Live Arts for the Everyday – 90 Applicable Thoughts

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #35 – Premiere

| María Ferrara

The premiere is the moment in which the “live” aspect comes in. Until then it is all preparation, which comes to an end in performing the resulting work in front of an audience. We could say that the piece is finished once it gets to this point. In fact this is not completely so. For one thing, the audience is a new element which will have its effect on the work. For another, as the composition is performed repeatedly it will develop further. Despite it being an exciting moment, the premiere is not so much the climax, but the turning point. From here on the work somehow emancipates itself to a certain extent from its creators. A bit like bringing a creature into the world.

 


María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #34 – Warm-up

| María Ferrara

All performers warm up, I think. It can be a physical warm up to get their body ready for the actions it will perform. It can be a focussing and tuning into what they’re about to do. It can be a small ritual, as un-solemn as having a coffee. Whichever way, the warm up allows a time for everything to arrive and come together: body, mind and emotional/energetic state. Performers need to be present as they work, totally there with what is happening, with their whole self. This fluid state of relaxed attention is useful also for the everyday. Before jumping into the next task that we need to do, we can allow ourselves some time to warm up and make sure that body, mind and energy are all awake and converging on the task.

 


María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #33 – Composition

| María Ferrara

A composition is the result of combining elements to form a whole. Although the word may be more traditionally associated with music, it is also used for other live arts. Composing is materializing an idea or inspiration using the elements that are available. The same elements can be used to make a huge amount of radically different compositions. If we think of notes in music, the elements are finite, but the compositional possibilities, like permutations, are vast. Think about time parameters like order, duration, repetition and simultaneity. Think about space parameters like distance, size, progression and symmetry. Think about the layering of elements. Think about intensity. Think about the relationship between each part or aspect to the whole. Our lives can sometimes feel limited in terms of what is available to us. Sometimes we can open up more possibilities. Sometimes we can’t. What we can always do is compose with what we have. For one thing, some compositions are bound to satisfy us more than others. For another, we will be consciously exercising our birthright to create a path in life.

 


María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #32 – Props

| María Ferrara

Props are all the objects on a theatre stage during a performance which are not costume, scenery or technical equipment. They are there to contribute something to the piece: a period, a place, a mood or an interaction with one of the actors or actresses. What does each of the objects we own contribute to our daily life? Are they serving us and our life, like props serve the performers and the piece? Or are they rather getting in the way of the action?

 


María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #31 – Pattern

| María Ferrara

A pattern is a recognizable combination. In the case of live arts, a recognizable combination of events like rhythm, a movement leitmotif or a refrain. Perceiving patterns, saves our cognitive system a lot of time. When we come across something that has already been stored in our memory, we just need to retrieve this information to know what it is, as opposed to having to explore every single phenomenon we come across. The use of patterns in live arts can help connect with the audience, in as far as it gives them a feeling of being in the know, either based on their own experience or on what’s happened earlier on in the performance. On the other hand, if all we are required to do as audience is recognize, the experience becomes pretty passive. For us to engage actively we need a task; there need to be some missing links that we can try to fill in ourselves. Too many patterns make things predictable, which can be both safe and boring. Too few patterns make things unpredictable, which can be both exciting and overwhelming. What is the sweet spot for me at the moment? How do I play in the different areas of my life in order to find this position?

 


María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #30 – Now

| María Ferrara

In live arts the product of the work that has been done in advance needs to materialize at a pre-set moment. We may have worked conscientiously and be confident but this kind of work has a certain degree of instability, because it needs to be made on a certain “now” that may not offer the best circumstances. Everything that happened beforehand was preparation and needs to bloom when the cue “now!” comes. Worrying about the outcome pulls our attention out of “now” and into the future and can be overwhelming. If we stay in the present, “now” gets broken down into lots of minute “nows” which follow one another seamlessly. “Now” can create pressure, and “now” can relieve it.

 


María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #29 – Range and tessitura

| María Ferrara

The range of a singer refers to the extension of pitches that they can sing. The tessitura, on the other hand, is that part of the range in which the singer can comfortably present the particular characteristics of their voice and play with them. Systematically singing beyond one’s tessitura can eventually damage the voice and, on the other hand, the tessitura can be expanded with time and careful work. The range is the maximum stretch of what one can do. The tessitura is the part of what one can do that feels good. Some circumstances require that we exert ourselves to the limit. Always doing so might be so depleting that our capacities are reduced, for example by illness, and perhaps when we most need them. Going as far as feels good is not only pleasant, but can also expand our capacities. When we don’t push our nature but joyfully inhabit its potential, our possibilities tend to expand naturally.

 

María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #28 – Ensemble

| María Ferrara

The dictionary says that ensemble is “a group producing a single effect”. The focus is not what each member does, but rather on what is created cooperatively. There is strength in numbers, and that implies capacity to do things that would otherwise be impossible. The group can function like a dynamo, generating energy and carrying the participants with an identity that is other than the sum of the parts that make it up. In group situations it can be useful every now and then to step back and get an overview of what’s happening on the group level, because this can be influencing things in a way that we’re not aware of. A bit like not being able to see the wood for the trees.

 


María Ferrara

 

LIVE ARTS FOR THE EVERYDAY – APPLICABLE THOUGHT #27 – Trio

| María Ferrara

Three is a special number. The existence of something is one. The existence of this something automatically generates that which is other than it, so one and two arise together. Three is the field constituted by these two different things, the spectrum between them and the meeting point. The number three appears in many religions and philosophical systems as symbolising equilibrium and perfection. It can definitely be understood like that, if we think that it represents the integration of duality. In any situation in which we are torn in two… finding the third voice inside us might be the well-rounded solution (or well-triangled solution?!).

 


María Ferrara