Light, action and expression
Art can have a way of communicating with impact what can’t be communicated in words.
Wayne McGregor: Infinite Bodies
The exhibition Wayne McGregor: Infinite Bodies (the work, in collaboration with Random International and musician Max Richter, of super-talented choreographer Wayne McGregor), showing at Somerset House in London, features – amongst other exhibits – dancers from Company Wayne McGregor rehearsing, performing, and experimenting in an interactive three-dimensional installation.
The boundary between audience and performance
The experience of witnessing dancers activating light in a bespoke installation, in a small space, was, for me, one of being part of the blurry boundary between audience and performance, and indeed of actually being part of the performance.
In the multi-faceted piece that I had the privilege of watching, two dancers both performed and became instruments, each on one side of a brass grid of 10,000 LED lights that reflected and echoed the movements of the dancers (and of the visitors). They seemed to me to be exploring, or perhaps enquiring into, the space, the range of movement and the possibilities of expression open to them.
I found the nature of the production (or was it an experiment?) gripping and fascinating. Yes, the lights mimicked the dancers – but the dancers also seemed to mimic the lights. In their elegance, gracefulness and humanness the contrast was powerful between the dancers and the artificiality of the technology, albeit a technology that was responsive to those humans. Both human and technological were essential to the character of this piece of art.
Separation and unification
Dancing either side of the brass grid, each was separated from the other, and yet seemed connected in relationship with the other. At a certain point they actually met and danced together, each unquestionably responsive to, and dependent on, the other, and each leading the other – and leading the lights. They seemed to be both separated and unified by the dynamism of those lights.
They demonstrated versatility and precision, strength and flexibility (both physical and almost spiritual), responsiveness and autonomy.
A metaphor for the best leadership
It occurred to me that I was perhaps watching – and was part of – a demonstration of, or metaphor for, some of the features of the best leadership: meticulously prepared so as to be precise in enactment and yet sensitive in response, capitalising on the potential of technology and yet deeply human, both collaborative and independent, responsive to what was emergent and yet clear on boundaries, sensitive to what lay beyond those boundaries and reflective of what was happening within them.
The show demonstrates the interdependence of illumination and human, and the need for thousands of lights and a hugely innovative multifaceted production, in order to create something unique as a product of the enthusiasm for collaboration that characterises McGregor’s work.
The need for movement
I’m reflecting too on the nature of movement, flex and dynamism, and their role in delivering, assuring and maintaining leadership, not to mention the infinite need for creativity and light (both literal and figurative).
Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash
