Siobhan Davies’ Collection breaks down conventional models of dance

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Siobhan by Gautier

British choreographer Siobhan Davies wants to take dance out of its comfort zone.

Her new work, Minutes, as part of The Collection, will open at Ikon Eastside tomorrow (24 September – 4 October) takes dance from its traditional theatre space and moves it into a gallery. Along with dislodging dance from its usual habitat, she also unravels what happens when dance is drawn away from its formerly inseparable partner: music.

Many choreographers would argue fervently music is an integral part of dance – indeed most use rhythms and melodies as the inspiration for their work – but Siobhan thinks the assumption dance and music go hand in hand should not be taken for granted. Speaking to her at Ikon Eastside today, the founder of Siobhan Davies Company appeared serene while her dancers rehearsed for tomorrow’s debut. Previously commissioned for the Rambert Dance Company, she seems an unlikely figure to unpick the foundations of dance. But the former art student believes dance is an art form in it’s own right.

“People think music and dance fit together – but I don’t think they do.

“I am enjoying looking at where music and dance do not fit together.

Anyone of us can develop a practise over time and then at a certain point you say actually I am taking this relationship for granted.”

But haven’t music and dance been childhood sweethearts since they first met together hundreds of years ago? Surely any ballet teacher would disagree – music is fundamental to dance?

“Quite rightly, because their whole history is about that,” she said. “But I’m just going – it’s not bad to look at it. Music is very differently made, because physically the fingers and the tongue make the sounds mostly – the whole body can move at speed, but not necessarily with the intricacy and compositional package that music can. So it means that a dancer doesn’t do what the music does. But at least admit that. Or ask really what is the relationship.

“Emotionally the viewer or the hearer probably receive information through the music quicker than they do through the dance which will mean that music always will colour the dance, and I don’t want that to happen all the time,” she said.

Part of Siobhan’s interest in removing dance from music and letting it stand naked, unmarred by lighting and any notable scenery, stems from her intention to let the bare bones of dance and movement shine through.

In her latest work Minutes, the art gallery space allows the viewer to get as close to the dancers as they want – and view the work from every perspective possible.

“It’s an action: I’ll put the dance in a gallery space. By putting a dance artist’s movement, their performance, in another space, it is a different context. Do the audience bring a different perspective or a different energy or set of questions when they go into a gallery space than when they go into a theatre space? I’m never going to know the answer, but I like to pose a question.”

Siobhan Davies Dance, Minutes, photo Pari Naderi

Siobhan is interested in posing lots of questions about dance, but isn’t interested in marking out exactly what she is trying to do. She likes her work to be practically described. Minutes, for example, consists of a drum which moves seemingly on it’s own but in fact is power by the inaudible rhythm created by an unseen solo she danced, two dancers share one-minute complex sound/action pieces, two dancers enter a state of being and one man deals with seconds. Siobhan herself will count each minute as it passes by, and audience members arriving at any point between 1pm and 5pm throughout the day will see a different point of the cyclical ensemble.

What’s more, the piece Minutes coexists in the wider work Collection, including a video Lying in Wait at the Custard Factory by Indris Khan and Sarah Warsop, as well as Russian artist Victor Alimpiev’s exhibition at the Brindley Place Ikon Gallery, which consists of videos which reference contemporary dance.

Siobhan isn’t interested in how these separate exhbitions compliment each other or work together. She says emphatically:

“I’m less interested in the words collaboration, multimedia mix, I get very fasicanted by putting two things down side by side and seeing within the gap between them what kind of energy is let loose, and in that gap can a member of the audience come.

“If they’ve got two objects with tension and play between them, it puts them in a more active play.”

This aversion to explain why she has made certain decisions about her work rolls over into her dislike of imposing themes and emotions on audience members.

Siobhan Davies Dance, Minutes, photo Pari Naderi

She doesn’t want to box viewers in to the response she wants – and so has no hopes of audience reactions. Instead, she says, what the audience brings to the piece is important:

“The viewer is going to respond to some event in an idiosyncratic way because of their background and because of their state as they are watching it. So to dictate that feeling i think is pretty tricky.

But to give them information and give them structures and things that they can hold on to I think it very useful. Having focused them, their extra responses will remain individual.”

Siobhan’s work will open tomorrow at Ikon Eastside, and undoubtedly brings a fresh swathe of creative input to Birmingham’s dance scene, in particular by using untouched spaces such as Ikon Eastside for the art form to be exhibited.

She hopes to come to the Ikon again, and luckily expects to stick to exploring the art gallery space further.

Listen to the full interview here:
Hannah Waldram speaks to Siobhan Davies 23/09/09 by hrwaldram

Visit Minutes at Ikon Eastside, located on Fazeley Street, Digbeth. For more information visit the Siobhan Davies website, or Ikon gallery site.