Three attention, One, Dissolving in emptiness, Distribution of attention, Tricks for your mind, Trust equal risk, Unknowing, Gaze singularity, Attention has movement, Tracking the trajectory, Communicative, Layers of the responsiveness, Embodiment of attention, Disappearing presence

Space is an encounter: an integrated shared experience between performers and audience. The choreography starts from human perception, through sensing and noticing we are working with what is there: that which the audience brings on each occasion which is different each time – by its nature an unknown.The performers highlight the sensorial with relational awareness, connecting with the audience in a manner that transforms the performer-audience dynamic and a sense of shared, collective space is made. Through sensing and noticing performers feel the presence of the other and a ritual of performance develops as embodied action and spoken word emerge. The sensing and perceiving balanced by the ritual of performance form twinned pillars of the dramaturgy.

Barbara Berti: Tell me about how you experience of Space’s work with attention.

Paolo Rosini: It’s not easy to explain. I feel like my mind is the idea of perception. Sometimes I feel attention is physically moving from somewhere else, it’s not just me pointing with my eyes, or thinking in a place, but I get the sensation of having the possibility to really expand something from the inside to the outside space –  like an extension of yourself. But then I find a collision in my mind bringing me back into a more material perception of life which suggests to me that this is not true but an illusion of the mind. It’s tricky, the mind doesn’t allow me to really understand, to trust the feelings. But I think it comes with practice, the more I practice the more I feel something changing in my body … it’s like the perception of the body – through sensing I go into a state of feeling perception, then I go back to a more cerebral reality and it kind of disappears. It’s difficult for my mind to understand how to place it and keep it. So there is a contrast between the cerebral and the state and I’m wondering how much it has to do with stillness before moving, stillness in a deep state of perception, opening gates to senses. But movement also helps because while you are moving you give more space to the body and less space to the mind. So you can go towards things. When you stand still the mind might have more presence. I can clearly see now that when the attention is outside towards the inside to see how it looks from the outside, it’s composing, I can see this is part of myself, of my practice. As you said (BB), don’t think about composing because the composing will come by itself by finding the state. But the mind tends to find a safe place that protects yourself from holding this unfamiliar state. In dance, it’s easier to place a form as a kind of first layer, that can offer orientation and security, rather than exploring more open, emotional states. When you don’t know where to go the tendency is to place the form, the compositional in the front, offering a materiality, but then you don’t give space for things to come out. Instead, I sense this attention as movement by stretching attention between the space and the inside of my body, it helps me to activate this process, this extends from inside to outside, it goes through the body, the intelligence of the body rather than the one of the mind.

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The trajectory of state

Space is concerned with the specificity of embodiment of both performers and audience (rather than with the abstracted, generic idea of ‘the body’) and the transition from individual concerns to a more present, collectively embodied space. We describe this transition as a trajectory of state and it begins with attention and sensing. While the mind is intertwined within the process, attention is foregrounded, in ‘the first row’, with the mind in ‘the third row’. Through attention, a through theme of space, dancers in Space attend to the heart, the back and the eyes.

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The piece begins with the movement of the heart. The heart as sensorial embodied knowledge grounded through physical presence. The heart’s power as a universal symbol with metaphorical resonance is expressed through presence, movement and words. From there we build awareness of the back, a commonly forgotten aspect, the inaccessible lumbar in particular is typically unfamiliar, relegated by our more imposing and interactive frontal, social selves. Becoming aware of the back, more fully embodied, brings us to the physicality of our attention. The image of the back also resonates with that of our unconscious selves – a powerful and influential yet hidden aspect that we commonly don’t attend to in daily lives. Together with the presence of the back, awareness of the eyes extends attention’s reach. Eyes are commonly associated with presence and attention yet the nature of our seeing, gaze and visual presence is more nuanced and differentiated by Space’s concern with the nature of attention. Closely connected to the brain, or even as an extension of the brain, we may search for meaning in the eyes of the other, reading their intentions and emotions. The practice of Spaceworks with two aspects of the visual: firstly, the gaze as an expression of the social persona, much to do with the regulated presentation of self in social space. The second aspect is of particular interest for the practice: that is the seeing eyes as presence, both bringer of presence for each individual and communicating of this presence for others. Attention binds the ways in which heart, back and eyes become employed in Space. We distinguish between intellectual attention and physical attention: in our daily lives we are encouraged and habituated towards an economy of attention while the practice of Space is concerned more with an ecology of attention. We are encouraged in daily life to use the capability for attention within the limitations created by technological systems, economic goals, educational constructs, and societal mores. Currently, the unregulated arenas of social media offer stark examples of how our attention may become limited through psychological and emotional exploitation as companies complete for the monetisation of our attention. The way in which we give our attention is clearly a political choosing, yet how aware are we of this? Through the frequently involuntary giving of attention, often in habituated default mode, we are adapting, self-regulating, and unwittingly conforming to structures which also greatly limit us and in so doing the human potential for giving attention, the space where our attention can go, is foreshortened. The concern in Space is with sharing embodied attention in the moment of performance, creating an opening, an opportunity to look anew, to notice that which we haven’t considered, and in the process of performance we question some presumptions of life. As we navigate the trajectory of state our focus transitions between individual concerns and the collective and the shared space of performers and audience develops its own quality. Sound is important in the practice bringing a further immediacy, offering additional communicative layers of meaning, reflection and celebration supporting the preoccupation with attention. The piece begins and ends with music; spoken word offers a narrative of sensing and space; at other times speech is a reflexive, meta commentary on the performance’s process. 

Accepting what each audience brings involves the softening of boundaries between performers and audience, working with an unknown element. This may be unexpected and unfamiliar, and through the piece’s unusual nature, the strangeness of being presented with the unknown, of transitional states, humour frequently emerges. Ultimately, we’re interested in allowing the audience to become as responsible as the performers in the transaction that is the performance. 

Attention in attention

Awareness, noticing, giving attention are all terms that apply to how we introduce and situate heart, back and eyes. By attending to these, the goal is to transcend the everyday preoccupation with presumed givens and the mundane that preoccupy cerebral thought and to foreground the experience of embodiment through the attention. This dance, referred to as the attention in attention, becomes a guiding through-theme of Space. In life, we tend towards shifting our attention automatically, while maintaining a separated inner and outer identity. The self others see is the attention we present; often this what we would like to be identified with. But what if we drop this presentation, this image of self, and attention is used instead as a sensing tool to observe the overall schema. What then if the attention is allowed to observe attention itself.

The networked ritual

‘The gesture that welcomes a single audience member is also a welcome to all who share it.’ (Paolo Rosini).The audience and performers form a single networked body.

And the geography of our bodies is synonymous with the geography of the piece.The practice works knowingly with the network of performers and audience in the process of performance. Through attention, movement and words; sensing and noticing, performers continually actively engage withthe outer and their inner space and the border between performers andaudience.This resonates with shared experience in rituals across cultures and, similarly, the process of performance here is a transcending, an experience of change,to ‘move on up’ from where we’ve started. Space’s balancing of action and sensing questions received ideas of choreography;rather than choosing and routines, noticing through the body into sensing, working with the body as a multiplicity that serves the dramaturgy,the performance of Space is also a study of human perception.

 

 

audience 1

 

The time of pandemic and restrictions has required us to rethink assumptions about the very idea of performance. What is this thing we call performance? How does meaningful performance apply to the concerns of now? Can a more environmentally relevant dance be developed? One that is more socially intelligent, more capable of embracing audiences? By questioning how we pay attention at the point of performance, how alive we are to what is actually happening in that moment, we’re rethinking assumptions about how the audience is understood and viewed. This more phenomenological understanding of attention becomes inclusive of audiences, and more experimental forms of engagement need to be explored. The Space project extends the creative process to the involvement of the public, ‘non-dancers’, through experiential sessions in which questions of attention and space are explored by means of embodied work. In tandem, we also turn our attention to the public through additional means of open inquiry.

On the 10th June, a very warm day, Barbara Berti and Simon Rose set off on foot across Berlin’s Templehof, the World War II ex-airfield now an immense, beautiful open space, designated as a park: a haven for wildlife, Berliners and visitors. The aim to spontaneously select individuals and explore: What does attention mean to you? How do you experience attention? The encounter was designed as open to the spectrum of responses and we sought diverse participants. Of course, respondents needed to be available and able to spare the five minutes required for the brief exchange and we’d chosen Tempelhof as it’s commonly used for leisurely activities, as a place to relax.

We approach a man in his thirties. Lying sideways on a rug under the shade, he’d seemed a likely participant but it becomes apparent that he is deeply engaged in studying cardiology, in becoming a doctor. His purpose not relaxation, he was already deeply paying attention to his studies and somewhat bewildered about the purpose and relevance of our questions. However, his decisions regarding attention, space and embodiment offered a source of reflection. With the challenge of learning cardiology he had chosen a prone position in order to give his full attention in the vastness of the tranquil space. While he nonchalantly describes the choice of space as ‘just comfy’ it nevertheless illustrates the ways we find ways to free our bodies and our mind in order to best pay attention in ways that may not necessarily be that conscious.

Our second encounter, with a woman in her thirties, presented a direct connection between attention, the sensorial and the body. With bare shoulders and total-block protection beneath an intense sun she balanced carefully on roller skates and reported how her attention was in the enjoyment of the sun on her skin. These brief encounters presented connections between the body and attention in ways that had not been predicted, providing novel ideas that can inform and assist the manner in which we engage audiences. Deepening audiences’ awareness of attention, as a theme in itself, assumptions about how we ‘place’ audiences could be re-thought. How would it be if audiences were invited to recline on the grass beneath a tree’s shade? Orto experience a performance while they roller skate on a beautiful, warm day, with the sun on their skin? Or, invited to recline on floor cushions in order to best give their attention in the course of a performance that asks those in attendance to investigate their experience of attention? Could this enable the deepening of a more experiential, participatory audience experience of attention and states?

In a forthright manner, our third encounter, a young skateboarding woman, immediately reported the experience of attention as embodied. Perhaps because she was at Tempelhof to engage in her clearly dedicated practice of skateboarding. She tied her experience of attention to temporality – how her attention is dependent upon an ever changing ‘now’, not in a static state. She spoke of her body as a guide for attention with the mind. She described how opening her arms and reaching upwards changed her attention– as she realised there was more to pay attention to ‘here, and here’.

The fourth encounter, with a Spanish flamenco guitarist who was learning German on headphones, also immediately situated attention as temporal. He reflected the musician’s act of playing an instrument, the need for presence in the moment of performance. The experience of ‘now’ as embodied. He made a correspondence between the embodied presence of the raised arms and being in the present where she assigned the future to the head.

The fifth encounter was accompanying his young son and responded by saying that his attention was very wide and when pressed told us that his attention was in ‘taking care’ of his son. He objected to the suggestion that he raise arms in the air (in order to discuss how attention may become altered through this additional embodied aspect – something we did with all participants). However, he offered two poetic images of attention: ‘I pay attention to you, so we flow together’. As a theme of performance and attention this idea of shared attention, ‘flow together’, or attention created together can be fundamentally rich – and contribute to ways of thinking about where attention lies in group interaction – the social purpose of attention. And when asked how he experienced attention he responded ‘as a breeze … you feel it but you cannot see it’. ‘The breeze’ resonates with the previous participants’ ideas of attention as a moving phenomenon.

In these small, initial steps of enquiry each encounter has provided fresh perspectives into the ways we are thinking about attention, these will contribute to the development of the project’s practice. For us, the discussion of attention has become familiar, while for these participants, the very idea of stopping for a moment to reflect upon what attention is was new and at times bewildering. In the process, we are also already asking participants to move into a different ‘space’, one that involves reflection, a different consideration of the body.

We will be repeating this activity in different settings, establishing further diversity in response – seeking new reflections that may bring fresh insights. While the second phase of research will involve participants in embodied activity through which questions regarding attention will be posed by means of somatic practices and some of those encountered on Tempelhof have been invited to participate in these sessions. It will be interesting to discover and compare how participants reflect on attention when engaged in more somatic practice.

 

Audience 2

On 17th we broadened the open enquiry into understandings of attention by engaging the public on the streets of Berlin. Just south of Tempelhof is Silbersteinstraße, a long cut through between the Berlin’s ring-road (the 100) and the hubbub of Hermannstraße. Silbersteinstraße’s assorted old and new apartments buildings are dotted with eclectic businesses, shops and cafes and the area is yet to be noticeably affected by Berlin’s encroaching gentrification. While the Neukölln district of Berlin is known for its Turkish immigration there are also those of many other origins. Silbersteinstraße 142 is the African Shop, it’s packed with arts and crafts and as we enter the cool of this Aladdin’s cave a stocky, middle aged man emerges from the back whose demeanour tells us he is the owner – his assured body language welcoming of potential custom in this quiet stretch of the street. We establish that he can spare a few minutes for our inquiry and, as with the previous interviewees we ask about attention. What are you paying attention to now? How are you experiencing your attention ? It’s with you, he replies, I want you to be interested in my shop. There’s a slight pause, an initial short circuiting in which we realign our different intentions. But, where is your attention situated? He points to his head – it’s here, it’s all here. He makes a direct equivalence between intelligence and attention and in so doing tells an anecdote about sheep being forced to jump over a stick and when the stick is removed those that follow continue to jump. We ask him to raise his arms to see if it alters attention? No, it doesn’t change, I’m only doing it because you tell me to. He then turns the table on us. Where are you from? Italy; the UK, London. We learn that he is a Berliner, his wife from West Africa and that he lived in London in the 1970s. Where did you live in London? In Hornsey, Woodland Gardens he says. As we discover shared experiences of the area and life in London he enjoys the memories and becomes more relaxed and animated. A barrier between us has dropped and before we leave we reflect that his attention has shifted and is more in his body. Across the street we encounter Ahmet on the pavement who responds openly to our approach, however, as we ask him about attention he remains fixated on his phone. His response to the question: Where do you place your attention? is to repeat the words ‘Yes, yes, autos, gold, rich man, rich city, Dubai, perfume…’. He shows us photos on his phone of his Ferrari Taxi. We try a different tack with the questioning in the hope of moving towards how he experiences attention. Try as we might, there remains a comedic disjunction between our enquiry into the nature of attention and Ahmet’s preoccupation with material wealth. He insistently repeats his references to money, wanting us to share in his enthusiasm. The more we ask him to consider the nature of attention the more photographs and videos he produces signifying monetary wealth. Is this really his answer? From inside the business premises another joins us in the intense heat of the street, and then another, all attempting to help by translating into Arabic or German. As confusion ensues the absurdity of the scene builds – there are now five of us attempting to clarify the word attention in Arabic, English, German and Italian, all talking over, attempting to assist. A street scene develops. There is congenial curiosity, amusement, misunderstanding and these men from the shop are mobile, simultaneously going about their everyday business. The discombobulation of this encounter is disorientating, there is a sense that we could be in another part of the world– perhaps North Africa, or is it Malaysia, where are we? ‘I like any people’ says Ahmet. He shows a photograph of a falcon, ‘How much you think? Fifty three million dollars’. In the melee of coming and going and the heat, all revolving around the question of attention in several languages, the development of a single idea is lost yet serious concerns are present. How do you pay attention? With my brain, to Allah, Ahmet looks up and smiles. Meanwhile the boss tells us he is paying attention to going to the mosque. Ahmet says ‘People with a good heart I like, yes, I like any people.’ There’s a patient forcefulness with which all attempt to help, a concern to get this thing done and the boss decides that attention is the same as achtung. All the while there is another man in the group, wearing a taqiyah, prayer hat, whose presence quietly mediates in the confusion. Vocally he’s least apparent yet most present in his understanding of what is happening in the chaotic group exchange. He mediates between us through kind smiles, listening, and as he helps in trying to unravel the misunderstandings he calms things. It’s time for everyone to move on and as a parting gesture Ahmet sprays our arms with perfume. In this group exchange our attention is consumed in trying to embrace the totality of what is happening in our cosmopolitan exchange, on this street, with traffic noise, in the intense heat of the day, our conversing an accompaniment to the coming and goings of the business and passers-by. Attention is contextualised by concerns. This group encounter has also comedically pointed out the problems of language and semantics. The question of attention receives very different responses as these encounters show. This assemblage is a meta representation for our enquiry into the nature of attention: attention goes where it will, in unexpected places, is situated, and the substance of what occurs in each of the exchanges in our search for the nature of attention takes us to unpredictable and unknown places.
© All rights reserved – June 2021

 

Supported by the NATIONAL PERFORMANCE NETWORK – STEPPING OUT, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the framework of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR. Co Production: Ariella Vidach Aiep. With the support of: MiC- Ministry of Culture and Municipality of Milan – Culture Sector. Assistance Program for Dance / in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Milan.