Emmy Paiser, Kelby Anne Debenham Ellis, and Professor Patrick Debenham, Dance Department

“Interaction, the direct effect that one kind of particle has on another, any of four fundamental ways in which elementary particles and bodies can influence each other, classified as strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational (www.dictionary.com).”
Our interest in interaction and collaboration began the semester before we started our ORCA research. We took a movement analysis class and partnered together on several assignments. We had the opportunity to ‘people watch’ or to analyze personal movement and come to conclusions about what movement can really tell us. Many times in the analysis process, we found our conclusions to be contradictory. This inspired us to see what would come of bringing our personal understandings together through interaction and collaboration in a work of choreography.

When looked at from a scientific point of view, interaction seems impersonal, a reaction instead of choice. In our research and choreographic experiences, we began to see interaction as a very personal and important choice. Our perspective came about as we saw that interaction leads to collaboration, which influences the experiences that make up our lives. It is necessary to our progression as human beings to not only interact with but to collaborate with those who share our journey. The choice to interact with those around us changes our life and relationships.

We approached our research and choreography with a specific desired outcome, not only collaboration between the two of us, but a collaboration of perspectives on personal interaction. The initial premise of Silent Release was to weave together symbolic movement and spoken text in such a way that the movement and the text support and magnify the personal nature of the dance. Specifically we were interested in exploring how text can enhance the expressive nature of movement.

We started with the theme of growth through personal challenge and the corresponding emotions of anger, doubt, confusion, newfound understanding, comfort, and resolution. We explored these feelings through personal writings and movement improvisation. Throughout the rehearsal process, the use of text changed and evolved into wanting to connect physically. It was no longer enough to interact verbally. We wanted the physical interaction to speak louder than our actual voices.

We began applying contact improvisation techniques in our rehearsals. This brought our interaction to a new level, allowing us to experiment with emotions and ideas that the text had not yet allowed us to do. The improvisation experiences and eventual choreography became much more personal, and our attention to each other much more careful, when we began to explore the nature of physical touch and how that can affect another person. We began to be aware of each other’s abilities and limitations. Dependence was developed through giving and sharing weight, and relying on each other for emotional support in our experimentation.

As we continued our choreographic and improvisational research, we found that emotional interactions existed both on a conscious and subconscious level. Some sections of Silent Release felt hazy, as if there were not a conscious effort to connect, whereas other sections were a clear choice of interaction. Our research and experience in rehearsals allowed us to play between the two levels of interaction. We came to an understanding that both allow us to grow and develop.
Video was an essential aspect to the research of this project, enhancing the creative and collaborative process. We taped the improvisation and rehearsal process. This was beneficial for several reasons. First, it allowed us to see the effectiveness of the movement from an outside perspective. Second, it allowed us to see how improvisational movement structures could be used to develop the thematic material and physical motifs for the dance. We were able to see how different versions of theme and variation, staging, and manipulation worked in revealing the physical and emotional nature of the piece. Third, it allowed us to reflect personally on the efficacy of the project and the possibilities it had in furthering our knowledge and the knowledge of others.

Initially entitled Proliferation, Silent Release explored anger, doubt, confusion, newfound understanding, comfort, and resolution as parts of growth through personal challenge. In the beginning, our exploration of these concepts was general. However, as the piece progressed, it became more specific. From the feelings within and what we observed, we saw this piece as one about letting go of a loved one lost through death, and allowing others to comfort us on different levels. The way we chose to interact with one another through rehearsal techniques and from our personal understanding of the research dictated what the piece was speaking about. We did not force it to be something. The movement and interactions were genuine.

Our initial intent was to perform the work at the American College Dance Festival. We wanted to “test” our work in a real world situation and have our choreography evaluated completely on the artistic quality of the final product. We also wanted to highlight the Dance Department at BYU and show that one can be judged as excellent by professional standards. However, we were not able to present Silent Release at ACDF. We did not feel at the time it was ready to present. We knew the final product would be best if we took the time to really invest ourselves and investigate fully the art of collaboration. Because we felt strongly that the integrity of the piece lie within that concept, we waited until we felt the piece was ready to present. We presented Silent Release in August 2005 at a senior project concert at BYU.

The creation of this dance was a vehicle to integrate the choreographic, technical, and performance aspects of our curriculum and provided us the opportunity to expand and refine our artistic voices. More importantly however, the creation of this dance taught us that collaborative choreography means that we accept abilities and limitations, treat each other with fairness and respect, and trust one another. It is those principles and the application of them that makes relationships more than just interactions. By allowing interactions to be collaborations with those that share our journey we ultimately focus on caring for each other more than caring for ourselves.