Dancing in the Post-Anthropocene

Renae Shadler

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are respectfully advised that there are people mentioned in this article who have passed away.

Renae Shadler in ‘Leaning into the air, whisper the wind’ an immersive and multisensory workshop led by international performance group, Susurrus (Renae Shadler, Maria Numela, Kalle Ropponen, and Samuel Hertz) at Palais de Tokyo. | Image by Maria Korkeila

All humans, animals, minerals, digital technologies, and broadly, the ‘more than human’[1] on planet earth share entangled histories and intrinsically connected futures. Algorithms run our economic markets and fossil fuels are intermingling with the oceans to create new life forms while at the same time contributing to the unfolding sixth mass extinction. This current geological epoch has been proposed as the ‘Anthropocene’.

The Anthropocene is a period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. In an attempt to give voice to other species and the planet as a whole, I want to first articulate my concerns about the term Anthropocene. While humanity’s impact is undeniable, this label places the human species in the powerful position of colonizing the environment and activates a hierarchical value system. In contrast, my value system and artistic practice is rooted in Post-Anthropocentric[2] thinking.

Post-Anthropocentric thinking is a way of seeing which fully acknowledges that the human species is embedded within the global ecology.

I envision the Post-Anthropocene as an era in which we are all entangled with other species in the process of living and dying — driven by non-hierarchical human and non-human processes. Since our thoughts create our feelings, which in turn determine our actions, I believe that Post-Anthropocentric thinking can catalyse a socio-political and cultural paradigm shift.

A lexicon for Post-Anthropocentric thinking:

MULTI-SPECIES LIVING: is when we make our lives within communities who give equal value to the needs and desires of other living and non-living entities. Coined by cultural theorist, Donna Harraway as an ‘ongoing, non-innocent, interrogative, multispecies getting on together’[3].

NON-HIERARCHICAL HUMAN PROCESSES: effectively remove humans from the top of the decision-making pyramid on planet Earth.

NON-HUMAN PROCESSES: refers to all the systems that humans are not involved in, such as plant life’s process of photosynthesis.

COLLECTIVE LIVING AND DYING PRACTICES: create a shared thinking/ feeling/sensing that life and death are very close to one another and inexplicably linked.

THINKING-WITH: the process of considering and/or reasoning from multiple perspectivesiinfluenced Haraway and post-humanist thinker Rosi Braidotti’s teachings on the power of becoming with human and nonhuman entities.

It is vital now to bring this discourse into the performing arts as a way to better understand and care for the global ecology.

Renae Shadler and Roland Walter, a dancer with full-body spastic paralysis, in SKIN a new duet in-development. | Image by Ronald Spratte

The Performing Arts are a potent political platform that can embrace imagination to devise new futures. As artists, we have highly trained and powerful imaginations which can ‘feel the pores of our skin breathing’ and ‘see a direct line of energy running between a tree and neighbouring stone’. ‘Imagination is thinking of something that you are not seeing.’[4] Imagination is the next step between where we are, where we come from and the future. One of Ecopsychology’s[5] pioneers Laura Sewall writes, “particularly in an age of disembodiment and disenchantment, sensing our embeddedness within the biosphere may be practiced with imagination […] It produces a notable, sensual experience of being part of, within”[6].

More specifically, the moving body on stage is ephemeral and primal. Dance is unique because it does not require a shared understanding of language or form. It is created between humans and non-humans in the present, the here and now. Therefore, dance is well fit to comment on the world as it is. By embodying the imagination of the artist, dance can reframe the present and prefigure the world as it could be.

Realising this entangled future, I want to live ‘part of and within’, which is what drives my choreographic practice. I choose to share and co-create my work with people both onstage and through a physical participatory practice. I am aware that I reflect an ideal, and that letting go of anthropocentric privileges is complex and uncomfortable. I am in between knowing and not knowing. From this place I will simply share with you where I come from and where I am now... ‘I speak from where I stand.’[7]

I encourage you to read with soft eyes. Be drawn into my personal context and artistic practice, to let it intermingle with your own, as we collectively deepen our ecological embeddedness.

Maggie Brown in ‘Can You See What We See?’ a site-responsive walking work by Renae Shadler at Junction Arts Festival. | Image by Chris Crerar

Jumping on the environmental bandwagon

I have colleagues who express a concern that dance gets ‘hijacked’ as a vehicle for social change at the expense of artistic integrity. Since the early 90’s dance in Australia has been whipped up by government initiatives; implemented in prison rehabilitation programs, used to advocate for gender equality, has championed bodies of mixed-ability and now serves as a tool for communicating the effects of climate change.

While I appreciate the argument and acknowledge the need for high quality artistic research, I am in favour of artistic practices that respond to, and spark conversations about real-world problems. As humans one of our inherent responsibilities is to use whatever means available to bring awareness to the looming environmental collapse. It is important to resist the fear of ‘jumping on the environmental bandwagon’ and instead genuinely and rigorously apply artistic practice to the current discourse.

Realising Post-Anthropocentric thinking in choreography

I believe the difficulty and urgency of communicating the complex problems of a changing climate can be addressed by embodied and immersive performance. Dance has the potential to bring audiences closer to a nuanced and sensual understanding of ecological embeddedness. Below are some of the threads to my artistic practice that I have collected, shaped and been affected by over the years. This may be valuable for readers to have a tangible pathway towards realising Post-Anthropocentric (henceforth, PA) thinking in choreography.

SF Storytelling

SF storytelling is an entanglement of criss-crossing narratives that invite non-humans to assume the role of storyteller. Coined by Haraway, “SF is a sign for science fiction, speculative fabulation, science fact and also, string figures”[8]. SF champions that “it matters what thoughts think thoughts; it matters what stories tell stories”[9]. It is a powerful tool because it not only takes into account the genealogy and context of the often-human speaker, it also introduces the possibility of connecting, empathising and conversing with other species and entities.

Using SF in the creation of new work has led me to think-with the migration of Arctic Terns, small birds that fly annually from their Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic and back again. At times, it has called me to embody the story of warm water which causes human muscle tension to relax, our skin to wrinkle and reshape earth’s crust. SF effectively hones how and what I choose to listen to, respond to and articulate through my practice.

Yarning, ‘we are land and land is us’

I see a direct link between Haraway’s SF storytelling and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders’ ‘yarning’ culture. Yarning is a collective storytelling practice that embraces our connection to each other, the land and spirituality. It often involves people chatting in a seated circle on the ground. I feel an urgent calling to listen more deeply to Indigenous cosmological perspectives, especially during the current environmental crisis.

I was taught yarning as a young child. My mother Deborah Shadler was a primary school teacher who owned and operated Arminui Art Gallery — the first Indigenous Australian gallery in my hometown of Bunbury, regional Western Australia. Half of my childhood home was dedicated to the gallery, with my mother’s room situated at one end, living area at the other and gallery in the middle.

Arminui Art hosted regular traditional Indigenous events, such as smoking ceremonies and corroborees by visiting artists. My ‘Aunty Peggy’ (Peggy Rockman Napaljarri) is a Warlpiri-speaking Indigenous artist from Lajamanu, Australia’s Western Desert region. At age five, she told me that ‘we are land and land is us’. The concept wasn’t said to be questioned, or theorised, it was an “is” — set in stone and passed through generations.

‘Aunty Peggy’ (Peggy Rockman Napaljarri) at Renae’s family home/Arminui Art Gallery, AU 2016 | Image by Deborah Shadler

My recognition that land and humans are innately connected was strengthened through Goobalathaldin Dick Roughsey’s children’s books that retell traditional First Nation Australian Dream-Time stories. Roughsey (ca. 1920–1985) was an Indigenous Australian Lardil artist and author from Mornington Island, Queensland. He was fondly referred to by my mother as her ‘kinship’ Grandfather. The stories tell of multi-species living and dying practices; such as the dreamtime devil-dingo, Gaiya, who was domesticated to become man’s friend and helper, or the rainbow serpent who carved out the waterways.

Praxis

I am theoretically driven by contemporary philosophers, primarily female, working within the PA discourse; New Materialism (Jane Bennett), the self-organizing powers of nonhuman processes (Donna Haraway), Posthumanism (Rosi Braidotti) and Ecological Perception (Laura Sewall), among others. In performance I’m searching for concrete and accessible ways to facilitate embodied conversations rooted in theory and to move thinking forward through choreographic frameworks.

Backwards Walking

My main entry point for developing sensitised PA movement vocabularies is ‘backwards walking meditation’. This practice is an ancient Chinese Qigong meditation that enables one to lean into their own strength and the core support of the backbone. The technique also encourages people to slow down as we become more sensitised and cautious of the unknown space behind us. Backwards walking activates somatic thinking, enabling an oscillation between ‘the micro’ within our cellular selves, and ‘the macro’ of our greater social, spatial and geographical context.

Clowning

To enable new ways of embracing all entities we must first acknowledge where we stand, create an aberration, and then embody a new becoming. This pathway emerged through my learning with Philippe Gaulier, a French master in clown teaching. Gaulier teaches ‘the angle of aberrations’, an aberration being a departure from what is normal, usual or expected.

“Like an owl at dawn, an owl which always ponders whether to look at the rising sun or earth which grows bright, an owl which has never known exactly where to look and has always thought ‘If I look at the rising sun, doubtless I won’t see the cow as it grows bright. If I look too much at the cow, I won’t appreciate its beauty in the light dawn’. I teach an impossibility of looking: as if always, somewhere else, another image was going to appear. To simplify, I will tell you: I teach the angle of aberrations.”[10]

Gaulier’s constantly shifting perspective is a key to successfully alternating storytellers and engaging in the sometimes-playful practice of thinking-with. I believe PA thinking is best achieved through the clowns’ curiosity and contagious warmth, sensitivity and humour.

Collaborating with the sciences

For me the strength of PA lies in its non-linear and multifaceted approach to living and dying. This is often difficult to articulate to audiences and/or participants. Therefore, I find it valuable to cross-pollinate with the sciences, and other disciplines, to develop concrete entry points.

In 2017 I co-initiated Susurrus performance group with Finnish dancer/choreographer Maria Nurmela. For the last 18 months we have been collaborating with the Aerocene Foundation. Initiated by visual artist Tomás Saraceno, the Aerocene Foundation is an open source community leading the way in fossil-free air travel research. The core of the foundation is the Aerocene Explorer, a lightweight 6mx8m solar-powered sculpture that is inflated by the air, lifted only by the sun and carried by the wind. The Aerocene Explorer makes visible the invisible materials surrounding us, which creates a poetic and tangible entry into environmental discourses.

Susurrus group launching the Aerocene Explorer at Hellerau: European Center for the Arts Dresden. | Image by Maria Nurmela

Susurrus performance group has been hosting community launches of the Aerocene Explorer and is currently developing a new performance work for stage that is inspired by these ethereal and aerial, soulful, moving/dancing membranes.

As artists we can begin to deconstruct our archaic and hierarchical understanding of the Anthropocene, which elevates humans above the rest of the biosphere. To achieve this, we must engage in a trans-disciplinary process of cross-fertilisation and acknowledge that “it matters what thoughts think thoughts; it matters what stories tell stories” [11].

Multiple interpretations, entities and recreations of stories, movements and “materialities” can weave together to create a complex, uncomfortable and sometimes joyful matrix. Embodied interrelations connect spaces, our human and ‘more than human’ bodies, entangling us all in the process of thinking-with.

[1] Manning, E. 2013. Always More Than One: Individuation’s Dance. Duke Press.

[2] I use the term ‘post’ to refer to ‘after’. In the near future I foresee this way of thinking will have a new label completely void of any Anthropocentric associations. For now, in order to contextualise my debate, I will refer to it as the post-Anthropocentric thinking.

[3] [8] [9] [11] Harraway, D. 2016. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.

[4] Cvejic, B. 2018. ‘Imagining and Feigning, Movement.’ Movement Research Performance Journal 51: 36-47. [5] Ecopsychology studies the relationship between human beings and the natural world through ecological and psychological principles.

[6] Sewall, L. 1999. Sight and sensibility. New York: Tarcher/Putnam.

[7] Braidotti, R. 2013. The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013.

[8] [9] Harraway, D. 2016. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.

[10] Gaulier, P. 2007. Mes pensées sur le théâtre : ex Le Gégeneur = My thoughts on theatre : ex The Tormentor. Éditions Filmiko.

RENAE SHADLER

Renae Shadler is an independent choreographer and dancer based between Melbourne and Berlin. She works across a variety of contexts; from dance on stage and major festivals, to museum events and outdoor public engagement projects. Shadler is committed to developing and creating work across Western Europe, regional Australia and Melbourne, inviting international collaborators to teach/perform in Australia as well as initiating independent projects. Her current co-productions include SKIN a dance duet with Roland Walter, a German dancer with full-body spastic paraplegia, and the Susurrus project (2017- ongoing ) initiated with Finnish choreographer Maria Nurmela.

Susurrus has been performed multiple times including at Tomas Saraceno´s exhibition ON AIR at the Palais de Tokyo Museum (Paris, 2018). In 2012 Shadler founded Renae Shadler & Collaborators. The group create interdisciplinary performance experiences that engage creatively with the site and are developed in collaboration with touring artists and local participants. Past projects have been presented in train stations, city squares and in 2015 represented Australia at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design & Space.

Renae also works as a performer and acting coach with leading theater and dance companies such as Alexandra Pirici (Romania), Dewey Dell (Italy) and Australian companies; PVI Collective, Triage Live Art Collective, Maybe_Together and Blackhole Theater. She was also the acting coach on ‘Asobi’ by Koari Ito produced by Les Ballets C de la B (Belgium, 2013).