Ted talked on his post yesterday about the terms of engagement which we are using and are in the process of defining here in London. \u00a0We began Friday morning with one such very rich discussion about the word ‘cosmopolitanism’. \u00a0It derives from Greek cosmos (the universe) and polis (city) and it is said that when asked where he came from, Greek Philosopher, Diogenes of Sinope replied ‘I am a citizen of the world (kosmopolit\u00eas).<\/p>\n
I had been thinking about this word in my work at University of Exeter, working with several PhD students from Asia who have been tracing the roots of their own national training practices or performance traditions and attempting to account for the myriad ways that a practice has been shaped and reshaped by interactions between East and West and\/or shifting gepgraphical borders. \u00a0I wondered if the word ‘cosmopolitan’ could help us account for some of this ‘movement’ and give us a useful way of thinking about the work we’re seeing here.<\/p>\n
Of course, as the discussion usefully made clear, there are several issues. The first is assuming that everyone uses the term in the same way and the second is asking who uses it and why? \u00a0Does its use immediately imply a western bias and does it imply that we all become the same? \u00a0Is there a better word in Mandarin we could use?<\/p>\n
I’ll be thinking about this more as we continue discussion, but what I found really exciting about the exchange of ideas was that it moved from very large scale ideas about nations, traditions, politics and ideologies to small scale examples: a phrase of movement in a particular way of training, the way the foot relates to the floor in the studio, where we carry our weight and how we use gravity. \u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the privileges of being involved in this \u00a0project is the ability to move between these two scales — to observe dancers and choreographers working together ‘up close’ in minute detail and then to ‘stand back’ and think about the big questions. <\/p>\n
I posted on the blog a few days ago that I’m interested in this space ‘in-between’. \u00a0Just before 9.30pm last night Riccardo and one of his dancers were improvising a piece of a solo phrase. \u00a0It was the end of the day, everyone was tired. \u00a0Riccardo made some suggestions about the quality of the dancer’s relationship to the movement and to the the space around him that he wanted; ‘try an insect moving on roller skates’, ‘the floor is boiling’… \u00a0He gave the dancer space to experiment, to feel for himself the potential of this quality — the choregraphy emerging in the place ‘between’… \u00a0Philosopher Francois Jullien talks of ‘the between’ \u00a0as ‘that by which the thing breathes, gains its freedom, is irrigated, and allows itself to be permeated’ (Jullien 2009: 95) which seems a fitting description of that interaction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ted talked on his post yesterday about the terms of engagement which we are using and are in the process of defining here in London. \u00a0We began Friday morning with one such very rich discussion about the word ‘cosmopolitanism’. \u00a0It derives from Greek cosmos (the universe) and polis (city) and it is… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8mnDM-9R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":430,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/07\/being-elsewhere-but-in-what-sense\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":0},"title":"Being elsewhere \u2026 but in what sense?","author":"Alexandra Kolb","date":"29 July 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When we speak of\u00a0\u2018being elsewhere\u2019 we tend to\u00a0think in\u00a0terms of\u00a0geographical shifts, such as\u00a0flying from Beijing or\u00a0Taipei to\u00a0London, or\u00a0vice versa, or\u00a0migrating to\u00a0another place from where we were born, raised or\u00a0\u2018socialised\u2019 \u2013 as\u00a0I\u00a0did in\u00a01999 when I\u00a0left my\u00a0native Germany to\u00a0live in\u00a0the\u00a0UK and\u00a0later New Zealand. The\u00a0choreographer Riccardo Buscarini also used a\u00a0spatial metaphor, commenting after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":558,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/08\/at-the-crossroads\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":1},"title":"At the crossroads","author":"Ola Johansson","date":"4 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Ya-ping managed to\u00a0spark a\u00a0great discussion today by\u00a0ushering us through the\u00a0needle\u2019s eye of\u00a0language and\u00a0onto wider fields of\u00a0travel by\u00a0bodily, traditional and\u00a0interpretative movements. To\u00a0appreciate this journey I\u00a0can\u2019t help but associate the\u00a0notion of\u00a0language with a\u00a0couple of\u00a0remarks by\u00a0Ludwig Wittgenstein (at\u00a0the\u00a0risk of\u00a0cross-referencing my\u00a0own blog postings in\u00a0Beijing). Wittgenstein was a\u00a0philosopher of\u00a0language who basically thought, at\u00a0least in\u00a0his later\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mask dance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Mask-dance-300x180.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":972,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/08\/rethink-translation-in-a-process-of-artcrossing\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":2},"title":"Rethink translation in a process of “artcrossing”","author":"I-Ying Wu","date":"7 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As\u00a0an\u00a0interpreter, I\u00a0feel myself as\u00a0a\u00a0medium or\u00a0a\u00a0bridge between choreographers and\u00a0dancers, and\u00a0between Chinese speakers and\u00a0English speakers in\u00a0this project. This experience has made me question what translation means for\u00a0performing arts and\u00a0how to\u00a0translate in\u00a0an\u00a0artistic process that involves dancers and\u00a0choreographers from diverse cultural backgrounds and\u00a0linguistic or\u00a0cognitive systems. Is there an\u00a0alternative mode besides language emerging in\u00a0this process?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":543,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/08\/watching-in-a-high-speed-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":3},"title":"Watching in a High Speed World…","author":"Rebecca Loukes","date":"4 August 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"After Martin's seminar yesterday on\u00a0Practice as\u00a0Research, where he encouraged us to\u00a0think about the\u00a0ways we're watching the\u00a0work in\u00a0the\u00a0studios and\u00a0how we communicate what we see, I\u00a0recalled being in\u00a0Riccardo's rehearsal the\u00a0previous evening. \u00a0While cueing the\u00a0sound for\u00a0a\u00a0run through of\u00a0part of\u00a0a\u00a0sequence he noticed his phone and\u00a0jokingly asked the\u00a0dancers, 'Who's tweeting about me?' Laughing, he asked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":377,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/07\/language-and-beyond\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":4},"title":"Language and beyond","author":"Steffi Sachsenmaier","date":"27 July 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Since one of\u00a0my\u00a0tasks at\u00a0this particular Artscross event is to\u00a0focus on\u00a0\u2018language\u2019 as\u00a0part of\u00a0a\u00a0group of\u00a0academics, my\u00a0attention has been drawn on\u00a0the\u00a0sorts of\u00a0languages that are being used in\u00a0the\u00a0rehearsal spaces. In\u00a0many instances I\u00a0have witnessed a\u00a0\u2018searching\u2019 for\u00a0the\u00a0\u2018right\u2019 words or\u00a0expressions by\u00a0choreographers and\u00a0dancers, when working a\u00a0movement out together. What is the\u00a0word that will make the\u00a0dancers understand what the\u00a0movement\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0521","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_0521-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":449,"url":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/2013\/07\/working-out-the-work-and-its-logic\/","url_meta":{"origin":611,"position":5},"title":"Working out \u2018the work\u2019 and its logic","author":"Steffi Sachsenmaier","date":"29 July 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We are over a\u00a0week into rehearsals now and\u00a0it is fascinating to\u00a0see small sections of\u00a0choreographies coming together in\u00a0the\u00a0different spaces. The\u00a0work on\u00a0different exercises and\u00a0improvisations that was being done at\u00a0the\u00a0beginning of\u00a0the\u00a0process has now in\u00a0most if not all groups led to\u00a0a\u00a0first \u2018putting together\u2019 of\u00a0performance material. Small run-throughs are happening here and\u00a0there, and\u00a0much detail is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General posts"","block_context":{"text":"General posts","link":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/category\/general_posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613,"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611\/revisions\/613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rescen.net\/blog5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}