ÉTUDE SCORE SYSTEM — FORMAL STRUCTURES & BONUSES

ÉTUDE SCORE SYSTEM

FUNCTION

The étude was a study, short compositional experiment, test of one structural idea, generator of performance material and way to observe transformation. It could later be cut, altered or combined; it was not necessarily a miniature finished performance.

FORMAL STRUCTURE

Each task contained a mandatory structure offering direction, limitation, readability, common terms for feedback and comparison between solutions.

BONUSES

Optional bonuses included mermaid, panic, repeated sound, repeated movement, unusual object, strong smell, magical place, birds, humiliation, push and pull, all-fours movement, sudden stillness, special body part and live video. The bonus did not replace the core task.

“Use them if they serve the piece. Don’t force it.”

ÉTUDE 1 — MISPLACED REACTION

A reaction generated by one event is redirected toward another subject.

CORE: DISPLACEMENT.

ÉTUDE 2 — ACTION DISRUPTED

A soloist begins an action; a group passes; afterward the soloist cannot continue in the same way.

CORE: IRREVERSIBLE CONTACT.

ÉTUDE 3 — COMPLEX SIMPLICITY

A simple action is performed through an excessively complex process.

CORE: METHOD EXCEEDS TASK.

ÉTUDE 4 — BUTTERFLY EFFECT

A small initial event generates a much larger later consequence.

CORE: PROPAGATION.

ÉTUDE 5 — 0–100

A situation grows from minimum to maximum, decreases or follows another scale pattern.

CORE: ESCALATION / CULMINATION.

COMMON QUESTIONS

• What is the initial state?
• What is the trigger?
• What changes?
• What is the consequence?
• Where is the culmination?
• What remains afterward?
• Which bonus serves the structure?
• Which bonus distracts from it?
• Is the action readable without verbal explanation?
• Can the material survive editing?

STRUCTURAL PROGRESSION

REACTION

→ DISRUPTION

→ COMPLICATION

→ PROPAGATION

→ SCALE.