Sunday, March 2, 2008

From Lisbon...

Hello everyone,

My name is João Fiadeiro. I'm a choreographer, researcher and teacher. I am based in Lisbon, Portugal, where I direct a center for research in art called Atelier Real. We have been involved with the systematization of a method of work we named "Real Time composition". The ‘real-time’ we are talking of here does not refer to the idea of ‘live’ or ‘instantaneous’ as used by some improvisers. "Our" real-time is mental and it refers to the time we all have at our disposal (even if most of us don't use it) between a pictorial event, i.e. the result of an external or internal ‘accident’, its clear identification, the creation of hypotheses of reaction and finally the decision to act. The moment preceding the action, where we are confronted with a certain problem and we formulate different choice-hypotheses, is the primary centre of our concerns. This methodology is already in a very advanced state, both in its practical and theoretical dimensions. Its actualization depends on a clear set of premises and principals, while its "modus operandi" is structured in top of precise and specific "rules". Critical sense and responsibility are the two central parameters for the embodiment of RTC principles. This is due to the fact that, since RTC is more a mutant cartography than a strict territory of action, it is completely subordinated to the construction of a common composition ethic. In RTC routine application, the focus is given to the production of conditions and not so much to the resulted content in itself. I have been working on it for 13 years (since 1995 in a more intuitive way and since 1999 in a more systematic way), through out workshops, research ateliers, conferences, creations and some theoretical productions, considering the conventional writing formats and also a decomposition of subjects into graphical patterns.

So, that's what I have been doing. I now leave you with a small text I am writing for a new project I am involved at the moment called "Body of (at) Work".

"I don't really "feel" my body. Things just don't "stay". They pass through me but they don't stay. And what is a body where things don't stay? Is it possible to "exist" if one doesn't' accumulate? Do I exist, if I fell empty? I want to work with the absence of my body which preserves the latent-potency of my presence. But how can I talk about something that is not there? How can one present the in-between of things? And, even harder, how can one represent it?"

These are some of the questions I am dealing with at the moment.

You can see an excerpt of our research-practice at http://youtube.com/user/madamecitron. I didn't posted. I have no idea how it got there, but it's the only thing I can show you for the moment. You can also check our website (www.re-al.org), but is hasn't been updated recently and it doesn't have an english version... but you can see some videos of our work.

I am really looking forward to see and be with you all.

João Fiadeiro

3 comments:

Erin Manning said...

Joao ~ I can't wait to talk more about these techniques for invention you propose. They are very much in line with the politics of the sense lab (something we've been working through this year via Guattari) and with my own recent work (I sent my book off today!) on movement and duration. The concept I have been exploring is "preacceleration" which I refer to as the virtual intensity of movement moving before we actually move. If you like I can send that chapter around - it has also occured to me as a dancer that the creativity and openness of movement is not situated in its displacement, but in the conditions that bring it to life. I have called this "moving the relation" but there are clearly many ways of conceptualizing it... We are very excited about the event coming up - there's already so much to talk about!
Erin

João Fiadeiro said...

Dear Erin,
Yes, please send me the chapter on... "preacceleration"... what a great concept! I am also exited about Into the Folds (even if I haven't yet got the grant I asked for the trip, but normally it will not be a problem).
Best
João

João Fiadeiro said...

Hi Erin,

Just a short note to tell you that I got the support to travel to Montreal from Gulbenkian Fundation(yes!) and that I am totally exited about your text “Incipient Action – The dance of the not-yet”. It’s really very, very good and you where right, it relates a lot with my research. I am also reading Massumi’s chapter 8) from Parables for the virtual (Strange Horizon: Buildings, Biograms, and the Body Topologic and I can only say that I can’t wait to meet you both. Both of this works are already influencing a lot my thinking and doing. I will stay one day extra so we have a chance to talk better if possible.

All the best

João