Removing explores the movement qualities that can be produced with practical goals such as hitting, avoiding, throwing, or reaching. These actions constitute a vocabulary of gestures that is shared with the audience. Using a common vocabulary enhances physical empathy and kinesthetic resonance.
If one simply executes these actions motivated by a practical goal as in the tasks of postmodern dance, the experience of movement tends to disappear behind the recognition of the goal. To focus the attention on the movement itself, I use different strategies in order to prevent the immediate recognition of the goal.
The objects the dancers are aiming at in the action of hitting or avoiding are absent. The body parts that are used are not fitted to perform the action. For example, the dancers hit these imaginary objects with fragile body parts like the throat or the rib cage. In the action of throwing, they treat a body part as if it were an external object, imagining it can fly away into space. Finally, some sequences are composed of movements systematically interrupted by the movement that follows them.
The dancer is continuously aiming at movements that are never performed. This interruption of the dancer by himself makes his intention visible because it affects the way his actual movements are performed. His intention is excessive compared to the movement that is actually performed, and this excess transforms the movement.
It makes visible the way the dancer anticipates the goal he gives himself. These various strategies aim to preserve the definition of the movement by a practical goal for the performer while suppressing what allows the identification of this goal for the observer. This makes it possible to capture complex motor characteristics linked to the action of hitting: dynamics, impact, speed, muscle tone, physical investment, affect, etc. It is a martial art that mostly concentrates on floor fighting and on locks used to control an opponent by taking one of his joint to the limits of its movement range.
