The ethos of the mover/witness dyad: an experimental frame for participatory performance

This article reflects on a dance improvisation project in which the foundational relationship of the Mover Witness Dyad (MWD), the private exchange between mover and witness (and more commonly known as Authentic Movement) became an ethical and physical paradigm for an improvised performance. The untitled performance (conceived by Shaun McLeod and danced by Olivia Millard, Peter Fraser, Jason Marchant, Sophia Cowen and Shaun McLeod) took place over three nights in Melbourne in November 2014. It was specifically informed by the experiences, observations and questions drawn from an extensive studio practice of the MWD by the dancers. The practice of the MWD is a therapeutic relationship between contemplative mover and attentive witness. Falling within the wider field of Dance Movement Therapy, the MWD has uses as a therapeutic aid, in personal development and also as a context for exploring dance improvisation. An important feature of the MWD is that attention, in whatever manifestation, is directed inwardly and is engaged bodily. The form parallels dance improvisation in its emphasis on open, exploratory movement, which is grounded in the particular sensibility each individual brings to embodiment. Never intended as a performance practice, the MWD has nonetheless been used by dancers as a method for investigating dancing and towards informing or generating performance content. This project threw up considerations of values; in this case values associated with audience participation and the ethics of ‘witnessing’ improvised dance.

The Little Con-ference 2015

The Little Con is an artist led initiative and dedicated to the performance of dance improvisation. The Little Con-ference is a conference linked to The Little Con (organised by Dianne Reid)

Breathing in the atmosphere : affect and improvised dance performance

Whether conceptually or experientially atmospheres are hazy. Atmospheric situations often emerge without us being able to control or fully apprehend the conditions of their emergence. Atmospheres affect us not at the cognitive level but through embodiment - through the sensory capacities of our bodies and subsequent registers of affect. We feel atmospheres. Dance improvisers also feel what emerges in an improvisation, whether as the adrenalizing effect of the audience’s presence or because the dancer is immersed in their own movement (as the affect of interest). But dance improvisation is a situation in which atmospheres (and their affective impacts) emerge in unpredictable ways. Becoming attuned to ‘what is going on’ is an aspect of improvisational skill but improvised performance is also an exposure to ‘not knowing’ – not knowing what will happen (or how it will change), not knowing what motivated the movement. This exposure to ‘forces of not knowing’ is similar to many atmospheric situations in everyday life which we negotiate according to personal habits and personal levels of discernment. This performative paper picks up on Gernot Bőhme’s concept of a “new aesthetics” such that hazy atmospheres, and the uncertainty of where they come from, can be claimed as part of an aesthetic encounter. It also reflects on the act of breathing as a potential interface between aesthetic and scientific definitions of ‘atmosphere’.

Validation de l’échelle de mesure de la conscience de l’environnement d’affaires

La conscience de l’environnement d’affaires est définie comme l’ensemble des savoirs détenus par les employés non-cadres par rapport à l’environnement d’affaires interne et externe de leur organisation. Elle se manifeste lorsque l’employé est impliqué dans la prise de décision ou résolution de problème affectant l’entreprise. Ce travail a comme objectifs la validation d’une échelle de mesure du concept à l’étude, ainsi que la vérification de sa validité de construit et nomologique. L’ensemble initial d’items de l’échelle de mesure a été déterminé suite à des entrevues avec les employés d’organisations participantes (Gauvreau-Jean, 2008). L’ensemble initial de 40 items a été testé avec un échantillon de 508 employés d’une manufacture. Suite à des ajustements, l’échelle modifiée couvre quatre dimensions du construit. L’adéquation de son contenu a ensuite été mise à l’épreuve par deux groupes cibles et deux évaluations expertes (Lessard, 2014). Finalement, dans le cadre de notre étude, la validité du contenu et nomologique de l’échelle modifiée (contenant 24 items) a été testée avec 330 employés de première ligne de quatre entreprises. Les quatre dimensions du construit furent supportées, la fiabilité de l’échelle était haute, puis les hypothèses reliant la conscience de l’environnement avec les caractéristiques au travail, l’évaluation de la performance par un superviseur et l’engagement affectif furent supportées également. Un autre sondage complété par les gestionnaires (n=43) avait comme but une évaluation de la performance contextuelle des employés supervisés. Le développement de l’échelle à 24 items sur la conscience de l’environnement d’affaires pourrait répondre aux questions portant sur la participation de l’employé et l’efficacité organisationnelle.

Modèles organisationnels et compétences infirmières en gestion de lits

Travail dirigé présenté à la Faculté des sciences infirmières en vue de l’obtention du grade de Maître ès sciences (M.Sc.) en sciences infirmières option formation des sciences infirmières

Exploring Armenian keyboard music : roots to modern times

The extended program notes include historical facts of the composers and characteristics of the pieces being performed. The thesis also includes information about Armenian composers starting from 18th to the 20th century, composition's historical background, brief biographies of the composers as well as analysis of form and structure. The graduate piano recital comprised the following compositions: Sayat Nova - R. Andriasian Yes Mi Kharib Blbuli Pes; Komitas - R. Andriasian Garun a, Shoker Jan, Dzirani Dzar, Gakavik; A. Khachaturyan Poem; A. Babadjanyan Elegy in Commemoration of A. Khachaturyan; E. Bagdasarian Humoresque, Prelude in D Minor, Prelude in B Minor; A. Babadjanyan Improvisation and Traditional from six Pictures; A. Babadjanyan Prelude and Vagarshapat Dance; A. Arutyunian Dance of Sasoon; A. Arutyunian - A. Babadjanyan Armenian Rhapsody for Two Pianos.

Validation de l’échelle de mesure de la conscience de l’environnement d’affaires

La conscience de l’environnement d’affaires est définie comme l’ensemble des savoirs détenus par les employés non-cadres par rapport à l’environnement d’affaires interne et externe de leur organisation. Elle se manifeste lorsque l’employé est impliqué dans la prise de décision ou résolution de problème affectant l’entreprise. Ce travail a comme objectifs la validation d’une échelle de mesure du concept à l’étude, ainsi que la vérification de sa validité de construit et nomologique. L’ensemble initial d’items de l’échelle de mesure a été déterminé suite à des entrevues avec les employés d’organisations participantes (Gauvreau-Jean, 2008). L’ensemble initial de 40 items a été testé avec un échantillon de 508 employés d’une manufacture. Suite à des ajustements, l’échelle modifiée couvre quatre dimensions du construit. L’adéquation de son contenu a ensuite été mise à l’épreuve par deux groupes cibles et deux évaluations expertes (Lessard, 2014). Finalement, dans le cadre de notre étude, la validité du contenu et nomologique de l’échelle modifiée (contenant 24 items) a été testée avec 330 employés de première ligne de quatre entreprises. Les quatre dimensions du construit furent supportées, la fiabilité de l’échelle était haute, puis les hypothèses reliant la conscience de l’environnement avec les caractéristiques au travail, l’évaluation de la performance par un superviseur et l’engagement affectif furent supportées également. Un autre sondage complété par les gestionnaires (n=43) avait comme but une évaluation de la performance contextuelle des employés supervisés. Le développement de l’échelle à 24 items sur la conscience de l’environnement d’affaires pourrait répondre aux questions portant sur la participation de l’employé et l’efficacité organisationnelle.

Modèles organisationnels et compétences infirmières en gestion de lits

Travail dirigé présenté à la Faculté des sciences infirmières en vue de l’obtention du grade de Maître ès sciences (M.Sc.) en sciences infirmières option formation des sciences infirmières

William Layton en España

This year 2015 marks the 55th anniversary of the establishment in Spain of the first theatre academy whose methodological principles for actors were based on the Stanislavski system —although transformed by the perspective of the Method, developed in America by the Group Theatre during the 1930s and then implanted in some famous schools such as the Actor’s Studio—. It was in October 1960 when the American actor, teacher and director William Layton (1913-1995) opened the Teatro Estudio de Madrid (TEM). By then, he had already been living in Spain for two years. In that adventure Layton was accompanied by the Spanish Miguel Narros (a stage director) and the American Elizabeth H. Buckley. This private academy began its activity by offering the Method, a discipline that Layton had learned in his country with Sandford Meisner; one member of the Group Theatre along with Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Harold Clurmann or Elia Kazan. Thanks to the TEM, concepts till then completely unknown in Spanish academic venues for actors such as organicity, truth, mood, sensory memory, etc., started being implemented in the theatrical interpretation. Firstly, in exercises of improvisation; secondly, in scenes and characters; and finally, after a time of performing, those concepts were tested in the scenarios, by display to the public, which is the biggest challenge for any actor, author or director. That way, a singular model of interpretation, a naturalistic type, which have prevailed in the West over other ways of interpreting, came to Spain. A system (which could be defined as organic interpretation) that had been systematized by the Russian Konstantin Stanislavski in the early twentieth century and rapidly was exported abroad by some of his first students: Richard Boleslavsky, Maria Ouspenskaya, Michael Chekhov, Pietro Scharoff, P. Pauloff... Its popularity in the USA increased mainly due to the Actor’s Studio and also thanks to professor Lee Strasberg, through the famous Method working. While in 1960 Layton founded in Madrid the TEM, together with Narros and Buckley, the Brechtian technique was arriving to Barcelona. In that city, Ricard Salvat —who had trained in Germany— and Maria Aurélia Capmany opened the School of Dramatic Art Adrià Gual (EADAG). From Catalonia and over the years, this center will project the first formulas about “distancing”. That way, after decades of delay, that same year 1960 landed in Spain two key trends that shaped and influenced the development of Western theatrical art in the first half of the twentieth century. SYNTHESIS: The knowledge and deep analysis of William Layton’s work as acting teacher in Spain will allow us to get closer to a major figure in the history of theater education in our country. Our main goal is to demonstrate that he was responsible for breaking the isolation that, from secular times, suffered the training of actors in Spain. Layton not only did achieve that, but did it consistently, without interruption. Also, by analyzing his work as stage manager, we will discover how this methodology was implemented in two aspects regarding the theatrical play: in the actor himself and in the dramatic text...

Análisis de la respuesta educativa desde la escuela a los menores en acogimiento residencial: un estudio de caso en la Comunidad de Madrid

The reality of children living in foster homes is clearly linked to the professionals that surround them both in the educational and residentialsphere. These are children who in all aspects of their livesat all hours, are exposed to the professionalism of those who work with them and not the affection of a family; their development is fully mediated by institutions. It is therefore a priority that teachers have specific training on children living infoster care, that general government (Education and Social Services) provide guidelines for action agreed to allow the coordination between the different professionals involved with children in foster care, considering the complexity of this coordination, as there are many institutions involved with these children: Social Services, schools, foster residences foster ... among others. Educational professionals have an important role in this intervention process, being their good professional work the one that favors a tight development of children in the educational field, but this intervention takes place generally from the ignorance of the specific situation faced by children living inresidential care and from the failure of the educational administration into sharing protocols, time and space, necessary for a proper coordination. In the event children incustody, and because of the uniqueness of their situation and the importance of a good intervention, there should be no space for improvisation.In addition intervention with children in residential care has to be based on a training and intervention from the complementary roles that is to be structured, systematic and evaluated in a continuously way by the professionals involved.We understand that the principle of equality in education requires to offer these minors an opportunity based on an appropriate intervention with formed professionals, knowledgeable and with the time and the necessary conditions...

Pathfinder. Performance at the Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music 2016

Pathfinder (2016) is an audiovisual performance-game for a solo drummer,exploring the synergies between multiple contemporary creative practices.The work navigates between music composition, improvisation, projection/ light art and game art. At its heart lies a bespoke electro-acoustic instrument,the augmented drum-kit, used not only to provide the sonic content of the work in real-time, but also as a highly expressive game controller that interacts with an instrument-specific game. The musical instrument offers a much wider range of expressive possibilities, control and tactile feedback in comparison to a traditional general-purpose game controller, and as a result it affords a very diverse and nuanced gameplay performance. Live electronics, lights, projections and the drum-kit all make up the performance-game’s universe, within which the performer has to explore, adjust, navigate and complete a journey.

Playing in the dark of winter

This poem is an output of a collaborative improvisation session.

Creatrix: artist in residence performance at birthing the mother 14

Digitally projected improvised creative writing performance art.

Manifesto of a defeated poet

This feature-length experimental film is the result of an intimate collaboration between Bosnian filmmaker/poet/painter/musician/performace artist Saidin Salkic (On Karasevdah: Srebrenica Blues, 2007 & Konvent 2010) and veteran Australian experimental filmmaker and film educator John Cumming (Obsession, Recognition & Sabotage 1985-87, First time Tragedy Second Tome Farce, 1989, The Hollow Centre 1999). Created over a period of four years it draws on the traditions and possibilities of improvisation – in cinematography, experimental cinema, dance, music and performance – with moments of intensity and repose, fluidity and halting re-composure. Cumming’s camera and Salkic’s movement work in front of it are at once expressionistic and in dialectical tension as are Salkic’s poetry, his haunting improvisations on piano and melodica and Cumming’s industrial soundscapes. SYNOPSIS: In the midst of fascist-capitalist madness, the Foreigner (a poet/dancer with sun on his palms and blood from his dreams on his face) hovers in neon twilight with last whispers of sanity on his lips, guarding and protecting the world – forever. REVIEW: ‘Full of mystery and beauty, punctuated by strange eruptions of silent cinema, of Chaplin, of film history made personal … not the film of a dance but a dance itself around pure presence … something unique and precious.’ Maximilian Le Cain, http://lecain.blogspot.com.au/2015/11/a-few-reflections-on-manifesto-of.html