Sarah Foster-Sproull: MAP Research Week 1

Fig. 1: Gear
Week One provocation: Can we make a miniature world out of cardboard, and then go about
destroying it?
I planned for most of this weeks research to attend to constructing, and destroying things, but in
reality I/we mainly constructed things. In the dance studio on Monday I built several props, a giant
cardboard hand (Fig. 2), a long bamboo pole, and a miniature village (Fig. 2 & 3). On Wednesday
evening the MAP lab participants and I looked at how we might develop the ideas that these artefacts
initially present. This involved the partial disintegration of some of the props (knuckles toppled from
the giant hand, masking-taped fingers loosened), and there were some substantial additions to the
miniature village (Fig. 3). At the end of the first week of choreographic research my overall pool of
ideas has been thoroughly expanded.
We spent most of our 2 hour Wednesday evening MAP Lab session playing around with bamboo
sticks, and to my mind this provided the widest scope for choreographic possibility. During my
research time on Monday I taped three bamboo poles together and spent a lot of time with the
structure balanced on my head while I sat down and stood up. Simple movement patterns were
explored while I figured out the scope of the idea by balancing the architecture on alternate parts of
my body. In sharing this task with my lab partners the bamboo poles (previously reserved for staking
up my tomatoes) were now being precariously balanced atop fingers, twisted between belly button
and fabric, connecting fingertips to heart, and slicing bodies in two. At times they existed as lines of
solid energy within desperate, playful, tentative, or risky improvisations.
This process provided a number of memorable moments and possibilities offered up by the MAP Lab
participants. Katie Burton spun a bamboo pole the length of a station wagon around her head on one
finger in such a way that made her look utterly in control of the world. In a kinaesthetic echo of Erwin
Wurms One Minute Sculptures (1997-2014) something in this image spoke about abandon[ing] the
idea of durability and infinity" (2012) by populating the task with domestic risk. In short: no one is
going to die, but the balance could fail at any moment. I enjoyed the act of spectatorship- almost
willing the inevitable to occur.
While still working with the bamboo other extraordinary moments evolved. Ross McCormack and Tori
Manley fell in and out of symbiotic duets that touched upon tenderness and control. Jahra Wasasala
and Rosa Strati worked with the bamboo in such a way that it seemed as if it had sprouted from their

thighs like a horticultural virus. A group of 5 people interlinked themselves in a complex matrix of
connections and attempted to complexify/unravel the structure. Once we found an idea that sparked
interest the group would play around with it for a while, and each new person who touched upon an
idea added a previously un-thought of element, approach, or subversion to the task.

Fig. 2: Hand
The giant cardboard hand was a triumph and failure. Some ideas worked beautifully, and others
forced the farcical object even further into the realm of the absurd. In a quiet moment after our initial
cardboard hand experimentation Lisa Greenfield played around with animating the hands in a careful
and tender manner in duet with Jess Quaid. In this moment I was able to suspend my disbelief and
view the metaphor more than the construct. This is something to look at again next week I think.

Fig. 3: Village
At the end of the MAP Lab session we built and balanced miniature houses on Chelsea Baxter in a
reclining position. As she slowly shifts to standing the cardboard houses topple lightly from her body
into what Caitlin Davey proclaims a fallen city. Within this task our job is to keep the city alive, but
we struggle to repopulate Chelseas limbs with the fallen houses fast enough. I am reminded of artist
John Radfords work Graft (2009), which asks if [w]hat is severed and discarded from cities might
construct room for new jugular veins (Wayers, 2010). This is an interesting point of departure for

this weeks research. From here I hope to step to the throat of the ideas being generated and
explored in the studio, and expose more content, metaphor and play from within them.
Plus we will make some sweet dance moves next week.
(!)
Sarah Foster-Sproull
Thank you to Julia Harvie, Erica Viedma, Katie Burton, and all the collaborators from MAP
Choreographic Research Series Week One.

Bibliography
Radford, J. (2009). Graft. Retrieved from http://www.graft.net.nz/walk-around-the-house-types/villa-
return-bay-left/
Wayers, A. (2010). Essay one. Graft. Retrieved from: http://www.graft.net.nz/essay/
Wurm, E. (1997- 2014). One Minute Sculptures. Retrieved from
http://www.erwinwurm.at/biography/solo-exhibitions.html
Wurm, E. (2012). Theres also a lot of failing in it: Erwin Wurm revisits his iconic one minute scultpure
series. Retrieved from http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/806534/theres-also-a-lot-of-failing-
in-it-erwin-wurm-revisits-his-iconic-one-minute-sculpture-series