra, a contemporary piece with real Shaolin monks from China. An arts manager with several decades of experience argues for the need to look beyond physicality and physique as chief criterias associated with dance. It is felt that the body also projects a dynamic language of its own, one that cannot be replicated even within a repeat performance.

“The body is the skill...the body embodies the skill, knowledge and emotion. The body speaks...in different ways and... is political... it makes a statement. It has a voice...and its unique movement express(es) vision.” Interviewee 5 Many elements can influence a dancer to use the body to impact the audience. Interviewee 3 asserts that ‘impulse’ is an integral factor. However this cannot function nor sustain with unguarded emotion.

“An artist will perhaps choose a theme and go into it with a lot of research and use some of their personal experiences to form a thought or a bank of ideas. They may not know exactly what they are, it could be their subconscious...it’s all these months of thoughts, thinking, reading and dreaming (that) would translate into movement vocabulary. The dancer may not know where the movement comes from, but it needs to come from there.” Interviewee 7 23

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance

Social scientists like Mauss (1934) and Goffman (1972) note that the body expresses the rules, norms and categories that are embodied in the social bodies of its audience or consumers. While classical sociologists argue that society functions by a common set of symbols (language, rituals and rites), others also point to the body as a site where ‘communally shared knowledge of the world’ may be known (Thomas, 1995: 176). In other aspects, the body also contains other forms of knowledge such as belief systems or organic desires that exist independent of social norms that surround it. Interviewees may be alluding to this form of impact when majority of them speak of wanting to be ‘provoked’ or receive ‘intellectual stimulus’ in watching a dance piece. In every venture, the contemporary dancer uses the body to reach out and explore boundaries that surround our social bodies. Every performance is a work of art because it is supported by an inquiring audience who wish to actively interpret and re-construct their own experiences of being free, alive, and human in light of these ventures in a collective towards a ‘lived experience of dance’. (Sheets-Johnstone, 1979: 14-15)

The ‘Making’ of Contemporary Dance All interviewees stress contemporary dance, like art, generates fantasy that provokes one to realise something new about movement or ‘reality.’ The latter in turn, ‘is grounded in some form of reality’, allowing the audience to connect with it, even if the presentation is ‘fantastical... surreal or abstract.’ One will be drawn into a performance when the act speaks ‘some sort of truth...that is weaved into the body.’ Interviewee 8 desires to feel close to the performer, so that either way, a sense of ‘realistic fantasy’ or its representation, may be experienced. To her, dance pieces which fail to succeed are those that portray ‘unrealistic fantasies.’ Like poetry, film or music, the fine play of tension, release and control in contemporary dance remain a chief medium to frame the performer-viewer context which this event seeks to explore. However, as this essay has shown, the relationship between the dancer and his / her body will always command respect & attention from the audience. The rich intersection between the use of body, technique and artistic intent constructs meaning ‘which is never there at any one moment, but is always in the process of becoming’ (Thomas, 1995: 172). In the same vein, Thomas also argues that for contemporary dance ‘to work’, it has to ‘inform on reality rather than merely reflect it’ (ibid).

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance

Limitations of Research More attention could be given to the interviewees’ background and how it may play a significant role in determining their expectations of contemporary dance. As consumers of dance, an arts manager, dance practitioner and photographer, for example, may hold very contrasting expectations of the craft based on their level of exposure to it as well as their professional backgrounds. Another untested domain is language used in response. A major part of these findings were based on descriptive terms used to describe consumers’ response to dance. It was felt that the interviewee’s selective or unselfconscious use of language may be influenced by their professional grounding in their respective fields. To a large extent, language helps us to word our perceptions of the world (Weber, 2000). In the subjective domain of qualitative dance research, the type of vocabulary used by respondents would have provided other interesting perspectives to specific demands placed on the dancer based on the type of audience who is watching the performance. As the sample size for this interview was too small, it was unwise to venture further based on this view alone. Also the questions were formulated by individuals with different levels of exposure to the arts. It would have been better if they had been advised by a panel of stakeholders who have experience working on qualitative research in contemporary dance.

Concluding Reflections This paper serves as a preliminary inquiry into the rich nexus of unspoken desires and influences that shape the making of contemporary dance, from the audience’s point of view. I maintain the stand that the better the performance, the more difficult it is to evaluate, let alone decipher or define it. At times, the deepest impact an artist leaves on the audience is more often felt, than seen. (Wernick, 1991; Weber, 2000) The effusive qualities in contemporary dance pose many challenges for any researcher who attempts to use theoretical concepts as a toolkit to dissect a performance. If anything at all, the audience’s very appeal towards the performance arts will be determined by its ability to resist or even defy the ‘classificatory scheme of society’ (Thomas, 1995: 178). It is here that consumers discover and appreciate the intellectual stimulus offered by contemporary dance. Some aspects of any dance-work must necessarily be left alone, to elude the lens of social researchers. Any ‘meaning’ a performance elicits in us will always tempt us like a tangible mystery. We enter into it only to discover levels of self and sanctity, expressed on stage, through movement and the body.

Decoding Perceptions and Audience Expectations Toward Contemporary Dance

References “An anthropologist looks at ballet as a form of ethnic dance,” (orig. 1969-1970). Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader, pp. 33-43. Ann Dils & Ann Cooper Albright, ed. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press Goffman, I. (1972). Relations in Public. Middlesex: Pelican Books Hanna, J.L. (1980). To Dance is Human: A Theory of Non-Verbal Communication. Austin: University of Texas Press. Kraus, R. & Chapman, S.A. (1981). History of the Dance in Art and Education. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Mauss, M. (1934). ‘The Techniques of the Body’, Economy and Society 2, 1:70-88. McDonagh, D. (1970). The Rise and Fall and Rise of Modern Dance. New York: Outerbridge and Dienstfrey Sheets-Johnstone. (1979). The Phenomenology of Dance. London: Dance Books Synott, A. (1993). The Social Body. London: Routledge. Texas State Board for Educator Certification. (2003). Dance Standards. Austin: McGraw-Hill Thomas, Helen. 1995. Dance, Modernity and Culture. New York: Routledge. Weber, R. (2000). The Created Self: Reinventing Body, Persona, Spirit. New York: W. W. Norton. Wernick, A. (1991). Promotional Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression. London: Sage.

Chapter 4

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

A Quantitative Study by Ho Meng Yee (Chris Ho) Introduction & Motivation Contemporary dance – a highly visible and physical art form – is one of the major vehicles through which stories and cultural diversity are communicated to the world. Yet, relatively little is known about the processes that underpin creation and performance of communicative dance works, and less still about the processes and stylistic traditions that are unique to this art form. To enable the audience of contemporary dance performances to understand the dance they had just watched, most of such performances often hold postperformance question and answer (Q&A) sessions. It is observed that members of the audience, on the large, either have questions to clarify the intention behind the dance or to make comments about the performance. As such, the purpose of these Q&A sessions tended to centre on the artist and him being the sole proprietor of ideas. Standing from the audience’s point of view, shouldn’t one have the right to demand what one should watch in a contemporary dance performance? After all, the member of the audience has paid out a substantial sum of income, within his budget constraints, to gain satisfaction from the consumption of the performance. From the basic laws of economics, an equilibrium, i.e. steady state, is achieved when the demand of the consumer (the audience), meets the supply of the producer (the dance artist). It is at this level of output that economists refer to as an efficient allocation of resources, with wastages minimized and utility levels maximised. Henceforth, this became the primary motivation behind this research – to find out what the audience, in particular the Singapore audience, really wants to see in a contemporary dance item, i.e. what are their demand for and expectations of a contemporary dance performance. This approach will inevitably replace the assumption that the audience is a passive member in a performance.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

In this research, the roles are switched – the audience is no longer going to accept whatever the dance artist presents on stage. Instead, this research restructures the choreographic process and grants the audience greater authority and autonomy towards the creation of a piece of contemporary dance. And the dance artist will create a dance item that attempts to address the demands from the audience. By relinquishing the choreographer’s authority, this cart-before-horse method echoes democratic principles and tries to reassess the success of its functions. The research central to this project is to investigate if the free market forces of demand and supply can indeed result in an allocative efficient level of output, where the demand for contemporary dance meets the supply of it. In other words, if we were able to bridge audience’s expectations of a contemporary dance with what the dance artist can produce or choreograph, then everyone in the market for contemporary dance will be better off without having someone else worse off. This is to say, both the audience’s and the dance artist’s utility and satisfaction levels are maximized, given the amount of resources.

Methodology This research, titled “Q&A”, commences its process with the audience in mind – examining this key stakeholder of a contemporary dance performance as individuals with varied socio-economic status; and attempting to decipher their different expectations of a contemporary dance performance. The outcome of this research will be used by the artist as a resource for creating dance material. It is hypothesised that the supplier (artist) will produce a ‘perfect’ dance performance that satisfies the different demands of the consumer (audience). To inform the development of Q&A, a survey of Singaporeans with an interest in contemporary dance and who attended such performances was conducted to measure interest in various aspects of the dance performance, namely the performance and design aspects. This information was then used to give an overview of preferences and to explore differences in preferences between sub-groups. A cover letter and self-completion survey questionnaires were mailed (postage and email) to this interest group who have watched at least one contemporary dance performance in Singapore in the past one year. This interest group included a limited number of ‘experts’, e.g. arts managers, choreographers and dance artists. A total of 30 questions, mostly in the multiple choice format, about various aspects of a contemporary dance performance were included in the questionnaire. This report provides a summary of the responses. The overall response for the total sample was noted, as well as any differences between sub-groups in the sample including Gender; Age group; and Occupation. Significant differences between the sub-groups and the average or overall response are noted. Where relevant, differences between sub-groups are also described.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

Sample Achieved sample: A total sample of n = 55 was achieved Sample by gender: Gender

Female

Male

Sample by age:

Age group

18-25

26-30

31-35

36-40

41-45

46-50

More than 50

Sample by occupation (only 38 respondents declared their occupation): Occupation

Student

Artist

Teacher

Admin

Editor

Scientist

Architect

Lawyer

Self-employed

Civil servant

Business Executive

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

Performance Aspects CONTENT â&#x20AC;&#x201C; THEMES & SUBJECT MATTER

Narratives

Theme / Subject matter

With regard to the use of narratives, seven in ten respondents (71%) were in agreement that the use of narratives will enhance their appreciation of the contemporary dance item. The remaining 29% of respondents preferred otherwise.

Eight in ten respondents (83%) were in agreement that a theme or subject matter will enhance their appreciation of the contemporary dance item. The remaining 17% of respondents preferred otherwise.

In terms of narrative styles, 80% of respondents prefer an abstract approach and close to 80% are perfectly fine with no narratives at all. Seven in ten (70%) dislike having the use of text, spoken word or voiceovers as part of the narrative style. Half of the respondents felt that narratives with a clear story are important to them, whilst 70% preferred some loose references to the society and culture. Age group: Respondents aged above 40 were more likely than other respondents to prefer the use of narratives (89% compared to an overall 71%). This same group of respondents also prefers the narratives with a clear story (78% compared to an overall 50%). Occupation: All respondents who study or work in the arts or arts related industry unanimously preferred either an abstract narrative or no narrative is fine for them.

Age group: All respondents aged above 40 prefer to have a theme or subject matter for a contemporary dance performance. Occupation: However, more than half of the respondents who disagreed to a theme or subject matter came from those who study or work in the arts or arts related industry.

CONTENT – THEMES & SUBJECT MATTER

Choice of Theme / Subject Matter Respondents were tasked to conduct a ranking of their Top 5 choices of theme / subject matter as provided in the questionnaire. The ranking was such that a value of ‘1’ meant that that particular theme / subject matter was of utmost importance and a value of ‘5’ indicated the least important of their Top 5 choices. The following data was processed by tabulating an average rank for each of the individual theme / subject matter. It should be noted that the smaller the value, the more important is that particular choice of theme or subject matter as ranked by the respondents. Overall, respondents ranked ‘Doesn’t matter’ as the most important theme / subject matter. This was closely followed by a preference for a theme / subject matter on ‘Social & Political Issues’ as well as on ‘Human Relationships’. It was interesting to note that whilst ‘Sex & Desire’ was selected by 27 respondents and being one of the Top 5 popular choice of theme, the value ascribed to it by respondents was rather high (i.e. not very important) and this has rendered it to be the least important choice based on the average value calculated.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

CONTENT – THEMES & SUBJECT MATTER

Based on popularity (the higher the value, the more popular) Based on ranking (the lower the value, the more important)

45 40

18 14

10 4 3

2.50

2.95

2.83

2.80

2.69

2.68

3.60

3.50

3.44

3.17

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re &

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Cu ar

Po pu l

ltu

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) si

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Pe rs o

(R el

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s si ar th

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na ot io

xp lE

of e tu r ix

m A

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th em

ns io at

Re l an

s hi p

ue ss li ca iti H

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Gender: Close to seven in ten male respondents selected ‘Sex & Desire’ as their Top 5 choices, but most have ascribed a high value to it. Female respondents tended to select ‘Human Relationships’ and ‘Emotional Expression’ as their Top choices fro theme / subject matter. Age group: Respondents aged between 18 to 35 tended to select ‘Personal Identity’ as one of their Top 5 choices of theme / subject matter, whilst those above 40 chose ‘Heritage or Cultural Identity’ as one of their choices. Occupation: More than three-quarters of those who study or work in the arts or arts related industry felt that the theme didn’t matter to them.

BODY MOVEMENT

General Movement Nine in ten respondents agreed that they paid most attention to the movement of the dancers when watching a contemporary dance performance. In addition, 64% of respondents were in agreement that knowledge of a specific technique used in the contemporary dance performance would have enhanced their appreciation of the dance. The Top 5 types of movements preferred to be seen by respondents in a contemporary dance performance were ‘Move across space’, ‘Intricate’, ‘Balance’, ‘Stretches’ and ‘Erratic’. It should be noted that 80% of respondents selected ‘Move across space’. Occupation: It was interesting to note that half of the respondents who study or work in the arts or arts related industry agreed that knowledge of a specific technique would allow them to appreciate the dance, whilst the other half disagreed.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

BODY MOVEMENT

Aspects of Dance Respondents were tasked to assign a value (from 1 to 10) to an aspect of dance as provided in the questionnaire. Based on the survey results the following is what respondents would like to see in a contemporary dance performance. Flow

7.39

Forms

5.65

Space

6.50

Speed

7.14

Transition

6.41

Lines

4.27

Texture

5.92

Time

5.87

Shape

4.17

Weight

5.74 0

BODY MOVEMENT

The following aspects of dance are ranked according to popularity – most popular being ‘flow’; and the implications of their values are as follows: Aspects of Dance

Value

Implications

Flow

7.39

Mainly free flowing (vs bound)

Forms

5.65

Moderately soft (vs hard)

Space

6.50

Mainly indirect (vs direct)

Speed

7.14

Mainly fast (vs slow)

Transition

6.41

Moderately frequent (vs infrequent)

Lines

4.27

Moderately definite (vs irregular)

Texture

5.92

Moderately smooth (vs rough)

Time

5.87

Moderately sustained (vs sudden)

Shape

4.17

Moderately sharp (vs blur)

Weight

5.74

Moderately light (vs strong)

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

Design Aspects SOUND

Music Preference It didn’t matter to 60% of respondents whether there was music accompaniment to the contemporary dance performance or not. However, from the other options, more than 80% of respondents prefer to have music and / or sound effects for the performance. More than 9 in 10 respondents prefer to have a variety of music forms in their appreciation of a contemporary dance performance. And even so, there was a large preference for a rhythmic form of music as 95% of respondents surveyed expressed so. Gender: More women (90%) preferred having music than male respondents (60%). Female respondents also on the whole disliked a discordant / atonal form of music. Occupation: All respondents who study or work in the arts or arts related industry unanimously chose ‘Doesn’t matter’ for their music preference. Age group: Those that disliked discordant / atonal form of music were mainly those aged below 30 years old.

SOUND

Types of Music / Sound Element Strongly Agree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Disagree

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

at te r sn ’t m

le nc D

m d or de

Re c

c us i

c ni tro ec El

Ro ck

us i m Po p

The Top 3 types of music / sound element preferred were ‘Classical’, ‘Electronic’, and ‘Pop music’. It should be noted that music matters alot for the average contemporary dance audience. Gender: More female respondents (90%) prefer having Classical music than male respondents (60%). And more male respondents prefer Electronic music. Age group: Respondents above 40 years old tended to prefer Classical, Live music and Recorded music, whilst respondents below 40 years old showed a propensity for Rock, Electronic and Techno music in their appreciation of contemporary dance.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

LIGHTING

Lighting Variation, Intensity and Atmosphere All respondents, except 3, were in agreement that they paid attention to the variation in lighting, whilst 85% of respondents paid attention to lighting intensity when they watch a contemporary dance performance. And only 2 respondents didn’t appreciate the atmosphere that lighting can create for a contemporary dance performance.

Lighting Colour Scheme Preference Pastel

5% 6%

Light

Doesn’t matter

Primary Colours

Fluorescent light

8% 8% 9%

Earthy Cool

10% 10% 14% 14% 16%

Warm

Contrasting Dark

The Top 3 choices for lighting colour scheme were ‘Earthy’, ‘Contrasting’ and ‘Dark’ Age group: Younger respondents tended to be more likely to choose a preferred colour (i.e. primary colours and pastel), whereas older respondents were more likely than younger respondents to prefer ‘Contrasting’ and ‘Dark’ (80% of above 40 years old, compared to 50% of 18 – 25 year olds).

COSTUME & PROPS

Importance of Costumes and Props More than 60% of respondents were in agreement that costumes and props are important to their appreciation of a contemporary dance performance. Additionally, more than 80% of respondents expressed that they appreciate newly and specially designed costumes and props for a contemporary dance performance. All of the 19% who disagreed in this question also expressed the unimportance of costumes and props in a contemporary dance performance. Occupation: However, more than half of the respondents who disagreed that costumes and props are important and werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t able to appreciate newly and specially designed costumes and props came from those who study or work in the arts or arts

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

COSTUME & PROPS

Costumes and Props Preference 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%

Strongly Agree

30%

Agree

20%

Disagree

10%

Strongly Disagree

m fo r y od

Ev er yd ay

Re ve a

ar ac

te ris

Majority of respondents (more than 90%) prefer costumes that reveal body forms. The least popular choice of costumes was those that emphasized colour. Gender: Men were more likely to prefer costumes that reveal the body form (60% of men compared to 25% of women). Women showed a higher preference for stylized costumes (54%) compared to men (16%). Age group: Respondents above 40 years old were more likely to prefer costumes that emphasized colour and everyday wear. Occupation: Teachers were more likely to prefer costumes that reveal the body form (87.5%) compared to other groups.

MULTI-MEDIA

Use of Multi-media 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

A th lot an o 50 f m % ult of i-m pe e So rfo dia 25 m rm (m % em an or to u ce e l 50 ti-m ) % e of dia Li pe (b 25 ttle rfo et % m rm we of ult an en pe i-m ce e rfo d ) rm ia an (le ce ss ) th an N o m ul tim ed ia D oe sn ’t m at te r

Strongly Agree

Close to 7 in 10 respondents agreed that multi-media will enhance their appreciation of a contemporary dance performance. However, only 20% of respondents preferred ‘a lot’ of multi-media usage. More than 60% preferred ‘some’, whilst majority (80%) agree to ‘little’ multi-media. Age group: Respondents aged 40 and above make up 30% of those who disagreed to this question. On the other hand, younger respondents, aged 18 – 25 years old tended to be more interested in ‘some’ multi-media usage (80%). Occupation: 40% the respondents who disagreed to the use of multi-media came from those who study or work in the arts or arts related industry, whilst students were most interested in ‘some’ use of multi-media (60%).

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

SET DESIGN

Set Design Preference 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%

Strongly Agree

30%

Agree

20%

Disagree

10%

Strongly Disagree

at te

n ig

sn â&#x20AC;&#x2122;t m

es td

se o N

e pl m si A

ab or at

se td es

8 in 10 respondents were in agreement that the set design in a contemporary dance performance will enable them to appreciate the performance better, especially the context of a contemporary dance. Respondents generally prefer a simple set design with slightly less than 90% choosing that option. Majority (58%) disagreed to an elaborate set design. More than 50% were fine with a contemporary dance performance that did not have a set design. Age group: Those who disagreed to an elaborate set design came mainly from the 30-39 age group.

Overall Design Respondents were tasked to conduct a ranking of the following five design aspects to a contemporary dance performance. The ranking was such that a value of ‘1’ meant that that particular design aspect was of utmost importance and a value of ‘5’ indicated the least important design aspect. The following data was processed by tabulating an average value for each of the individual design aspect. It should be noted that the smaller the value, the more important is that particular design aspect. 5 4 3

2 1

Light

Sound

Costumes & Props

Stage set

Multi-media

It can be seen that respondents have ranked Light and Sound as the top 2 most important aspect to a contemporary dance performance. They were less concerned about Costumes & Props and the Stage Set. Multi-media usage was ranked as least important Using a weighted-average approach, the following equation can be obtained for the relative importance of the design aspect of a contemporary dance performance: DESIGN = 0.272 Lighting + 0.271 Sound + 0.173 Costumes & Props + 0.170 Stage Set + 0.115 Multi-media This meant that audience values lighting and sound almost 2.5 times more than that of multi-media. Costumes and props and stage set was 1.5 times more important than multi-media.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

Audience’s Perspectives of Contemporary Dance Respondents were tasked to conduct a ranking of their Top 4 objectives of contemporary dance as provided in the questionnaire. The ranking was such that a value of ‘1’ meant that that particular objective was of utmost importance and a value of ‘4’ indicated the least important of their Top 4 choices. The following data was processed by tabulating an average rank for each of the individual objectives. It should be noted that the smaller the value, the more important is that particular objective as ranked by the respondents. Based on popularity (the higher the value, the more popular) Based on ranking (the lower the value, the more important)

10 3 1.89

2.73

2.40

2.07

3.36

3.24

2.90

ltu

ec i

at e

ou r

tio ns re la

er st

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ls du a vi di in

nd er st U

w an d st

ns se or e

iti

w e

ar e

hu th e te ia Be

es ns se

s ou l rs ou

Ap pr ec

En ric h

rit s

su es

The Top 4 objectives of contemporary dance as seen from the respondents’ choice were ‘Enrich our souls / spirits’, ‘Appreciate the human body’, ‘Be sensitive to our five senses’ and ‘Understand who we are as individuals’. It should be noted that whilst 85% of respondents selected ‘Appreciate the human body’ as one of the Top 4 choices, the values ascribed to it on the average was lower than that of ‘Enrich our souls / spirits’.

Analysis and Overall Recommendation By breaking down the creative process of dance choreography into performance and design aspects, general trends have been observed. For the performance aspect to contemporary dance, the audience in general prefers to have an abstract narrative style that centres around a theme or subject matter. In general, it does not really matter what the theme is, although there were some preferences for subject matters that revolve around social and political issues and human relationships. Even a mixture of themes is also fine by the audience. Most members of the audience pay attention to the movement of the dancers, as well as the techniques used in the dance. This is strongly correlated to their perspective that they watch contemporary dance to appreciate the human body. In terms of the types of movement preferred, the audience had indicated an affinity for movements that allow the dance artist to travel across space; and the movements ought to be intricate. There must also be balance and stretches throughout the performance. For sound, the audience prefers to have a variety of different forms of music, but from the Top 2 most preferred type of music chosen, it is that of recorded and classical music. Generally, the audience pays attention to lighting, be it the variations, intensity or the atmosphere it creates for the contemporary dance performance. In terms of lighting colour scheme, they prefer earthy, contrasting and dark schemes. By and large, costumes and props are important to the audience, with the majority expressing an appreciation of newly and specially designed ones. Unsurprisingly, most respondents prefer costumes that reveal the body form, re-emphasising the fact that they watch contemporary dance to appreciate the human body.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

Despite 66% of respondents agreeing that multi-media enabled them to appreciate a contemporary dance performance, many were quite contented not to have multi-media infused in the performance. As such multimedia usage in a contemporary dance performance was the least popular choice in terms of its ranking with the other design aspects. A simple set is preferred to enable the audience to appreciate the context of the contemporary dance performance. In fact, more than half of the respondents were fine with no set at all. Ultimately, from the results, the main objective of audience watching a contemporary dance performance is to have their souls and spirits enriched. This enrichment can come from the content and choice of theme of the performance. It can also include how the dance artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body moves, as the types of movement and techniques used are likely to stimulate the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s souls, intellectually, emotionally and physically. Additionally, the use of lighting, sound, costumes and props, stage set and multimedia can enrich the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s souls as each of these design aspects of a contemporary dance will create differing impacts and influences on them, hence providing them a different feeling when different permutations of the design aspects are used.

In summary, a typical Singapore audience of contemporary dance, based on the quantitative survey of 55 respondents would, in the main, like to see the following in a contemporary dance performance: Content

Indifferent to choice of theme as long as it is abstract

Movement

Travelling across space

Lighting

Earthy lighting schemes

Sound

Recorded classical music

Costumes

Reveal body form

Set design

Simple or none at all

Multi-media

Not necessary

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

Limitations of the Research One of the main limitations of this research lies in the small sample size of respondents. Whilst the tastes and preferences of 55 respondents cannot fully represent the entire audience of contemporary dance, it has nonetheless provided a dance artist some scope to work on in trying to meet audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expectations. In addition, not everyone declared their occupation in the survey. Only 38 out of 55 (70%) indicated their occupation. As such the summary of preferences by occupation will provide a limited view of the situation. Moreover, the questions posed to respondents did not include the number of dancers on stage. It is likely that respondents might have responded with more than one dancer in mind. Hence, the outcomes of this research may not work out well for a solo dance artist. Or perhaps, the number of dancers did not matter in the first place. Another possible limitation lies in the limited dance vocabulary of respondents, which might have affected the accuracy of some of the data. But considering all of the respondents had watched at least a contemporary dance over the course of the past year, this limitation is hopefully minimized. A more comprehensive approach, if given more time, would be to conduct short interviews with these respondents to clarify some of their responses. Whilst this research has clearly given the dance artist some insight into the expectations of what the audience wants to see in a contemporary dance performance, it still remains to be experimented if the amalgamation of these findings into one performance will truly be what the audience wants.

Going Forward To test out the findings from this research, it is recommended that an experiment be conducted. This means that dance artists have to be engaged to weave in these quantitative outcomes into a contemporary dance item. Audience, preferably respondents to this research, who turn up for the performance, will get to comment if that is truly what they expected. It would also be interesting to see if the dance artist is able to create new dance vocabulary based on this research. It would be beneficial to the dance community if this can be achieved. And as such, more dance artists should be encouraged to conduct research for their projects to generate new and creative dance vocabulary. However, it should be noted that the eventual performance might not be able to satisfy everyone and hence this project could have been a waste of resources. And that dance artists are perhaps recommended to stick to their usual way of choreographing their work. All they have to ensure is their integrity to their craft such that their intentions are reflected in their performances. A further hypothesis could be developed: The audience did not have expectations of the dance artist or the performance itself, so long as they do not feel that they are taken for a ride and had wasted time and money on the performance. This meant that the audience treasures the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s intentions behind his creation.

An Alternative Approach to Creating Contemporary Dance

Conclusion Whilst statistics, economic theory and mathematical functions are exacting in finding out what the audience wants for the different components of a contemporary dance performance, the eventual outcome and final product remains to be proven to be the truly ‘perfect’ piece of contemporary dance performance. This research, nonetheless, has provided some insight into what the Singapore audience expects from a contemporary dance performance. As observed from the findings above, audience’s satisfaction will be maximized when their expectations of the performance are met. It is hoped that these findings can be integrated into a dance artist’s creation so that the eventual product, or performance, will be, in the main, what the audience wants to see and hence resources used in creating a dance performance are allocated efficiently.

Chapter 5

How-To Choreography / Dance The Artist’s Interpretation by daniel k

1 Artist’s Intentions or Audience’s Expectations?

The audience prioritises my artistic intentions over their own expectations. But the audience EXPECTS me to have fresh ideas. My autonomy as an artist should be maintained although I must have something to communicate. My dance work will not be merely aesthetic.

2 Dance: Fantasy or Reality?

Dance is ‘reality with a twist’ since fantasy and reality is always blurred in a performance. It seems that surrealism as a modus operandi for dance is quite a popular notion. As a dancer, I should express a body pushed to its limits and explore a human capacity to dream.

3 The dance should arouse the audience at various levels - from

the intellectual to the libidinous. But this is conveyed through the exuberance of the dance rather than the body-beautiful. The empathy that the audience craves the most comes from defining moments of connection and crystallization in the dance performance.

4 The dance as an art work will be inspired by my personal experience

and observation of the external world, the world outside the theatre.

5 The audience desires depth in content, clarity in intention, economy of means, attention to details and innovation.

6 The audience deplores over-depiction, over-conceptualisation, repetition, superfluous or extraneous information.

7 The audience feels that narrative is important to contemporary dance but is OK without it. The narrative can be abstract.

8 The audience is open to all kinds of themes and subject matter.

My dance will depict a relationship through the sensuous expression of emotions. It will allude to a sexualized sense of identity. It is a dance about desire based on the audience’s desires because the artist desires to be desirable.

How-To Choreography / Dance

The audience wants contemporary dance to enrich their souls. Through an appreciation of my body (but again, it is my bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s liveness, not the body itself that the audience wants to see), the audience becomes more sensitive to their five senses.

10 The set design will be simple. 11 The use of multi-media will be prudent. 12 My costume will reveal the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body form. 13 The lighting design will create an atmosphere of earthiness, darkness, contrast.

14 The audience is amenable to the use of a variety of styles of

music in contemporary dance but does not favor a silent piece. I will dance to classical music as it is considered most desirable for contemporary dance audience members in their late twenties.

15 The dance movements will primarily explore the use of space and direction, ultimately allowing the body to travel across physical space.

16 I will not attempt slow stretches on stage. I will include a lot of intricate movement.

17 Overall, the movement will tend toward free flow, strong weight, sustained time and indirect space.

18 My audience will walk out of the theatre with many doubts and queries, responses and comments. Yet they will not think that I have wasted their time and money. Some of them will like me as an artist more.

Chapter 6

Reflecting on Q&A: the Process of Questioning By Lim How Ngean, Dramaturge

At the point of writing this essay, choreographer daniel k was still in the process of creating the dance piece that the audience would finally see on performance night. The journey of creation and choreography is already an arduous one whereby the artist must immerse himself or herself in the process of shaping a thought — a seed of an idea, a feeling, a hunch, a thesis — that would be nurtured into a somewhat complete picture in his/her head and then to physicalise, to materialise this picture into movement, gestures, kinesthetic art, if you will. So what happens when the dancemaking process is further confounded by needs, wants, desires — whims and fancies — of the audience? In fact to say that such a premise would “confound” dancemaking and choreography may be an understatement for the mere thought of a dance performance, an art piece, influenced by external forces just simply goes against the very nature of individual artistic expression. “A consumerist approach to contemporary dance”. “Popularising contemporary dance”. “A transgression of the autonomous artist”. “A regression of the individualistic artist”. “A compromise”. “A betrayal”. “A sell-out”. The resistance of formulating a piece of contemporary dance that favours the needs and wants of the audience is indeed high. However, it is to daniel k’s credit that the project did take wings and has been afloat, and now lands with a presentation to the audience. So, is daniel k a sell-out artist who is more concerned about ticket sales and popularity? Does daniel k intend to sell/promote/ market the art of contemporary dance as another product, manufactured to the tastes of a contemporary dance audience?

Reflecting on Q&A: the Process of Questioning

As can be gleaned from daniel k’s foreword, he is really concerned about quite a few issues surrounding the project Q&A; the least of his priorities is in putting out a “product” that would please the most number of audience members. His questions and theses put forth in Q&A centre on the artist-audience relationship. From audience expectation to the artist communicating his/her message to the audience, daniel k is most concerned about this relationship that is bound by the “product”, the dance in his case. The dance becomes daniel k’s communication to the audience, the dance becomes the audience’s way of accessing what and how daniel k is expressing. Through a methodical social scientific survey that encompasses quantitative questionnaire and in-depth interviews, daniel k hopes to tap into the psyche of the dance audience, allowing him to interpret and define how audience of art receives and processes dance. On further reading daniel k’s foreword, there is also the sense that the Q&A project is largely a process-driven undertaking that allows the artist to examine closely his audience, their reception to contemporary dance, their expectations in contemporary dance and even their perceptions in dancemaking. There is no denying the timeline for daniel to create his dance piece in Q&A may have tripled or even quadrupled as the tedious work of designing the survey and interview, executing the survey and interview, collecting and analysing the data with the much-need help and guidance from our sociologist Eddie Koh and economists/statistician Chris Ho. Indeed the process to arrive at the data or “ingredients” for daniel k to create his new opus figured more than 70 per cent of this entire project, while the remaining 30 per cent constitute real output from the choreographer vis-à-vis the dance or artwork.

Therefore, the entire performance of Q&A takes on a format that we hope would shed some light on the primacy of process in the project. As the Q&A performance unfolds, daniel k hopes for an all-inclusive undertaking similar to his “democratic” approach in dancemaking where audience feedback and response — as well as fundamental enlightenment into his dancemaking process — that continues the exploration into the artist-audience dynamics. As with process-driven artistic projects, questions and issues abound as the researcher excavates deeper into his/ her initial thesis. One of the core question encountered in daniel k’s journey into Q&A is the language of dance and the plasticity of interpretation when this corporeal language is mediated by verbal language. Most fascinating was when daniel k and I, with Eddie and Chris, began to debate on terms and meanings put forth by interviewees and survey respondents when words such as “energy”, “soul”, “fast”, “slow”, “earthy”, “travel” are used to describe dance. There are no absolute numerical and empirical measurements we could rely on to ascertain the correct speed, the correct emotion, the correct colour, the correct strength in assisting daniel k to piece together his dance when these same words are what the interviewees and survey respondents request to see in a dance. That is where the issue of artist intent can be interpreted to mean a certain amount of autonomy and creative licence afforded to the artmaker or choreographer. At the end of the day, most interviews from the in-depth interview indicated that there must be an artist’s intent in making a dance or a piece of artwork. The idea of total surrender to the whims and fancies of the audience becomes mitigated by the fact that daniel k the choreographer will have to create a dance according to his physical strengths, kinesthetic abilities, intellectual capacity and emotional depth. At the end of the day, the premise of making dance with a set of audience requirements does not equal “bespoke art” nor “dance-on-demand”. The audience still respects what the choreographer wants to say (dance), and how he wants to say it.

Reflecting on Q&A: the Process of Questioning

On a larger scheme of things, Q&A also looks at the question of audience composition in a context â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the Singapore context. In a largely consumerist society, how does the Singaporean arts audience view dance, for instance. Fired by the ambition to be a cultural hub in the region, Singapore boasts of a vibrant arts scene, reflected by a long history of arts festivals that harks back to 1977. This begs the question of how has the Singapore arts audience grown and developed, specifically in the instance of contemporary dance. Do they expect more cutting edge, envelope-pushing performances or are their interests influenced by mainstream, celebrated names from larger Western arts festivals? It is interesting to note that the National Arts Council also conducts audience surveys to map out trends in tastes and audience profiles, perhaps to determine more accurately a programme mix that would attract high viewership. In an economic context where arts becomes big business, there is always the issue of balancing boundaries-breaking works with performances that attract mass appeal. So, what would Q&A produce at the end? A piece of dance that caters to the masses or will it still be able to break boundaries for the artist and challenge audience expectations while still engaging them? Last but not least, the question of cultural and social context is interrogated in the survey data. What happens when the same interview questions and survey questionnaire is administered in a different country, with different socio-economic, socio-cultural and political ideologies? The assumption is that the results would differ when the abovementioned parameters change. Certainly it would be an interesting exercise to chart the dance pieces generated by Q&A: Singapore, Q&A: Malaysia, Q&A: Hong Kong, Q&A: France, Q&A: Germany, Q&A: New York, Q&A: Los Angles, etc.

Harking back to some of the findings in the in-depth interview, there is common consensus that not only the artist’s intention in the artwork is important but his/her approach to artmaking is also a priority. In his report, Eddie notes: “Expectations towards contemporary dance performance stretch beyond the formal criteria of technical competency and dance physique apparent for such a craft… For a contemporary dance to be successful, the dancer or choreographer needs to actively ‘respond’ and ‘interpret’ the process of dance-making and ensure that different elements of set, music and lighting are integrated holistically ‘without detracting or overburdening’ the audience with ‘over-conceptualised’ ideas.” The excerpt suggests that there is importance in the choreographer thinking through, dancing through the physical aspects of the dance, i.e. lighting, music, movements, with more abstract values of theme, concept and story. Therein lies the heart of Q&A: it is about processes; the dancemaking process, the conceptualising process, the process between dancer/choreographer and audience.

Chapter 7

Biographies daniel k

Choreographer & Performer daniel k studied Fine Art and Critical Theory at Goldsmiths College (London) under a Singapore Public Service Commission scholarship, and Choreography at the Laban Centre. His performances have toured Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok. His key works include Melatonin (2002), Melatonin2 (2003), Anaglyphs (2003), MERCURY (2005), MERCURY2 (2006) and Morpheus, which was featured as part of Singapore Arts Festival 2007. He came in first on the 2007 Straits Times list of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Faces to Watchâ&#x20AC;? in the Singapore arts scene, which also voted Vermillion (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival 2007) as one of five best dance performances that year. In 2008, he was awarded the Young Artist Award (Dance) by the National Arts Council. He is an Associate Artist of The Substation and teaches in the Art Elective Programme at Hwa Chong Institution (College Section).

Lim How Ngean Dramaturge

Lim How Ngean is a contemporary performance scholar and practitioner, with interests in ethnographic and intercultural theatre and contemporary dance. He has worked with Krishen Jit, Ong Keng Sen and William Teo, and has examined contemporary performance in Japan while on a Nippon Foundation Research Grant in 2004. He studied his MA in Theatre in London on a British Chevening Scholarship in 2007, and will embark on his PhD studies at the National University of Singapore in 2009. He also writes performance reviews in Malaysian newspapers, contributing to local newspaper The Star.

Biographies

Chris Ho

Consultant (Economics) Chris Ho, a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, is a full-time Economics lecturer and tutor at Hwa Chong Institution (College Section) and an occasional freelance stage actor. He is currently pursuing an Education Doctorate with the University of Western Australia, researching on curriculum change in Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education system.

Eddie Koh

Consultant (Sociology) Eddie Koh graduated with honours in Sociology from NUS and obtained his Masters in Education from the University of Melbourne. He has been teaching for ten years, and currently teaches at Raffles Institution (College Section). While his primary research interests are in cognitive anthropology, with a special focus on place, belief systems and identity, his recent interests also encompass contemporary dance and the social ecology surrounding its practice.

CREDITS

Acknowledgements Q&A Choreographer / Performer Producer Dramaturge Consultants Production Design Lighting Designer Sound Designer Production Manager Stage Manager

daniel k Tang Fu Kuen Lim How Ngean Chris Ho (Economics) Eddie Koh (Sociology) Assembly Pte Ltd Yo Shao Ann Caleb Lee Joanna Goh Yap Seok Hui

Special Thanks The Substation, Assembly Pte Ltd, Angeline Ng, Audrey Wong, George Hwang, Goh Ching Lee, Jarvis Lim, Jacqueline Chua, Jonas Ericsson, Neo Hong Chin, Tara Tan, Su-San Tan, Rob Fowler, Five Arts Centre Kuala Lumpur, and MyDance Alliance Malaysia Q&A is organised by:

Supported by: The Substation, Singapore

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