Russell:Lily tiltWelcome to the first of my choreography blogs, sharing with you my ideas and r&d methods of my new work Stand Up Straight for FFIN DANCE

Following an intense time of research into the condition known as vertigo, spending time with each of my five dancers at Trinity Laban enabled me as a choreographer to discover new and exciting concepts that I had not associated with my subject matter. By way of a series of individual movement tasks the dancers made their own unique discoveries, which have been embedded into both the movement vocabulary and the dynamic qualities of the work.

Using spoken text and a video clip that I found while researching, I  further embedded the reality of the vertigo condition: the treatment manoeuvre is particularly graphic and lends itself well to actual movement content. The dancers utilise the patient’s turning head movements to great effect, as well as drawing attention to the head area of the body it also serves to portray the subject content of the work. There was a need to be true to the actual condition and not merely act it out. My research led me to direct the dancers in this way.
The Lempert roll manoeuvre is a specific type of treatment that is used for severe Vertigo attacks. The ‘position’ of lying on one’s back with someone supporting the bottom of the skull has been incorporated into contact duets in the work as a reference point to this method of treatment especially in order to demonstrate this rather bizarre treatment remedy.  I have also treated this image as a subtle gesture in other parts of the choreography. For example, one dancer supports another out of a fall by clasping the back of her skull as she continues to suspend in the space, causing her to fall as she no longer has the support from him.

The manoeuvre consists of moving through a series of positions, which are designed to dislodge the debris that has inappropriately entered the semicircular canal. Each dancer performs these set movements in order to stabilize and ground them before they disorient themselves. Some of these are repeated at the end to prevent nausea or further discomfort for the dancers.

I felt that I successfully made the movement vocabulary relevant and clear by encouraging my dancers to believe that they were on a type of ‘medical journey’ within the process.  In this way the solos represent their reaction to the “spinning” and “loss of balance” tasks. The physicality, risk and nuances that each of them highlight (through direction) further exemplifies making the movement relevant/apparent. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is caused by a fault in the inner ear’s vestibular system. It is this section of our ear that helps us maintain our balance. The two types of BBPV (paroxysmal and positional) means the attack can occur suddenly or with a change of head positioning. This element can be viewed by a phrase within the work that purely concentrates on the head, which pays particular attention to changes of direction and strong focus to run alongside wherever the skull was facing. I have encouraged the dancers to not allow any secondary movement from the rest of the body and maintain a high level of direction and angle throughout. Each of these unique solos were structured to represent a Vertigo attack at the climactic point of the piece that is the full representation of the process.

Thanks to Lily Turner and Russell Preston Fine who appear in the image above.

Thanks for taking the time to read about the subject matter of the piece, See you soon for second blog

Cat xx