Make yourself comfortable. Tippy showing lurcher traits. Meet Sue and Molly dog first thing at St Clair. Then to Queens High and Diana's animal behaviour students. Its a great class - 6 dogs and 10+ students. The students are going to record the events of the class dog walks for the project.Later I catch up with the film club at Logan Park High. They are focused on the 48hr Film Comp this weekend. We'll talk more next week about the dog walking project. I have had this idea during the week about the importance of movement to the "Four Legs" project. Given the fundamental presence of movement in film I raise this with the students. We briefly discuss how the illusion of film is produced through movement - and the role of movement in story telling among other things.
Back to the importance of movement to the "Four Legs" project. "Four Legs"is being developed with the support of the Dance Programme at the University of Otago. In creating the project I have suggested that many of the elements people look for in dance are strongly present in our daily activities like dog walking.
This project definitely challenges what we think of as dance. If the conventions of skill, virtuosity and the desirable body are set aside, what is it that we seek in dance? I think both audiences and practitioners are looking for a new experience - an experience that can sidestep language or the familiar to reveal something new. Through being a 'sensory' or embodied event this perhaps is more immediate and therefore less controlled or censored?
With the "Four Legs" project I am exploring the idea that these type of experiences are present in our daily rituals and habits. That dog walking contains a sense of discovery, of adventure, risk and the potential to reveal something 'new'. The dogs spontaneous, intuitive behaviour adds an uncertainty that heightens this potential for our habitual experience of the world to be disrupted.
There is more to this - as I continue to consider how I am engaging with movement I am slowly realizing how wedded I am to the relationship between movement and sensation. I know see this as a problem.
PS I hope the Logan Parkers win the film comp!
1 comment:
There are two movement/dance games my dog and I play. The first is a sensual hugging/stroking activity. When I sit on the floor with my legs wide, my dog Paki will stand on her head between my legs and very slowly do a roly-poly, so that she ends up on her back with her head away from me and her back legs pointing back at me. I then pet her sides and tummy. After a while she gets up and does another roly-poly etc etc until we've had enough.
The other game is best played when there is a car parked on the gravel in front of my house so we can play hide and seek. Paki will have a toy (a stick for example) and she dances and prances in front of me until I lurch to try and catch her. Then we run around the car, occasionally changing directions - me in particular to catch Paki from the front. Or I will stop and crouch behind the car so she has to find me. When I am close I jump out or spread my arms and jump in the air, Paki stops and changes direction or again dances in front of me. A real pas de deux!!
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