Ensemble Practice Conversation

Ensemble Practice Conversation

EMILY: That was particularly successful, when Niko and Cori were framing the other dancers… There was a lot of stillness in the

beginning, and that gave time for us to see what was unfolding.

SUSAN: Do you think this balance between stillness and action is essential in order for us to register coherence? Do we need to see this balance? Does it create the structure?

EMILY: Yes, at times I could feel that my choices were not essential and therefore more chaotic. Not that chaotic is wrong, but they weren’t consciously chaotic. It’s the lack of attention to the ensemble that is the problem.

MARIE: I can really understand and feel the different types of

listening going on… You can tell when it is a kinesthetic listening

as opposed to a visual listening.

EMILY: The listening is important to building the relationships

between us. How do I understand that? We seem to be developing

a language that we all understand, and then can recognize the

patterns we are developing.

MARIE: But the transitions get muddy sometimes.

SUSAN: That’s true, the transitions are really visible, but become

satisfying for me because you know the pattern will be emerging

shortly…

MARIE: I also think the transitions contain an aesthetic value. I get

interested in this “in‐between” phase. But I am also satisfied by the

resolution.

SUSAN: Back to determining “what works or not,” is this the right

language for assessing this practice?

EMILY: I think what works is based on a kind of adaptive func‐

tionality of the ensemble developing and negotiating the patterns

together. This kind of conversation helps us figure it out afterwards.

Susan Sgorbati and Katie Martin [in front].

Photo by Cynthia Locklin.

MARIE: I recall when I first started this practice. I could hardly

remember anything that happened afterwards, now I can practi‐

cally remember everything.

SUSAN: It is amazing how much you learn inside the practice as

well, the action of improvising in this way. As a teacher, few words

need to be spoken when I am in an ensemble practice with my

students. They learn most everything by just doing it with me,

observing, and having to make choices with me. It is such an inter‐

esting and profound way to teach and learn at the same time. It

reminds me of Stuart Kauffman’s concept “order for free,” the

ensemble making particular choices that emerge into collective

patterns without a set score.

EMILY: Yes, the more advanced we become, the more refined

selection goes on, the more complex the patterns become…

beautiful!

MARIE: Yes, beautiful.