Volume 6, Issue 3, Spring 2003

Conclusions?
Heather Raikes

Printer-friendly PDF version

So, to document the final stages of its manifest process, cosine changed dramatically from its opening at Temple to its closing in New York. It had 12 performances in total, and each of them was entirely distinct and substantially different from the others. The overall progression that the work underwent can be compared to a kind of alchemical cooking. When it opened at Temple, we had assembled a lot of unfamiliar ingredients that did not necessarily have prior knowledge of how to blend with one another. As the work progressed, the hard edges began to blur… the architecture became part of the dance, the imagery fell into sync with the characters' experiences, the sound came into a sort of resonant harmony with the environment, the colors in the paintings on the periphery of the space bled through into the bodies of the performers and the body of the architecture… Each time such a progression occurred, it felt like shedding a skin, or breaking through a kind of barrier that was encasing each element in a smaller, more guarded, more confined framework. As the elements merged, it felt - from the inside of the piece - like unleashing potential.

Witnessing this progression from the perspectives of both director and performer, I realized that the performative element was the catalyst in allowing the architecture of the rheomode to blossom into a free-flowing dance of synthesized forms and rhythms. The performers became the window through which the audience could feel and enter the vision of cosine. In the initial performances, there was dramatic variation in audience response, which coincided with a palpable and consensual feeling of when it worked and when it did not. Because many of the ideas and sensory impressions depicted in the work were new and unfamiliar to the audience, the vehicle of empathetic participation with the performers' experience within cosine was essential. Moreover, it was through the performers' experience that the synthesized whole of the work was revealed.

A performer's capacity for feeling, perception and experience is what they are able to offer to an audience in the form of empathetic communication. Although this essential performative function can be somewhat elusive in terms of concrete description, it is fundamental to a theatrical act and creates a resonance with the audience when successfully realized. It is the director's task to cultivate this resonance, witnessing and sculpting its development. cosine's progression toward resonance was a direct function of the evolution of the performers' perceptual experience and empathetic communication.

When the performers could truly see and feel and understand and embody how all of these pieces came together to create a unified kaleidoscopic picture, they opened a door for the audience and for each other, and the whole thing crystallized as this magnificent, multi-faceted structure. Conversely, when the performers - or even some of the performers - were too tightly focused on only their own tasks and concerns, or, for whatever reason did not have their perceptive shutters fully opened, the door to the heart of the work remained closed or only partially opened, and the various interdisciplinary elements remained distinct and separate, and, even if precisely aligned, did not achieve their alchemy.

What an interesting challenge for a performer, which parallels an interesting challenge for all of us. A performer is generally somewhat naturally inclined and conditioned to hone his/her force and talent into a tightly focused beam with an intent toward a singular excellence. I believe this is a natural and heightened function of the human ego. However, in order to succeed in the context of cosine, the performers had to circumvent their conditioned tendencies and work with unfamiliar elements and with the whole picture. When this happened, it was extraordinary magic. When the performers were able to soften the edges of their individual focus and open their awareness to the whole, they each became illuminated by a kind of synthesized alchemical gold that was far more rich and fascinating than the sum of its parts. By generously expanding their own boundaries and making the boundaries of their perception soft and semi-transparent, by opening their inner windows and looking outward, they awakened the larger vision and the whole picture came to life and began to shine through them.

The analogy of the performer's role and experience in relation to the challenge confronting any one of us is simply to say that the whole picture is there if we allow ourselves to see it - and whether or not we allow ourselves to see it makes all the difference in terms of whether or not the disparate threads woven together synthesize into a resonant whole, and whether or not they strike gold. The performer's experience is also relevant in that a performer works not only with intellect and historical foundation, but also with body and with emotion. A vision of the whole is not something that can be merely intellectually conceived, it must be felt in order to be brought to fruition. In this way, it takes a whole human being to participate with a vision of a whole picture. This takes not just intelligence, but courage, intuition, and heart.

In conclusion, the project of synthesis is undeniable - it is implicit in the paradigms presented by the digital medium, by modern science, and by the questions that face the 21st century. It is my hope that cosine, its rheomode architecture and its alchemical process, can contribute to the scaffolding that will support such future efforts. It is my hope that cosine's essential verb, its process of becoming, will continue, and that we all may continue to discover our wisdom as to what to do with the invitation.

Back to Top
Home | Current Issue | Archives | Editorial Information | Search | Interact