SELF-Employment / Samuel Arthur Sicilia (2021)

“SELF-Employment,” is a reflective practice-based research that uses personal analysis of my experience as a performer with Transitions Dance Company in the creation and performance of Didy Veldman’s choreography, “Soufflé,” in conjunction with informed external feedback from Veldman and Transitions Artistic Director David Waring. This analysis is supported by theoretical grounding in “self” oriented embodiment theory and flow theory. These elements are synthesized together to examine the successful application of the embodied “self” within the creation and performance periods of a specific piece in order to achieve optimal execution of the piece. This specific question of employing the embodied “self” within a singular piece is further contextualized in the expanded research consideration of how application of the embodied “self,” develops into the potential for embodying the “self” in multiple pieces as “multiple directions of the self” or multiplicity. Therefore, this research topic is specified by its context in enabling the vital need for a dancer to employ embodiment of the contextualized “self” to be versatile, in order to access multiple and varying performance contexts. This research topic is in strong alignment with the notion of the adaptable “porous body,” by Louis Laberge-Côté, which examines depth and range of the performer to suggest enabling a malleable dancer. Embodiment of the “self” within Didy Veldman’s piece is unpacked through aligning with Veldman’s inspirations and intention of the piece, developing active awareness to the piece’s specific values and context (such as attention to specific qualities, details, and inspirations), as well as understanding a sense of appropriate performance “role,” and contextualizing this specific piece within a larger performance context of the Transitions Dance Company’s Triple Bill. Embodiment of the “self” in performance is also examined through pre-performance preparation, availability to embody ongoing feedback, and comparing experiences of performing the piece to one another in depth. Critical reflection is made visual via accompanying video footage that matches points of written reflection and dissection within the text with examples from rehearsals and performances of “Soufflé.” Post reflection analysis interrogates the embodied “self” with application for Jennifer Roche’s idea of “embodying multiplicity,” as a means of applying the “self” to multiple potential performance “selves,” enabling the ability to access multiple and varying performance needs, cited as versatility.