The agreed universe; the scenography of Jan Fabre through a phenomenological approach

Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

The agreed universe ; the scenography of Jan Fabre through a phenomenological approach Index

Introduction: im Kopf

Section 1: Jan Fabre, Warrior of Beauty

Section 2: The agreed universe, a phenomenological approach

Section 3: The arena of tensions, description of the space

Conclusion: Connecting the dots

References

Bibliography

Appendix

Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Introduction: im Kopf This paper will examine the scenography of the choreographies Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) and the opera version Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990) , part of the opera trilogy The Minds of Helena Troubleyn by Jan Fabre. Jan Fabre (14-12-1958) is a Belgian artist from Antwerp who has been making both plastic and theatre work since 1976. Fabres artistic education took place at the Decorative Arts Institute and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium. As an artist Fabre creates objects, drawings, paintings, theatre texts, and Fabre directs and choreographs films, plays, dances and operas. Fabres career started as a writer of theatre texts and creating performances and has grown to involve multiple art forms. The authors fascination with Jan Fabre comes from watching his choreography Daun altra faccia del Tempo (1993) in Rotterdam in 1993. This performance of Daun altra faccia del Tempo (1993) made a lasting impression through the energy, the variety of images, the dynamics and the unforgettable final scene where uncountable white plates came crashing down from the skies, shattering on the floor into a blinding white carpet. The scenography of Jan Fabres work and Fabres use of the stage space will be reflected on in this essay. Scenography is defined in Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) as the art or act of representing a body on a perspective plane; also, a representation or description of a body, in all its dimensions, as it appears to the eye. A point of investigation will be the representation of the bodies, and the perspective planes in which they are presented, in

Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) and Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990), to the authors eye. To
accomplish the investigation a phenomenological approach is chosen to indicate the themes of Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas

/The Dance Sections (1987) and Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990).
Jan Fabres scenography deserves a closer look because of the use of bodies in space, of chaos and order on stage and the particular utilisation of dcor and moving bodies in the choreographies. This essay will study the scenography of Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) and the opera version

Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990). Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) was an initial study for the
first opera of the opera trilogy The minds of Helena Troubleyn, existing of Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990) and Silent

Screams, Difficult Dreams (1992). The trilogy thus far remains unfinished. For the third opera, allegedly called La Liberta chiama la Liberta only the preliminary studies exist in the form of the choreographies Daun altra faccia del tempo (1993) and Quando la terra si rimetta in movimento (1995). Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990) reveals Helenas wish to meet herself as a child. In Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas
(1987, 1990) Fressia is introduced, played by Els Deceukelier. Fressia is the manifestation of the child Helena wants to encounter, the suggestion of the world inside the minds of Helena Troubleyn. The two choreographies are chosen in view of the fact that they are different versions of one choreographic study: Das Glas im

Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) is an early work for a group of dancers in a deconstructed classical ballet-style.
In 1990 Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas was restaged as a full opera. The dance sections were integrated and elaborated in the Opera version of Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990). Both versions and scenographies will be considered.
Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Section 1: Jan Fabre, Warrior of Beauty What more can then be said about this oeuvre than what Jan Fabre himself says: It is wonderful to watch without words. Total simplicity, complete chaos, perfection in one what an unbelievably beautiful, untameable image? Laermans (1993:109) Jan Fabre started his career as a performance artist. Fabres money performances in 1979, where money was burned, caused a stir in the Belgian art society. Progressively Jan Fabre switched from writing theatre texts and doing performances to directing plays in which he integrated real time theatre: This is the theatre one should have expected and foreseen (1982) is an eight hour performance including an investigation on how much a human body can take, for example running on the spot until exhaustion comes. Repetition is a major tool in Jan Fabres theatre work. Fabres first choreographic study Das Glas im

Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections premiered in 1987.

In the plastic arts of Jan Fabre three types of work can be distinguished: The first type of work is bronze statues, mostly life size like The man who measures the clouds (1998) and Searching for

Utopia (2003), often self portraits.

The man who measures the clouds (1998)

Photo: Jan Moesen (2004)

The second kind appears in the form of bic art (bic is a brand ballpoint pens with a specific color blue ink), pen drawings in blue on different surfaces, for example Ilad of the bic-art (1980) , famous reproductions of the old masters reworked by Fabre, and the performance Ilad of the bic-art, the bic-art room (1981) in which Fabre locked himself in a room for 72 hours to scribble bic-art on the walls and everything present in the room. Other examples are the walls of Prometheus Landschaft (1988), costumes and dcor of Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1987, 1990) and objects such as boxes and cabinets* Or as Fabre put it himself: It comprises something of a hallucination, thousands and thousands of lines which multiply themselves and cross each other. And by the chemical matter of the bic (ballpoint) masses of lines are created which attract each other and ricochet as magnets. The apparitions are interwoven in those masses of lines. (...) It is a dream area, a field of expectations. Laermans (1996: 175)
* see appendix dvd ; House, Hour Blue, the Bic-art room and Forgery De Boodt & Maes (2002) Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

A third feature in Fabres plastic work is the use of insects, mainly scarabs. Objects are covered in beetle carapaces. Jan Fabre is related to Jean Henri Fabre, a famous entomologist. Fabre is fascinated with insects, which echoes in all of Fabres work. * A well known example is the Heaven of Delight (2002) in the Royal Palace of Brussels where Jan Fabre beetled the ceiling.

Heaven of Delight (2002)

Photo: Stefan Beyst (2002)

Since 1986 Jan Fabre works under the company name of Troubleyn/Jan Fabre. At the website www.troubleyn.be the organisation is described as follows: Troubleyn/Jan Fabre is a theatre company with extensive international operations. Its home base is Antwerp. The artist Jan Fabre has been its artistic head since it was established in 1986. Troubleyn/Jan Fabre is a non-profit organisation and currently has 10 full-time staff, 4 of them artistic. The name Troubleyn means 'remaining faithful' and expresses the wish to work with like-minded people in confidence and in the long term. Troubleyn/Jan Fabre is responsible for: #1/ the creation and presentation of the work for the stage by the artist Jan Fabre (theatre, dance, opera, film projects, etc.) and by extension the coordination of publications, talks, etc. #2/ the work of the Troubleyn Theatre. This theatre functions not only as a workplace and rehearsal space, but also as a laboratory for independent research and training. Every year a young theatre-maker/choreographer is commissioned to create a work. Fabres plastic arts are coordinated through the Angelos organisation which also acts as the producer of Fabres films and coordinates his performances.

* see appendix dvd ; Tears and Skeleton De Boodt & Maes (2002) Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Section 2: The agreed universe, a phenomenological approach Phenomenology can be described as the study of essences from personal experience. As The Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy (2005) suggests:

The discipline of phenomenology may be defined initially as the study of structures of experience, or consciousness. Literally, phenomenology is the study of "phenomena": appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience. Phenomenology studies conscious experience as experienced from the subjective or first person point of view. Phenomenology is the study of our experience how we experience. Perception, the process of perceiving, is a highly personal experience. This essay draws conclusions based on the authors personal experience. Therefore the phenomenological approach seems most appropriate for this essay since phenomenology deals with a first person point of view of events, thus the authors perception. There are distinguishable methods within the field of phenomenology. The approach of Merleau-Ponty appears best suited for this essay, for Maurice Merleau-Ponty emphasizes the central role of the human body in the human experience. As dance is a discipline which deals with bodies in space, and the author is a body-minded, kinesthetic person this methodology is suitable. Scenography deals with bodies on a perspective plane and how those bodies appear to the eye. In theatre performances the perspective plane is crucial. A choreographer or director contemplates on how the bodies should appear to the onlooker. In the case of Fabre, Van den Dries concludes: Space to Fabre is meaning. The tale is shaped in a topographic way. The positions the singers and dancers take fill the scene with meaning. A network created by points and lines of energy arises. There are no unfilled spots, the whole space is incorporated in a field of tension lines. Fabre takes the definition of scenography very literally: description of the space. But it might even be more accurate to call him a theatrical acupunctor. The scene is for him a skin surface behind which lie the organs, a nerve system, a muscle fabric. The points he marks on the scene bring that internal body to life. Van den Dries (2004: 30 - 31)

Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

The phenomenological attitude of Merleau-Ponty to space is described in his Phenomenology of Perception (1945) as follows: Space is not the setting (real or logical) in which things are arranged, but the means whereby the position of things becomes possible. This means that instead of imagining it as a sort of ether in which all things float, or conceiving it abstractly as a characteristic that they have in common, we must think of it as the universal power enabling them to be connected. Therefore, either I do not reflect, but live among things and vaguely regard space at one moment as the setting for things, at another as their common attribute or else I do reflect: I catch space at its source, and now think the relationships which underlie this world, realizing then that they live only through the medium of a subject who traces out and sustains them: and pass from spatialized to spatializing space. Merleau-Ponty (1945, English translation 1958: 284) The use of space and the scenography of Fabres dance works Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) and

Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990) will be looked at consistent with the phenomenological approach of Merleau-Ponty in
the following chapter. The approach will be to connect the space / scenography to the personal experience of the author, investigating the theme of the choreographies.

Notes and graphics on scenography Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas / The Dance Sections (1987) Jan Fabre (1987)
Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Section 3: The arena of tensions, description of the space Once a dancer enters the space it becomes an arena of tensions. Virtual lines that seem to intersect through and around the dancers draw the spectators eye. Preston Dunlop (1998: 122) A great deal has been written about Fabres use of space. In most text Fabres handling of the stage space and the visual totality of Fabres scenography is compared to a painters approach to an empty canvas; lines and forms in perspective, view points, form tension, geometrical structures, foreground and background, symmetry and reciprocal relations engage the entity of the stage. A canvas or painting is mostly looked at from the front and central position, the art work at eye level for the spectator. The theatre work of Jan Fabre is directed from a similar, ideal view point. De Brabandere (1997) suggests that although the scenography of Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) , which is reused in the opera version, appears static, the patterns are constantly changing. This is the main outset of the performance and is echoed in several elements. The backdrop is a whole of bic-blue lines; this surface seems to be an entire blue plane, but exists of uncountable blue lines and scribbles*. Some parts are darker than others, and the whole surface vibrates with the energy of each individual pen stroke. The costumes of the dancers, up to the point shoes, are squiggled in bic-blue and radiate a similar vibration. The underlying tension is continued in the chosen movements of the choreography. Fabre utilizes the classical ballet vocabulary in Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1987, 1990) in a deconstructed manner; he slows down the movements until the dancers appear to be in a pose. Often the dancers are dressed in lingerie, to show as much of the body as possible. This creates a vulnerable look, they are literally exposed in their underwear. Each movement is visible, every tremble of the slightest muscle, each drop of sweat and every twitch in the faces of the dancers contribute to the electrical, quivering undertow of attempt to control, the matter of prevailing order. In Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections (1987) Els Deceukelier is placed with her bareback to the audience, facing the bic-blue scribbled back cloth and elevated to the exact middle of the rear wall. From the ideal point of view in the audience, she appears to vanish in the perspective lines. From the phenomenological viewpoint the connection between the central, elevated, undressed Deceukelier and the lower dancers a central role for Deceukelier is implied. Deceukelier is unreachable because of her elevated position. No eye contact is possible as she stands on a tiny pedestal facing the squiggled backcloth, her nose almost touching the backdrop, staring into the blue lines. The dancers underneath her slowly walk towards the audience, dressed in metal harnesses. Two people in harnesses sit on chairs against the backdrop on either side of the stage, as sentinels of the blue world behind them. The whole gives the effect of protection; the contrast between the nakedness of Deceukelier against the harnessed dancers makes Deceukelier look vulnerable. The associations with harnesses easily becomes one of guards, knights and protection of a dame. The walking of the dancers towards the audience, the frontal confrontation, the rigidness of the metal harnesses reinforce the shielding quality of the scenography.
*see appendix dvd ; Hour Blue, Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas /The Dance Sections and Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glasn De Boodt & Maes (2002) Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

In the opera version of1990 Fabre places the singers on stage, in mirror image pairs. They sit or stand two by two, in symmetry, spread out over the whole stage.* The chorale is dressed in renaissance costumes, which are also scribbled in blue bic art. The singers are blindfolded while the dancers perform their ballet inspired choreography - dressed only in blue bicced pointes, a black bra and panties amidst the choir. The contrast of the excessive clothing and blindfolds of the singers and the dancers in underwear gives the impression that the dancers may not be seen, at least not by the singers. The implication appears that the dancers in underwear, who cannot be seen by the dressed singers, are doing something secretive, something unspoken, invisible. The question rises if the choreography even exists in the world shared by dancers and singers. The interpretation can be made that dancers and singers represent different worlds or states of mind. Perhaps even the minds of Helena Troubleyn.

* see appendix dvd ; Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas De Boodt & Maes (2002) Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Conclusion: Connecting the dots Above all, how the space is looked at influences what the perceiver will see. The same goes for the interpretation of a choreography. Every bit of information a spectator receives influences the perception. Assumptions are made constantly. Hrvatin states: A view is never simply a visual sensation. It is above all a way of approaching viewing. It is a matter of the spectators approach and of the approach demanded by a work of art. It is how the spectator expects and foresees he will be viewed by the theatre, which always has the privilege of playing with what he expects and foresees. The shift made by Fabre, especially in the Dance sections, is an imperative of viewing stage pictures as a whole. Hrvatin (1990: 87) Fabres choreography and opera version of Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1987, 1990) are part of the twofold opera trilogy

The Minds of Helena Troubleyn . According to De Brabandere (1998: 20) the character Helena Troubleyn was based on a woman
Jan Fabre knew from childhood on, who lived in a world of fantasy. If this fact is considered, the interpretation of Das Glas im

Kopf wird vom Glas (1987, 1990) immediately alters itself. The author now makes the assumption that the dancers symbolize
a mind of Helena. Maybe therefore Deceukelier needs to be protected by the harnessed dancers, for she is not in sync with reality. Hypothetical meanings and possible explanations arise. But is this explanation asked for? The choreographer has intentions when making a choreography. Dancers interpret the material they are given and tint the movement with their own being. The perceiver brings in preconceptions and assumptions. Fabre asserts that dance should not express emotions (2002: DVD1, chapter 16 - statement). When a choreographer makes such a statement, should the onlooker try not to read emotions in the dance? The emotions and relationships come into being by means of physical and mental complicity within the agreed universe, the performance. Like gangsters who rob a bank, the warriors of beauty are athletes of perception. They see every drop of sweat and every glance. The relationship, conflict or emotion takes place in the tension of the space between. Fabre (2002: DVD1, chapter 20 - statement) The agreed universe, its boundaries and possibilities. Fabre designates his performances an agreed universe. But what is agreed on? The performance is the performance, what you see is what you see. Interpretations made on choreography or scenography will always be personal. Agreement can be reached over certain aspects, facts such as number of dancers, description of the movement, costumes and dcor. Interesting would be to investigate to what extent agreement can be reached over the meaning and / or interpretation of specific choreographies. Or even turn it around and attempt to make a choreography which is meaningless without being worthless. According to the author interpretation will always happen, wanted or not. For that is what a human mind does: perceiving the world and trying to make sense by connecting the dots.
Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Bibliography Allen, Graham (2003) Roland Barthes (London and New York: Routledge) Brabandere, Adri de (1997) Kritisch Theater Lexicon 10: Jan Fabre (Brussel: Vlaams Theater Instituut vzw/ Ann Olaerts) Chandler, Daniel (2002) Semiotics, the basics (London and New York: Routledge) Dries, Luc van den (2004) Corpus Jan Fabre, Observaties van een creatieproces (Gent: Imschoot) Fraleigh, Sondra (1998) A vulnerable glance: seeing dance through phenomenology in The Routledge Dance Studies Reader, ed. by Alexandra Carter (Oxon and New York: Routledge) pp.135 - 143 Fraleigh, Sondra Horton (1999) Researching Dance, evolving modes of inquiry ed. by Sondra Horton Fraleigh and Penelope Hanstein (London: Dance Books Ltd.) Chapter 7. Witnessing the Frog Pond, p. 188 - 224 Gilpin, Heidi (1993) Symmetry and Abandonment: The Dance/Theatre work of Jan Fabre in Jan Fabre Texts on is theatre-work (Brussel: Kaaitheater) p. 163 - 176 Humphrey, Doris (1959,1987) The art of making dances (Pennington: Princeton Book Company/ a Dance Horizons book) pp. 72 90, 144 - 148 Hrvatin, Emil (1990) The view of the director and the eye of the photographer in Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas, the Dance sections by Helmut Newton and Jan Fabre/ Troubleyn vzw (Gent: Imschoot) p. 87 - 93 Laermans, Rudi (1993) De aangekondigde dood en haar kortstondig hiernamaals. Over de grenzen van het voorstelbare in het scenografische werk van Jan Fabre / Death foretold and its brief hereafter. On the limits of representation in the scenographic work of Jan Fabre in Jan Fabre Texts on is theatre-work (Brussel: Kaaitheater) p. 95 121 Laermans, Rudi (1996) In de herhaling toont zich de meester, de Danse Macabre van Jan Fabre in Dans in Vlaanderen ed. by An-Marie Lambrechts, Marianne Van Kerkhoven, Katie Verstockt (Brugge: Stichting Kunstboek BVBA) p. 168 - 189 Lavender, Larry (1995) Understanding Interpretation in Dance Research Journal 27/2 (Fall1995) p. 25 33 Merleau Ponty, Maurice (1945, English translation 1958) Phenomenology of Perception (London and New York: Routledge) Part II The World as Perceived, p. 283 347 Preston Dunlop, Valerie (1998) Looking at dances, a choreological perspective on choreography (Great Britain: The Bath Press / Verve Publishing), pp.121 122, pp. 181 184 Simhoffer, Herman (1995) Ik heb nou allemaal dingen in mijn hoofd Een antropologie van kunst en creatieve therapie (Assen: Van Gorcum) p.13, 92, 93, 108, 111, 112 TJonck, Pieter (2002) De inwisselbaarheid van dans en beeldende kunst na Duchamp / The interchangeability of dance and visual art after Duchamp in Tussen beeld en beweging. Hedendaagse dans en actuele kunst. (Hasselt: Dans in Limburg) p.65 75 Wesemann, Arnd (1993) Adventure in Empty Space Implosion, Architecture, Jan Fabre in Jan Fabre Texts on is theatrework (Brussel: Kaaitheater) p. 153 162

Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005

Internet sources: Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) , Version published 1913 by the C. & G. Merriam Co. Springfield, Mass. Under the direction of Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D. http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/ Smith, David Woodruff "Phenomenology", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2005/entries/phenomenology/>. www.troubleyn.be, official website of Jan Fabre DVD: De Boodt, Kurt and Maes, Emanuel (2002) DVD Jan Fabre Performing Arts / Visual Arts, ditions voir (Amsterdam: A Voir Editions)

Ninke van Herpt Fontys Tilburg MA Choreography December 2005