A conscious dance piece inspired by "Live Drawing and Dance Response to visual art: Laura Kvelstein and Jaanika Peerna"

- April 15, 2021

I would love to do something like this with a dancer. I realised in one of the weekly line dance classes that I could draw out the marks of the steps on the whiteboard while staring at the steps that Barry was demonstrating in front of me without once looking down at the markings and still achieve a clear motif of the routine, so could experiment with that while Barry performs them next to me. I don't know if I could draw it full scale because I am better on a small scale, but worth adding to the ideas list.

I also thought about my conscious dancing when watching this video and wanted to play around with that idea now that I had received my large roll of paper. In the description of the video Jaanika Peerna explained that in this 2012 performance "Drawings become movement and movement becomes a new drawing again." Inspired by this I wanted to create a full scale charcoal drawing in response to the words spoken during a 2h30min session of the conscious dance zoom course. In essence the paper was just the floor upon which I created a safe place in one corner and danced over the rest of the paper. I wasn't sure how to go about using the charcoal because I wanted it to be an impulsive decision in the moment when my mind was focused in the conscious state. I ended up cracking a charcoal stick into 4 pieces and placing them in each corner and the centre. When the music played I dragged, stomped, spun, and smudged the charcoal pieces across the 3.56m x 4m sheet of paper - grateful for the freedom of being able to be barefoot in such a big space because the concrete basement floor is crumbling in places and damp in others so I had never previously been downstairs without shoes on.

As I listened to the words the coach was speaking they resonated with feelings inside me that translated into movement through my body across the floor, creating both intentional and unconscious marks. For each song I would get a new piece of charcoal that I would react with with as I felt in the moment. During the 2 and a half hours there were pauses where we would sit and share which gave me the chance to pause and reflect on the drawing as the charcoal gradually accumulated on the paper. It was an incredibly personal journey of grounding and releasing the anxious, flappy, and wobbly emotions that had pent up in my sense of self and I fell into a trance while I was dancing, guided by Jo Hardy's voice. I didn't record the performance because I wanted all my focus to be on being in the moment and I knew I may start to mask if a camera was pointing at me - I am still learning the conscious dance practice and not yet confident in existing authentically. But as I was releasing this energy through gesture I could feel it leaving me and being captured and embodied in the marks, remaining in the piece once I paused and observed the drawing while reflecting on what I had just felt.

I have put a series of photographs of the piece to document it below. It was an incredibly personal journey with emotion and I will cherish the drawing. I hope to do more in the future where I film the process but it will require a lot more forward planning so I am saving that for next year.

Live Drawing and Dance Response to visual art: Laura Kvelstein and Jaanika Peerna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K4Tr70q5JI

Sound design David Rothenberg. Gallery of Architecture and Design in Tallinn, Estonia, August 2012 during Tallinn International Drawing Triennial. Filmed by Mihkel Ernits.

"During the performance dancer Laura Kvelstein is relating to the drawings on the walls of the gallery while artist Jaanika Peerna is following movement of the dancer in order to make a new work of art by drawing on a large sheet of paper placed on floor. Drawings become movement and movement becomes a new drawing again."