esTelle Corbière
In this paper I introduce my collaboration with choreographer Olivier Dubois, director of the Ballet du Nord—National Choreographic Center of Roubaix Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France.
I am a dancer and a notator. When I met Olivier in 2012, he was looking for dancers for his new creation Tragédie, a choreography with 18 dancers. When I heard him speaking about his project, it was very easy for me to imagine how to transcribe his ideas in Kinetography Laban. Therefore I proposed him my idea and he invited me to follow the whole process of composition from the first rehearsal to the premiere. I witnessed his movement research. That allowed me to understand how Olivier Dubois composes and to have access to the hidden aspects of the work that provided shape and structure to the choreography. That oriented my choices for writing the future scores. For instance, beyond transcribing the movements, my aim was to make visible the underlying framework. So, I sometimes simplified the notation to further reveal the repetitive movement structures. Figures 1a and 1b, excerpted from Révolution, present an example how a section of the dance called la Bourrée is detailed in the glossary, then referred to by name in the score.
The choreography Tragédie is part of the triptych Étude critique pour un trompe-l’œil, including Révolution (2009), Rouge (2011) and Tragédie (2012).
While I was following the creation of Tragédie in 2012, we decided with the choreog-rapher to notate also the first piece Révolution. I knew this piece only as a spectator but my experience with Tragédie added a great deal to the writing of the score of Révolution from a video recording.
5
409 422
7
1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6
1x6
1x6
1x6 1x6
Bourrée detailed in the glossary In the score Révolution
Fig. 1a. La Bourrée excerpted from Révolution. Bourrée detailed in the glossary
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409 422
MASA
7
MASO Bourrée
3x6
1x9 1x9
1x9
Bourrée
3x6
1x9 1x9
Bourrée
1x9 1x6
1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6 1x6
1x6
1x6
1x6 1x6
Bourrée detailed in the glossary In the score Révolution
Fig. 1b. La Bourrée excerpted from Révolution. In the score Révolution
Similarities can be found in the two works such as the way of walking “giving the beat” (term used by Olivier Dubois), going to be discussed below, walking as an obsessive, evolving cellular choreographic phrase. I decided to notate the entire 2 hours and 15 minutes of Révolution in order to show the slow evolution of the choreography. It is a real test of endurance for the dancers and the spectators. But I did not want it to be also for the notator who would read the score! Below I show an example in detail how the repetitive motions were evolved the first time, then applied in a condensed form when occurred again. It can be seen in figure 2a excerpted from Révolution, how the section called ‘Cour Jardin’ is detailed in the first time and applied later just with its name as in figure 2b.
The Walk
As mentioned above “giving the beat” is one of Olivier Dubois’ fundamental tenets in Révolution and in Tragédie, a commitment from the entire body as the transfer of weight is performed exactly on the beat. The body gets then directly over the foot (figure 3). The rest of the beat remained to move into the next movement—as Dubois formulated during rehearsals: “Don’t stay on the beat, be already into the next one.”1 From the perspective of Kinetography Laban, it required to transpose the transfer of weight as an action beginning before the beat, in order to arrive on the beat—figure 4 example A. However in order to achieve a more fluid reading for the entire score, I chose to notate these transferences of weight on the beat as presented in figure 4 example B, but explained the difference in detail in the glossary. Its performance is characteristically different from figure 4 example C because the Walk is linear, not with accelerating every step. We need to consider this specificity of the creator as a constant in the scores.
For Révolution, the 6 counts of walk around the pole are the base for the choreogra-phy: like the ostinato of the music, it is repetitive (figure 5a).
It is notated as 1x6 (one measure) in the score to show the variations which are upcoming (figure 5b).
For Tragédie, the walk describes a half circle, the dancer doesn’t perform pivot turns but instead a circular path without pivoting. It is dynamic, keeping moving forward:
the first step circles a greater degree than the second step (figure 6).
1 The term was used by Olivier Dubois.
Choreography : Olivier Dubois - 2009 Kinetography Laban : Estelle Corbière - 2015
REVOLUTION
573 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
12
1x6
3
3 A débutA début gauche
Sophie Carole 577
Cour Jardin (Snake)
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Sophie Marie-Laure
Carole Pascale Karine
Aurélie Sandra Marianne
Vanessa
Isabelle Stéphanie
Clémentine
- 577
Fig. 2a. Cour Jardin excerpted from Révolution
Fig. 2b. Cour Jardin excerpted from Révolution
Choreography : Olivier Dubois - 2009 Kinetography Laban : Estelle Corbière - 2015
12 670
685
Cour / Jardin Snake
A début A début gauche A début A début gauche A début gauche
A début
Snake Snake O Début A
O Début A début gauche
A début
679
Sophie Marie-Laure Carole Pascale Karine
Aurélie Sandra Marianne
Vanessa
Isabelle Stéphanie
Clémentine
- 680
Vanessa Sandra
REVOLUTION
Fig. 3. Th e transference of weight: “giving the beat”
Fig. 4
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1 2 3 4 5 6
= barre 1
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3 4
5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6
&
&
&
&
&
&
&
Example AExample A Example BExample B Example CExample C
Fig. 5a. Excerpted from Révolution Fig. 5b. Excerpted from Révolution
1 2 3 4 5 6
= pole 1
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Demi-soleil
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Demi-soleil
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1x6 1x6
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Fig. 5a. Excerpted from Révolution Fig. 5b. Excerpted from Révolution
Cinétographie Laban : Estelle Corbière - 2015
9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sébast
Loren Jorge
Sandra
Thierry Arno Inès
Benj
Carole Rafael
Sébastien Loren Carole Jorge Benj Thierry Arno
Sandra Inès
9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sandra Corridor 4
9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Rafael 10 1 2
9 3 8 4 7 5 6
Sandra
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
(Behind the curtain of threads)
Corridor 4
1 2
Detailed in the glossary
1 2
3
TRAGEDIE
Fig. 6. Excerpted from Tragédie
A Tool
The score is also a tool which allows one to follow the entire piece during rehears-als. Olivier Dubois composed quickly and this production included many dancers.
So during the rehearsal, the challenge was not only to take some notes for a future score but also to elaborate a tool synthesizing information such as space, time…
This information became therefore available for the whole artistic crew. I wrote the score including the questions of the dancers during the rehearsal: all information the assistant might need to help the new dancer.
For example in figure 6 excerpted from Tragédie, we can read the steps behind the curtain, the cue to entrance on stage, and the floor plan is turned upside down to be read by the assistant on side the of the audience.
Both scores of Révolution and Tragédie retrace the steps of the piece’s composition, providing the spatial and temporal reference points which are shared by the dancers.
But it does not take into account the modifications of the movements each dancer introduces over the length of the piece while managing his own fatigue.
Collaboration
My collaboration with Olivier Dubois is very stimulating because it is based on live notation. It makes me explore different fields and vocabulary of Kinetography Laban.
I am glad to participate in the next creation in 2016. It will be piece involving a group of 24 dancers—I have already shown the basic concepts and principles of group movement notation to the choreographer Olivier Dubois. We will see how the notation can accompany the group movements during this creation.
The score of Révolution is available for consultation in English on the Dance Notation Bureau in New York and in French on the Centre national de la danse in Paris. The score of Tragédie will be presented to the Centre national de la danse in Paris next year, on February 4th 2016.
References
Dubois, Olivier. 2009. Révolution. Choreography. (Étude critique pour un trompe-l’œil Part 1.) Music by François Caffenne. Performed by Compagnie Olivier Dubois.
Festival les Inaccoutumés at the Ménagerie de Verre in Paris. November 10th 2009. Notated by Estelle Corbière, 2015. Computer edited manuscript.
———. 2011. Rouge. Choreography. (Étude critique pour un trompe-l’œil Part 2.) Solo performed by Olivier Dubois. December 2011.
———. 2012. Tragédie. Choreography. (Étude critique pour un trompe-l’œil Part 3.) Performed by Compagnie Olivier Dubois. Festival of Avignon France, July 23th 2012. Notated by Estelle Corbière, 2016. Computer edited manuscript.
Introduction
The subject of this paper is to present some possibilities for the application of analyti-cal principles and concepts of Kinetography Laban (KIN1) in the contemporary dance practice. These possibilities will be portrayed at the example of my project as far as abstract objects2 (afaao), realized in 2014 in Essen, Germany.
After covering some facts that will present the framework of this project, the paper will shortly focus on the common fundamental characteristics of movement notation processes in general and why and how they provided a solid conceptual ground for the working process in afaao. The 3rd and main part of this paper will consist in the closer study of three concrete examples that correspond to three different scenes from the piece created and are representative of the variety of KIN concepts that were relevant for the composition process as well as of the variety of approaches to the implementation of these concepts.
I. The Project as far as abstract objects
From August until November 2014 a team of 13 artists, scientists and technicians worked on the phenomenon of human movement. We were further supported by a team of consultants, among them Dr. Henner Drewes, who was part of the project
1 Throughout the present paper I mention KIN when referring to the notation system because this is the
‘branch’ of Laban’s system I studied during my undergraduate and MA studies at the Folkwang University of the Arts. However, since we pointedly worked with fundamental principles of the system, the work addres-ses the notation on its conceptual basis and is thus equally relevant for Kinetography and Labanotation.
2 The title of the project was inspired by the poem Near a distant realm by Sohrab Sepehri, translated by Ismail Salami: “I walk out in the sun / I was carried away by pleasing signs: / I went as far as childhood and sands / As far as delightful mistakes / As far as abstract objects.”