a distance investigation on writing and transmitting scores (2016-present)
Couchscore works with and through distance to make a choreography possible even when the performers – and the audience – are not in the same physical place. We started by considering the apparent absence of the body as a potential for a de-localized presence. We referred immediately to the Web and its specific capacities: so not only the power of simultaneity in video calls, but also the possibility of creation through a focus on distance, interaction, sharing, co-presence. To dig deeper into these aspects we chose the score as our main tool and common ground, as a means of developing structures to be tested in front of a webcam and co-executed on Google Hangouts. We wrote a score for bodies, webcam, and viewers. It defined a sharing of time and of a decentralized space – not the one and only space of the event but one possible space of simultaneous events and spaces. In the same way, while performing the score, our executions are three possible interpretations of the original score: the aspect of transmitting a score came into play. The simultaneous executions of the score on Google Hangouts can be viewed both by directly taking part in the hangout or through a youtube link to the live streaming. Starting from the feedback collected from the viewers, the score is updated and so it evolves continuously, making the audience an active part of the creative process.
The following text is a collection of scores used during the process. It shows the evolution, also in the writing structure, of the instructions that we gave ourselves to establish and develop a relationship through the camera. The score started with some initial directions and evolved gradually, according to a meticulous work of redefinition, observation, action of the body moving in a specific setting during a specific time frame. The score is meant to be executed, and its written value is relevant only to the performers, while the audience watches its embodiment. It has also worked as documentation of the process so far as it has evolved through 13 iterations.
The specific vocabulary developed by the performers became a code, internal to the research group. The writing has been here adapted for a clearer comprehension for the reader. The scores are composed of different kinds of instructions that concern the quality of movement during the execution, but also moments when the three bodies must be coordinated in space and time. We called these moments “appointments.” The score can be interpreted with great latitude by the performers, but the appointments define exact tasks and movements to accomplish.
Score_01
Without being visible in the frame of the shot, make a (common) sound to determine the start of the execution.
Place the camera very close so that the shot focuses on one body part. Never show your face and head in the shot.
Start crossing the field of the frame with your hands – your feet have to be the last part to enter and leave the frame. It should be as if your whole body were unfolding, expanding horizontally.
During the crossing, pause for at least three breaks, with the aim of playing with shapes, forming diagonals which will relate one’s body to the framing and to the objects in the frame. (It can become at times an almost photographic kind of work with slow transitions from one composition to the other.)
One of the three breaks has to happen when half of the body is within the frame. For some seconds after this break, work actively only with the half of the body that is not visible in the frame.
Score_02
As Score_01 with the following variations:
Appointments
→ Bestiary appointment (at 4:00 min): using different parts of the bodies, the performers compose a single body across the four google hangout windows. [1]
Score_03
As Score_02 with the following variations:
Space
→ Highlight the depth of the space.
Time
→ Relate each break to the activity of the other miniatures (on the other screens) focusing on the dynamic of co-presence across all the bodies. Each break is an individual response to what the other performers are doing.
Movement
→ Use extreme zoom to shift focus between single body parts and a wider graphic writing of compositional space. Use zoom to exit from the frame, to change the scene, to incorporate black screens in montage.
→ Actions starting in one miniature are then developed by the others.
Appointments
→ Visual appointment (between 4:00 and 7:30 min): half of the frame is filled by the body, the other half by the space.
Score_13
As Score_03 with the following variations:
Space / Element of complexity
→ Individual tasks: Alessio – change of framing (tracking shot and zoom); Elisa – accumulation of new elements in the framing; Francesco – change of an element already present in the framing (ex. shifting carpet).
Time
→ Allow for a collective break (all the three bodies stopping at the same time) or for the possibility of one body stopping while the other two develop a similar movement dynamic with different body parts.
Movement
→ Use noise to make your own image bigger. You can deliberately create a collective break (all the three bodies stop at the same time) or stop your body while the other two are developing a similar movement dynamic (in terms for example of speed).
Appointments
→ Hanging arm (3:30 min): different dynamics of swinging.
→ Speed appointment (5:30 min): repetition or different dynamic of one movement.
→ Time appointment (7:30/7:45 min): foot zooming in/out, coordinated with others.
→ Mountain appointment (8:30 min): entering and exiting in a cannon.
Ending
→ Alternation of screens without bodies, thus isolating the transformations of the scenic landscape that have happened during the performance.
NOTES:
[1] Bestiario (bestiary) is an iconographic representation from the Middle Ages of imaginary beasts usually composed of parts from different animals.
SAMPLES:
Behind the scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGGeYs_wx8U
Score 09 at Arnolfini (UK), 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lOZbzQSzjc
Score 12 at Garabato Theatre (IT), 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du9r9Fwqg64&feature=youtu.be