A discussion has arisen about the use of the term ‘devising’ and its various possible functions and applications in each of the very different dance-making processes we are witnessing here. I am sharing a (short and slightly modified) section of my previous research as part of my PhD thesis which might be of interest here:
The verb ‘to devise’ readily refers to the actions of “planning” or “inventing” and stems originally from the Old French word deviser, derived from the Latin devisare/dividere (to divide, distribute, distinguish). In the Old French the verb ‘to devise’ initially kept its etymological meaning, but through a semantic slip took on the meaning of “to order”, “to organise”. When no longer only applied to material objects but also to events, the verb began to be used in the sense of “planning” or “making a plan or a project” (in French, un devis). It was also assumed into intellectual discourses, in which it was used in the sense of “to organise (a discourse)”. Through another semantic slip in the Old French, deviser took on the meaning of “to meditate”, and then “to imagine”, “to create in the mind”. Finally it was also used in the sense of “to wish for”. Modern French has lost most of the medieval usages of the term, and deviser now means “to converse”, while in Swiss French, interestingly, it means “to reckon”.
Evidence derived from contemporary practices would suggest that much of the French medieval usage of the term still prevails in the current English usage. The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary entry for “devise” lists a number of definitions that correspond to its French root – something that strikes me as significant with regard to the application of the term within performance-making, as distinct from the performance genre identified as ‘devised theatre’. The notion of dividing, distributing and distinguishing, as set out above, seems to me to signal actions, in performance-makers, that are patterned, logically consistent, with implications for the ways ‘composition’ is made in performance-making, or likewise ‘choreographic process’ is understood in dance-making. Building on these definitions, I have then used the verb ‘to devise’ as a synonym for the verb ‘to invent’, as Gregory Ulmer understands it in the text entitled Heuretics: The Logic of Invention.
It seems to me that the term can be applied to the different processes we are witnessing here in various ways, and it allows us to look at how performance material emerges. With regard to Martin’s thoughts on ‘character’, what interests me here is how ‘invention’ takes place. What ‘roles’ are the dancers given in each process and how does the choreographer’s ‘signature’ (S. Melrose) emerge? Are the dancers asked to provide technical skills for a pre-conceived movement that they should emotionally invest in? In what ways do their personal qualities come into play? Are they asked to ‘invent’ movement sequences?