Emma Boutet

This is an autoethnographic video drawing upon personal experiences, exploring possibilities of movement, alternative points of contact, expression, vulnerability, empowerment, catharsis, healing, realigning. 

This was created alone, from a self-reflexive, feminist perspective – allowing myself, as a woman, to take up space in the world / transcend imposed / perceived / physical / emotional / relational / locational constraints within contained spaces combined with outdoor field recordings. 

Asking: 

What happens when the site becomes the point of contact?

How do embodied experiences inform motion and emotion?

How does dance liberate us? How can this be translated in art / life?

How can stillness create dynamic energy?

How does the crossover of private / public space effect affect?

Location:

Field recording: Chelsea Harbour, London

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

Performed with no prior instruction or preparation, and no words exchanged during the interaction - the most participants were told before starting was: "You already know what to do."

Focusing on haptics, touch and tactility through non-visual, experiential activation of the Tate space and the audience’s somatic sensory system - creating a relational connection and unspoken dialogue between artist, audience, time and space. 

Visual and verbal constraints create a deeper connection by blocking distractions, heightening senses, and enhancing connection with the body, the experience, the movements and moments of non-verbal, non-visual communication through touch alone.

Centred on listening through tactility, empathy through embrace, care through attention, serenity through noise, sensitivity through darkness, balance through flux, improvisation through response, trust through touch.

Both participant and artist can assume feminine or masculine roles within this dance - listening to and/or guiding movements intuitively and instinctively. Fluidity of gender roles is traditionally inherent in Tango - where men learned the woman’s role, and women learned the man’s role - with no power hierarchy implied by the typical Western dance terms: ‘leader’ and ‘follower’.

Credits:

Tate Modern documentation: Ruishuke Chen @ruishuke

Test 1 participation: Hannah Mason @hannahcharlotteart

Test 2 participation: Blake Hart-Wilson @blakehartwilson

Locations:

Tate Modern, London

RCA Battersea South, London

RCA Woo Building, London

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

Observing the freedom found in improvisation, the movement of many bodies within a space, and the childlike nature of pure dance. Also noticing the constraint within my own body - despite having danced for twenty years - reminding me of the principle of a 'point of contact' necessary within my work.

Credits:

Workshop facilitator: Elina Akhmatova

Workshop provider: Independent Dance

Location:

Siobhan Davies Dance Studios, London

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

This piece captures the Tango Embrace - the moment when two worlds meet.

First, connecting with your own body, then with the ground, then with your environment (space and sound), and finally, with your partner - through haptic tones of touch, the rise and fall of the breath, connecting through the heart, with the Self.

Now, the dance begins.

Thinking through relational qualities of social dance as a metaphor for the human condition; the affects and effects of non-visual experiences, and the potential of somatic movement practices.

Considering the meaning and impact of connection with the body, with the Self, and with others - in a world where we are increasingly disconnected, dislocated and isolated from each other - not only through lockdowns, but also through technological, psychological and socio-political factors affecting human beings in the world we live in today.

Credits:

Participation: Rizpah Amadasun

@rizpah.amadasun

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

Observing and participating in outdoor Tango by the River Thames. Reflecting on the social constructs, visibility and invisibility, moments of connection and synchronicity, and the timeless nature of this dance.

Questioning the evolution of Tango from the ‘Golden Era’, when it could be found in the streets of Buenos Aires, shared amongst all, to how it is now shared in contemporary Western culture. The contemporary ‘elitist evolution’ of Tango prevents it from being learned, enjoyed and appreciated by people as a part of everyday life - with classes, practicas and milongas being far more expensive, and less numerous or welcoming to beginners and newcomers than typical Latin counterparts, such as Salsa and Bachata.

How could Tango’s social dance once again become embedded within society as a normal part of life?

How could its timeless nature allow it to once again become visible and accessible to all?

Credits:

Organisers: Tango on the Thames

Location:

Battersea Reach, Thames River, London

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

Paying homage to the classic film Dirty Dancing - a personal inspiration since an early age, which I never imagined I would embody by unknowingly recreating it in real life when I grew up. Autoethnography and improvisation in this playful piece draw directly upon personal experience: dancing in the legendary music venue Ronnie Scott's in Soho, London - a site with incredible specificity, history and energy. The original film explores and critiques class, gender, sensuality, womanhood, freedom, individuality and the evolution of dance into a celebration of self.

Completely unaware I was being filmed while dancing - this highlights how the 'point of contact' between bodies allows for complete immersion and focused attention to embodied experience vs external viewers, within the relational context of social dance’s semi-anonymity within semi-public domains.

Social dance inherently involves a multiplicity of close encounters - highlighting potentially problematic relational territories, 'poly' approaches to perpetually distanced intimacy, incongruences between viewer perception versus reality for dancers, and the paradox of intimacy between strangers.

Asking:

What memories shape our lives from an early age / played a significant role in who we become? 

How do sites hold memories? Of movement / music / frequencies / atmosphere / ambience / energy / experiences?

How to navigate the levels of close contact in dance while in a monogamous loving relationship? 

How to challenge preconceptions / emerging trends / unattainable ideals of relationships in contemporary society?

What can we learn / reconsider about relationships through the semi-anonymity / multiplicity of potentialities for connection in social dance? 

Credits:

Dancing: Simon, Emma Boutet

Filming: Sasha 

Venue: Upstairs @ Ronnie Scott’s

Music: 'Be My Baby' by The Ronettes (solo by Ronnie) on RCA Records

Location:

Ronnie Scott's, Soho, London 

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

Working with my own dancing to experience and observe the different focal points of attention - both while dancing and while watching dancing.

The full body awareness required to synchronise at speed prevents thinking about anything else while in motion - creating stillness through movement.

Credits:

Dancing: Ian, Emma Boutet

Filming: Nadine Claire

Location:

Salsa Temple, London

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

This chance encounter with thousands of soldiers rehearsing a 'dance of power' at 3am in the streets of London shows how dance / movement practices can be weaponised and used in / on masses.

Soldiers can be seen shuffling and waddling into positions, under the command of their ‘choreographer’ - in preparation for the coronation, bringing to mind colonialism, global power relations, absurdity and rigmarole, human imperfection and authority over citizens.

Location:

Whitechapel, London

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

This is why I keep bringing dance into my work.

It is the thing that reaches the very depths of my soul.

It makes my Heart happy.

It makes my body sing.

It centres me.

It grounds me.

It lets me fly.

It awakens and calms my spirit.

It sets my mind free.

It is my therapy

and my celebration.

It is my meditation.

It is the pouring out of passion.

It is intensity, power, elegance, precision.

It is feeling.

It is listening.

It is a conversation.

It is my inner dialogue.

It satisfies

and is insatiable.

It is the quiet calling

and the loud roar.

It is the tenderness

and the wildness.

It is the meeting of yourself.

It is the meeting of another.

It is a playground.

A freefall.

A trusting in the moment.

It is a moment.

It is fleeting, liminal.

It is the space between.

It is everything.

And more.

Credits:

Dancers: Farshad Piro, Emma Boutet

Filming: Fusion Têkêlê

Location:

Soho Bar, Liverpool, UK

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art

This visual and multi-format archive is dedicated to capturing what captures my attention - in a space that is independent of the external influences, pressures and expectations of social media.

It is something that helps me to not only publish, but also to recall research that would otherwise be forgotten - buried in sketchbooks and hard drives, or procrastinated upon posting until it gathers digital dust…

My research / practice has been exploring: dance art, performance, politics of performance / activist art, epigenetics, kinesthetic empathy, attachment theory, affective touch, tactility, touch deprivation / starvation, community, 'skinship', feminism, feminine, gender power dynamics, relational encounters, relationship dynamics / evolution / substitutes, windows as ‘permeable membranes’ vs the wall of a contained studio / space, movement / balance practices in public places, alienation, motion/emotion, neuroscience, cognitive behavioural science, core beliefs/limitations, reprogramming subconscious mind, improvisation vs choreography, phenomenology, immateriality, archives, proxemics, intimacy between strangers, empathy, vulnerability, consent in social dance, lo-fi / ‘no-fi’ methodologies, non-object / non-verbal / non-visual, intuition, Flaneuse, personal as political, the Art/Life Divide, callisthenics, mind-body duality fallacy, art/life divide, freedom /constraint, somatic pluralities, authenticity, swarm theory, snowball effect, liminality, inter/anti-disciplinary practice, The Tango Embrace, Argentinian Tango, Urban Kizomba, Cuban Salsa and Contact Improvisation.

emmaboutet.com

@emmaboutet.art