TASTING EXOTIC FRUIT OF THE UNKNOWN

Being in creative process of our collaborative residency with visual artist Gail Mahon and writer Jane Talbot was like an eating new unknown exotic fruit – when a man gets to know new appetites and compares with what they have already tasted: “ hmmm this taste as – as a classical apple”, “ or more like a plum from my garden?”, “hmmm how does it actually taste?” …. In the end of this degustation, it is not quite important to seek the palate of already known tastes rather to discover and be amazed by new unknown taste. That moment of letting the new flavour dissolve on the tongue with all the taste buds is bliss. It is liberating to be carried away on the wings of unknown… and that’s how I metaphorically felt.

One of the tastes of our fruit salad – ideas, that stays on my tongue, to say the embodied taste, is a big time of exploring several types of materials and symbols that are closely related to our project theme “Dissonance of Surface”.

The materials have been selected according to specific symbols we designate. They characterize 3 significances of words which correspond – aggregate to our extensive research. These meanings are: Tension, Contraction and Expansion.

Meaning	Symbol	Material/Object
Tension	| Characterizing straight line (Minded in any dimension: vertical, horizontal or sagittal)	Rope Wooden stick/s
Contraction	● Full circle/dot	Hand size round mirror Dot cut out of card foil Circle cut out of paper card
Expansion	X Letter ‘X’/Cross	Fabric

 

The fact of being expose by the experience working with a variety of materials gave me a further understanding of each material in relation to its manipulation. The important moment while exploring materials was to let movement arise. Usually it was more functional movement following the logical pattern of feature of the individual material/object. The function of folding, balancing, pulling, wriggling, rolling etc. Many times, I appeared at the moment, when the material/object took over my role of mover/dancer and rather to explore my movement in reaction to functionality of material or idea, I draw an attention to let the object be visually in the main role of the action. In parallel to this situation, I lost this choice or more likely a choice lost me. I followed flow of the consequences experimenting with materials and created my movement (physical speech) spontaneously.

I appreciate those moments when we were attuned with Gail together. When we were on the same wave of our dance communication and awareness of our relationship. At this moment the material complete or highlight our body language.

In conclusion to this experience it is important to say that we are still in phase of research and we are aware of many potentials to be explored, clarified, modified, even removed.  It is exciting and instigating. There are many unanswered questions and emerged thoughts and ideas which are up in the air – what other exotic fruit will I taste?

 

Marketa