to return is a collaboration between dance-makers Marguerite Galizia and Amy Voris.  The project draws on contemporary-dance improvisation practices and the relational ethics of the mover-witness framework (sometimes referred to as ‘Authentic Movement’) to co-create solo movement material.  Our primary intention, during the initial stages of our collaboration, has been to explore different possibilities for how our solo dance-making practices might come into conversation with one another.  

Marguerite’s practice/research identifies self-choreography as a relational and dialogical practice (challenging the notion of the solo as singular) that extends beyond the setting of material or the expression of individuality, to encompass an openness to and embeddedness in space, place and time of performance in a co-creative dance.

Amy’s practice/research explores forming, returning to and deepening the relationship with movement material across extended periods of time, drawing upon the somatic, contemplative practice of Authentic Movement as a methodological basis for enquiry into these embodied processes.

to return brings Galizia’s improvisatory-choreographic process of ‘self-choreography’ into dialogue with Voris’ processual choreographic practice.

Our Research

During the first phase of the project (May-November 2022), we have been exploring the co-creative possibilities of generating movement alongside and in the company of each other.  Through embodied processes of moving, witnessing each other and reflecting on the moving process, we co-develop scores which we return to again and again. Out of this cyclical practice, we are gradually accumulating movement material/imagery which reflects the content/subject matter that is surfacing between us and which responds sensitively to the places in which we are working.  In this way, our understanding of ‘forming’ movement material is that it is a relational act which is always in flux.  

This initial phase of research has involved residencies and sharings at AWOL studios (Manchester), Clarence Mews (London) and DeMontfort University (Leicester).  In the subsequent phases of the project, we will explore how the act of returning to movement material layers its embodiment and deepens the relationship with these places over time.  The process of ‘returning’ will be echoed in the work’s performance/sharing, as we aim to invite audiences to return to the work over a three-year period.

What the work is becoming

For most of our time during this first phase of research, Marguerite has been in the role of mover and Amy has been in the role of witness.  In the longer term (and over a couple of years) our intention is to gradually craft two solo dances which have grown slowly out of our ongoing exchange and out of the circumstances/contexts in which we are making.  We envision the possibilities of performing these solos both separately and simultaneously.

For most of our time during the first phase of research, Marguerite has been in the role of mover and Amy has been in the role of witness.  In the longer term (and over a couple of years) our intention is to craft two solo dances which have grown, slowly, out of our ongoing exchange and out of the circumstances/contexts in which we have been working.  We envision the eventual possibility of performing these solos both separately and simultaneously.

We imagine that the duet version of the work will shift between differing configurations of moving and witnessing to conjure up an atmosphere of thick concentration.  In terms of what we know about the movement world that the work is conjuring: the kinetic polarities of rooting and reaching, tightening and unravelling, persisting and pausing have been surfacing at this stage.  The presence of intermittent ambient sound and simple yet vivid design elements (such as a satin black ribbon) gently yet clearly ‘hold’ the space of the practice.  In witnessing the work at close proximity in an installation format, we imagine that audiences may become sensitised to the textures and rhythms of their own bodies, entering and exiting the space in their own time.  

Our Broader Aims

For most of our time during this first phase of research, Marguerite has been in the role of mover and Amy has been in the role of witness.  In the longer term (and over a couple of years) our intention is to gradually craft two solo dances which have grown slowly out of our ongoing exchange and out of the circumstances/contexts in which we are making.  We envision the possibilities of performing these solos both separately and simultaneously.

The project involves conversations with fellow artists who are also experimental dance/performance makers and with partners working in higher education.  In the longer term (and later phases of the project – subject to funding), we intend to catalyse discussion between artists, artist-researchers, solo curators and artist groups who are often excluded from professional programming due to the experimental nature of their work.  As such, we seek to ‘take care’ of not only our own work, but also of the wider experimental dance/performance sector, by sowing seeds for mutual support and cross-regional exchange. 

If you are interested in following our activities or learning more, then drop us an email.

to return has been made possible thanks to the generous support of DeMontfort University, Leicester and from public funding from Arts Council England www.artscouncil.org.uk