Choreography is a form of code writing. Or more accurately, it’s an operating system, or software, which is based on a code.
Every set of rules that governs a specific space/time zone with a group of people inhabiting it, is a form of code for a specific operating system.
People did not invent the concept of coding. They simply figured out it’s a thing, and then found a way to manifest it through computer coding. They uncovered an existing thing, they managed to figure out a fundamental aspect of the universe. In the same way scientists in any other filed of research, do not invent their findings, they reach them through observation, experiment, trial and error etc. That’s why it’s called findings, rather than inventions. These ‘findings’ have always existed, we just needed to take the time to look at it in order to understand it. To figure it out. to reach a point in our evolution, where we looked at it enough and had the right motivations, incentives and technology available, in order to figure out the already existing concept of coding, and then, recreated it on a different scale and domain.
Computer code, is simply the logic of the general code of the universe, translated into computer science.
Choreography is an operating system which requires the development and refinement of a code overtime, as in, a set of clearly defined rules for how energy, that of the dancers, is being organized, harnessed, stored, channeled and shared.
As choreographers, we do not invent the concept of coding, we are just developing a code for the specific operating system our choreography is.
The big question is then, which type of code we put in place, and for what motives, as any technology can be harnessed for the best and worse intentions, motives, goals and visions.
Just like with computer coding, the option to chose a closed or open source code exists in a choreographic setting. The way I see it, free open source codes, in which everyone involved has access to the code, are far better. The software then, or the operating system, is the result of a process where everybody is writing the code, running the software and is an active user. Everyone has skin in the game. Changes to the protocol can be proposed by anyone, but they require the agreement of all users in order to be integrated into the code. That’s why open source codes tend to create communities and networks, whereas closed source ones don’t.
The thing is, there is already a code governing the universe. Once we understand the concept of code itself, we can either try and figure out the existing code so we can align with it through a different platform, as in, figure out the TRUTH of things, or we can use the concept of coding, in order to deviate from it for whatever reason.
I’ve always found that the act of artistic creation, is an act of uncovering. Of trying to figure out an already set and existing truth, rather than the invention of a new one. What I’m trying to do for the past 30 years, is align with something already in existence. To write and fine tune a choreographic code, together with the dancers, that will create an operating system that is somehow a blue print of that of the universe and the laws governing it. I see this as choreographic or artistic integrity.
And that is why I view choreography making, as potential manifestation of fundamental truths.
