In discussion with Adam Benjamin at ID London

Interview with Adam Benjamin: The space that we leave behind

·         What do you mean by ‘the space left behind’? (after a score/performance)

·         What is the relationship between the dancer and the space?

·         How do you experience the space?

·         What is the relationship between the inner and outer space?

My interest is in regards with the moment when we leave the space, or exit. There is a kind of resonance or residue, a feeling and sensations which may have a positive resonance or a negative one. I am interested in how we aim as dancers/improvisers, how we deal with that in performance, in set work / choreographer intent to leave us with a certain sensation or a question mark hanging over the space that may be the intention. There is something about the way we’re working with ourselves as performers in the space, ourselves or other people, we extend ourselves. The more we extend out the more we begin to identify qualities and feelings and it’s so easy with non structured improvisations to just decide when the end is. There is an intriguing notion of being which is about what we offer within the performance space, sometimes called the extra-ordinary space. The space we improvise in, we generate particular atmosphere, or we develop particular qualities of feeling, and if we take a step back into our ordinary world, in that moment of departure we make it into a practice. How do we make that transition?

·         Open magnified sensation deals with transition

·         Attention on exchange

·         One place to another

·         Investigation

There is a rich analogy – what we feel when anybody leaves there is a moment of readjust – leave something tangible in the space. We affect the space that we left and we also we notice an interesting shift and a fertile ground.

From an improviser’s point of view by being in the space we develop an awareness of it. We think about the space between people, we sense connection. We also think about the architecture of the building, people inside the building, the history of the space as well as the possibility inward journey. And it is this journey that makes us super aware or external space. Going one way implies an effect on the opposite way. So while we are making a very profound internal journey it is impossible that the outside space to stay the same. Still, it is not a reciprocal relationship. Both journeys should be able to feed one another. We should never forget what we share as performers: if we expand too much into the outside space and the inner world is forgotten or ignore, the performance is not veritable. The ideal place to be as a performer is at the point where you find a balance between the 2 spaces, an equal dialogue.