#trinity laban

Leonora Oppenheim performing at Trinity Laban. Her Need to Amplify - a drawing exploration by Leonora Oppenheim. What does it mean to reach further than my physical body allows - as an artist, as a woman, as a human, as a soul? Touching on themes of production, gender, augmentation and self-image, this entanglement of inadequacy and ambition is embodied through a drawing exploration of 90 minutes. The audience is welcome to interact with the artist and her materials and to move freely in and out of the space during that time.

Performance for graduate showcase in MFA Creative Practice at Trinity Laban, 25.07.19

A small note to the reader/viewer

Images and text are (not) related.

How do we express emotion? How do we read emotion? How do we know when a smile is a sign of happiness or anxiety?  Can we be sure if tears are a sign of joy, or sorrow, or rage?  How can we tell if panting is a sign of lust or fear? What is the emotion? What is the expression of the emotion? And what is the interpretation of the emotion? And how can we tell these entangled and inseparable components apart?

Photographs document the choreographic research project; Body of Emotion, by Rosamond Martin, and the subsequent dance-on-screen work; Feelings, by Rosamond Martin in collaboration with Enrico Policardo.

Notes quoted directly from Studio Diaries, featured in A Multiplicity of Creativity (In Praise of Reductionism)

Boredom

• Heavy eyelids • Lack of muscular tonus / heavy body, loose face muscles • No fixed direction of focus/eyes or direction of movement • Breathing low into bowl of pelvis; belly, low back and pelvic floor • Belly, low back and pelvic floor soft and malleable • Jaw soft, hangs open • Exhale through open mouth • Heavy limbs, lift-able but weighty • No tension or shape given to hands/fingers – no fine articulation

Depression

• Heavy limbs • Heavy eyelids – blurred focus • Heavy breastbone • Loose belly and pelvic floor • Random approach to space, no clear direction but no sudden changes of direction: changing direction is hard work, often coming to a total stop before then changing • Movement happens in slow, effortful stages with waiting in between • No fine motor skills; hands and fingers loose and formless • Soft, slow, heavy, effortful breathing with occasional large, slower fuller inhalations and exhalations that fill pauses between directional movement

Distress

by increasing speed so that rhythm, movement and changes of direction become faster, sharper, more abrupt and do therefor effect breath. Breath then shorter and higher in chest with overall muscular tension increasing, particularly in face, hands and lower abs.

Limbo

• no clear direction • Based on observing what is already there - Kinaesthetic listening – The listening-responding-cycle • Movement opens out from center • Light limbs • Pupils open up to let the light in • Sensing air against skin • Sloooooooooooow motion • Suspended in formaldehyde • (M’s experience adds: “No intention” – “indulging in experience of self” - as if a bit “high”)

Joy

• Breath free and easy (breathing through nose and mouth as is comfortable- not fixed) with occasional light sudden intake (catching) of breath in chest • Eyes move freely over around the three-dimensional space – open pupils to let the light in • Jaw soft, space maintained between back teeth, smile creeping up from corners of mouth to eyes / soft contracting and releasing of cheeks • Musculature, including lower abdominals soft and easy with occasional sudden light contractions, catching / pulling up • Light steps, playful, irregular skipping rhythm (hot floor) • Light swing-able limbs • Light and easy articulation of joints with highly articulated multi-directional peripheries: ankles, wrists, fingers, toes

Recklessness

• Smile in corner of mouth, as if enjoying knowing you're being watched • Flinging movement originates from center • Banging and stomping • Swinging / throwing arms and legs • Eyes shift and roll around the space • Dare yourself to do things but don't give a shit about it • Enjoy it • Heavy but not lazy • Consider - “What if I could do whatever the fuck I want?”

Confusion

• Gap kept between back teeth • Furrowed brow, occasional curling of upper lip • Irregular changes of direction, of gaze, of head and of direction in space, but not sudden/abrupt - does not cut or shorten breath • Breath regular, unaffected by movement • Differentiation of parts, moving/shifting/re-positioning/adjusting in relation to each other; counter-directions If attempting to increase intensity, Confusion builds to

Lust

(female?) • Soft opening and closing, tensing and releasing: of eyes, jaw, hands, armpits, groin, nostrils, center, sphincters, whole shape • Gaze roaming, soft focus (peripheral vision) • Limbs reaching out into and retracting back from the space • Exposing of hidden parts/inside/underside • Continual, fluid but restless, regular pulsing rhythm (can accelerate/decelerate) • Movement of limbs, movement through space and gaze continuously change direction Alternative: maintaining single fixed focal point… gaze and movement become directional. This variety reads as more intentional/predatory.

Anger

(animal variation) • Breathing through nose • Jaw clenched • Chin dropped – eyes maintained on horizon • Upper lip curls (as if to bear teeth) • Breathing into mid-back • Clenched abdominals • Clenching and releasing glutes and pelvic floor • Clenching and releasing entire shoulder girdle, pecs, arms, fists • Movement is restless and fluid, snake-like, as if finding way around something, with sudden outbursts, and abrupt stops, starts and changes of direction • Also possibility for inertia through increased tension, in which case gaze is fixed on one point.

Fear

• Fast, shallow breath • Breathing high in chest • Wide, darting eyes • Spasmodic tension in hands • Erratic relation to space – sharp and irregular changes of direction, of whole self and of head/limbs • Tight pelvic floor and lower abdominals To develop to inertia, increase intensity of all tension and speed of contractions and releases and all changes of direction until faster / more tense is not possible, and the body becomes immobile.