French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / Dance
French term or phrase:en ouvrant plus encore à l’avant corporel de soi
This is the beginning of a description by a choreogapher of her piece.
I don't understand the grammatical construction.
Does it parse as "ouvrant à l’avant" ? Or is it "l’avant corporel"?
What does any of this sentence mean?
Any help will be appreciated. The author is unavailable.
The beginning of the texte:
"Pièce à faire sourire Einstein.
Derrière la lentille invisible, un laboratoire d’yeux observe la scène. Chacun filtre, zoome et enregistre à sa guise. Prises sur le vif d’un présent absolu, elles étirent l’espace temporel en ouvrant plus encore à l’avant corporel de soi les libertés de mouvement. Il pourrait s’agir d’une lettre ouverte à la terre pour lui annoncer le sentiment de légèreté retrouvé."
Explanation: As in "opening up further possibilities for the pre-corporal self to experience freedom of movement"
This would be my take on it: not referring to a physical part of the body, but a non-body related dimension of the self, which of course doesn't seem to make sense with the "freedom of movement", but since Einstein is cited, it could be seen in terms of energies...
My assumption is that "elles" refers to the danseuses in the piece - there are only women performers. There is no other possible plural feminine that I can see.
Since this "laboratory of eyes" behind the "invisible lens" is stretching time to increase the freedom of movement etc, I would say there are definitely metaphysical and physical aspects to this.
I really don't think it's talking about a purely physical act, but something far more metaphysical - not uncommon in texts about the arts. I like Helen's last two notes, about the "sense of self that precedes the physical", I think that is the right path to go down.
Could this simply be about opening up the chest and diaphragm by relaxing the shoulders and increasing lung capacity, by holding the shoulders back and the back straight, to increase the gap between the front of the ribcage and the pelvis?
Something like they are stretching the temporal experience of space by further expanding their freedom of movement by drawing on their sense of self which precedes the physical. Not a great translation - just a proposition to aid comprehension...
I would suggest that the avant-corporel is something belonging to the mind, the thought before it becomes movement. People can indicate before moving just what the following movement might or will be.
Ah, les textes d'artistes qui ne veulent rien dire!
...pour moi, ça peut signifier "un espace devant le corps", cet espace pouvant être à la fois concret (celui de la scène) et abstrait (un espace psychologique où le corps se projette d'avance).
Quoi qu'il en soit, bon courage, David!
It's "avant corporel".
"By opening still larger, at one's body front, the freedom of movement".
That's how it parses, and what it means (if it means anything), though a bad translation of mine... guess you will get much better proposals!
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Answers
21 mins confidence:
opening up further possibilities for the pre-corporal self
Explanation: As in "opening up further possibilities for the pre-corporal self to experience freedom of movement"
This would be my take on it: not referring to a physical part of the body, but a non-body related dimension of the self, which of course doesn't seem to make sense with the "freedom of movement", but since Einstein is cited, it could be seen in terms of energies...
Philippa Local time: 01:55 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 15
enhances freedom of movement by stretching time with an even more forewardly open physical self
Explanation: There might be some dance jargon that would say this more elegantly.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 37 mins (2009-11-06 10:50:54 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
"forwardly" of course.
Since it is the eyes who are "stretching time etc" by watching, it is the space in front of the dancer that is being opened to additional freedom of movement, I think...
emiledgar Belgium Local time: 01:55 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English, French PRO pts in category: 45
opening movement even more freely before the bodily self.
Explanation: Relativity and the reference to Einstein would suggest the idea is not to distinguish between the metaphysical and the corporeal, since matter and movement exist only relative to the eye of the lens. Therefore, the "avant corporel" is presumably an expression of both space (at the front of the body) and time. From the point of view of your question "what does this mean?", I think it is probably rather more suggestive than anything else, a way of linking opening, freedom, time and space into the body as movement. Perhaps it makes sense when you see the dancers doing it!
The dancers stretch temporal space by opening movement even more freely before the bodily self.
Or open temporal space by stretching....?
Susan Nicholls Local time: 11:55 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
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