A Trip to the Modern

During Spring Break, I decided to take a trip to the the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art. I haven't been to many museums, but I will say that The Modern is my absolute favorite out of the ones I have visited. The beautiful architecture of the museum itself takes my breath away every time I visit. After walking around and viewing all of the artwork, I decided to go outside and sit on the patio and just observe my surroundings. It was so peaceful to just sit by myself and take in everything I was seeing. I could've stayed their for a few more hours if I had the time.

My mission for visiting this museum was to select a painting or sculpture that was inspiring to me and to propose the idea of choreographing a piece based on the piece of art I selected. I saw so many beautiful pieces, that it was hard for me to select which one I'd want to choreograph to the most. One piece I imagined choreographing with was Slit, by Carl Andre.

 

The smoothness of the steel and copper gave me the idea to work with texture in my movement and to feel the material on against the bottoms of my feet to then inspire me to discover the texture of my own skin. I enjoyed the room and space this piece was displayed in, and it also appeared to look like a runway which also opened up more choreographic ideas of space. I could have some dancers start behind the white wall, while others were already in the open space. I would definitely want there to be an intereaction with the art and the dancers, and to not just dance around it. I imagined the audience viewing the piece in front on the floor, as well as upstairs looking down onto the lower level.

 As I continued to walk through the museum, I came across the next piece that inspired choreography, Aschenblume, by Anselm Kiefer. I was immediately drawn to this piece of art by its size and texture. For this piece, I would not want the dancer or dancers to make contact with the art, but to perform in front of it to create dimension and space through the room as well as the space that seems to be created in the art.

Once again, texture comes to mind when I think of how I would start to create the movement. There is a thick, bound, heavy quality in the art, so I would want to do some improvisational exercised to play with these dynamics. I could see much of the movement done on a low level, either lying down or on the knees, and focusing both out into the space as well as looking in and beyond the art to enhance to effect of the walls that appear to be in the art.

After viewing this piece for a few minutes, I turned around to then be stunned by the next beautiful sculpture by Kiefer, Book with Wings.

The circular that this piece was displayed in I though would be a very interesting stage space to perform in and have the audience view the piece. I would have them line up behind the white line on the floor and observe the dance. For this piece, I could see myself working with a narrative approach to my creative process. One narrative that came to mind is to have my dancers appear as angels, wearing white flowing dresses that hung all the way down to the floor. The book, in this case, would represent the Bible. I could see simple, light and free movement happening around the sculpture. I imagine beautiful moments of contact among the dancers and a caring, supportive relationship with one another. I can see gliding through the space, as well as lightly running with soft, graceful arms. I also would work with forming shapes in stillness to add onto the already beautiful picture of the sculpture in the space.

Once I walked through the entire museum, I went outside to just relax in the calming atmosphere and to think about my next choreographic project. Out of all the pieces I saw that day, Conjoined by Roxy Paine was the most inspiring of all.

Conjoined is a piece that, in my opinion, was made for choreography. The energy between both stainless steel forms is very captivating to observe, and I believe that having dancers in the atmosphere of this sculpture would attract a large, diverse audience to witness a very compelling performance. Given the opportunity from the administrators of the museum, I would greatly appreciate the experience of connecting movement to this sculpture that already has a feeling of movement within. I could see a very detailed and intricate interaction of the dancers by contact movement that would reflect the feel of the piece. Lifts taken into the air would add excitement and energy. An interesting idea that also comes to mind is having the dancers move in and out of the water to create depth and surprise to the piece. I would allow the audience to view this piece from across the water, from inside the windows, and even the back wall, to get an up close experience with the art.

Visiting the museum was such a great experience to help gain ideas for my creative process through choreography. I would love an opportunity to see a performance in a museum that is inspired by a piece of art and see how the choreographer intereacted and connected the two.