Norns weaving destiny, by Arthur Rackham (1912)

“Yves, you’re not a Norn.”

I’m sitting in on a rehearsal for Unravelling the Tight Weave and Kathleen has just issued this cryptic instruction to one of her dancers. Yves nods and takes his place with the Regulars. There is a story behind this dance piece, involving Norns from Norse mythology. Being a sci-fi/fantasy geek, this excites me, as J.R.R. Tolkein derived a lot of his inspiration from Norse mythology.

Kathleen even has a storyboard, with numbered scenes and everything. This surprises me, as I always believed her creation process was more random. At one point, the dancers cluster around her with their scripts trying to follow which section comes next. Kathleen explains how this has been removed and that has been renumbered and the other one will have to move here and basically she will have to re-do the whole storyboard because everything is out of order. Now this sounds more like the chaotic Kathleen I know and love.

The rehearsal goes in stops and starts. They finish running through an ensemble section involving the giant wool “scarf” that I last saw simmering in a bunch of pots on our stove. There’s so much movement, and yet the dancers all seem to know where they’re going and what they’re doing. And then Kathleen tells them to make a “boxing ring” with the yarn. In contrast to the previous section, there’s much confusion as the dancers bounce around, trying a three-sided square and then a five-sided square before finally working themselves into the more traditional four-sided square.

Much of the rehearsal is like this – some parts are more complete than other parts. The more polished sections are gorgeous and I love watching the movements. The dance style is mostly based on contact improv and involves a lot of fluid lifts and intricate partnering where each dancer balances their partner’s weight. The dancers are beautiful to watch and have such presence. Kathleen has told me she chose this particular ensemble because of the presence they bring to the stage. I have to agree – and this isn’t even the stage yet.

And there are parts where the dance is still evolving. In an earlier post, I pondered how choreography is communicated. It’s obvious to me now that it involves a lot of demonstration. Kathleen is constantly popping up to show the dancers how she expects them to move. To try and make sense of the visions in Kathleen’s head, the dancers have made up their own words to describe the movements – there is a brief, but serious, conversation about “jumpy jumps”.

It is more precise than I would have imagined. Not precise like when I used to do tai chi and Sifu would come along and correct an arm position by an eighth of an inch. But Kathleen knows how it should look and makes sure the dancers know it too. At one point, the dancers are lifting Holly, who is one of the Norns.

“Don’t move your legs up like that,” Kathleen tells Holly, “keep them down, more like this.”

She demonstrates, Holly does it perfectly the next go through, and in testament to the dancer’s memory, I know that Holly will perform this leg movement like this from now on without needing to follow anything in writing.

But demonstration of the choreography is not the only part of the process. The dancers offer input as to how they think something should look. I wonder if this interactive approach is a necessary part of the creative process? Kathleen has a vision and tells/shows how she wants it. But it’s not like Tai Chi or a Mahler symphony where things must be exactly precise each and every time. While Holly will keep her legs down in that one section, she won’t keep them down in exactly the same way each time. I think this is a good thing, as it leaves room for the personal expression and fluidity that makes modern dance so expressive.

The rehearsal is relaxed. The dancers are friends as well as co-workers, and enjoy a good laugh over the liberal use of berry-scented hand sanitizer. But there is intensity. Kathleen gives the dancers a 10-minute break and many head outside to find some sunshine. A few have a snack. Yves does handstands. Kathleen doesn’t take a break, which doesn’t surprise me. She looks through her notes and scrolls through the music playlist.

A lot of hard work has obviously gone into getting to this point and from what I’ve seen, it looks fantastic. But it’s difficult for me to see how this is all going to come together. I remember her previous piece Long Live, where I mostly just saw the finished work. At this stage of VIVD4’s development, maybe everything is already there, it just hasn’t been assembled into its final shape.

Let me try a cooking analogy. I love stir fry (both eating and cooking), and I’ve been working on my wok hay. A stir fry requires a lot of upfront preparation. After what feels like hours of chopping vegetables and mixing sauces, my kitchen looks like a tornado went through. Piles of chopped vegetables, bowls of sauces and condiments, various chopping and grating tools scattered about and a plate of browned meat that the cat keeps trying to lick.

But then I fire up the wok and all this disorder instantly comes together. I dump the mounds of carefully prepared ingredients into the hot wok, and after a couple of minutes of sizzle and steam, I have a single tasty dish that has come together out of the chaos. Maybe dance is a bit like this. The preparation looks a bit messy and the end result isn’t obvious. But in the heat of performance, all the elements come together.

I’m really looking forward to the VIVID4 premiere. The dance movements are a step beyond anything Kathleen has done in the past, the piece has characters that I found myself drawn to after only a brief glimpse in this rehearsal... and there is a lot of yarn. This is going to be fun.