Working with physical exposure in contemporary outdoor dance

摘要

This article is primarily based on my practice-as-research PhD in Dance, which I completed at Coventry University (UK) in 2015 (Kramer, 2015). Most specifically it draws on the movement and performance practices that I have developed and carried out in conjunction with (as well as beyond) this doctoral project, such as the making and showing of a performative afternoon entitled: body, trees & things (2012). In particular, the present article proposes to configure physical exposure as a relevant practice for contemporary outdoor dance, one that invites and supports working in confederation with the liveliness and agency of materials and atmospheres on site. I have developed four modes of physical exposure that I call transitioning, walking, dwelling and moving-dancing, which I introduce in the course of this text. I consider these four to be intricately connected and of mutual influence and I move freely between them in my working rhythm of preparing performance work or teaching. I thus use this differentiation as a tool to allow for different aspects of physical exposure to come into view, whilst proposing that intermaterial confederations as well as performance making happen within and across these practices.