One of the main points the author makes in this article is that perception is a process, and the viewer cannot be separated from that which is being perceived. Another myth that the author attempts to undermine is that the arts can be divided into two distinct categories: the spatial and the temporal. Both of these arguments have strong implications for ourselves as choreographers, because we must see that what we are creating is not a single “objective” product, but a collaboration that is unfolding within a specific context.A particularly powerful idea that came out of this text is that repetition as a tool is useful because it allows the same phrase to take on new meanings or to reveal new intentions when viewed in relation to a different context.This was definitely evident in our practice with accumulation on Tuesday evening.Each time a movement section was shown it was colored by the changing spectrum of movement that came before and after it.The author described this as “relationships that sum up and carry forward” (pp.172).
This brings me to a question that I have been personally trying to make sense of: what role does memory play in perception and understanding? On page 177 the author points out that revelation is not the discovery of something new, but the realization that something we thought we knew so well was not what we had initially assumed it to be.It is implied then that there is a need to constantly return to the thing.However we must be wary of always returning along the same path, because habituation can hide details in monotony.Therefore we must constantly challenge ourselves to re-direct our attention; our perception is not static but constantly moving—a series of “comings and goings rather than arrivals” (pp.185).