This is the first of several postings reporting from within my performance practice. 

What: 8x8x8 curated by Randee Paufve

Where: The Uptown, Oakland, CA

When: January 21, 2014 8:30pm

What I created:

Christian Burns - Solo Improvisation

Duration – 7 min.

Music/Sound – Keith Jarrett (one track from recording Carnegie Hall)

Variables – No props, non-costume (tee shirt & pants, bare feet), wood floor inside of a rock music venue

Introduction/thematic initiation: I shared a story about how my father introduced me to abstract art, in particular a Robert Motherwell painting which I saw many times in my hometown local Art Museum at Smith College. At the age of nine, on one occassion he taught me how to look at a work closely and with as many views of detail possible, and simply describe what I noticed – this cleared up the 'what does it mean' question that can stump people when feeling intimidated by abstraction. Observe carefully, be open to noticing physical or metaphoric connections and describe back - there the meaning will be.  I dedicated the evenings piece to my dad.

*My program statement:

my painting is direct. i usually paint on the floor. i feel more at home, more at ease in a big area. having the canvas on the floor i feel nearer more a part of the painting. this way i can walk around it work from all four sides and be in the painting. a method of painting is a natural growth out of a need. i want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them. when i am painting i have a general notion as to what i am about. i can control the flow of the paint, there is not accident just as there is no beginning or no end. sometimes i loose a painting. but i have no fear of changes, of destroying the image, because the painting has a life of its own i try to let it live.

-Jackson Pollack 1951 (an edited list of text from Hans Namuth film)

This statement captures how I approach the act-of-dance. This improvisation is neither accidental or random, it is a practiced explanation of who and what I am about, right now.

*Performance Goals/Intentions/Aspirations:

Hi-def clarity of the moment movement initiation occurs. Hi-def clarity of when movements complete. Increasing ability to maintain continuity of ‘being in the moment’ while figuring out and assessing next choices to make – especially when lost or in a gap. No gaps while thinking - no gaps of concentration or lapses of confidence.  Everything, every moment must be ‘in the dance’.

Compositionally, emphasizing the shaping of time through physical exertion. Wanting to be total and complete with each individual beat of time (for this one, not prioritizing spatial/graphic composition - focus was on time & timing), creating a pressure and friction based pallet through which to enact visceral textures and complexly layered phrase-work. Approaching the dance as making a painting – the act of painting, of moving paint, of scraping paint, of dragging and dabbing, throwing, erasing, rubbing, molding paint on a surface. Visceral - attempting through body-surface with floor-surface,  intuitive decisions and mindful recognition of those choices, to conjure a constellation of outcomes that may capture a sense of direct interaction, meaning, music and structure. The more real the act of painting can become for me the more impact the experience may become for the audience.

Next posts will include: *preparation, *artistic considerations, *direct report from inside the dance, *compositional notes.