Choreography And Me.

I have been investigating the relationship between my visual art practice and dance since 2006.

The influence of dance on other forms of art has recently been highlighted by a series of major exhibition and events programs. 'Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909 - 1929' has just opened at the V & A, 'Move: Choreographing You' is soon to open at the Hayward Gallery and over recent years choreographer Siobhan Davies has orchestrated an ongoing program of events and conversations, including ROTOR -new work and commissions from artists working in other art forms which takes place this autumn.

For Dance UK, where I am Information and Communications Officer, I will be writing about this subject hoping to show dancers the importance of cross disciplinary collaboration, knowledge about other art forms and to highlight the strength of dance an an influential art form in its own right.

Tonight I am going to Siobhan Davies Studios to hear poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw and Sculptor Cornelia Parker discuss their creative process. Last year Siobhan asked Lavinia Greenlaw and seven other artists about how they saw choreographic practice in their work.

The articles (that you can view online here http://www.siobhandavies.com/conversations/about.php) encouraged me to answer the question myself below:

How do I recognise choreographic practice in my work?

Firstly I deal with meaning that is made up of a sequence of experiences as opposed to meaning distilled within a singular object: a sequence of made images and objects installed in a space/ shown on a film to orchestrate a particular journey through the space and a particular overall sense or 'meaning'.

My work is about how one thing 'speaks' to another, including the audience. Spatially I have an ongoing interest in obstruction and flow explored through various transparent and semi permanent materials and structures in space that you can move through, see through or that obstruct vision and your pathway, partially or completely.

In making my work I start with a situation, experienced with my mind and body in relation to exterior conditions and over a time base i.e. working in a cramped studio: me, the space the things, how I move, how I feel, or having an unhealthy relationship: what I do , what they do, how we interact, what the juxtaposition does in terms of energy.

Then in making the work I lay out 'things' in relation to another across a space and or a time base. I 'choreograph or orchestrate' the viewers experience of the piece, the (emotional) movement within them and the movement that they do in the space through a series of pathways and views offering places where things make sense pictorially and sequentially (in an abstract narrative) amongst those that don't.

I draw to remember where the weight was in my body after learning a new choreography in dance class and when I teach art I teach 'seeing' with the whole body not only the eyes.

You can view my work at www.youtube.com/alexiszeldastevens

'You Are A Lid To Me' was made in response to Cornelia Parker's '30 Pieces of Silver' in 2009.