Wales, 9-15 September 2018 by Joseph Lee

It has been an intensive week!
The first time really sharing the space with 4 other collective members in the creation process is definitely nothing I could imagine before. It was full of surprises, sometimes frustration, overwhelming, yet exciting. It was not an easy process to keep generating new ideas, and each artist takes on very different path of creation. I am looking forward to what might come up at the end of the week!

Key words of the week

Before & After
Transformative moments in life
Anchor point
Direction of transformation
Past
History
Time
Efforts

10.9.2018

“Transformation is about how you adjust yourself in the current situation.” Weronika said. And that she actually takes on as her strategy to different tasks proposed by other artists this week－－adaptation, adjustment, be present.

11.9.2018

I led the open class with the collective together with local dance and performing artists. Mainly focus on sharing my practice on movements these days and it was so lovely to see how they take on the tasks and physical ideas. It offered me another angle to look closely at the collective as well as the other artists in the space.

Afternoon was my research on personal history, together with Simon and Kathy, who are the set and lighting designers of this production. We had some deep talks after some try-out on the visual ideas and possible way to research further. Totally burnt out from whole day of work, but the beautiful input of the collective made it worthwhile.

12.9.2018

In the morning, the collective went on to take a Gaga class with Natalia Iwaniec at Rubicon Dance, which is one of the important dance venues in Cardiff. Trying to build up connection to the local community from a different approach as well as warming up our own bodies for the day ahead.

We started our process in the afternoon by writing upon our personal transformation. Sharing of stories, different trials on texts till 8pm today, definitely a LONG day.

Exiting the Rubicon after morning Gaga class

iCoDaCo 2018 - 2020 in Cardiff September 2018 by Lee Brummer

iCoDaCo 2018-2020 arrived in Cardiff. Multilingual bathroom shelf.

13 September 2018

One step forward, 1 step back, 1 drop to floor
In hebrew we say “things that we see from here you can’t see from there” it doesn’t translate that well, yet the essence remains. Step back, step out and you will see things from a different angle and discover something new. Sometimes seeing something from up close make it blurry.

Today I unfortunately sprained my ankle. In an ecstatic attempt to sweat my heart out, exhaustion kicked in and I lost concentration for a moment which was long enough for me to go over my ankle and hit the floor.

*enter frustration

*enter sadness

On the upside, it was incredible to witness what was going on from the outside. Eddie had an idea for which we needed to collect sweat in jars, I will not expand on this due to potential spoiler... but for this reason the collective needed to produce large amounts of sweat (Joseph excelled at and won this task). It was incredible to see the focus, determination and also fun in the room during the morning sessions. There was a light heartedness together with immense will power. Everyone dressed in bin bags (we found this produces more sweat) working towards the same task, even if in their own way. The clear goal, and product that we were trying to achieve made the journey pretty mad. Each individual brought their strength and their support for each other into this task and it was quite touching to witness. This may have been the first time we were all totally on the same page.

Sad I had to watch it from the outside.

My foot after the fall

Collecting sweat.

… and more sweat.

15 September 2018

One of these weeks, where the beauty and struggle of creating a collective work, has shown

its 2 very different heads. Often in collective processes I feel conversations become like mini peace processes. Diplomatic, but with an underlining of frustration when people want different things and are trying to uncover the common ground with hope that it is wide enough for both, or in this case all, sides to stand on.

As time goes on we discover more and more the commonalities within the collective and also, our differences in volume, in tone, in the filters through which we see things, our attractions and our ways of communication.

The moments we see eye to eye our magical. From the moments when we don’t, we learn and grow the most. We are challenging each other and through this challenging ourselves.

We are still getting to know each other on so many levels. What are the other interested in?

What is their process? How do they touch? Whats on their shelf in the fridge?

The journey continues...

Learning about one another.

18 September 2018

Progress has been made,
Memories,
tracing memories,
tracing thoughts,
undoing patterns.
Understanding.

Not understanding.

Try again,
try different
just try.

All for one
one for one
one for all.

Project on something
project on someone
project

Replay
retry
Say it the same
say if different
say something.

Make it loud
make it meaningful
be aware
make it work

Weronika and me, communicating.

Notes from Tuesday 21st August

By iCoDaCo 2018-2020 artist Lee Brummer

Small pockets of inspiration.

Today's rehearsal was meaningful. For me, it was the first rehearsal where a leap was made and we treaded somewhat less carefully around topics, dialogue and well... eachother.
Teeth were dug deep into one thing, deep enough so that we could start tasting something. Even if we are still unsure what that something might be and how fond we are of that taste.

We connected transformation through body parts and repetition to contact, and we left it about as open as that. It was immensely interesting to further discover each of our personalities, the way we touch, the way we approach contact, the choices we make, or don’t make and how we see the same task through different glasses.

As we paired up, each of us (at some point) met with every other collective member and also witnessed the other meetings, the wealth of the collective became even more apparent.

As seen in picture, I jotted down some post-it notes from each session. Moments that were meaningful for one reason or another. Re-opening each of them almost feels like a window in advent calendar. Every opening bringing us a bit closer towards the “thing” the thing being that metal idea, understanding or moment when maybe while looking through different glasses we all get a kick out of the same or a similar thing.

Personally, it feels incredible to be in a room with these 4 inspiring individuals, each with a strong, powerful and enchanting world. I’m enjoying the journey between each of these worlds and the open invitation for them to visit mine.

Lee Brummer's notes from residency in Hong Kong August 2018

Lee Brummer's notes from residency in Hong Kong August 2018

Text Documentation of presentation in Hong Kong

Text Documentation by Israel Aloni

The following text was written spontaneously whilst watching a work in progress presentation of materials that iCoDaCo 2018 has been developing during their residency in Hong Kong (6th - 22nd of August)

iCoDaCo team members who were physically present in the residency and the work in progress showing: Artists: Lee Brummer, Imre Vass, Eddie Ladd, Mui Cheuk Yin & Weronika Pelczynska.
Producers: Gwyn Emberton, Jacqueline Wong, Marta Wołowiec & Israel Aloni.

ArtisTree Hong Kong. 
August 22th 2018  6:45 pm

Presentation

The evening’s background and context is shared with the public by Jacqueline Wong and Gwyn Emberton.
Who we are, where we are from, what we do and what is iCoDaCo.
English then Cantonese then English, then Cantonese…

Introduction of all the present artists and telling about Joseph Lee not being physically present in the residency and presentation in Hong Kong but will join the process in the next residency in Wales. Joseph will meet most of the collective in Tanzmesse Germany next week where we will share information about and some materials from the project with the international dance community. 

Vasi is describing the concept and the stracture of the improvisation. 

7 min

Vasi lays down, face to floor
Stiff
His bright pink top stands out on the black floor.
Attension. Lee & Eddie attend to Vasi. 
Eddie leaves and Lee flips him over. Eddie goes away.
Now Eddie and Mui approach Lee and Vasi and Weronika can not resist and she joins them too.
Vasi, still stiff.
Statue.
The women, like mother apes trying to fix/arrange a baby monkey
Eddie, Lee, Mui and Weronika nurture Vasi like a folk of alpha females. Holding him together, fixing his clothes, supporting him. He remains indifferent.
A child bursts out laughing in the crowd.
Laughter of joy or discomfort?
The child appears male, are they sympathising with the only male appearing individual on stage who is manipulated by all the females?
Vasi must be moved. The other 4 performers carry him to another part of the space. They lay him back down on the floor.
Mui’s head is now covered by the back of Vasi’s jumper.
Their heads are both covered with the pink fabric.
Their image of their bodies blends into one solid silhouette. It is hard to distinguish which body part belongs to whom and whether they each faces the floor or the ceiling.    
Lee exposes Vasi’s head, the difference between Vasi and Mui is now evident again. 
Exchange. Who is lying on whom? Who is seen and who is concealed?
Duplication, replication, repetition.

6 min

Mui is frozen.
Eddie lays black socks over her ankles.
The black socks converse to her black hair which is now messy after being under Vasi’s jumper.
Delicate. 
Sensitive movement. Trying to balance the sock on her ankles, Mui moves slowly. 
The socks become precious and charged. 
They are just socks.
Negotiation. Conversation about rules and boundaries.
What is comforting and what is annoying?
Who is controlling the situation and who is following?
Mui and Lee alone in space.
The light turns blue.
Alarm

5 min

Weronika. Bear
In the middle of the space. 
Vasi approaches suspiciously.
Change of direction and leave.
Lee: “It doesn’t do anything”
Cough
Mui is coughing. Approaching the bear. Waving hello. 

4 min

Eddie went to fetch the fire extinguisher
Weight training
“Carry an object high”
“You do it until you start breathing quite hard”
“Then you start sweating a little”
Bodybuilders
Transformation of a shoe
Vasi is pausing. Nearly naked.
Slight sound from the extinguisher.
Alarm

3 min

Eddie grabs the mic
Carbon dioxide exercise
Breath in … breath out… breath in… breath out… 
Breath sound and movement on stage.
Intimacy
Closeness and experimentation
Introducing your rhythm and your sound to someone else and to the space
The alarm went off but the performers didn’t hear it.
They continue in the task.
An animal. Mui is crawling on the floor.
The sound is still in the room. Eddie and Mui are no longer in it though.
We just hear them breath and talk into the mic but we do not know where they are.
Horror movie.
Eddie: “Go away. Stay away. Leave us alone”
Not here and not now
“Leave me a lone”
Whisper.

2 min

Vasi and Mui start a dance with Mui’s top
Dynamic.
Romantic.
Repetition. 
Longing
Love
Fidgeting
Calming down
Relating
ALARM
Continuing
Stoping

1 min

Thank you! 
That was it.

Conversation with the public

Weronika explains how the collective worked and their approach to the score/improvisation structure
Does anyone have any questions?
I go to join the public discussion…

The work in progress sharing was live-streamed online, click HERE for to watch the video on iCoDaCo's Facebook page.