Class Attention practices

The Attention Practices are formulated from a series of choreographic and somatic practices that, over the years, have made it possible to develop a specific “gymnastics of attention”. We say “gymnastics” when we want to relate the practices to, for example, the work of choreographer Yvonne Rainer [see “The Mind is a Muscle” (1966)]. This proposal is directly influenced by my ongoing work with artists Lisa Nelson, Mark Tompkins and João Fiadeiro, among many colleagues and artists, in areas such as Real-Time Composition, Tuning Scores and choreographic performance in general. The work involves recognizing what is already in progress, exploring it with the attention, image, and imagination generated, and identifying new modes of position and composition.

Not applicable

The Practices of Attention are formulated from a series of choreographic and somatic practices that, over the years, have made it possible to develop a specific ‘gymnastics of attention’. We say ‘gymnastics’ when we want to relate the practices to, for example, the work of choreographer Yvonne Rainer [see ‘The Mind is a Muscle’ (1966)]. This proposal is directly influenced by my ongoing work with artists Lisa Nelson, Mark Tompkins and João Fiadeiro, among many colleagues, in areas such as Real-Time Composition, Tuning Scores and choreographic performance in general. The work involves recognising what is already in progress to explore it with the attention, image, and imagination generated, as well as being able to recognise new modes of position and composition. Everyday life seems to elide myriad postures and positions that we would like to experiment with attentively. A sensitive sharing can be made by paying attention to perceptual choices

Sharing questions in a workshop format, body-space-time and vision exercises, watching videos and fieldwork walks, group reading, and presenting and sharing problems orally provide an elasticity that makes it easier for each student to discuss and take responsibility for the lesson. We can thus access each student's universe and, from there, adjust our attention-tuning practices to find the uniqueness of each student or each specific group of students. By requesting that the reading of supporting texts, oral sharing, exposition and class discussion be part of the assessment, we aim to create a feedback mechanism about the effective integration of the subjects covered and the ability that each student develops to transform them into discourse.

FIADEIRO, João (2018). Composição em Tempo Real: Anatomia de Uma Decisão. GHOST. GIL, José (2001), Movimento Total: o Corpo e a Dança. Lisboa: Relógio D’ Água Editores. LEPECKI, André (2006), Exhausting Dance: Performance and the Politics of Movement, New York, Routledge. ---(2023), Esgotar a Dança: A Performance e a Política do Movimento, Lisboa, Edições do Saguão. NELSON, Lisa (2003). «Before your Eyes, Seeds of a Dance Practice» in Contact Quaterly dance journal, vol. 29 #1, Winter/Spring (https://www.kultuur.ut.ee/sites/default/files/vka/before_your_eyes.pdf). --- (2021). «Diante dos Teus Olhos, sementes de uma prática de dança», Tradução de Sílvia Pinto Coelho (2021), disponível no site Cratera: https://performanceecognicao.fcsh.unl.pt/2021/11/07/diante-dos-teus-olhos-sementes-de-uma-pratica-de-danca/