When creating our phrase, we decided to start by questioning the concept of what is beauty when you can’t see it. We liked the idea of creating a space that would invite the audience to be able to explore discovering beauty with the other senses. To enable this, we asked the audience to stand behind a thin curtain which deprived them of most of their vision. During the phrase we asked the audience to place their hand out against the curtain if they were comfortable with touch and we went along the line of people holding each hand with our own. We found the act of embracing or simply holding someone's hand to be a useful way of getting the audience to think about the sensation of touch. After we had held hands with everyone, the three of us started improvising around the space using the idea of beautiful movements, whilst the audience stayed standing behind the curtain. The thinness of the curtain meant that when we stood near the window, they were able to see just our silhouettes. This was effective because it meant that you weren’t able to see any of our features, only bodies moving, which I thought was a very beautiful display. For me, I found that moving in a way that made me feel good in that moment was a beautiful experience. Dancing with no expectations felt freeing and left me feeling a childish sort of happiness. 

• What role does vision play in the action of paying attention to beauty? 

• Can beauty be recognised without vision? 

• What does beauty feel like? 

We had spent some time discussing what these questions meant to us before presenting our piece. I found that thinking and talking about what society deems as beautiful to be a very eye-opening experience. Societal beauty standards are something that I don't really think about often even though I always subconsciously feel the pressure of them.  

When the audience were standing behind the curtain facing the mirror, we had them stand there for what felt like quite a long time. Even though it was only a couple of minutes, standing with that amount of proximity to your own reflection whilst being asked to question what beauty is, is quite an uncomfortable experience for a lot of people. When we were testing out what it would be like for the audience, I found this part made me feel quite uneasy. Even though it was uncomfortable, we thought it important for getting people to take time to think about the questions we were asking. 

Our performance/phrase was a very emotional journey for me and the people I was working with. I think that having a curtain separating us from the audience allowed me to feel completely authentic in my improvisation, and I didn’t feel the need to do any movements that would ‘impress’ the audience. I found holding hands with people that I couldn’t see was interesting because everyone responded in different ways, so it felt like I was connecting with people and sharing the beauty of touch without knowing who I was holding hands with.  

A problem that I face a lot when I improvise is moving too quickly. I often end up getting carried away because of the music that is playing, for example trying to fill every single beat with a different movement. I also find that I feel like I can't move slowly or have pauses because it feels like I’m not doing anything. This is a mindset that I have been aware of for some time, but it is something that I have been struggling to change. Something that has helped is the idea of developing one idea. Instead of thinking about one move and then onto the next, I find it helpful to take one movement and then stick with it. This allows the movement to develop or evolve into something else naturally instead of just jumping to a different idea straight away.  

The spatial duets class helped with this idea because Eva would keep telling us to stick with what we were doing whilst we were dancing. At first, I couldn’t quite understand what she meant because I couldn’t see the switches between where we lost the flow of one idea and where we were sticking to one for longer periods of time. However, after watching back the videos from that class, I could see the difference very clearly.