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00:00:52 00:00:55

Language is the background for the dance.

00:00:59 00:01:02

Language is the background for the dance.

00:01:06 00:01:09

Language is the background for the dance.

00:01:11 00:01:15

Language…. language is the background for the dance.

00:01:17 00:01:22

Language… language is the inspiration for the dance.

00:01:25 00:01:28

Language is the inspiration for the dance.

00:01:32 00:01:36

Language will give you a thing and then another thing will come from dance.

00:01:39 00:01:42

Language justifies the dance.

00:01:46 00:01:49

Language justifies the dance.

00:01:50 00:01:55

Language justifies the language’s choreographic experience.

00:01:56 00:01:59

Language is the inspiration for the dance.

00:02:03 00:02:06

Language is the inspiration for the dance.

00:02:08 00:02:13

Language will give you one thing and language will give you one thing and then another thing will come from dance.

00:02:16 00:02:19

Language justifies the dance.

00:02:23 00:02:26

Language justifies the dance.

00:02:29 00:02:33

Language justifies the dance.

00:02:36 00:02:40

Language justifies the language’s choreographic experience.

00:02:42 00:02:51

Language is a choreographic experience. Language experience. Language. Language justifies and language clarifies the dance.

00:02:53 00:02:58

Language. Language. Dance.

00:03:01 00:03:05

The language is the dance.

00:03:09 00:03:12

The language is the dance.

00:03:15 00:03:19

The sound of what I’m saying is the dance.

00:03:22 00:03:25

The sound of what I’m saying is language.

00:03:29 00:03:33

The sound of what I’m saying is the sound of what I’m saying.

00:03:35 00:03:39

The sound of what I’m saying is nothing.

00:03:40 00:03:45

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

00:03:47 00:03:53

Something. Something. Some.

00:03:55 00:05:26

I am taking my physical rhythm from the computer screen. Meanwhile I have a vocal rhythm which I have determined in advance. These two rhythms, one movement. The other vocal combine and unite in one body to create one single, complex polyrhythm. Because the voice and movement are each, I mean, both produced by the body which unites these two rhythms. And that is the end of what I have to say about that.

00:06:11 00:06:32

So I want to talk about the future. And, well, what I want to do is to kind of think of different ways that we can… different attitudes we can have about the future or different ways we can think about the future.

00:06:32 00:07:02

For instance, one way is to think of the future as open. Like the future has possibility and something can happen that wasn’t determined in advance. And this way of regarding the future means that thought is possible. Because, I mean, a thought can be determined in advance or else it’s not a thought. So in order for thinking as a process to occur, there has to be this idea that the future can be open.

00:07:02 00:07:12

On the other hand, there is a choreographic way of thinking about the future, in which things have to be determined in advance and a specific time structure.

00:07:12 00:07:25

So these two modes of thinking about the future are something that I want to combine somehow, because… well, basically, just because I love choreography and I love thought. I love the possibility for thought.

00:07:25 00:07:40

So my question has something to do with: Is it possible for there to be… Is it possible for there to be thought in the midst of choreography? And is it possible for there to be choreographed thought?

00:07:51 00:08:21

So the first thought is related to when I was young. I was like ten or maybe younger. And I was on the playground with these kids. And my arm was being pulled in one direction, and my body was being pulled in the other direction. And my arm broke. And I don’t remember that so distinctly actually, but I remember later at the doctor’s office when he asked me to turn over my arm so he could look at it with the X-ray. And so I had to make the choice to do this with movement in my body, but it, there was so much pain involved that I wanted to make that choice but I…

00:08:21 00:08:55

And there is heat coming out of… well, I sense heat in my groin area. And I sense heat coming out of the lamps that are hanging overhead. And also heat coming out of that computer over there. I guess I don’t sense it, but I imagine it. And you can imagine that there is a greater degree of heat there than elsewhere. Also in the higher planes of the room, there’s a greater degree of heat then in the lower planes. I don’t know, there might be heat coming out of those radiators, if they’re still on from when they were before…

00:08:55 00:09:24

And I’m taking off your shirt and we’re kissing and I’m sticking my tongue inside your mouth and we continue to kiss. And I have, I have my hand in the back of your head, and it’s kind of stroking your hair. And then we go on the bed, and I start to suck at your nipples, and the hair around your nipples, and I reach my hand underneath, underneath your pants and then under the elastic of your underwear and I grab…

00:09:25 00:09:48

And 44 times 78… The best way to do it, I think. If I do 44 times 80, and that subtract to 44, or subtract 88. So 4 times 8 is 32. And then 4 times 8 is 32 and plus 4 is 36. So we have 3, 6, 4… 3, 6… No, 3… Shit. 44 and then…

00:09:49 00:09:56

1, 2… I’m going to 6, 4, 5, 6 and now I’m going to 10, 2…

00:09:56 00:10:08

And, as I count, these little… I’m also talking to you about change and the different speeds at which change can occur. Well, I think there’s a kind of an infinite…

00:10:08 00:10:55

We’ll get back to that, because now I’m going up the stairs of my old apartment building. And I’m reaching into my pocket to grab the key. I’m not trying to reproduce the shape of these actions, I’m just trying to access the muscular memory somehow or the kind of creates a little… Let’s see. I’m opening the computer. Trying to create a little ghost or reminiscence about what I had to do. Probably using a little less muscular effort than I actually had to use, performing these… I’m getting the burner started, but it usually takes a bit of time and I grab then…

00:10:56 00:11:13

So the walking is something that I consider a process. And it’s not a process because it’s spontaneous. Because actually every step and every pattern or structure has been…

00:11:13 00:11:22

1, 2, we’re doing this again… And I was talking to you… 6… about change… 2, 3, 4…

00:11:22 00:12:01

And basically, I mean, I want to kind of talk about the different experiences changes occur at… 4… For instance, I mean, there is like super fast and super slow… 9, 10… change… Like super slow would be… 13, 14, I’m going to 20, I think 16, 17… Super slow change would be like geological change, like million of years… 4, 5… for the continents to shift… 8… And then… Of course, geological change can also happen really fast too in the case of like an earthquake or something but…

00:12:01 00:12:19

On the other hand, there’s like… 1, 2, 3, I’m going to 20… On the other hand, there’s, I mean, change can be… 8… as fast as the speed of light, but… 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16…

00:12:19 00:12:38

On the other hand, I mean to put in more human or psychological terms… 4, 5… change can be… 2, 3… as fast as, like a decision you would make in a life or death situation… 7, I think, 8, I’m going to 12, 9…

00:12:38 00:12:55

Or change can be as fast as like an unconscious reaction to something so that the change takes place before you… 2… the change takes place before you even decided to make the change… Wait, 8, 9…

00:12:55 00:13:00

Or change can be as fast as the transition from speaking to not speaking.

00:13:34 00:14:14

And back to the walking, which, as I said earlier, the walking is a process which has nothing to with spontaneity. Or I mean, a process can be spontaneous but… I mean, maybe I should say that ‘process’ is a term that maybe has a certain special significance to some people. I don’t think about it as particularly special, but I do think about it in a specific way, which is that it basically needs the absence of an end goal so that…

00:14:14 00:14:33

So a process can be spontaneous or not spontaneous, but what defines it is that, what defines it, is that there’s no end goal, or at least there is no attachment to an end goal, there is no specific reason why the end is important more than any other step.

00:14:33 00:14:50

For instance, like in this walking, each step is its own end goal in a way, or each stillness, or each way of turning. It kind of has its own end in mind, without, without me getting anywhere, I mean, I’m getting…

00:15:45 00:16:09

And there’s heat that’s coming out of my mouth as I exhale. It’s a warm, moist heat. And I sense heat coming out of your bodies. Or I imagine a special amount of heat around your arm pit areas and between your feet in your shoes and in between your scalp and your hair.

00:16:18 00:16:43

So there’s this thing about language that it’s physical. Basically, to put it simply, but… It’s something that has its basis kind of in the body. Or not kind of, but in fact in the body. So that the body is the condition that makes language possible.

00:16:43 00:17:08

And I think about it in this way… like that when I have to speak, that there’s vibrations in my vocal chords that are then transmitted into physical vibrations in the air, which then are transmitted into vibrations inside your hearing organs. And so like both the transmission and the reception of language is something which is taking place inside bodies.

00:17:08 00:17:30

And this is also true for example with spoken language, or with gestural language, or body language, or with writing. Or with writing. And so… Let’s see. Yeah, let’s just say that language is physical. That it is bodily.

00:17:50 00:18:12

I didn’t have any choice, they were putting it all on me. The shampoo. Every other competition in the. After this brief interlude our speaker. Any time you hear yodeling in the mountains it probably is just a matter of. Subtraction and addition and grammar and.

00:18:12 00:18:19

I hate you mother fucker. This anti-corporate thing. Blood blood oh god blood, yahhh.

00:18:19 00:18:28

A little tea kettle bubbling up. Oh yeah baby oh man. Honk honk. He-he-he yes mommy I would love.

00:18:28 00:18:41

The only species of bird that…every time that’s right every. Singing ooh la la la-la-la-la. No te quiero. Afterward john after. I’m quite certain that these atrocities.

00:18:41 00:18:52

Bitch wife and your cunt sister-in-law. Jennifer lopez and. Terror, we will defeat. Can’t you just quiet. Ladies…time for thinking like that… it’s your.

00:18:52 00:19:17

Burrr bur-burrr. Simply watching how the motors. Oh my snootchie-cooo. Privatization will. Some restrictions apply. Taken to task for his blatant. How any other moment in history. So lovely you won’t be able to. Quick run hide. 20.3 million. Through the park after brunch… for your kids, wouldn’t that be.

00:19:17 00:19:41

Pisses me off so bad I could just. Condoleeza rice. Live from our member station. A little kinky. Notice the gentle. Eat shit you cocksucking. I go through all this. Red alert danger danger danger danger danger. Back and relax on the warm sandy beaches of. Poverty levels rising since. Hmm-hmm, tink tink, tink tink.

00:19:41 00:20:07

Second pair absolutely free. Unimaginable toll. Available only at select restaurants. Reminds me of a slug. Are you feelin’ it what what. Anorexic, epilepsy, homophobic, epidemic. And I-i-i-i-i will always love you-u. Silver lining don’t you think. Nobody else but you will see the emergency.

00:20:18 00:20:43

I’ll die. Revenue dropped. Sameness of choreographic texture. Plumbing of a stubborn human. Language as form and not substance. At all the different options. Europeans giggle. Spellbinding. Get your freak on. Life is random. Shockingly silent about the creeping terror. Gives his girlfriend a cigarette. Hot new trend. AIDS, TB, and malaria.

00:20:43 00:21:01

I could take my pants down. For the second time. People’s brains like computers. The way Homer did how then worse much worse. Moistens and soothes. Cock-a-doodle-doo. For the second time. People’s brains like computers. Oprah Winfrey. Do we know anything. A perfectly literal environment. Dionysian music. Adapt to the requirements of chaos.

00:21:01 00:21:18

Means a small opening is cut into the neck. 1. dirt 2. gray 3. poo. During the um during the uh well you… baffling jumble of talk. This one is a gem. Value of a word. After the attempt on his life. Yes mommy I would love. The only thinking being. Nude statue.

00:21:20 00:21:23

Okay, so I’m gonna read what I was writing while I was doing that. It says:

00:21:23 00:21:54

Dear ones,
I have to say something which is not part of this structure of words that I have to recite out loud. But I have, I have a loss for a topic. Like I have, like I have, like I have talking so abstractly, but I have something more intimate. No, that’s the new thought. I am on this wood and I’m thinking beyond the task about well, an ocean or a box of cereal but these are insignificant things. I would say that I have little time to de…

00:22:10 00:22:38

I thought this walk+talk would be like an opportunity maybe to develop a manifesto of sorts. But I don’t really have one. But I think the problem is, I have these like temporary beliefs, but they don’t actually stick. And I think for a manifesto you need like something that can have a duration for like more than a year or something. But I want to try on just like a couple of temporary declarations for tonight.

00:22:38 00:23:08

So one of them… Yeah, it’s about this thing of thinking beyond the structure. Like, we exist inside these structures and I think sometimes we - okay, this is sounding like preachy - like I exist inside of a structure and I want to be able to think beyond it. At the same time, it exists inside me. Maybe there’s a good reason to exist inside it, but at the same time, I have to be able to think beyond it.

00:23:08 00:23:35

Or… I mean, I think this also happens like automatically, like when I think about what choreography is. I think that choreography is control over the body. And I get a little scared by that, because if I think about the body, I think that the body includes things like language, like I was talking about, and also includes movement obviously.

00:23:35 00:23:54

But like all, basically, allcultural production has its basis in the body. So control over the body as the definition of choreography means like control over this whole, huge network of things. And it’s almost like totalitarian.

00:23:54 00:24:09

But, I mean, but on a very much smaller scale, I think that - this is something I’m excited about - that these rigid structures, I think what they do is they expose something.

00:24:09 00:24:49

And what they expose is that, like the more rigid a structure is, and then there is this body which has to confront the structure and try to sometimes meet its demands. But the more rigid the structure is, the more the body fails to converge with that structure. And there’s all these little mistakes or imperfections that have to happen, simply because the body can’t find a way to merge with the structure. And I find these little or these big mistakes or imperfections really delicious, and kind of really rich.

00:24:49 00:24:52

It’s something I’m very excited about in choreography.

00:24:59 00:25:02

We’re gonna stop that and go onto something new.

00:26:08 00:26:50

I am repeating a series of eleven positions. Over and over again. These positions will be something that you should remember. Because these positions will begin to change and evolve.

00:26:50 00:27:26

Some of the changes will be subtle, others more large and obvious. But you should be able to notice quite a few of these changes.

00:27:26 00:28:50

And as the evolution of these positions continues, there is perhaps also a level of anticipation. Maybe not so much with the positions, maybe more so with the words that I am saying because the delay in the saying of the words produces a delayed meaning and this will continue into the next stage of the evolution in which the positions arrive at a stable form.

00:28:50 00:29:47

But only for a brief period of time. Because soon the positions will also start to move just a little bit because I will walk in the direction which the body should be pointed toward and then afterward I will… will… will… I will begin to what will I do.

00:29:47 00:30:30

Well, begin to drop the gestures of the upper body except for the head and… then this stepping becomes a continuous or semicontinuous pattern, I suppose… I suppose two patterns. Stops. But perhaps it has interruptions.

00:30:30 00:30:47

And then I’m in a new walking pattern. And I thought that I would talk about memory in this section. The last section is called ‘Memory’.

00:30:47 00:31:04

I was listening to these scientists on the radio. And they were talking about memory and saying that memory is an act of creation, actually. And that each time you remember something, you remember it a little bit differently.

00:31:04 00:31:18

And so you start to introduce changes and this happens more and more each time you remember something. So the more you remember something, the more it changes. And the more repetition, the more change occurs.

00:31:18 00:31:34

And they say that a repressed memory is more likely to be accurate to the reality of the past than the memory that you would think about every day of your life. Because each time you remember it, means when you think it in your head or you tell it to a friend, the memory changes a bit.

00:31:36 00:31:46

This idea works a little bit in the last section, although it’s a bit artificial, but this idea that through repetition, the thing doesn’t stay stable but it begins to change.

00:31:46 00:32:00

I also think about like repetition like rehearsal process. Like each time in rehearsal repeating the thing over and over again. And maybe one idea about that is that you’re trying to make the thing more and more the same.

00:32:00 00:32:24

But what I’ve been thinking is that the things you do or the thing that happens automatically is that the thing becomes more and more different each time you repeat it. And maybe a way to think about it is to allow the differences to occur and maybe sometimes you have to force them to occur. I’m not sure.

00:32:58 00:33:22

So… Something to say here. I kind of have the freedom to talk about what I want to talk about. But it’s kind of hard to both think about what I want to talk about and listen to what I have to do next at the same time.

00:33:31 00:34:03

I got off a little there now I’m back, I think. And the possibility here, or the thing I’m thinking about a little, is maybe empathy. Because, well, it’s kind of simple, but you can see the image that I can see. Or you can see the image that I could see while I was rehearsing it earlier today.

00:34:03 00:34:22

The only problem is that I have peripheral vision and the image of the video has a frame in a sort image of the computer. So actually, for instance, I can see my hands now, but the video doesn’t show my hands until maybe now or something.

00:34:28 00:34:45

Well, another thing has to do with this, what started kind of happening is thinking while doing. Like to be in the thing and to think a bit while doing it.

00:34:48 00:35:01

Like I said earlier, it’s about like being inside a structure, but trying to think beyond it at the same time. Some kind of attempt that I’m trying to do here.

00:35:01 00:35:38

It’s a lot about attempting of… there’s the thing that I could achieve and then there’s the thing that I don’t achieve. And this discrepancy is maybe interesting, or this impossibility of matching perfectly. And, so what becomes highlighted hopefully is the attempt rather than the achieving of an object.

00:35:38 00:36:03

Although… One little problem is that the more I repeat this, kind of the better I get at it. And then the better I get, the more it becomes about success. But I guess it’s not really there yet.

00:36:12 00:36:34

You know, it’s like I sense a little bit of a problem with trying to think outside the structure on purpose. It’s like the structure I created is actually a structure about thinking beyond the structure. If that makes sense.

00:36:34 00:36:48

But, I don’t know. I also have a lot of thoughts and maybe it’s a slight overload of information all at once. Or something. Or maybe it just seems that way to me. I don’t know how it seems to you.

00:36:57 00:36:59

But I don’t know.

00:37:00 00:37:14

Oh yeah, and I wanted to say that coming up soon, there’s gonna be a little piece of paper on the screen. And it looks like you’re maybe supposed to read something on it. But actually it’s really insignificant. So you don’t have to worry about.

00:37:23 00:37:38

But yeah, it’s like I attempted to make a thing about failure, but then it becomes about success, so then I failed in my attempt to make something about failure. So at least I failed there. But I don’t know if that’s happened yet or not.

00:38:06 00:38:30

I guess there is something about this, about attempt. Like going through a process to do something. Because for me, the attempt or the process is the point. And the object to achieve is beyond the point. Or, it’s present, but I somehow want to go beyond it.

00:38:35 00:39:07

So, it’s a little bit like this process I’m talking to you right now, like… I’m asking myself to try to find words in the moment, to be eloquent and to articulate what I want to say. But I haven’t packaged in a nice, little form already that I know how it should be and I know how it gets to you. Because something, I mean the content of what I’m saying has importance.

00:39:07 00:39:33

But there’s also something about this like, this attempt. Like, this attempt to go through the process of thinking. And I guess that’s what I’m… that’s what I’m… doing. And that’s what I’m wanting to display somehow. Not put on display but something about that it’s not about the package, the object of the thought that I’ve already considered, but it’s about this process of thinking in time.

00:39:34 00:39:58

Yeah, it’s like I have to talk to you kind of like I would talk to my friends. As if you’re all my friends and it doesn’t matter, really, I can just kind of talk. And it can take its time and you’re just listening to me. And you’re kind of a really good friend, because you just listen to me.

00:40:01 00:40:11

And I guess we’re kind of like in a bar or something, because I have to talk really loud in order for you to hear me. But…

00:40:13 00:40:17

I don’t know, it was something else I thought I wanted to say about that.

00:40:17 00:40:36

What I did want to say is maybe something about empathy. I mentioned that earlier. And I don’t know, like for me the possibility for empathy in performance is only possible if there is this undergoing… this experience happening.

00:40:36 00:41:05

Because if there is an object that’s already been kind of solidified, I mean, an object to be achieved, as opposed to a process to attempt and to strive for, the object has no possibility for empathy but the process does perhaps. At least it creates the possibility, whether or not that occurs is something that I have a question about.

00:41:06 00:41:20

The next part of this performance is actually something that faces every single direction. So I’m gonna ask you to basically sit on the periphery of the space, and sit along the edges of the space.

00:42:41 00:42:43

Restart.

00:42:50 00:43:11

So, I repeated this moment a lot. Not in the performance, in the performance I just do it once and then I stay in the circle. But in rehearsal, I was repeating this moment a lot, trying to get it right.

00:43:11 00:43:20

Someone told me that when I enter the circle, I’m ignoring the fact that I’m entering the circle. And I think that’s true actually. I’m still not very good at it.

00:43:20 00:43:49

But what I want to do, is to be able to enter the circle and just acknowledge the fact that I’m entering one. And I think it has something to with the fact that, I mean, a real boundary has been created in the space. And so when I cross this boundary from outside to inside, a real literal change occurs in the perception of the space, and in the architecture and in me, when I cross that boundary.

00:43:52 00:44:03

And somehow, by talking about it, it’s like I give it more significance than it really has. But I guess what I’m trying to aim for is to give it the exact amount of significance that it does have.

00:44:08 00:44:48

And when I look each one of you into the eyes, in that moment of eye contact, what I believe is that there is no such thing as time. And there’s no such thing as space. And that the only thing that there is, is one single consciousness. So that there is nothing that separates you from me and I’m able to see myself through your eyes and you’re able to see yourself through my eyes.

00:44:48 00:45:12

And this belief may or may not be true, but I believe it in the moment of the eye contact in order to achieve a certain quality. And the eye contact only lasts for a moment. That’s all it takes.

00:46:08 00:46:13

So that thing just ended. And I started something new.

00:46:19 00:47:02

The thing about endings is that I do them a lot. I experience a lot of endings and I create a lot of endings. And… The thing is that I love endings. The thing I love is not that something is over, but actually that it keeps on continuing. Like the ending has something, leaves a residue in whatever comes next. That kind of resonates just a little bit.

00:47:02 00:47:33

Like I think about when I read the end of the book. There’s a moment when I’m reading the very last page and then a few moments later I’m no longer reading the book. An ending has occured. But the book kind of continues forward in my experience, as I keep going through my day or going to sleep. Or whatever I do next.

00:47:33 00:48:02

And sometimes I find this possibility for an ending that can resonate, or at least leave just a little trace behind, is something that’s not possible in certain performance contexts because there’s an applause that happens at the end. And this for me can break the possibility for an ending to leave a residue.

00:48:02 00:48:40

And sometimes it’s okay. But for this I just want to propose that applause is forbidden. And that the ending can just simply end without any celebration or camp fire. And basically, that it can end very simply. Like the ending of a book. Like if this were the last sentence of a book, then this would be the last word.