Just make something happen.

I went to see the last installment Here/Now http://www.herenowonline.blogspot.com/ which is a totally cool movement/music/improvisation/performance experiment where a musician and a dancer are randomly paired to improvise an on-the-spot performance.
What I saw there solidified something for me - Just make something happen.
Anything. Just make anything happen. I really do mean THING here, anyTHING. The pieces which were successful for me that evening were the ones in which a series of events were easy to identify... even shitty events. Now she has her hands in her pockets...  Now is the part where her foot is stuck to the lid of the vase which is in the middle of the floor...  Now she and the musician are kicking the lid back and forth to each other... etc.  Even the most inane details are so interesting when they hint at a story. Dance works (that night or out in the wide world of set choreography) that are stocked full of endless abstracted dance movement just don't keep in the room with them.  I space out. I feel the weight of everything about dance that irks me. I start to dance in my head. I'm not there. But even the lamest action which marks an impending change keeps me engaged.  I'm in my seat like And then what?... And then what?.... And then what?
Let's get a few things straight here:
I don't mean story in a literal way. I don't even like story in a literal way. I am the one who will not get the story if one is presented, wont read the program notes before seeing the show, and don't want to read any reviews of anything ever. If you try to tell me a literal story with your show chances are that I won't get very much out of your show. That is just who I am and what I look for in art. 
I mean Story as a series of episodes or actions. I mean A Series Of Episodes Or Actions as ways that the audience gets to witness the changing focus, intent, emotional space, or vibration of the performer(s). I have an idea that this witnessing can distract us from our own guardedness and our own expectations about art and being moved so that a real interaction with the art can take place. If your a smart maker, you'll use the momentum of story to engage and entertain while sneaking in the temporal information, to you know, make the art. 
But that's just my opinion.

Also, many of the musicians, with a few really wonderful exceptions, didn't seem to  know how to improvise with their dancer.  Some stashed themselves in a corner and didn't even check out what the dancer was doing. One ran around the stage with signs. The signs had sounds written on them that the audience was to make. It was a super clever idea that I think could have been successful with a softer execution, but that night it was only successful at avoiding an improvised duet entirely.

There were some big generalizations in the night for me:
1- dancers want to touch the musicians
2- musicians don't want to touch the dancers
3- it can be difficult to have faith in something long enough to develop it
4- just make something happen

Go to Here/Now! It's a totally cool experience. I give everyone mad props for taking the risk and seeing what comes out of them on the spot and with a stranger (and potentially out of their element)! I'd love to be a part of it. I found it to be a great tool for my choreographic brain to root out what I am drawn to on stage. Just go.