Clarify
Establish clear technical foundations in singing and clear technical foundations in dance: breath, projection, listening, weight, rhythm, pathways and support.
Pedagogy
First separate, then weave together.
Singingfoot is designed both for groups of dancers wishing to engage with singing, polyphony and improvisation, and for groups of singers wishing to make movement a genuine point of entry into their vocal practice. It is as much about singing for dancers as it is about movement for singers.
De-dramatise
Build a framework of trust in which finding the voice and entering into movement can both become spaces for play, progress and experimentation.
Compose
Let voice and movement circulate through loops, unisons, duets, travelling patterns and collective composition.
For dancers
Approach polyphonic singing, vocal improvisation and harmonic listening without leaving the ground of the body, rhythm and space.
For singers
Approach physical expression, respect for the body, a taste for shared movement and the articulation of compositional principles, in order to weave vocal practice together with movement.
Working tools
Call-and-response, unison, open texts, song loops, movement loops, duets, crossings, group traversals.
A readable progression
- physical and respiratory preparation
- vocal foundations and movement landmarks
- bringing them together: unisons, loops, duets, pathways
- composition and shared presentation
Concrete rigour
Singing technique, movement technique, collective listening, improvisation, respect for participants.
Situations explored in the workshop
Moving unison
A moving unison that shifts the group's perception of space.
Sustaining group choreography while singing
A sequence in which the group sustains a shared choreographic score while maintaining listening, breath and the continuity of song.
Guided polyphonic improvisation
A polyphonic improvisation guided by simple movement scores.