A MULTI-MEDIA PROJECT BY MAIA STAM
MOVEMENT THEMES
Virtually all of the material in "Paisley Mastodons" is built from three distinct movement themes, referred to as the following:
"Arm Phrase," "Machine Lines," and "Dead Bird Solos."
Base Phrase:
I created this phrase based on the idea that “pliancy and weakness are signs of the freshness of being” (Tarkovsky). I call this the “arm motif,” simply because it began as a phrase for just the arms. In collaboration with my cast, I developed a number of variations of this phrase (see videos to the right for each variation).
Traveling variation
This variation uses the original movement of the arm, but with traveling footwork accompanying it.
Example Solo (One of Fourteen):
Each dancer created her own unique "dead bird solo" through guided improvisation. Much like the mask improvisation used in the audition, this improvisation required the dancers to “create” a very specific setting in which their solo occurs, starting with a guided visualization. The dancers were told to take in the smell of their setting, the sounds, the feeling of the air, the atmosphere, the landscape, and the colors and shapes around them. Finally, the dancers were told to “build” a gazebo in which they would create their movement. They were given about five minutes just to visualize every detail of their gazebo and the area surrounding it in every direction. The one specification was that there was something in the very center of each gazebo that was at once fascinating and repulsive. This became the "dead bird," signifying death, but also belief in a mysterious higher power than death. After this visualization, the dancers were given fifteen minutes to improvise inside their gazebos, after which they had another ten minutes to structure the movement from their improvisation into a solo. These solos are used twice within the work, with movements from them being used throughout the piece to establish or re-establish the theme of belief versus non-belief.
Slow Motion Variation
This variation slows the original phrase in tempo, and adds movement to the rest of the body in reaction to that of the arms.
Retrograde Traveling Variation
Here, my cast and I practice a variation in which the above traveling combination is retrograded (done in exact reverse).
"Arm Phrase"
"Dead Bird Solo"
"Machine Line"
A counterpoint to the arm motif, this phrase represents the Stalker’s statement, “Callosity and strength are the companions of death.” I created this theme by thinking of the movement of machines, factories, and assembly lines. In order to travel to different places on specific pathways, the dancers were asked to change the directions of many of the movements, and individual movements were pulled from this theme to represent points of callosity and death in later parts of the piece. As this phrase was rehearsed and developed, it grew faster and more angular than this original interpretation.