I was just watching the video interview of William Forsythe (bottom) and in it he speaks about 'Three Atmospheric Studies', a project he directed in 2006/2007. The performance is about war, and from here I elaborate freely: it is about listening, speaking, hearing and not hearing. Forsythe speaks about Frames of Reference and how there are distinctly different frames of reference embedded in this piece. When they finally realize the source of their miscommunication and their positions it culminates with "trauma".
'Three Atmospheric Studies' might be a heavy place to work from but I am just delighted to find myself confirmed when I think of Forsythe as a political choreographer, even so until I realized that 'Three Atmospheric Studies' existed I just had a feeling rather than any factual understanding.
It is important to me that the artists I am interested in also have a political dimension. It is a ground criteria for even a valid human being to be honest. We have never lived in a time where we could really afford to be so disinterested in the source of our security and wellbeing and comparative luxury that we should not be in some way interested in the political. It surely helps to know the dominating political system's operating structures, the names and their positions, frankly I'm over that. That is not too much more than meaningless figureheads easily interchangeable and frequently swapped shortly after election time. What is unchanging is another structure or web that links each individual to decision making. And personal choices make political choices. Without going too much further with this stream of thoughts our political power begins with the weekly grocery shop, the surplus possessions acquisition, the latest gadget fetish and other signifiers of our perceived outer and purchasable status.
Where was I..? Frames of reference. Indeed.
originally published here: http://www.dance-tech.net/video/interview-with-william on April 8th 2009
'Three Atmospheric Studies' might be a heavy place to work from but I am just delighted to find myself confirmed when I think of Forsythe as a political choreographer, even so until I realized that 'Three Atmospheric Studies' existed I just had a feeling rather than any factual understanding.
It is important to me that the artists I am interested in also have a political dimension. It is a ground criteria for even a valid human being to be honest. We have never lived in a time where we could really afford to be so disinterested in the source of our security and wellbeing and comparative luxury that we should not be in some way interested in the political. It surely helps to know the dominating political system's operating structures, the names and their positions, frankly I'm over that. That is not too much more than meaningless figureheads easily interchangeable and frequently swapped shortly after election time. What is unchanging is another structure or web that links each individual to decision making. And personal choices make political choices. Without going too much further with this stream of thoughts our political power begins with the weekly grocery shop, the surplus possessions acquisition, the latest gadget fetish and other signifiers of our perceived outer and purchasable status.
Where was I..? Frames of reference. Indeed.
originally published here: http://www.dance-tech.net/video/interview-with-william on April 8th 2009
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