the quietude project
There was a deep silence in the valley ...
.......in the middle of the day...........
there were no birds ...
the sky was quiet ....................drained of blood...
.......in the middle of the day...........
there were no birds ...
the sky was quiet ....................drained of blood...
A small scale practice-led research proposal investigating the notion of quietude as a primary aesthetic precept for performance.
This is an area for sharing and contributing thoughts and findings relating to Quietude in Performance. This space is intended only for those directly related to the project, and contains contributions and threads of thoughts that are unfinished and therefore should not be treated as finished articles.
This research will investigate, define, develop and then apply principles engaged in the construction of traditional and contemporary expositions employing silence, stillness and slowness as primary aesthetic choices. Utilising, whilst interrogating, this analysis will attempt to identify, consider and then pursue an applied practical understanding of dynamic quietude as viable and effective contemporary performance training, practice and vocabulary. The principal questions ask whether and how performance space might become place of refuge from an increasingly agitated human condition suffering from image and noise overload; whether and how performance might provide and provoke time and space for audiences to engage in a profound contemplative reflection on contemporary political, social and aesthetic issues?
The minimalist and post minimalist movements in art and music, offer objects and sound scores that are stripped to their essential elements. In the field of performance, however, it might be argued that we have yet to identify and articulate the principles being engaged in work that consciously embrace the use of silence, stillness and quietude. After 30 years of professional performance practice the conviction that ‘less is more’ has taken a precedence for me.
My research proposes an investigation that might further a practical, applied understanding in support of this instinctive conviction. The enquiry will attempt to assemble a composite understanding of this notion for both performer training and performance process strategy that will also then be applied in the construction of a concrete performance.
Jill Greenhalgh Sept 09
The minimalist and post minimalist movements in art and music, offer objects and sound scores that are stripped to their essential elements. In the field of performance, however, it might be argued that we have yet to identify and articulate the principles being engaged in work that consciously embrace the use of silence, stillness and quietude. After 30 years of professional performance practice the conviction that ‘less is more’ has taken a precedence for me.
My research proposes an investigation that might further a practical, applied understanding in support of this instinctive conviction. The enquiry will attempt to assemble a composite understanding of this notion for both performer training and performance process strategy that will also then be applied in the construction of a concrete performance.
Jill Greenhalgh Sept 09
