BACKGROUND

In her book, “The Anthropology of Dance”, anthropologist Anya Peterson Royce compares dance to language. However, unlike verbal or written language, dance has the ability to communicate through the body. It is, in essence, an entirely physical, body-oriented method of communication.

Dance is also a form of interpretation and expression. However, unlike other art forms that express a feeling or idea directly such as sculpture or drawing and are visually oriented, dance often exists in partnership with other methods of expression, typically music. It is therefore well suited to express and interpret an existing experience.

For this project, two forms of dance were explored for their capacity to express a site: choreographed swing dance, which is learned and danced with a partner, and improvised interpretive dance, which is danced solo and performed spontaneously.

THE GRANVILLE DANCE

The first attempt at ‘dancing the site’ took place on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver, BC – specifically the two blocks between Robson Street and Nelson Street. Historically nicknamed “Theatre Row” for its theaters and cinemas, it is now primarily a retail district and transit corridor during the day and entertainment district in the evening.

The design process began with a documentation of the site through sound, collage, photography, video, and traditional forms of site mapping such as plan, section, and elevation.

Visiting and revisiting the site, the two most striking aspects of the experience appeared to be the busses – the rhythmic hum of their engines starting and stopping – and the patchwork quality of the street – best expressed through the various genres of music blasting from the stores, restaurants, and bars. This aural experience, though felt and recorded in video, failed to come across in traditional mapping methods.

As an attempt at a non-graphic method of site mapping, the sounds heard on the site and the musical genres that represented the cultural diversity of the street were distilled and recombined to create a 3-minute sound collage made up of sound bites and loops.

An 8-count musical phrase, which is the basis of most jazz music and therefore swing dance, was used to represent the 25’ lot, which is typical to downtown Granville Street. The result was an aural collage where time represented distance, each phrase representing a segment of the street and at each segment a musical representation and/or sound bite of what was physically present on the site. Since there were two sides of the street and multiple conflicting sounds and genres, the result was hardly a song, rather an ‘aural collage’.

From this aural mapping, a dance was choreographed. The sound collage itself was to provide the ‘music’ for the choreography while documented elements such as the character of the street-scape dictated the type, style, and connection associated with each dance movement. The north side of the street was expressed through movements of the follow (female dancer) and the south side of the street was expressed through that of the lead (male dancer). The dance itself was then performed and recorded.only

To watch the Granville Dance, click HERE.

RETHINKING GRANVILLE

Unfortunately, this methodology used had some weaknesses.

Firstly, because the site was interpreted through drawing, then music, and then dance, the actual relationship between the body and the site was too far removed. Essentially, the dance became an abstract generalization of the existing context rather than on and of it.

This issue raised a second point: the limitations of the dance form chosen to interpret the site. The interaction between lead and follow needed to execute swing dance was interesting, however it became the focal point, rather than the relationship between dance and site.

THE TUNNEL DANCE

Realizing the weaknesses of the first mapping process a second attempt was made to ‘dance the site’. In order to allow for a closer relationship between dance and site, a few key changes to the method were made.

Most significantly, the site was relocated from Granville Street to the University of Manitoba - specifically, the section of tunnel connecting Machray Hall, Duff Robin and the Human Ecology Building. Ease of accessibility provided the opportunity for the dance to take place on site, and the location being of a smaller scale allowed opportunity for greater detail in notation.

The role of site and dancer was also changed. The lead and follow relationship was maintained but simplified. The site was now the lead, choreographing the movements of the follow, the dancing body. The dance itself also took on a more post-modern approach. This new choreography took place on site, was improvised, used everyday movements such as walking, pushing, pulling, and sitting as inspiration, and involved everyday objects such as doors, stairs, seating, and found objects.

The new dance was performed spontaneously and recorded.

To watch the Tunnel Dance, click HERE.