Dance Techniques 2010

Daniel Roberts — Cunningham Technique
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technique. This was made possible by DanceForms—Software for Visualizing
and Chronicling Choreography program, which students were able to
access and use to design movement. Sabine Huschka was on–site in Linz to
discuss, with the students and research team, key issues about the technique,
its principles, and in situ teaching. The participants were thus able to reflect
on their personal experiences with the technique as well as to discuss their
personal encounters with the Merce Cunningham Technique during classes.
The drummers who accompanied Roberts’s classes (musicians from the
Institut JIM für Jazz (Jazz Institute) at the Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität
Linz) must also be mentioned. They responded to complex rhythmic needs—
including drawn–out notes and irregular time signatures—with spirited and
dedicated improvisations.
Dancing, thinking, and writing were all utilized to facilitate the creation of
new movement and the exploration of a contemporary dance technique that,
in its approach to movement and the body, was considered by all participants
to be a state–of–the–art contemporary technique. In practice, this meant that
those involved in the project (Daniel Roberts, Rose Breuss, the students,
Johannes Randolf, Henner Drewes, and Sabine Huschka) discussed each item
on the Tanzplan catalogue of questions that applied to working phases and
formats; the writing tasks were divided according to knowledge and interest.
In addition to the intensive preparatory phase with Rose Breuss (supported
by Sabine Huschka), in–depth and open discussions between Daniel Roberts,
Rose Breuss, and Sabine Huschka provided particularly rich source material,
and many students contributed detailed reflections.
What follows are impressions and insights from the research process. Texts
that evolved from this process—answers, comments, experience reports, and
reflections—were consolidated and edited by Sabine Huschka.