SALZBURG EXPERIMENTAL ACADEMY OF DANCE

“Meeting the concept of Fragmentos”

Solo Project 2014

Iliana Kalapotharakou

Going On 2013-2014

 

 

Choreography: Maria Carolina Vieira, 2009

“Fragmentos”

 

 

Susan Quinn

April 2014, Salzburg

 

to Maria Carolina

 

 

It all started when my first solo project plans were canceled at

the last moment. I had to find the solo I was going to perform very

soon. I realized I hadn't searched Peeping Tom's work for an

interesting solo yet. After that everything happened with a flow of

perfect normality. The solo's trailer was online[1], and Maria

Carolina Vieira seemed to me more than interesting of an artist to

meet. She was very interested to do this, welcoming very nicely the

concept of the solo project. We talked online and arranged to work

together for a week in Brussels in the middle of March 2014.

 

Introducing the creator and the creation

Maria Carolina Vieira (1985, Florianopolis, BR) has been

working in Brussels with Peeping Tom company for the last two

years. “She is a graduate from the Performing Arts programme at

Santa Catarina State University (UDESC), where she has also

completed a Master’s degree in theatre and dance. An

accomplished Rhythm Gymnast, she was part of the Brazilian

Olympic Confederation Team at the Olympic Games in Sydney

2000. As an actress, she has appeared in a number of university

productions, and worked with professional theatre troupes as well.

As a dancer, she had worked with two dance companies in Brazil

before joining Peeping Tom: Siedler Cia de Dança (2007-08), and

Grupo Cena 11 Cia. de Dança (2010-2012). When in Florianópolis,

she also works on her own pieces.” [2]

Maria Carolina Vieira really knows how to communicate her

thoughts and ideas. That was our first layer of success. We also

seemed to share a similar artistic approach; I understood her from

our first conversation and we communicated very effectively through

the whole week we worked together.

I arrived in Brussels on Saturday evening (15/03/2014) and we

would go to the space on Monday, so there was a lot of time to

meet and discuss about the general idea of the solo, how it was

conceived, how it was developed, how it was performed. Her 45

minute solo “Fragmentos” was created based on her four years of

studies and the several stages she experienced during those years.

She considered this path's identity through those stages and

developed the structure of the solo on them. Every different part of

“Fragmentos” represents one of those stages, taken as phases of

her experience or as elements that had a big reflect on her at the

time. This solo has a very personal sense and approach. She

created it in 2009 “for the completion of the course “Dance and

Dramaturgy: Issues to think for the construction of meaning in

contemporary dance” [1].

The two parts I chose to perform are middle parts of

“Fragmentos”. I chose them because of the way the movement

reflects on me. The intense use of arms in the first part, the circular

and dynamic movement, the musicality, the performativity, and also

the element of transformation triggered and challenged me. I could

recognize qualities familiar to me and at the same time feel

challenged and attracted to the trials I had to overcome, the states I

had to embody, the expectations I had to reach.

Choosing a part of a piece is a complicated procedure,

because it eventually leads to the formation of a new piece. It needs

to stand on stage on its own and keep the same concept with the

initial one. Because of the cutting off of the parts that I would not

perform due to duration limitations and in order to keep the piece in

unity and consistency, Maria Carolina decided to edit the beginning

and the end of the consequent solo, and also replace the singing

part that is normally between the two chosen parts with a speaking

part. We discussed about SEAD Solo Project's main issue, about

the process it proposes and it's relation to the consistency towards

the initial solo's concept and idea. Maria Carolina Vieira decided to

not create new movement, in order to respect the initial meaning of

the Solo Project, even though she would be interested to develop

her work after 5 years, given the opportunity to work on it with me.

Instead, she used the initial concept and the initial creation process

to develop the “editing answers” needed, in order to stay consistent

with her work and at the same time with the Solo Project's concept.

 

The First Part

The first part of the consequent solo is improvisation, even

though it has a very specific structure and there is a lot of set

material. It is divided in two sections. The initial movement research

was based on the repeatability of a habit; the one of postponing.

This is how the movement material is always circular, always

looping, reflecting an action that only leads back to the same

starting point. Four elements are used to develop the first section's

structure in time and space; pauses, body tension that leads to

internal shaking (maximum muscle tone), changing the placement

in space and the circular movement patterns. The way it's

performed is the main issue in this section. The movement

articulation should be like verbal articulation, like storytelling and

also stay in a quality of “availability”. Maria Carolina explained this

very thoroughly to me. I thought this section as very sensitive and

fragile and she explained it's because of the sense of availability it

projects. It's the kind of “emptiness” in expectations and thoughts,

like a blank piece of paper that can be filled with the audience's

perception. I had to find the calmness of less muscle tone and let

go of expectations in my intention. That was a very hard task for me

to accomplish and in the end it offered me a very important

performativity tool I did not have. We worked very hard until I deeply

understood in order to bring the appropriate quality in the presence

of this section.

 

The transition: Props, Set, Text

In “Fragmentos” Maria Carolina Vieira uses a chair and a pair

of high heels as props. She wears the shoes to perform the last part

of the piece. The chair stands for her personal things. She uses it a

lot during the solo, but not during the parts I chose to perform. This

prop would be meaningless without the conjugate prop

manipulation. Once again she used the initial concept to make the

appropriate adjustment; the chair and the shoes are replaced by my

own personal stuff on the floor, covered with a tulle to highlight the

personal aspect of their presence. The tulle had to be taken away

after the first section, so I can move in space. The stuff stay on the

floor and move with me as I draw them away through the

movement. She also included the speaking part in this transition

and it worked very well. This adjustment was very meaningful,

keeping the solo's unity and consistency.

The singing part follows the first part normally in “Fragmentos”.

It's replaced by a phrase I say at the aforementioned transition. The

song she sings is in Portuguese and highlights the personal aspect

of the piece. Under the same concept, the phrase was chosen by

me as a very personal state of mind and was adjusted so that it also

fits the piece's concept very well. It is a quote from a documentary

on Deborah Hay. [3]

The relation to the music was decided to be more diverse, but

the meaning of this relation stays the same concept-wise. The

duration is used as a guidance and the pauses were edited to keep

the speaking part in silence.

 

The Second Part

The second part of the solo reflects the transformation into a

creature that is both a woman and a horse. I studied through videos

the way horses move, in order to embody this movement quality. It's

about the strength, the freedom, the wildness and the pride, the

chivalry, the nobility their movement projects. At the same time the

movement quality is also feminine, reflecting the feeling of a horse

inside of a woman. This part's material is fixed. After Maria Carolina

Vieira taught me the movement, we worked on embodying the

horse and the feminine quality at the same time. Adjustments were

made though, but mainly focusing on keeping the sense of the initial

choreography alive through my body. For example the way Maria

Carolina Vieira uses her feet at some point of the choreography

(stepping on the upper part of them) was not essential to keep, as it

came at the time from her rhythm gymnastics background and it

was a practical problem I could not deal with.

The end of the solo had to be adjusted as well. Based on the

circular concept of the piece, she added a movement that is seen

already as repetition, in order to give to the end the appropriate

meaning, staying consistent to the idea of the piece's unity.

Working with Maria Carolina Vieira has been a very valuable

experience for me. What I mostly grant is the person; her

personality and her state of mind has a lot to offer artistically but

also in general. She inspired me in many ways and made me see

different approaches of a collaboration, of human relations. She

helped me understand how to expose myself on stage and enriched

my artistic point of view with the most generous, honest and simple

way. Maria Carolina Vieira showed me the way to share my self on

stage.

References

1. “Fragmentos” trailer, 2010.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wtYaF-6xk8>

2. Peeping Tom website:

<http://www.peepingtom.be/en/info/profile/13>

3. Ellen Bromberg, Documentary on Deborah Hay:

<http://vimeo.com/36519099>