the present
In her call for contributions to proximity, Shelley Marshall outlines a number of fantastically complex questions. The first of these is below. I plan to work through them, with the goal of speaking clearly and concisely. My answers will be rooted in the experiences of my performance/improvisation practice, and are offered as gentle, uncertain opinions.
1. What does it mean to ‘stay in the present’ in improvisation? (How does this enhance our practice? What are the philosophical and political consequences of being committed to ‘the present’?)
To ‘stay in the present’ in (dance) improvisation is, I think, an engagement with attention. Attention to details in remembering, in what is seen, heard and felt (corporeally, emotionally). I experience it as a fluttering across these various levels and types of concentration. Sometimes ‘zooming in’ on the minutiae, other times zooming out to give room for more external stimuli.
Paradoxically it is not so much an experience of ‘now’. Rather my experience of time is a shifting between the immediate past (sometimes reaching far into my history) and (the possibilities of the) future, and in allowing this time travel to support my active/current perceptual experiences.
I don’t think ‘staying in the present’ enhances my practice, I see my practice as being about understanding and exploring presence – in various conditions, contexts and activities.
Philosophy and politics will have to wait.