LANDSCAPE iN THE BODY
'I see myself as a landscape dancer'
(Celeste Nazeli Snowber, Between the Art)
Solo site-specific explorations in four locations near the Coquet River in Felton
My practice draws on Sandra Reeve's concept of the ecological body, and Suze Adam's concept of the dwelling body (2011). As an ecological body, I am 'situated in flux, participation and change' and this changing body is 'experienced through movement as part of the changing environment' challenging 'any fixed and deterministic notion of self', stimulating 'a different sense of self as process, participating in the movement of life' (Reeve, 2011: 51). This lends itself to an improvisation-based practice of awareness and spontaneity with a focus on the human-land relationship, connections between instinctive embodied responses and the surrounding environment, and understandings of the interrelationship between body and place.
Click on the clips and images below to read more about the site explorations.
The solo explorations led to visual artwork and graphic scores, which were sent to the musician, along with recordings of the site, to develop music for the solo performance. This allowed the music to directly relate to the sites and my body-place experiences, whilst still giving the musician an opportunity to artistically respond the sites himself.
The scoring was inspired by graphic scores used to notate music, as shown here. I also used the scores when rehearsing the solo performance in the studio. My improvisation-led practice gradually became more structured when working with the scores and music soundscape. This practice was influenced by Anna Halprin's methods of dance scoring, as used in her development of Circle the Earth (1981) and Planetary Dance (1981-), and shown in her Digital Archive.
Click on the images of the scores below to read more.
