Dance

THE INVISIBLE HAND

Choreographed and performed by Clara Carter-Klauschie

Music: "The Fool You Need (Enough of Me)" by Son Lux

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I choreographed “The Invisible Hand” for the Hamilton High School Winter Dance Concert. Now that I've wrapped my final performance, I realize just how large it has loomed over the last few months of my life (no pun intended). It wrecked my back (very much so a fault of my own). Repeating the choreography felt at times haunting and in others entirely comforting -- akin to cohabiting with the ghost of my childhood imaginary friend. Each time I performed this piece (likely over 30 times), the movement came out just a bit different. Small improvised transitions altered its flow, contributing to the intricacy of certain sections. There’s a unique form of privacy and ownership over the story and its physical translation I derive from this ability to constantly change choreography, which cannot easily subsist through the process of teaching others. A result of this freedom, I was able to follow my choreographic intuition, spending endless, very sweaty hours just improvising to the music and adding new flourishes with each rehearsal. 

My process of generation, while informed by Son Lux’s “The Fool You Need (Enough of Me),” actually began without music. I decided to, in the spirit of interdisciplinary art, write a poem as the grounding language of my movement (see below this reflection). Written language and the language that is dance have always felt intrinsically coupled, first joined by my love of writing about dance and deriving choreographic inspiration from lyricism. As I’ve become increasingly immersed in the writing and memorization of poetry, I’ve experienced even more poignant parallels. In the process of memorizing a poem for a recent open mic, I found myself shifting phrasing and pacing continuously. I had to stop myself the day before the event, afraid I might have memory troubles simply from the sheer number of times I’d made alterations. Dance holds a similar fluidity. And although this experience of constant change may appear to be at the very least a nuisance, and at the very worst, a hindrance to expression, I’ve come to see it as an asset. 

Dancing and writing are two forms of expression that thrive on revision. This is not entirely common in the art world. You cannot easily backspace and reinvent part of a painting, nor quickly re-choreograph one section of a sculpture. Dance, writing, and, now that I’m thinking of it, music, only assume permanence once they are captured (published, performed, released). In fact, they never have to be finalized if the artist wishes for them to continue maturing, or, perhaps, devolving. Now, there are varying views on whether or not endless revision actually degrades quality by weeding out initial artistic instinct, but I choose to believe that as long as it feels productive for an artist to revise, the practice remains worthwhile. 

And after all that tangential exploration, I’d like to finally address the narrative of the piece. It’s about capitalism – but I’m sure that’s already abundantly clear to anyone who’s seen it (please read in sarcastic voice). Adam Smith, Scottish economist/philosopher and the “father” of modern capitalism, created the metaphorical concept of the “invisible hand.” In essence, he stated that the pursuit of self-interest within a free market would broadly benefit society, as if propelled by an unseen influence. Smith believed that competition would naturally result in the proper distribution of resources and wealth, eliminating any need for government intervention in the marketplace. 

It is no secret that Smith’s vision is a pipe dream, and, worse, the place of origin for the complex mixture of capitalism, violence, and deceit in which America is steeped. As we struggle to stay afloat in this potent stew, it’s plain to see that the endless desire for competition and the toxic speed of innovation detriment all. Through movement, I aimed to encapsulate the moral degradation resulting from this pursuit, embodying an individual intensely compelled to “succeed.” 

I chose Son Lux’s “The Fool You Need (Enough of Me)” because it feels like a near-perfect match for this sense of desperation, made even more congruent by its lyrics. Though I won’t embark on an in-depth analysis, I will say that “playing the fool” is feeding into the system of competition and systemic hierarchy, all while harboring a deeply buried awareness of your growing moral decrepitude. Though this “fool” is the lifeblood of our broken capitalist system, we all beg to play the fool, disregarding our power as a collective to dismantle the web of oppression. I’d like to clarify that I’m not underestimating the difficulty of sparking a Marxist uprising, but rather, acknowledging the hypothetical possibility of turning a prevailing power dynamic on its head and, perhaps, finding a semblance of agency.

Through my written and physical explorations, I’ve redefined the invisible hand as the toxic desire for success and dominance within a capitalist society. It becomes the product of an external, often invisible socializer, and a part of ourselves, often disguised as healthy ambition. By no means do I claim to exist independently from the system I criticize.

If nothing else, I hope this made you think!

Read into the poem below as you will. 

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You and Yours

By Clara Carter-Klauschie

Calluses pressed to my back

Our conjoinment is

objectively, anatomically, 

abrasively correct

My spine is a lever

and when it presses, I speak his objective

into the stomach

and throw up the future

Then swallow.

I enter the chasm

Deceived to think it is my oasis 

An under-echelon to conquer 

and trudge upon 

But it has already consumed the green

And though we try to press at the neck

Please, eject

We are choking

eachother

Purging our innocence

I will be triumphantly docile 

Take me away so I might fit your form

Fill myself with your silver promises

My insides calcify

into stalactites

Broken off

They remake my skeleton

Let me be impaled by the objective

A collocate to the top rung

Dynastic transplant

I must be corrupted

So I can be corrupt

Taken

I have been taken

Thank you

I am you 

and yours

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