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THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD (studio)

Weight play

Educational objectives

Worksheets 1 and 2 aim to heighten students’ physical and sensory awareness in order to make them more available and present to danced movement. Worksheets 3 and 4, encourage students to move their bodies playfully in relationship to partners or props, surfaces or dynamics. Students try out different qualities of dance by varying the weight and flow of their movements. Worksheets 6 and 7, in particular, encourage students to use Perreault’s artwork in creative and imaginative ways.

Worksheet 5 invites students to reconstruct a choreographic world using all kinds of information about Jean-Pierre Perreault. Based on their understanding, artistic sensibilities, skills and resources, students bring an excerpt “back to life,” more fully experiencing the artist’s world.

All of these activities help to develop a deeper understanding of how body, expression and performance are inseparable in Perreault’s artistic world.

Pathways to creation

Elements of dance language :
- Body
- Movement and energy (effort and states)
- Relationships between partners: dynamic actions
Relationship with the stage environment
Dance movement techniques
- Aspects associated with mobility and artistic expression

Select a worksheet
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

¹
Heighten your senses

Piazza
Jean-Pierre Perreault, artist

Small dance*

Ask students to close their eyes and stand still. Invite them to become aware of their body in the moment and in relation to the environment (the space around them).

First, have them pay attention to sensations on the surface of their body: the skin. Do they feel warm or cold? Do they feel the contact of their skin with their clothing?

Next, ask students to pay attention to areas of tension and relaxation. Can they release tension in certain areas? Can they take advantage of this release of tension? How do they perceive their breathing (upward or downward movement)?

With their eyes still closed, ask students to become aware of the alignment of their spine in this upright position. Can they feel the sky and ground pulling them in opposite directions? Can they feel their feet rooted in the ground, the pull of gravity on their body? Or, in contrast, do they feel they are repelling this weight, which allows them to extend their spine (Hubert Godard)?

Ask students to try to identify micro dance movements within the body. Then ask them to gradually let their centre of gravity move in relation to the support of their feet. They should allow their body to follow the directions suggested by the movement, filling the space around them until they almost lose their balance. They should pay attention to the images and emotions that come up during this exercise.

Blind person

With a partner leading the way, students experience the sensation of moving with their eyes closed while trying to keep their body relaxed.

Students pay attention to their sensations, feelings and physical or emotional state during this walking exercise.

The partner gradually draws away from the “blind person” during the walk around the studio (first holding the shoulders and then simply creating a protective space around the person, preventing him or her from bumping into others).

When the “blind students” feel comfortable, they begin exploring the kinesphere space with their entire body, followed by the general space. Their partners continue to act as protective guides.

∗ This term is taken from an exercise developed by Steve Paxton, dancer, choreographer and teacher, and founder of contact improvisation, a type of dance involving a transfer of weight and points of contact between partners.
²
Developing confidence in yourself, and others

Adieux (1993)
Michael Slobodian, photographer

The safe circle

Form a small circle of five or six people. Students take turns moving to the centre of the circle and letting themselves fall in whichever direction they choose, transferring their weight to another student who acts as a protective wall, giving them a light push back into an upright position from which they let themselves fall again. Students can stay in the centre of the circle until they feel fully confident that others will catch their fall.

Depending on students’ confidence and experience, the circle can be widened and the person in the centre can let his or her weight fall even further. With a lot of practice, students can accelerate their falls. They can also continue the fall with a movement on the ground (rolling on the buttocks, for example). The dancer then leaves the centre of the circle joins the protective wall.

Students should pay particular attention to the way in which they receive and repel the falling student’s weight, and to how they give their weight when they fall. The goal is to use the right amount of energy, to avoid becoming tense, and to remain attentive to oneself and others.

Some principles to explore and incorporate into the activity : Be sure to respect your limits and those of others as well. Take charge and be protective of your partners.
³
Exploring and experiencing body weight
Dernière Paille (2009)
Robert Etcheverry, photographer

From controlled to sudden movement

Move downwards by letting the weight of one body part at a time drop down until the entire body is lying on the ground. Do this movement in 32, 16, 8 and 4 beats, and then in a single beat. Do the same exercise in reverse with the same number of beats (32-16-8-4-1).

Experiencing light weight

Move around your immediate space and in the general space carrying a sheet of paper on your head, then on your shoulder, forearm and torso. Vary the speed at which you move while keeping contact with the sheet. Try doing the same movements while carrying a bag of sand and then removing the bag. Notice how different it feels.

Moving from different points of contact with other bodies

Students work in pairs, moving in a line formation from one end of the studio to the other.

By varying their points of contact (shoulders – back – hands – torso, etc.), the partners cross the space by giving/repelling body weight, at the same time balancing forces to make it seem like a single person is moving.

To accentuate the sensation, they can place a soft ball between the points of contact and move without letting the ball fall.

Partners cross the space of the studio, varying their points of contact (two or three) without losing contact with each other.

Creating in groups of four

Create a composition with four points of contact, in four directions in the space, and four formations, based on a chosen theme.

Body democracy

Of all the body parts, it is the feet and buttocks that have the job of supporting our weight. Imagine a revolution led by the other body parts, each wanting to become important supports!

Start by varying areas of body contact with the ground and change the qualities of energy you use. Move from one surface of the body to another. First, the hands and feet support the body, then the back and shoulders, etc. Each time, you have an opportunity to explore different movements using these areas of support.
- Also explore moving on the ground from one end of the studio to the other.
- Move from a small to a large surface and vice versa (hands/back – feet/legs – tibia/side of body, etc.).
Exploring points of contact and volumes with a partner

Student A suggests a shape in space, remaining aware of the “volume” of the body in space (in a standing position, for example).
Student B makes contact with part of A’s body, looking for a wide contact area. The exploration can start with a light contact, progressing to a point where one student receives or gives the entire body weight of the other.
- Vary levels (ground)
- Alternate roles
  
  In the classroom…
⁴
Word maze, or exploring your imagination

Vent d'est
notation by Jean-Pierre Perreault

Write words or phrases (suggested or invented by students or the teacher) on a large sheet. Cut them out and spread them around the studio. Invite students to move around and spontaneously experience the dynamics suggested by each word or phrase they encounter.

For example:
You walk with the weight of words at your fingertips.
Your arms are wings.
Walking on a bed of roses.
Blisters on your feet.
The floor is giving way beneath my feet.
A back marked by time.
My crystal body shatters in the wind.
My ice body melts in the rain.
My heart is bursting with joy.

To continue the exercise, associate the dynamics experienced by the students with Laban’s terms (strong/light – bound/free – sustained/sudden – direct/indirect).

Take the exercise further

Choose at least two qualities among those experienced by the students and link them with one or several actions/movements identified in one of the excerpts viewed.
Execute the actions/movements, clearly noting the differences between each one.

Or, choose one of the following excerpts and identify the main qualities of a short gestural phrase. Adapt and execute the movement, paying particular attention to the dynamics.
⁵
Recreating a choreographic world
Adieux (1993)
Robert Marquis, photographer

The virtual exhibition Jean-Pierre Perreault features countless traces of the choreographer’s works. The life cycle of these works can be traced from the first ideas that took form in drawings to sketches of the movements of dancers on stage, to interviews with collaborators who tell us about his vision of choreographic creation and performance, and critical reviews of the works. In short, students have a variety of entry points into the imaginative world of Jean-Pierre Perreault and the genesis of his works.

This activity involves recreating Perreault’s choreographic world based a certain number of clues in the form of a “choreographic score.” Like investigators recreating a crime scene*, students use the information provided and adapt it to their level of understanding, abilities and resources to give a new life to the dance. This exercise does not involve reproducing a shape in a precise manner, but rather translating a choreographic world created through relationships with space, time and audiences, as well through a specific aesthetic vision.

Give students an envelope (PDF file), containing the following:
- Drawings and statements by Jean-Pierre Perreault;
- A link to an interview with Michèle Febvre about the importance of the relationship between human beings and places, according to Jean-Pierre Perreault;
- A review of a work after a performance at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in 1996;
- Texts relating Perreault’s conception of space and duos;
- Angles of observation and analysis;
- A link to an excerpt of a work from which to draw inspiration.
  
  PDF Document
  In the classroom…
*An idea proposed by Sylvain Verstricht, blogger and dance critic
⁶
Dance at your fingertips
Stella
Jean-Pierre Perreault, artist

Select some drawings or photos showing dancers/characters. As a group, identify the main spatial elements in each of them: curved, straight or angular lines.
Identify the directions of these lines: *top/bottom – slanted – horizontal*.
What relationship do the bodies seem to have with verticality or gravity? Does it look like they are moving with or against gravity? Do their movements suggest hanging or falling? Are they balanced or off balance?
Form teams and ask each one to discreetly choose three drawings or photos. Each team then identifies the spatial elements in the selected images and draws the main lines on a piece of cardboard (two or three lines per image).

Take the exercise further: Use different colours to show the dominant qualities of the movement (yellow = light; green = strong, etc.).

Exploring the drawn shapes of the body

Each team’s sketches (lines) are given to another group. As soon as all the groups have a new series of sketches, they again *explore* the possibilities of the movement and the expressive qualities (lines and shapes) of the drawings.

Possiblities:
- Emphasize the main lines of the shape (awareness of the movement’s direction). Feel the direction taken by the different shapes and let the movement come. Explore the sensation of balance or instability, suspension or resistance against gravity.
- Explore the possibilities of movement in the kinesphere space.
- Follow the same lines, moving with resistance, as if the limbs were pulling an elastic material, or as if they were made of fragile glass, or were carrying heavy fabric, or as if they were weightless.
- Repeat the movements with different qualities.
- Move a single part of the shape (arm or leg) as if it were being moved by another person. Feel the weight of the body part and gravity at work.
Create a movement phrase

Determine the order of the sequence based on the three drawings or photos. Students can choose among the movements and possible ways to use the dynamics they have already explored (lightness, strength, resistance, impact movement, etc.) so that these dynamics are as closely aligned as possible with the original shape.
Connect the movements initiated by the three shapes into a continuous phrase.

Take the exercise further : Choose an evocative word (sensations – states – emotions) connected to weight (freedom, surrender, nonchalance, fatality, constraint, passion, etc.).
Return to your original drawing and touch it up by changing, if necessary, the thickness of the lines associated with the desired qualities (thick, thin, dotted lines). Colour the parts of the body that are most engaged.

Take the exercise further : Have each team present their composition to the class and ask the students to guess the drawings they chose. Each team can then exchange their drawings (sketches, not the original) with another team that will create their own interpretation of the lines and colours.

In the classroom…
⁷
Invitation to a visual arts class

Les Années de pèlerinage
Jean-Pierre Perreault, artist

This activity can be carried out with a visual arts teacher and his or her students, or with dance class students. If visual arts students participate, the dance students can translate the sketches into movements.

Material: projector – large sheets of white or brown paper – coloured pastel pencils or wide brushes – gouache or another material selected by the teacher.

Creating an artwork

Affix large sheets of drawing paper to a surface (wall or other) where the artist’s drawings will be projected.
Using the materials of their choice (pastels, charcoal, gouache), students take turns drawing the lines of the artist’s drawings that are projected in succession on the paper surface. They may focus on some lines and ignore others. They may decide to complete a line, make it wider, or to make lines overlap. After several projections, the lines drawn by the students will create a “web” where they can imagine characters occupying a stage. This activity can be the start of creating a dance.

Interpreting the works

As with a choreographic notation, students comment on and interpret the artwork, suggesting the possible actions and movements of the characters. (Space: directions – action areas / Relationships between partners: locations – types of formation – spatial and dynamic actions).
Students can examine part or all of the image. They can associate different dynamic qualities with the drawings, depending on the thickness of the lines and the colours. Thin lines correspond to a minimal use of weight, while thick lines evoke controlled, continuous movement, etc.
In sub-groups, students can compose dance sequences based on the composition of the art work. These sequences reflect the meaning they have given to these new drawings.

In the classroom…