
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>