The Residual series #1 – #5, had all used charcoal on paper for mark-making, or as we might otherwise say, charcoal was used for marking the performance!
In Residuals #6 then shadow was the mark-making element. It was performed at OVADA, Osney Mead, Oxford on Tuesday 13 August 2024. The idea of a mirror dance is partly based on the notion that individuals in social relations naturally mirror each other resulting in symmetric patterns. It’s also such a simple dance that it hardly seems like a dance at all – which it is!
Residuals #6 was performed at Oxfordshire Visual Arts Development Agency, Osney Mead, Oxford during my artists residency. It was a duet and the other dancer – who prefers not to be identified here – I’ll refer to them as the Unknown Dancer.
In many ways, this performance was not unlike Residuals #5 Part 3, Kindness. Then, the paper was covered in charcoal from the performance rather than being the pristine white of this performance. But both were a mirror dance with flowers.
We performed our dance outside the warehouse building – a brick building painted white – in the afternoon. There was bright sunshine which cast shadows from trees and vegetation onto the building and the white paper which we set on the ground next to an outside wall. The movement of the trees in the wind and the shadows which they cast were a mesmerizing art work in itself.
The dance surface – blank paper about 4m by 1.5m – was secured by upturned chairs at each corner.
Mirror dance score
The score of the dance was very simple: a mirror dance which involved putting dried stasis flowers onto the surface of the paper to create a mirrored pattern.
It was an improvised dance ie not cheographed. The score was very simple: one dancer followed the movement of the other – hence mirroring. It’s not necessary for the follower to know the design – its simply the movement which is coppied. Both dancers had our own set of dried statis flowers and stood opposite each other on the longest edges of the paper.
There was a imaginary line down the centre of the paper which was the line of the mirror. The mirror pattern resulted from me and the Unknown Dancer mirroring our movements and using the imaginary mirror line. The shadows cast by the dancers appeared on the paper in a relational pattern. Thus the pattern and the movements are integrally linked: form follows function as function makes form.
Social funtion of mirroring behaviour
In psycology, there is a distinction of mirroring in social situations and conscious imitation. However, in a performance context we might consider all mirroing is conscious imitation. Unconscious mirroring is possible in performance where there’s method-acting or techniques from Konstantin Stanislavski (“art of experiencing”). But generally, the term ‘mirroring’ in common language and in dance in particular is understood as simple imitation.
Mirroring is the behavior in which one person subconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another.[1] Mirroring often occurs in social situations, particularly in the company of close friends or family, often going unnoticed by both parties. The concept often affects other individuals’ notions about the individual that is exhibiting mirroring behaviors, which can lead to the individual building rapport with others.
[source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirroring]
Dance ending
The dance ended when both bunches of flowers were laid on the paper. The performance was complete; the flowers drawn.
