Whenever asked how I understand what choreography making is, I usually answer - oh well, it’s simply the process of organising movement, or action, through time and space. I have in recent years though, gradually started to notice this claim is not entierly accurate in describing what I’ve been observing, when looking at the choreographic thing.
The given at the heart of this claim, was that both time and space are set, fixed, unchanging, pre existing, objective fundamentals, separate from and external to the action taking place, which I then relate to when trying to come up with logics and systems of organisation of matter (human movement and action) on top and within those two layers.
What was until recently a solid perception of the choreographic reality I am functioning within, started to dissolve recently with the creeping feeling that the more I observe the relations between time, space and movement, the more I start leaning towards the idea that time and space are not these fixed, neutral, pre existing and unchanging dimensions, but rather, they are the result, or at least heavily influenced, by some other structural dynamics taking place. As in, something in the way in which a thing is choreographed and carried out, actually generates specific time and space fields or at least, some parallel variations of them. Meaning, the time and space aspects of choreography, are not a given, but rather fundamentally probabilistic. Which then might imply, that choreography is a set of vectors like occurrences, which continuously redefine the properties of both time and space.
Each choreography happening then, generates its own emergent time and space properties, but more than that, since choreography is only happening when and where it does, being fundamentally a living thing, the same choreography, happening in a different moment, different place and in front of a different audience, will generate totally different time and space outcomes each time it is happening.
Looking at what the choreographic process keeps doing continuously, it is obvious that fundamentally, it is about producing complicated and interesting objects, structures, kinetic entities and so on, which then assemble through different modes and patterns of interaction, into complex systems. It’s a never ending and complex pathway of construction, that leads to increasing and irreducible complexity that then induce those objects with novel, emergent capabilities. Since nothing just jumps into existence, meaning things need to go through an assembly pathway of structuring, these objects and systems contain all of the information related to the steps it took for a thing to get to its current stage. Choreography, IS the embodiment of all the information related to the time it took to go through all the steps who led to its current manifestation.
What these different stages, processes and procedures are made of, are series of constraints. Specific patterns of constraints, require receptivity at the base layer of the choreographic reality by the dancers who experience them. There has to be an acknowledgment (understanding?) of these constraints, in order for the reality of the choreographic thing to manifest. Another word for this act of acknowledging, would be consciousness. This causation phenomenon, as in, a constant layering of constraints which then generates receptivity in the form of an accumulation of consciousness layers, is what allows the choreographic thing to exist.
Another way of saying this, would be that the extrinsic nature of choreography are constraints, while its Intrinsic nature, is consciousness. Both go hand in hand - the first, is what leads to the second.
Consciousness is the root structure of reality, therefore, it is probable that it will propagate into other proxy like structures. Choreography, being that it is man made, a deliberately engineered system, is induced with the consciousnesses of its choreographer and those of the dancers involved in its making and happening (and to a some degree, that of the audience present). It is somehow the sum, a meeting point, a grid, or a sort of a platform, for the multitude of consciousness at play and as a result, it will then generate its own specific consciousness field through a synergic process.
Just like with AI training, where machines are fed huge amounts of networked information in a learning like process, Choreographic intelligence is generated through continuous repetition and study of choreographic situations by the dancers. What emerges after some time, is a sort of autonomous intelligence of the choreographic thing itself, which is separate from the individual intelligences of the separate dancers, and at some point, this intelligent, swarm like being, facilitates the emergence of a consequent field of choreographic consciousness.
That is probably why I never felt choreographies are an account of reality, but rather a potential for the emergence of a parallel one.
Back to the constraints then, being that it is this, which is at the root of the process.
The laws which govern a choreographic system, usually have a defined purpose. Each rule (or constraint), has at its base a clear purpose in driving the choreographic situation, which then implies that the choreography itself, must have a purpose. But that purpose, the one of the choreographic thing as a whole, is being defined and achieved while the choreography evolves. A choreography is actively defining and achieving its purpose, only while it is happening. The purpose of a choreography, doesn’t precede its happening, but is actually a thing which is striving to come into fruition in real time. It can’t be set as a goal prior to the happening of the choreography. More than that, the purpose of a specific choreographic work, is changing and is being revealed every time that same choreography happens. And so, a choreography which is enslaved to a pre determined purpose, can not remain a living thing, as it is reduced to being an illustration of something external and therefore, it is no longer an autonomous, living entity.
Following this reasoning, the main goal of choreography making, should be the fine tuning of a system, as in the fine tuning of its governing laws, in order to facilitate its function as a conducive system, one where there’s a coherent alignment in its structuring of incentives, which is powerful enough to create its own autonomous intelligence and consequent consciousness fields.
And so, what about the initial observation made in this essay, regarding the active bending of the choreographic time/space dimensions?
If choreography, or more accurately, the happening of it, is capable of generating an autonomous intelligence, followed by the emergence of a distinct field of conciseness, it might explain how not only it isn’t bound by, or tied to a singular, external, fixed time/space realm, but it actually creates its own unique manifestations of these two dimensions.
In other words, it seems that maybe, just maybe, the end game of choreography, is the harnessing of human energy in order to generate live events, conducive and powerful enough to serve as a portal of sorts, which enable accessing altered realms of consciousness.
And so if all this makes sense, it would mean that the quality of a choreographic work, is linked to the quality, strength and clarity of the consciousness field it manages to produce.
