March 31, 2011
After finishing our in class composition studies, we have now begun our final project for the class. We are each choreographing our own piece for the Jr. Choreography Concert and I’m very interested to see how this process will turn out. From doing our previous studies I’ve learned how I go about rehearsing, choreographing, and researching for my work. This has helped me to prepare for how I want to work on this final project and what I can do to make this process successful. I’ve also taken into consideration the rehearsals that I’m currently in, and how my choreographer’s go about their own processes.
For my piece, I have a simple concept that I’m working with. I’m interested in choreographing movement that contains different levels of energy. Through the energy given, I want to explore the effects of the movement that is caused by different amount of energy being used. Based on my previous studies, I know I want to play around with more stillness and simplicity, and I want to experiment with my use of space, facings, and levels on a deeper level. I have five dancers in my piece and one understudy. My goal during my first few rehearsals is to play around with the idea of having either one main dancer that interacts with the four other dancers, or having multiple groupings within the piece.
When I met with my professor for my first one on one meeting, I had not yet held a rehearsal with my cast. I was able to show her two short phrases that I’m planning on expanding on and to gather some feedback and ideas that would help me as I begin my process. She pointed out a couple of areas in my choreography that appeared random. There wasn’t a clear initiation and impulse to get to these points in the movement, which caused an interruption to the flow. Everything she suggested was very enlightening to my creative process and will definitely help me as I’m creating more movement for the piece.
Our class began reading another book called Dance and the Lived Body by Sandra Horton Fraleigh to guide us through this process of choreography and creating a piece for an audience. The first chapter of the book discusses existentialism into great detail. As I was reading over this, I kept getting really lost in her writing. It was hard for me to understand some of the concepts she went into detail about and I found myself getting frustrated in trying to relate this to my creative process. Towards the end of the chapter, I was able to relate the concept of my piece to her words. “Grace, freedom, and mastery appear as willfulness disappears and as effortless ease is achieved…movement may also be performed with effortless ease when such movement is intended and fulfilled with the right fit of effort – that is, effort in perfect proportion to intention” (Fraleigh 20). As Fraleigh speaks of effort and ease in movement and how it relates to whether or not the dancer is moving freely, I was able to gather a connection of the writing and the concept that I’m working with. I’m going to explore the relationship of effort I use in the movement to the effects of the different results I end up with. I want to experience the different outcomes myself so that I can describe to my dancers the effort and energy I would like them to use in order to create the effect I’m looking for. I hope to find myself using a process Fraleigh mentioned by “solving the problems of dance, learning its forms, and creating its feeling” (Fraleigh 21).
So far I’ve only had one rehearsal with my cast. I was very nervous to see what all was going to happen during the time I had with them, and to see if any creative thoughts would come about. I started the rehearsal off by going straight into teaching a phrase. I wanted to see how they moved into comparison to how I move. After going over the phrase a few times, I decided to watch them and then move them around in the space. I was pleased with how fast they were able to pick up the choreography and how they were able to adapt to their surroundings when I changed some of their facings. We learned another phrase then I played around with the spacing just as I did with the previous one. As I watched them do the movement, I had an idea of a transition that I wanted to try. It was right on the spot but I felt in my mind that it could work. We tried a few different ways to get up off of the ground and I had two of my dancers initiating the movement of the other dancers. After trying out a few ideas, I ended up deciding on one that I felt was pleasing to watch and kept the transition fluid, yet exciting. This happens near the end of the video where the dancers are all on their right knee facing the stage left back corner with the left arm straight up in the air. Everyone rolls back and two hold a position to then rock back up to standing, while three are rolling backwards over their shoulder. I had one dancer suspend that roll to create different timing. Two dancers then walk in a direct pathway to initiate the other dancers’ handstands to then rock back and walk off the stage. The dancer that suspended the roll then meets up with the other dancer that is running back the other direction to start a new section. I enjoyed everyone being pulled in different directions and it feels like a smooth entrance into the next part.
I surprisingly felt good about what had happened during the first rehearsal. My dancers were very cooperative and willing to try what I had for them. I feel that I made a decent start and that I can now dig into how I want to clearly create the beginning, middle, and end. I want to explore the different focuses that could be used, and what types of relationships I want my dancers to have with each other during the piece. “While a dance usually has an objective, repeatable structure, it is subject to individual interpretation and dependent upon the individual body aesthetic of the articular dancer” (Fraleigh 36). I’m looking forward to seeing what each dancer brings to the piece and to work from their strengths as movers and performers. What I did learn from the reading is that there are many approaches to finding a mind body connection when creating the intended movement I want to show, and that it is important to know myself as a choreographer, mover, and person and to let that out when putting the pieces together.
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