What is “Neutral” status?

Since there is no discussion of the neutral state of dancers directly, I chose one of the most inspiring contemporary drama teachers, Jacques Lecoq. He formed an exercise, “Neutral Mask”, that I summarised from his argument for a performer and dancer what the definition is the Neutral Status. Lecoq (1997) mentioned that the Neutral Mask is an object that is always in balance. However, after wearing this mask and performing a series of exercises, the actors will appear in a state: it triggers a calm physical status in the body, a kind of things are extremely sensitive, and there is no internal conflict at all (Lecoq, 1997). What if we do not put the mask on the face, are there any key concepts I should stick with? Therefore, This is precisely the performance status I want dancers to achieve in the artwork, and Lecop provided a clear indicator of how to prepare for “Neutral”:

The first indicator deals with how dancers exist in the surrounding environment. Dancers are in a state of exploration, openness, and ready acceptance. At the same time, it seems to be with the first freshness to watch, listen, feel and touch each of the essential things. The second indicator is that the dancer’s movements are always just right, regardless of posture or action. The third indicator is that the neutral status can touch the dynamic structure behind the movement. This kind of performance can be close to the physical language belonging to everyone, so that the audience can understand the theme that the dancer wants to express, and it can also bring out the universal poetic awareness. The fourth indicator, dancers need to recognize that this neutrality is present in their bodies. The purpose of identification is to discover the memory traces recorded in each person’s body and the body circuits engraved in the body. Various drama emotions flow in balance, and these emotions use these traces and circuits as channels for expression.

I believe that dancers pay attention to the neutral status during the performance and maintain their awareness. This method can help the audience transform what they observe and feel like their own meaning more easily. This is also the function of making the meaning of the work more oriented, one of the ways for performing arts to interact with the audience and promote creativity in society.

The local context of dance

As far as Hong Kong’s geographic area is concerned, the development of dance in Hong Kong is indeed very prosperous. On such a small land, all kinds of dances can be accessed in the city, but it depends on whether the current state of dance is close to the society. Need, this became my question. According to Yu Yeuk-mui Cally’s discussion of dance as an essential dimension of social practice in her article, she gave examples of recent community dance projects in Hong Kong. Starting from the definition of dance and the meaning of dance creation in society, she brought out the spatial quality and beauty of the Hong Kong community dance project. The four dimensions are spatial quality, aesthetic experience, horizontal learning, and structural changes (Yu, 2020). Although my artwork rarely involves the field of community dance, the content of this article allows rethinking the Hong Kong dance landscape and how as an artist, I use the knowledge of dance to establish the social role.

Among them, what is dancing? Dance is the breath made visible and cover about everything (Helprin, 2017). Indeed, “breath” is a very important element in my dance creation. The “Neutral” status of the body is also related to breathing. Moreover, “breathing” is a method that can also be used as the body’s awareness of life, environment, and inner life. Reflecting on social events based on physical conditions, I think this is closely related to social psychology, but I will not discuss it now. Instead, I want to bring out one thing. When I research the preparation of “Neutral” status for dancers, dealing with spatial quality is a significant job. According to the article, the quality space is physical and spiritual and emotional (Yu, 2020). At the same time, having a safe space can also reduce inner conflict among dancers. In addition, aesthetic experience is a kind of physical experience, an experience of induction and perception. Although beauty is one of the products of society, the body’s induction and perception are placed at the forefront of dance and performance, which is a confrontation with the dance experience of many dancers. Therefore, rethinking how dancers and the general public are educated must be included in the Preparation of Neutral Status worklist. Find the aesthetic experience of “Neutral” status through “breathing”.

Breathing is the method
Breathing is the first and last movement in our life. That is significant meaning for us. Chinese philosophers always include breathing as their practice. One of the statements in Dao is “Do Nothing and Do Everything” (Tao Te Ching). According to Zhao (2013), between exhaling and inhaling, you really do nothing. Breathing also maintains our life and action, which does everything. Proper breathing is the key to tuning in calmness and less inner conflict, which means preparing the “Neutral” status. In addition, Tune-in to another person’s breathing, and you know something about the person and are able with them at a core level (Hackney, 1998). Hackney (1998) mentioned that breathing has magical connective power. She described some situations when you might want to tune in to your breath and approach meant to movement exploration and cellular breathing. However, reflecting on the rich exercise list, I don’t have time to explore all of them in the first semester. because I do believe that I need to embody the exercise, which provides a full picture of the article’s knowledge and wisdom. Therefore, It stimulates my motivation to put this content to my next Professional Practice Project for the practice as research. I am interested in how somatic exercise brings a new way and knowledge to my dancing. 

Practical warm reminder 

Most people embodied the neutral status before. It can happen when people are young or visiting nature. As a choreographer or facilitator, what is the strategy for reaching the “Neutral” status in the rehearsal? A book called A Choreographer’s Handbook is a stunning reflection on Burrows’ personal practice and professional journey (2010). Moreover, he shared a practical warm reminder list for the dance-makers finding their own aesthetic process. According to one of the book chapters, he mentioned that preparation, rehearsal schedule, and heaviness. When the artist wants to achieve the goal,  s/he can make the working process aggressively, or s/he can rest for moments and restart again, or s/he can listen to environments and wait for the response. The understanding here, he described the rhythm of the process that the artist can play in the rehearsal. The application from his reminder is, “Dancers are very disciplined people, but sometimes having the discipline to stop is the greatest discipline” (Burrows, 2010, pp.55). I have a super disciplined personality, and when I designed the research focus on preparation, it already put the experience in the known result. However, I explored the short rehearsal schedule and one task a day, it was a new approach. Fortunately, based on Burrows (2010) ideas on choreography, my dancers had an enjoyable life and non-heaviness process. It was a work-life balance, which supported the “Neutral” status that appeared on the dancers body-mind quickly. Burrows suggests another angle or perspective that addresses the creative process when the person picks up and read the book every time.

References

Burrows, J. (2010). Preparation/Rehearsal/Schedule/Heaviness. A choreographer’s handbook (2010, pp. 54-57). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203852163

Hackney, P., (1998). Breath. Making Connections: Total Body Integration Through Bartenieff fundamentals (2002, pp. 51-66.) Routledge.

Lecoq, J., Carasso, J.-G., Lallias, J.-C., & Bradby, D. (2014). The moving body: Teaching creative theatre. Bloomsbury. 

RT Documentary (2017, December 18) Anna Halprin. Dance to Heal. Healing trauma with the power of movement https://youtu.be/Zgdu6JEB2RA

si, F. deng kui, Feldenkrais, M., & Chen, Y. (2017). Dong Zhong Jue Cha: Gai Bian Dong zuo.gai Shan Sheng huo.gai Xie Ren Sheng. Xin ling gong fang wen hua chu ban. 

Tao Te Ching – Wikipedia. En.wikipedia.org. (2021). Retrieved 30 December 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching.

Yu, Y., C., (2020). Dimensions of Community Dance as a Social Practice – Some Observations from Dance and Community Participatory Dance Projects in 2019. Dance Research Hong Kong. https://en.danceresearch.com.hk/communitydance

Zhao, Q., (2013). Do Nothing, Only Breath. Do Nothing & Do Everything: An Illustrated New Taoism (2013, pp. 74-79). Dolphin Books Co., Ltd.