Practitioner Study 2

 PRACTITIONER STUDY 2

In this second practitioner study, I will be reviewing 'Silent Lines' by Russell Maliphant whilst referencing to resources found on his official website as well as analysing a clip of the piece.

This piece captures Maliphant's explorations and interests of anatomy and dance including a use of mixed movement, video projection and lighting. The work draws on methods from a span of movement disiciplines and creating these with animated light.

The dance is made up of 5 dancers performing together as almost blurry and indistinct figures surrounded with projections by Panagiotis Tomaras to produce an atmosphere with a fluid like intention. The three male and two female dancers create an image of abstract shapes throughout the piece with the lighting sculpting out their muscles. A small excerpt I found and studied showed a female soloist performing said fluid inspired movements, having second pauses throughout in held positions to then continue with the solo. With having the lighting so dark, this emphasises the dancers silhouette with her smooth and flowing movement.

Although this piece has a different intention and theme behind it, I found that this work in particular relates back to the first practitioner study I analysed 'The Rodin Project'. With both of these choreography's having different overall theme's, the simularity with the idea of human anatomy stood out to me. With 'The Rodin Project' having the literal stimulus of sculptures and statues, 'Silent Lines' has elements of showcasing the human art form and the human's 'lines' through the use of animated lighting and projections.

"In this way, ideas and images from inside the body were projected to create spaces and textures within the stage environment to be manipulated by the dancers' movement"(Silent Lines — Russell Maliphant Dance Company, 2022). Here Maliphant discusses his own point of view in the choreographer's note where he also mentions the main intention for his piece was to use his exploration behind the scenes that use the elements of the human anatomy and dance in a new language. This movement language he has created is extremely unique and creates an impact on the audience with its shared ground and people's personal views on the project.

Continuing on with Maliphant's curiousity for the human movement, both of these pieces clearly show and display the different visuals this can be shown to an audience. With one work being quite literal, showcasing dancers performing movements showing the essence of Rodin's art works and the clear representation of the sculptural form where as 'Silent Lines' captures a different way to display the exploration of human anatomy with its use of physical setting. With its movement style being very simular with the idea of fluidity, Maliphant 

Russell Maliphant Dance Company. 2022. Silent Lines — Russell Maliphant Dance Company. [online] Available at: <https://www.russellmaliphantdancecompany.com/performances/blog-post-title-one-e8t37> [Accessed 5 January 2022].

Kennedy, M., 2019. Russell Maliphant Company's Silent Lines | Review. [online] LondonTheatre1. Available at: <https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/dance/russell-maliphant-companys-silent-lines-review/> [Accessed 5 January 2022].

Byrne, E., 2019. Russell Maliphant Dance Company, Silent Lines review: Hypnotic power of the light fantastic. Evening Standard, [online] Available at: <https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/russell-maliphant-dance-company-silent-lines-review-hypnotic-power-of-the-light-fantastic-a4266591.html> [Accessed 5 January 2022].