ELP


a new project

concept Paola Bianchi

What do we mean with E(thos) L(ogos) P(athos)?

Ethos: a way of being
Logos: the act of speaking as well as the act of listening
Pathos: the emotional force

How can I create a choreography without bodies in order to embody the movement into the listener? How does the body of the listener respond to the verbal description of a choreography? What kind of movement is created by the incarnation of that description?
For embodiment I mean the process of imagination that concerns the body of the listener – at this stage there is no real movement. For incarnation I mean the process of acting that movement. 
Through many years of experimentation, I learned how the description of a posture or movement, even if it is given in details, always generates a personal interpretation at both stages of embodiment and incarnation. Listening to the description of a movement brings a vision of your own body in move thanks to some kind of muscular imagination. Any incarnation comes from a unique and personal interpretation according to one’s listening skills, shape and ability of the body. This way of transmission of a movement activates personal creativity through an inner research free from any pre-existing model – interpretation instead of imitation. Without the body of the master as a model to follow and imitate, a personal research for quality of movement is made possible.
A few years ago I started working on an unemotional discourse as a way to transmit dance. ELP wants to deeply investigate the relation between unemotional discourse and choreographic movement. An unemotional discourse is a speech of unemotional tone and contents. Thanks to the absence of emotions of the following-lines, the subsequent discourse can create emotion.
An example of unemotional discourse: 
My arms are at my side, my feet parallel. My bent arms rise up, the right a bit behind the left, my head looks up, my upper back is arched. I return to my starting position, arms at my side, feet parallel.”
Everyone incarnates this simple movement in a singular way, but at the same time the remarkable similarity of those postures contains an interesting objective connection between them.


Hypothetical developments of ELP:

ENERGHEIA
anatomical solo
choreography and dance Paola Bianchi
live music Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo
lighting design Paolo Pollo Rodghiero
A proper solo dance performance focused on anatomical transformations of the body. The audience will sit all around and very close to the performer (me).

THE UNDANCED DANCE
verbal choreography
choreography Paola Bianchi
An audio-track including a voice describing the choreography of Energheia, the outer sounds of the body moving on stage and the inner sounds of the body moving in an anechoic room.
Immersive listening experience: individual listening through wireless headphones laying on carpets in a dark room. 
A second listening session with the lights on could follow for those who want to act the choreography described by the audio-track.

GIOVANE CHE GUARDA LORENZO LOTTO
performance with dancers
An edit of the audio-track will be given to some professional dancers who will incarnate the choreography according to their own feeling, in order to create a choral performance under my supervision. 

UNTITLED
Research on transmitting movement through words to children (4 to 7 years old).

TOTENTANZ
public performance with non-professional dancers
Workshop for non-professional dancers willing to take part to a public performance, starting from the verbal description of a choreography.

ELP BLOG
Transmission of dance through unemotional discourse can cross every space and time borders. Sharing creation processes and starting new relationships between international choreographers is the main goal of ELP blog.