Ruin

Ruin is a choreographic research project examining how concepts of wilderness, or nature can become re-embodied through dance as a means to intervene in the human/nature duality that pervades Western cultural norms. Utilizing improvisational methods to inform movement generation, the boundaries between dichotomous terms of wild and tame are challenged and blurred. Within the work, dancers shed bounds of technical conditioning, habitual movement, and domesticated behavioral norms, to experience reclaimed states of autonomy. Central to this research is an investigation of ecological relationships, and a re-examination of the role of the choreographer as one striving to facilitate ethical working environments and attend to a multiplicity of voices and potential outcomes. To move away from hierarchical modes of dance making, this process has endeavored to find negotiable, wholistic relationships between the performers, and the performers and the space, objects and media. The choreography seeks to encompass the cyclical nature of being in a state of ruin: in process, simultaneously growing and decaying, learning and unlearning. This process has taken place during the Covid-19 pandemic, therefore, in lieu of a live performance, this iteration has been filmed to provide the viewer with both the choreography as it was staged in Strauss Hall, of the University of Iowa’s Hancher Auditorium, as well as to provide a more intimate lens with which to perceive how the performers are engaged within the intricacies of the piece.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25820/hbbp-zm10