[中][ENG] iCoDaCo的三個啟示 Three Cs Inspired by iCoDaCo

編按：兩年一度的iCoDaCo始於2012年，由歐洲舞團ilDance主辦。此舞蹈藝術交流計劃由藝術家主導、以現代舞作為主軸。而參與計劃的藝術家來至世界各地，建立一個共同創作社群。以下為此文作者在2018年8月22日出席太古坊ArtisTree舉行的iCoDaCo以「衍變」（Transformation）為題的公開試演後的一些思考。

Editor’s Note: iCoDaCo (International Contemporary Dance Collective) is a biennial artist led intercultural exchange project within the landscape of contemporary dance. The collaborative project was first initiated by the Gothenburg (Sweden) based international company and organization - ilDance, in 2012. The following reflection is written by an attendee of the iCoDaCo showcase which themed Transformation at Taikoo Place ArtisTree.

（後排左起）Lee Brummer, Eddie Ladd, Weronika Pelczynska, Imre Vass；（前）梅卓燕 (Clockwise from top left) Lee Brummer, Eddie Ladd, Weronika Pelczynska, Imre Vass, Mui Cheuk-yin 圖片由Swire Properties’ ArtisTree提供 Photo provided by Swire Properties’ ArtisTree

一、共同體（Collective） 1. Collective

iCoDaCo（國際當代舞共同體，International Contemporary Dance Collective）在2012年成立，資源提供方是Creative Europe Programme。每兩年，來自不同國家的藝術家組成新的共同體版本，進行跨文化交流，輪流在成員的家鄉城市駐場創作及演出。今年iCoDaCo來到了成員梅卓燕的城市——香港，讓我們有機會一睹她與另外四位成員，包括來自瑞典的 Lee Brummer、威爾斯的Eddie Ladd、波蘭的Weronkia Pelczynska，以及匈牙利的 Imre Vass，的演出。今屆的第六位成員李偉能，因為海外演出行程未能出席在香港的呈現。

iCoDaCo (International Contemporary Dance Collective), first initiated in 2012, is a collective of international choreographers and dance artists who come together every two years on an intercultural exchange project, the output of which is a rotational residency and performance in the host countries of the collective members. Funded predominantly by “Creative Europe Programme” of the EU, in 2018 iCoDaCo travels to Hong Kong, the hometown of member Mui Cheuk-yin. Along with her are other core collective members, namely Lee Brummer from Sweden, Eddie Ladd from Wales, Weronkia Pelczynska from Poland, and Imre Vass from Hungary. Joseph Lee from Hong Kong, the 6th participating choreographer in this iteration, was absent from the presentation due to a tour schedule clash.

iCoDaCo網站上是這樣寫的：「每兩年，新的共同體由不同國藉的藝術家組成。這一個令人興奮的小社會（創意群體）象徵（我們身處的）的大社會。」（Every two years a new collective of international choreographers and dance artists are gathered together to form an exciting micro society [creative community] that functions as a symbolic representation of the macrocosmos [the world we live in] ）共同體沒有編舞或導演頭兒，藝術家們本着「且看如何」的好奇投身其中。這麼一來，我會把iCoDaCo想象成一種對烏托邦的經營：如果人們都抱持開放且信任，那麼這個世界的你和我，會否不那麼涇渭分明？

The iCoDaCo website says that “every two years a new collective of international choreographers and dance artists are gathered together to form an exciting micro society (creative community) that functions as a symbolic representation of the macrocosmos (the world we live in).” There isn’t a head choreographer or director in the group. Artists throw themselves in, powered by the curiosity of what comes out of that. In this sense iCoDaCo serves as a utopian enterprise: if people could do this in a creative community, will they act similarly in a world of MEs vs YOUs?

在全球化成為了常態的今天，人們經常身處兩種力量的拉扯之中：一方面渴望建立植根於土地的身份，在歸屬感中安身，在從無間斷的資訊洪流中抓緊可堪記下的畫面；另一方面渴望走遍世界，與同代人連結起來。我們應該如何在今天的「共同體」框架下，看待iCoDaCo的短期跨國連結？

With globalization becoming the norm instead of exception, we find ourselves torn between two forces: one the craving for place-bound identity, for a sense of belonging, and for the firm hold of steady images amidst the non-stop flux of information. On the other hand, there is the desire to be transported across countries so that we connect with our contemporaries. How does the temporary integration across geographical boundaries of iCoDaCo members contribute to the concept of “collective”?

按8月22日的呈現，以及8月18日與藝術家們的對話看來，香港版本似乎更適合視之為一次為表演而作的協力。這觀感不含貶義，亦很可能是源於我對iCoDaCo的舊項目認識不足有關。我所理解的共同體需要集體性：加入之前成員是獨立個體，加入之後成為了以「我們」為單位的整體。iCoDaCo的兩難是：雖然定性自己為共同體，它卻必須強調成員的跨文化背景和跨國藉的獨立性為特色，這甚至是它獲得資助和巡迴駐場的原因。除了並置成員的不同之處、將之展示予各地觀眾之外，iCoDaCo還可以利用共同體的群體力量，在全球當代舞界興波助瀾嗎？

Without the least intention of being derogatory, based on the presentation on 22nd August and the discussion I had with the artists on the 18th, the Hong Kong iteration came across to me more like a collaborative presentation and I really wish that this perception was misguided by my limited knowledge of what has been done since 2012. People enter collectives as individuals and come out as part of an “individ-able” whole. The paradox of iCoDaCo is that while it positions itself as a collective, it has to emphasize the artists’ individuality in order to stress its cross-cultural, cross-background characteristic, which may or may not be its edge for attracting funding and travel opportunities. Besides juxtaposing differences and making them visible to audiences in different cities, what else can iCoDaCo do as one powerful mass in the context of contemporary dance?

圖片由Swire Properties’ ArtisTree提供

Photo provided by Swire Properties’ ArtisTree

二、同理心（Compassion）

2. Compassion

8月22日題為《衍變》的呈現，採用結構即興形式，由開始時七分鐘的第一段，漸次遞減成六、五、四分鐘，到最後以一分鐘段落作結。五位藝術家利用在香港駐場期間做過的練習以及所得的發現，處理舞蹈的核心問題之一：動作動機。時間長度會否／如何影響舞者發現自己的直覺？經驗的累積能否抗禦時間愈來愈短的催迫感？

The presentation on the 22nd, titled Transformation, was a structured improvisation comprised of sessions lasting 7, 6, 5 minutes and so on until the final session of one minute. By employing the exercises, materials and discoveries of the ten-day residency in Hong Kong, five artists explored the choreographic problem of movement motivation. How does time duration impact the identification of motivational impulse? Will the accumulation of experiences through the sessions counteract the shortening of their durations?

要看出呈現的誠意和藝術意義的話，我認為必須訴諸同理心。對一群相處只有十天的同業拋開禮儀及自我防禦，對成年人來說已經夠難了，何況還要坦蕩蕩地誠實。誠然，過去兩年他們持續透過視像會議溝通，但期間所缺的肉體聚集，正正是舞蹈發生的原始動力。想到這一點，我著實因為五位共同體成員在呈現中棄「舞」而專注回應夥伴存在而感動。Eddie Ladd甚至直言她已不再有興趣跳舞，只喜歡負重訓練，更邀請觀眾與她一起深呼吸。把注意力投在身體最根源的動作及其韻律的一剎，會否讓觀眾體會舞蹈這一門關於「動」的藝術，何以為每個生命體共感？

I propose to approach the presentation with a sense of compassion. It is hard enough for adults to get over etiquettes and self-defence in a group of colleagues with whom you have only spent ten days, let alone being honest and hence vulnerable. Yes, they had talked a lot over the Internet for the past couple of years but the huddling of bodies was missing, one thing which is critically fundamental to dance. Imagining myself in that position, I was really touched to see how these seasoned dance artists chose not to show us their dancey techniques but their alertness to the presence of the others. Eddie Ladd even told the audience that she was no longer interested in dancing. What she enjoyed most now was weight-training. She then invited audience members to inhale and exhale together. By drawing attention to the body’s most fundamental movement and its rhythm, would we be reminded as to why dance, the art of movement, resonates in every living body?

三、資本主義（Capitalism）

3. Capitalism

以下要說的對監製們（香港的黃羨彤、威爾斯的Gwyn Emberton以及波蘭的Marta Wolowiec）的功勞可能大不敬：太古坊ArtisTree看來並不是合適場地──尤其是考慮到呈現的形式以及「身體」在其中的重要性。

At the risk of sounding disrespectful to the hard work the producers (Jacqueline Wong from Hong Kong, Gwyn Emberton from Wales, Marta Wolowiec from Poland) had put into the touring, I am not sure if ArtisTree is the appropriate venue to support the format of, and more critically the celebration of the body in the presentation.

場地的設定是傳統的演區與觀眾席相對，不論是物理距離還是空間格局上的「對陣」，都不利於觀眾體會即興表演者如何捕捉流動的能量。在附近上班的白領階層觀眾，如果對即興演出不熟悉的話，會更難以投入。

The set-up of the venue came in the conventional way of performing area vs audience block. That distance and the “me vs you” positioning was, in my mind, unconducive to the appreciation of how improvisational performers responded to flowing energy. Considering some of the audience members were office workers unfamiliar to the presentation format, the set-up rendered them distanced and detached.

入場觀眾都獲贈精美餐盒，內有包括和牛以及法式macaron的豪華小食。夾附的餐單（或場刊）只有英文，形容演出為「每天所需營養」，由藝術家、監製以及厨師共同組成的「美食團隊」提供。餐單上的「品嚐須知」似是為管理期望而寫。餐單、場地設定、以藝術家的國藉混雜為賣點的「文化匯聚」包裝，把文化生產一股腦兒包攬於資本主義邏輯之下。此間的當代舞，順應着既有的社會秩序，扛上「他者」身份為上班族提供午休娛樂。誰管當代舞是甚麼？不過是另一堆一瞬即逝消費影像罷了。

Every audience member was given a decent lunch box with fancy finger food including wagyu beef and mini macarons. The accompanying menu-cum-playbill described the event as “daily nutrition” and the artists, producers and chef as the “culinary team.” There were “tasting notes” to manage expectations. The menu, the venue set-up, the nationality line-up of artists and hence the “cultural mix” packaging overshadowed cultural production under the logic of capitalist circulation. Contemporary dance here was presented as a lunch-time spectacular, a reproduction of the social order of difference and otherness. Contemporary dance, or whatever it is called, was but the supply of more ephemeral images for faster capital flow and accumulation.

也難怪地產商。這種在消費城市如香港，切合價值觀、語話結構、受眾期望的推廣策略，被視之為理所當然。某程度上，地產商對「不受控」的即興演出所持的開放態度，甚至應獲得嘉許。至於如何堅守資源和不妥協之間的界線，我認為文化工作者責無旁貸，而8月22日的呈現，可視為優良案例。

One cannot really blame the property developer for this marketing strategy, which is but the natural outcome of the logic, language, value judgment and assumed expectation in a city of consumption such as Hong Kong. In a sense, the property developer should even be recognized for its openess to the “risk” associated with improvisation. I think it really is the responsibility of cultural practitioners to insist on the ownership of drawing the line between resources and dissonance. I see the presentation on the 22nd as a beautiful example of that.

=== 李海燕 Joanna Lee

寫字人、編書人、創作又製作的人。

Art critic, editor, and producer.