Embodying the Site: the Here and Now in Site-Specific Dance Performance

IN THE recent RESCEN seminar entitled ‘Making Space’, Doreen Massey challenged the concept of a singular, fixed ‘present’, suggesting instead that we exist in a constant process of producing ‘here and nows’ akin to ‘being in the moment’. Throughout her address she referred to the concept of ‘coevalness’, pertaining to a simultaneous experiencing of spaces and places co-existing in time. This article is written in response to Massey’s presentation, applying the concept of the ‘here and now’ to a recent site-specific dance performance, Beneath (2004), created as part of my practice-based PhD investigation into the relationship between the site and the creative process. Throughout this article, Massey’s ‘here and now’ is discussed in relation to the concept of dance embodiment informed by the phenomenological interaction with the genius loci or ‘spirit of place’.1 These concepts provide a framework for analysis of the various phases involved in the production of the performance work, exposing stages that I have called ‘Experiencing the Site’, ‘Expressing the Site’, ‘Embodying the Site’, and finally ‘Receiving the Site’ in the form of a performance work. These stages are discussed in a linear fashion representing a sense of progression ‘through’ the process whilst simultaneously reflecting a shift of focus from the choreographer-led early stages of the process through to the collaborative middle stages involving the performers, leading to an analysis of the final audience/performance interface. The term site-specific dance performance is defined as dance performance created in response to and performed within a specific site or location, where dance and movement are the dominant components as opposed to theatreor installation-derived genres.2 Beneath was performed in September 2004 in the basement of the Bretton Hall mansion building,3 an area normally inaccessible to the general public. Whilst involved in the creation of the work I became interested in the nature of the interactive relationship between the site, choreographer, performer, and audience. This paper explores the concept of embodiment as a symptomatic component of