科学方法与纯舞蹈创作——A.T.D.姬尔斯美嘉舞蹈作品《鼓声》评析

Scientific Method and Pure Dance Creation:On Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's Work Drumming

舞蹈最初产生的原因,是人们运用其他方式无法表达内心强烈的感受,而以人的身体作为表现工具,借由舞蹈来抒发心中的情感与欲望。而比利时编舞家安妮·特雷莎·德·姬尔斯美嘉的作品《鼓声》,以不同于传统的舞蹈编排方式运用了对位法、黄金分割等科学的方法编排舞蹈,挑战舞者的精力、记忆力及耐力的极限,其舞蹈和动作并不强调情感,选用史蒂夫·赖克的极简音乐。感性的舞蹈遇上理性的编导,科学理性在感性的舞蹈创作中运用,使《鼓声》成为一部很纯粹的舞蹈作品。

The origin of dance can be traced back to the time when people could not find other ways to express their strong feelings. Using human body as the tool of expression, people embody their emotions and desires in dance. Different from traditional dance choreography, Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s work, Drumming, applies scientific methods, such as counterpoint and golden ratio, challenging the dancers’ limits of energy, memory, and endurance. The movements of the work do not emphasize emotional expressions. Accompanied by Steve Reich’s minimalist music, it has applied scientific rationality into the sensibility of dance creation, resulting in a pure dance work.Drumming utilizes timpani, xylophone, glockenspiel, whistle, and piccolo. Its rhythm, timbre, and sound are deeply influenced by the percussion of West Africa and Bali. As the music accumulates, changes, and repeats steadily and gradually, dance moves forward constantly, which gives an impression that the work has a strong sense of advancing forward and a relentless movement that drives the energy forward. The length of Drumming varies from 55 to 75 minutes, providing full-length developing performance of the work. In addition, it follows Steve Reich’s minimalist style and tries to derive the greatest possibility from the smallest material, which strongly supports the structure of the dance in a relatively independent relationship with the music and demonstrates Anne Teresa’s choreographic style.In early time, when Anne Teresa danced with Trisha Brown, she found a 'movement phrase' that could be developed into a variety of phrases. It made her realize that she should go back to dance classroom and work independently, so as to invent the unique method of composing the movement vocabulary. Later, she lined up her vocabulary and dance choreography based on geometry.Drumming is structured on the rigorous principles of golden ratio, sequence of numbers, and geometry, and utilizes the 'spiral' as the basic tool for choreography and the overall structure of the work. Upholding the principle of singular theme, the basic sentences, essential movements, and structural principles of the work are set along the 'spiral' trajectory of the stage space. And the 'spiral' is the highest principle to guide the combination of time and space.The logic of the 'singular theme,' either in music composition and dance choreography, is established on the derivation of a basic vocabulary. It is also indicated by costume and lighting. For example, the costume not only plays a role in aesthetic effect but also indicates the architectural structure. In terms of the costume of the dramatic characters and lighting, the architectural structure was presented during the rehearsal. The costume and lighting designers proposed a basic plan and added new ideas according to specific dance and music. To be more specific, the costume designer utilized a silver sequined clothes to realize a splendid effect, visually resonating with the metal elements of the musical instruments such as glockenspiel and piccolo.Based on the relatively accurate scientific and mathematical principles, Drumming is a quite demanding dance work. It requires the dancers to have not only great physical strength but also a high level of concentration and memory to fulfill the complex counterpoint structure. Moreover, the intensity and distinctness of the movements of each character are different. The challenge to the dancers is to demonstrate their individuality rather than show off the precision of the dance movements. The author suggests adapting the scientific methods to choreographing Chinese group dance in the future, which may result in the works beyond imagination.