Katharine Hawthorne's presentation "Choreography as Research" at Stanford Univ 2013 http://www.scaruffi.com/leonardo/oct2013.html

1. Choreography as
Research
Katharine Hawthorne
Dancer & Choreographer

2. techné
“Because the essence of technology
is nothing technological, essential
reflection upon technology and
decisive confrontation with it must
happen in a realm that is, on the
one hand, akin to the essence of
technology and, on the other,
fundamentally different from it.
Such a realm is art.”
Heidegger

3. Form + Content
• Content inspired by structure of physical world
– Analog: mechanics of human motion
– Lumen / Lux: light as a movement element
• Exploration of physical states
• Studio as a laboratory, rehearsal as research
through the medium of the body in motion and
human experience

4. Excerpt from Lumen / Lux

5. “Three Person Machine” from Analog

6. Experiments in Thought & Motion
• “Ambiguity is an essential part of art.” – Alan
Lightman
• Kuhn’s insight: Science is about answering
questions within a paradigm
• Improvisation = stochastic process
• Process & Performance contain elements of
indeterminacy

7. “Rattling” Duet from Analog

8. “Electricity/Toaster”
Duet from Analog

9. Structure
• Performance as a complex system
• Real-time decision making
• Movement phrase work as container

10. “Phrase 1” from Analog

11. Thank you!
Katharine Hawthorne
kmhawthorne@gmail.com
www.khawthorne.net
© Katharine Hawthorne 2013
Photos by Ben Hersh & Hollis Nolan
Sculpture by Dan Grayber
Video by Loren Robertson & Sean Smuda