DIALOG RESEARCH 

SERIES OF 12 INTERVIEWS WITH 15 FULL DROP  PRACTITIONERS FROM THE FIELD OF DANCE AND SCIENCE WAS CONDUCTED IN EARLY 2021. THE DISCUSSIONS THAT TOOK PLACE FOCUSED ON THE LINK BETWEEN THE FULL DROP  PRACTICE AND CHOREOGRAPHY, WRITING AND OTHER CREATIVE OUTCOMES

In 2021 I conducted 12  interviews with 15 artist and creatives working with and inspired by the FULL DROP method within their artistic processes. With the opening questions; What does the FULL DROP practice do to your artistic work and what does that reflect from a political perspective? What is the bridge between practice and choreography or any kind of  creative outcomes when it comes tot he FULL DROP practice?

What became clear from the interviews is that the practice is a transformative gateway creating space and time for immanent states and the new to surface and for ideas to come to you through letting go of time and space and habitual control while surrendering to listening. Subsequently de-conditioning of older trained and learned patterns of approach to working, moving and thinking. Which kickstarts a process of changing perspectives regarding approach towards your self, towards others, towards the way you create art and function within the cultural structures for arts. The practice represents a rejection of using force as means to achieve and steps away from acrobatic physical control and forced rigorous training, over loading and exhausting the body by forcing it into physicality’s that are not organic and induce injuries through repetition. In general rejects approach which shows a lack of respect for the limits and capacity of each individual. The FULL DROP practice aims for creativity to arrises through deep relaxation and not through engaging in trying or doing or further designing controlled by the mind.

My own creative work as a choreographer within the FULL DROP practice  was embracing and researching the pathological body, embodied phenomenological existence and the subtile body. The way it was developed was connected to the politics of what I wanted to express in my artistic work due to my biographical history, which reflects a larger whole. The practice as a tool within the field of dance does not create artistic outcomes on its own without a clear artistic vision. Whilst doing the practice can inspire an artistic vision and new discoveries on multiple levels and therefor result in any kind of creative outcome depending on the practitioner and the openings which the context of the practice facilitates for the individual practicing it.

This research was funded by the #TAKE CARE program, supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR

Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir

PARTICIPANTS

-Marie Louise and Ida Elisabeth Larsen, Danish choreographers and dancers and creators of the TWO WOMAN MACHINE dance company in Copenhagen. Interview took place on zoom on the 24. February 2021 Berlin – Roskile Denmark. Main topic of discussion; The performance “All Of Its Parts: From Darkness”. Premiere 2020. Working method was using FULL DROP as the main source of the performance and how that created a common space and working tools for the 2 performers and creators of the performance. The discussion also opened into a reflection on the difference between holistic practices and artists practices and artistic research.

-Andrea Deres and Sofia Karlsson, Danish choreographers and dancers and founders of the FAN CLUB COMPANY based in Copenhagen and Roskilde Denmark. Interview took place on zoom on the 27.February 2021 Berlin – Copenhagen Denmark. Main topic of discussion; The performance “BEEING”. Worked on and shared with audience in 2020.  How the FULL DROP practice influenced the creation of that performance, in relation to the dramaturgy, facilitation, trauma release and inherent body intelligent in relation to self healing and different holistic somatic methods in general. The discussion also opened into a reflection on the relationship to the audience and entry points to artistic sharing. 

-Jeannette Ginslov south african screen dance maker, choreographer and dancer, specialist in Digital Dance for AR, Screen and Mixed Reality Performance.  Interview took place on zoom on the 2.march 2021 Berlin – Dundee Scotland. Main topic of discussion was how the FULL DROP practice influenced the research and writing of Jeannettes PhD work titled: Embodied Biometry: Tentacular worlding of dance, biosensor technology and lived experience through relational biofeedback of the human and non-humankind.

-Karolina Ginmann Finnish choreographer, dancer, psychologist and teacher & Marlon Moilanen Finnish dancer and lawyer. Interview took place on zoom on the 4.march 2021 Berlin –  Helsinki. Main topic of discussion; Influences & development of own practices. Approaches towards commitment to having a red thread in ones artistic lives through a life long practices. Therapy and art and their different goals. 

-Jenni Elina Finnish choreographer, dancer and actor. Interview took place on zoom on the 4.march 2021 Berlin –  Helsinki. Main topic of discussion; Philosophically oriented discussion. Where is the space of creation. From where does art come from?

-Anja Rötterkamp German dancer, teacher, dramaturge and fascia therapist in the Danis Bois Method. Interview took place on zoom on the 12th march 2021 Berlin –  Brussels. Anja Röttgerkamp is the person who introduced me to the protocol of visualizing as a way to release tension in the body and regenerate energetically and get in touch with the tensegrity structure of the body. She teaches extensively within the field of dance myo fascial work with emphasis on regenerating energy and vital movement, into energetic dance and healthy rythmicality based on the Danis Bois method of Fascia Therapy. 

-Jonathan Bonnici  British Indian writer, actor and healer. Interview took place on zoom on the 15th march 2021 Berlin –  Copenhagen. Main topic of discussion; Changed view on existence in general, and relationally to everything outside of ourselves from practicing the FULL DROP method. Supporting and generating an organic flow of consciousness when writing.

-Susan Kozel Canadian phenomenologist, writer, dancer and choreographer specialist in the digital field of arts and creative science. Interview took place on zoom on the 17th march 2021 Berlin –  Malmö. Main topic of discussion; In which way and where does the FULL DROP method serve other disciplines and a different way of living.

-Ingrid André Belgian visual artist, choreographer, dancer, gyro tonic teacher and student in the  Danis Bois method Fascia Therapy. Interview took place on zoom on the 19th march 2021 Berlin –  Helsinki. Main topic of discussion; Holistic approach within the arts towards yourself as a makers and teacher and what it does to your approach towards artistic creativity. How can our view on body and politics of body be taken creatively into social change within other fields of work in society. Holistic body presence within other fields in life then the therapeutical field.

-Emilia Gasiorek British dancer and choreographer and psychology student. Interview took place on zoom on the 30th of march 2021 Berlin –  Copenhagen. Main topic of discussion; Energy work and choreography and carving out a space where a way of being is completely altered from the day to day perception of existence.

-Ghita Eli Burghartz Swiss  dancer and shiatsu therapist. Interview took place on zoom on the 1rst of april 2021 Berlin –  Basel. Main topic of discussion; Feminism, social politics and FULL DROP. How to participate in the European cultural structures in a healthy way.

-Riina Huhtanen Finnish dancer and Osteopath. Interview took place on zoom on the 1rst of april 2021 Berlin- Helsinki. Main topic of discussion; Osteopathy and the FULL DROP practice in practical terms from the professional dancers experience.