Tabernacle: Stary Browar research, Poznan

Starting research in the Art Stations Foundation in Poznan, I find, again, that I am alone in a studio. It’s a familiar situation but maybe too familiar: most of the best ideas come when people share their knowledge and work together.

In the gallery/studio in Stary Browar

The sense of solitude is all the more intense when I compare myself to the studio upstairs (I can hear the thud of bodies on the floorboards above me, I can hear the loud music) where 40 dancers are taking part in a workshop of David Zambrano‘s. I watch the workshop during the week to learn and think in the presence of that group energy.  Zambrano’s dynamic work is always social.  Even when he performs solo, he says he never rehearses on his own in a studio, preferring instead to make the solo in performance in front of other people.  As I watch the dancers practice his ‘passing through’ structure, I am reminded of a ballroom full of waltzing couples or, more appropriately, a fiesta of salsa dancers.

This approach to dance making is very different to mine and models a different relationship between the individual and the social group.  It’s good for me to feel this dynamic, effective alternative.  It may not be my natural choice or at least not my habitual choice, but for Tabernacle, I’m  creating a structure that allows many people to contribute to and engage with the creation process.  So I’m ready to add a new energy to my choreography.

You can participate in Tabernacle by joining this facebook page or posting you comments here.