Reading room
MODULE 4
DAY 1
I. On "figures"
A figure is advised to be personal, but not confessional and not exposing.
The aim is not to reveal private stories or intimate details, but to identify recognizable states and situations that can be shared and worked with by others.
Think of this as material, not testimony.
What makes a figure useful is not how private it is, but how legible, transferable, and actionable it is.
The more a figure is linked to emotion as a state, the more it can serve the choreographic work.
What “personal” means here?
Personal means:
Others can enter them.
What “confessional” means (and why we avoid it)?
Confessional means:
They lock the figure into biography instead of opening it to action.
Sharable figures = workable figures
A useful figure:
Emotion as state, not story
When we say “linked to emotion,” we do not mean expressing feelings or telling emotional stories.
We mean:
Useful examples:
Less useful examples:
A simple test
Before keeping a figure, ask yourself:
The aim is not to reveal private stories or intimate details, but to identify recognizable states and situations that can be shared and worked with by others.
Think of this as material, not testimony.
What makes a figure useful is not how private it is, but how legible, transferable, and actionable it is.
The more a figure is linked to emotion as a state, the more it can serve the choreographic work.
What “personal” means here?
Personal means:
- it comes from your lived experience,
- you recognize yourself in it,
- it feels true and recurrent.
- waiting without knowing for what
- over-focusing on a detail
- being slightly late
- wanting to leave and wanting to stay
- sudden excitement without a clear reason
Others can enter them.
What “confessional” means (and why we avoid it)?
Confessional means:
- telling a story that belongs only to you,
- revealing private facts, names, or events,
- requiring context to be understood.
- when my partner left me in 2019
- after my burnout last year
- because of my relationship with my father
They lock the figure into biography instead of opening it to action.
Sharable figures = workable figures
A useful figure:
- can be recognized by others,
- does not require explanation,
- can be embodied by someone else.
- Sharable: rootlessness
- Not sharable: my decision to move cities last winter
- Sharable: constant doubt before acting
- Not sharable: the day I failed my exam
Emotion as state, not story
When we say “linked to emotion,” we do not mean expressing feelings or telling emotional stories.
We mean:
- emotional states,
- tensions,
- atmospheres,
- ways attention behaves.
Useful examples:
- agitation
- emptiness
- excitement
- boredom
- anticipation
- resistance
Less useful examples:
- sad because of X
- happy when Y happens
A simple test
Before keeping a figure, ask yourself:
- Could someone else work with this?
- Could it be embodied without explanation?
- Does it describe a state rather than an event?
II. On "units"
When writing units, do not write what should be acted or shown.
We are not working in theater. We are not asking performers to play something.
A unit should generate movement, not representation.
1. Avoid adjectives → Use action verbs
Adjectives lead to acting.
Action verbs lead to embodiment.
Counter-example (theatrical / illustrative):
"Be playful."
This invites performers to act playful, imitate clichés, or entertain.
Example (performative / embodied):
"Repeat a small movement and exaggerate it slightly each time, for 3 minutes."
Here, playfulness may appear, but through action, not imitation.
2. Do not assign characters or roles to play
Units should not tell performers who to be.
They should tell them what to do.
Counter-example:
"Play a shy person entering a party."
This creates character work and storytelling.
Example:
"Enter the space slowly, stopping every time someone looks at you, for 4 minutes."
This allows shyness to be felt and embodied, not performed.
3. Emotion as state, not performance
You are allowed to work with emotion, but emotion as a state, not as expression.
Counter-example:
"Show confusion."
This produces illustration.
Example:
"Give yourself a simple but impossible task and try to complete it with precision for 4 minutes."
Confusion emerges through the task.
4. No story, no explanation
Units should not explain meaning or context.
If a unit needs explanation, it is not ready.
Counter-example:
"Remember a moment when you felt abandoned and move from it."
This relies on biography and narrative.
Example:
"Maintain physical proximity to another body while gradually increasing the distance between you for 5 minutes."
This generates a relational tension without story.
5. Being instead of showing
The goal is not to show something to an audience, but to be inside a condition.
Ask yourself:
6. Translate intention into constraint
If your intention is something abstract (e.g. losing yourself), translate it into a constraint.
Counter-example:
"Lose yourself in yourself."
This is poetic but not actionable.
Example:
"Move without fixing your gaze on any point for 4 minutes."
The state emerges through action.
A simple test
A unit works if:
We are not working in theater. We are not asking performers to play something.
A unit should generate movement, not representation.
1. Avoid adjectives → Use action verbs
Adjectives lead to acting.
Action verbs lead to embodiment.
Counter-example (theatrical / illustrative):
"Be playful."
This invites performers to act playful, imitate clichés, or entertain.
Example (performative / embodied):
"Repeat a small movement and exaggerate it slightly each time, for 3 minutes."
Here, playfulness may appear, but through action, not imitation.
2. Do not assign characters or roles to play
Units should not tell performers who to be.
They should tell them what to do.
Counter-example:
"Play a shy person entering a party."
This creates character work and storytelling.
Example:
"Enter the space slowly, stopping every time someone looks at you, for 4 minutes."
This allows shyness to be felt and embodied, not performed.
3. Emotion as state, not performance
You are allowed to work with emotion, but emotion as a state, not as expression.
Counter-example:
"Show confusion."
This produces illustration.
Example:
"Give yourself a simple but impossible task and try to complete it with precision for 4 minutes."
Confusion emerges through the task.
4. No story, no explanation
Units should not explain meaning or context.
If a unit needs explanation, it is not ready.
Counter-example:
"Remember a moment when you felt abandoned and move from it."
This relies on biography and narrative.
Example:
"Maintain physical proximity to another body while gradually increasing the distance between you for 5 minutes."
This generates a relational tension without story.
5. Being instead of showing
The goal is not to show something to an audience, but to be inside a condition.
Ask yourself:
- Can the performer enter this?
- Can they stay with it?
- Can it be repeated without acting?
6. Translate intention into constraint
If your intention is something abstract (e.g. losing yourself), translate it into a constraint.
Counter-example:
"Lose yourself in yourself."
This is poetic but not actionable.
Example:
"Move without fixing your gaze on any point for 4 minutes."
The state emerges through action.
A simple test
A unit works if:
- it tells the body what to do,
- it can be executed without explanation,
- it produces experience rather than illustration,
- it allows the performer to respond with honesty.
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4