choreography final evaluation
An overview
(summary)
Over the past five weeks, both
my partner and me have been working on choreographing a dance routine. At the
start of the process we were randomly paired up and given two stimuli to work
with. In the class we started to research the pieces given to us. To get
creative we decided to put our thoughts and ideas in a brainstorm. Some included from the painting stimuli were
trapped, confused, pain etc. and with the poem the main idea was choice- and in
fact this was implemented into our routine throughout in my opinion. After
creating this very colourful brainstorm (located in my blog), we then wanted to
develop the points further by explaining how we could choreographically extend
the motifs (ideas) further. So how we could use different techniques to get us
to thinking on creating phrases.
Each week started to develop the
phrases further, using our 3 decided motifs we developed them by adding
different dynamics, level, cannons and so on. The week before the assessment
both my partner and me had nearly finished piece, all that was required at that
point was to polish and start to work on the details. It was also a time for us
to evaluate the journey we were trying to portray to the audience and to ensure
it made sense. Finally after rehearsing for 5 weeks, on Tuesday the 9th
of December 2014, we performed our piece to both our tutor and peers.
How did you
use the stimulus to create and develop motifs?
In our very first class of
choreographing duets, we were given two stimuli. One was a painting by Picasso,
its called ‘Guernica’. We soon leant the painting was based on the bombing of a
small town in Spain. The effect of the
painting was to build an understanding for the public about the civil war and the
tragedy is was for many. The actual painting name was the name of the town
bombed in 1937, which allows the piece to become that more powerful and thought
provoking. Which worked as such an asset to us because it gave us a lot of
ideas to write in our brainstorm. I would say the overall idea both my partner
and me gained from this painting was survival, how war caused a lot of
confusion on what the people should do. And this was something we wanted to
present in our piece. There were many things I liked about this piece including
that the moment I looked it I could already start to process how we could
choreograph around it, for example the use of the light bulb painted gave me
the idea of a sign of hope, something better to come. Overall I felt like using
a stimulus like this was different for me; it encouraged both my partner and me
to think outside of the box and not to keep our ideas too simple.
The second stimuli we were given
was a poem called choose
by Carl Sandberg. My initial impression of the poem was that it is very much
about the choice you get, whether that is to meet others with aggression or
peace; you have to communicate to get your answer. For me I liked the fact how
this can easily tie in with the other piece we were given. Once again many
ideas started to come to mind in regards to the choice of running from the war,
staying put and giving up or fighting.
Although our thought process wasn't as in depth as the previous item we
still took into consideration how this poem could assist us in the dance. We decided to use the word choose throughout our whole thought
process, to choose to stay or go is something we came up with, almost like we
were battling with the two. It was significant that we showed this in our
ideas, this choice of fighting for survival. So when we did start to develop
our motifs, we would back up the ideas with the thought of choice (does the
movement have a choice to go one way and escape or another to stay put!)
From those two stimuli, we then
started to develop a main idea to base our piece from, this meant from week to
week we could add different motifs and phrases to enhance it further. Our first
thought process we both had was to use the idea of having to choose
between good and hope or aggression and a fight. Our aim was to show the
struggle we both have deciding over which path we should choose, and therefore
it ties in with the painting because we have to choose to run to peace or fight
a war. In my opinion I believed that we could show this by using different facial
expressions and different shapes of movement- so to perform something is big
and exaggerated and then have it compared to the small gestures, by doing this
it will allow the audience to perhaps get a small understanding on what we are
trying to portray. The struggle of survival.
The rehearsal
process
Week 1:
This week was our research week,
a chance for us to look at our stimuli and analyse and brainstorm around them.
I found this week extremely useful because it got us used to working in a pair
and sharing and getting comfortable with each other’s ideas. I personally
prefer working alone when choreographing however I really enjoyed bouncing of
ideas with my partner and it opened my eyes to different ways to create motifs
etc.
This class also gave us a chance
to understand the piece we wanted to create, basing it on the two items given
to us I got excited for the weeks to come. I really enjoyed putting our
thoughts in a brainstorm because it allowed us to get creative, and put as many
thoughts and feelings down. We knew between the both of us we would have to narrow
it down and only pick a couple of motifs but we thought the more ideas the
better, it gives us options.
This lesson worked really well
in many ways, mainly because it helped with our thought process, sometimes when
choreographing the creators just get up and dance and don’t have an idea,
however this was not the case. It allowed us to slow down and think beforehand,
to start to build an idea up.
Overall I feel like that this
was a useful a lesson to have, it was a chance to plan and research. Not to
forget to start to work with our new partners and come up with a strategy and
plans that would work with both of us. Both my partner and me decided to work
together on this journey of choreographing a dance piece based around
survival/choice, this was because we wanted to develop a good connection, which
would show both on and off the dance floor. And working together would sure
would build a good dancers relationship full of trust.
Week 2:
This week of rehearsals started
of both my partner and me recapping what we did in the previous week, after we
were both up to speed we then started to look at and focus
on the word 'Motif' which is a phrase or an action that represents an
idea/theme throughout movement. In this class we had to develop our ideas further and create movements,
which portrayed the thought, we had, so whether it was the idea of survival or
tragedy. The words my partner and me started to look at first were trapped and
close, by using these two words we were able to come up with different ideas
and actions that showed dynamics, levels and speeds. For example we used
sharp and quick movement for the ide of trying to escape.
We didn't just add these movements for the sake of it; we wanted to show
a purpose, a link back to the motif. So the idea of using different levels was
to symbolise either being trapped and close together or at a distance- far
apart. To show this we decided to start on the floor together, a position where
we are both close and therefore came up with the idea of the floor representing
us being trapped and as we got up the thought of us trying to become free. I
feel like associating different level with different ideas helped us make the
choreography more interesting and in result easier to start a journey through
movement.
The progress we made in this class was really good, with the ideas
formed and a motif in mind we were able to start to improvise phrases. I liked
how both my partner and me worked together, we both were able to give each
other opinions and then adjust to make the movements have meaning. For example
we first was going to start the piece standing up but after discussing it we
went with starting on the ground, we really wanted to the idea of trapped to
come across. Another reason why I think both me and my partner worked well
together was that we were able to adjust the movements to out individual needs,
We had a little jump which I could not do because of my injury, so we
came up with the idea of pauses, so my partner would do a move and then pause
and then I would do a move after, but of course referring back to the idea of
close/distant. This was counterpointing, something that I found very
useful when choreographing with an injury.
Overall I feel like this
rehearsal had many advantages to it, it was useful that the pervious week we
had many ideas, which we were now able to narrow down and start to create
motifs. But it was also a chance for us to see how we would structure our time
period in class. This week we noticed we were spending a little to much time on
writing down notes, so our plan for next week was to focus more on the idea and
creating the movement.
Week 3:
During this rehearsal week we
were given the chance to watch our video of last weeks rehearsal.
Both my partner and me were able to see the parts that were good, where
needs improvement and what is generally not working. For example the force
pushing movement looked too overdone and over-exaggerated. Therefore we decided
to add pauses, this is so it didn't look overwhelming. And in fact the pauses
gave the idea of the dancer having a chance to portray their thought process,
the effect of the bomb going off, once again this refers backs to the stimulus-
the idea of trying to be free but remaining trapped (choice of where to go). Once again I found this useful because it
allowed us to see if we were on the right path and what the next step would be.
Moving on from that
we were given a word to use in the rehearsal, this was motif development which
is when you take a phrase and develop it further technically (its a
choreographic device), the way we though to do this was by adding different
levels, tempos, dynamics etc. As we already started this last week without
realising we decided to carry on with what we had. So referring back to the
idea of close and distance we decided to use the motif development of adding a
pause or counterpoint. This worked well, especially because I have an injured
foot, so when my partner may be doing turns or a leap, I would be still and
then create a movement which was both interesting but still ok for me to do. I
felt like we got a lot of work done in this class and really started to develop
the movements further, it was useful for s to have a clear direction we wanted
to take the lesson in. An example can be the first movement of our dance, the
pushing against each other, as we are now comfortable we started to use each
other more to feel the force, also we decided to really extend the legs when
pushing out. I feel like the more both me and partner worked together the more
involved we got with the movements, which made the movements look much better
and interesting.
Overall the progress
we made was remarkable, we started of with a simple phrase and now had
developed so it started to look like a dance routine coming together. We really wanted to take the movements and understand
the purpose for them, did they make sense to the journey etc. (the choice of staying
trapped or running to freedom). However this week I did feel like those around
us distracted us, but we were able to steer most energy in our piece. Our aims
were for next week to remain focus on choreographing on our dance and ignore
those around us. I felt like our trust was building in the right direction
also, we added a movement where I would lay on the floor and my partner would
half cartwheel over me by using the support of my hands. This is something that
we knew we had to work on and wanted to keep.
Week 4:
During this whole week, even
outside of class both my partner and me decided to get in as much practice as
we could. During our breaks we would spend time working on the movements and
filming the progress, tis allowed us to see where needs changing, for example
we adjusted our solo phrases to make them longer and full of more meaning to
the piece. I liked the fact both my partner and me were on the same age and
both wanted this piece to be ready for the performance. It also worked well because
we became really comfortable with one another and was able to have fun but
still work on our piece. It was a nice balance. We added a lot of trust
movements in our piece, so the extra rehearsal allowed us to ensure we were
ready and I feel like it worked really well and therefore we kept them in.
In our actual class we both knew
we wanted to focus on polishing our routine and work on the finer details such
as technique. Considering we understood the dance and were able to perform it straight
through without hesitation, this was the next step of development. We used the
stimuli and our motifs to refer back to. We looked at the different shapes in
our piece and gestures, this was to make sure they were portrayed clearly and
had meaning. Also it was important that we were able to connect with each one
and it showed from beginning to end.
This last rehearsal
was so useful, it gave us the motivation to want to work hard and ensure our
piece was ready for Tuesday. I can honestly say nothing went wrong, I felt like
my partner and me worked well together. We both knew our next step was just
practice and ensuring we understood what we were trying to present to he
audience, for example adding facial expressions to show the pain in certain
sections or the relief to show a sign of hope. We could both do this at home
and then come together and combine our emotions and inject it into our dance to
make all the more powerful and in fact it did.
In conclusion I
really enjoyed the rehearsal process, not only was it different but it was also
a really fun experience to work with one of my peers and create a new piece of
dance. I would like to work with my partner again because I feel like our
relationship is strong and we trust each other now, we bounce of each other
ideas and can portray our ideas clearly. Another I like to add is that this
process was interesting, I got to see our piece develop from an idea to a dance
piece, it was amazing to see it each week get better and stronger, I loved how
it would improve and get to the stage it was at on the day of the assessment!
How did we structure the
piece?
The actual structure
of our piece wasn’t apparent at the start, we wanted to develop the motifs
first and then connect them together. I found this useful because it allowed us
to create interesting and clear sections, which meant something to the both of
us. After coming up with a couple of phrases we started to put them together,
we played with the order but by the 3rd week we had a clear start,
middle and end. Of course we were able to implement anything into it for
example our solos, we didn’t have them at the start but t add more depth to our
piece we decided that it would be a good effect.
So overall when it
came to structuring it we knew we didn’t want to go from start to end every
week and instead creating different sections would save time and also be easier
to remember in the long run. It was only in the third week where the dance actually
fit and worked together as on piece and this where we picked our music and
ensure it was in time and fitted well. So I believe this was a different but
very useful way of creating our dance piece.
The choreography and
performance
The day of our performance
arrived, on Tuesday the 9th of December 2014, it was time to show
our choreographed pieces to our tutor and peers. Both my partner and me felt
ready to show ours because we had been rehearsing hard over the past 5 weeks.
Before we showed our performance we had a chance to go over our pieces, this
allowed us to ensure everything was ready and matched the time limit of 2min. I
found this additional 30mins of practice really useful because it gave us a
chance to work on are emotion and connection, we both wanted to make sure we
told the journey through our movements and facial expressions. In my opinion I
feel like we achieved this and it was backed up from feedback of our peers.
They said we engaged well into the performance, we performed it as a story
rather than just showing the movements. My favourite part of this choreography
was that each movement had a purpose and reason for being there, so on that
point of view we achieved a good choreographic aspect to our dance.
When watching the piece back I
could pick out many strengths in it, one being that we told our story through
every aspect of our body, we didn’t have a limit, we both wanted to portray the
story in more than one way. I feel like this show commitment and I’m glad all
the hard work paid of because I really poured a lot of energy into this
performance! It was also clear on how much both my partner and me worked well
together, there was a lot of trust in the performance and it showed. Our
supported half cartwheel movement on the floor had improved so much from the
first few weeks of rehearsals, and this was because we didn’t give up and
worked hard on it, so overall it was plain to see the more you work at
something, the more likely you will achieve it. I’m so happy it showed that we
connected and was comfortable on stage, I felt like we complemented each other.
Because we bounced of each other when performing it showed a great amount of
energy and kept the audience engaged when watching, if we were to have no
energy the piece could look like it has no meaning, so the use of breath and
‘oomph’ really added to the performance in my opinion.
The strengths of our piece
choreographically were that we presented clear movements; it was easy for the
audience to understand. This was something we worked on from the beginning;
although we wanted interesting and creative choreography, we also didn’t want
to over complicate it. So the fact it turned out clear and the movements having
purpose was a real positive for both my partner and me, I felt like it gave us
a chance to show our connection and emotion rather than over powering it with
move after move. Another good aspect of our piece was that it had different
levels and dynamics; it wasn’t at one pace or one height. We kept changing it up
to keep the audience second-guessing what was going to happen next. I liked
this effect because it allowed certain motifs to come alive, so some parts were
soft and fluid such as the slow extensions of the legs or the arm movement-
this was to show the climb to survival and then comparing this to our sharp and
quick movement such as the cannon arm movements or the slams on the floor which
represented the fight, I feel like this added to our performance and when
watching it I was glad for our decision to change the mood of the piece.
Although there were many
positive aspects to our piece, I felt when watching it back there were a few
bits, which needed to be worked on. For example the transitions from one
movement to the other, although they had a purpose, I still think we could of
made them more interesting and fluid. Personally one transition that I noticed
was when I got up from the floor, looking back it I wish I would of exaggerated
the movement a little more and keep the same amount of energy I had in the
transition. By doing this I feel like it would of showed even more of a
connection and kept the journey fluid from start to end. Although both my and
me had a lot of trust, our spacing for the leaning back into my arms was a
little off and it caused me to laugh a little, reason being because I bent my
injured foot in a bad way, so it pushed me off focus and therefore instead of
crying I giggled, however I ensured I caught my partner despite being a little
far back, in fact I showed that we trusted one another which was a good thing. Another
thing I noticed was our eye level, at times I felt like we could of connected
more by looking at each other, not only would this allow us to bounce of one
another but it would also allow the audience to become more intrigued- what is
the dancers relationship? Etc. last thing I would suggest both my partner and
me to look at is really extending our limbs, if its put in the choreography,
ensure we perform it and reach into the space. Overall these little things can
be easily adjusted with more rehearsals in the space.
When looking at improving our
dance piece I feel like we could spend some more time developing our solo
sections, we added them the week before and therefore I feel like they weren’t
as polished as the rest of the dance. Although they had meaning I felt like it
needed more, more in regards to dynamics and energy, I believe it has to match
the level of the rest of the dance, to really portray the journey. So I believe
with a couple more rehearsals working on those phrases would show a great
improvement. Another thing to look at when improving it would be taking some
movements or phrases and using motif development to take it to the next stage,
although I feel like we used this well at certain stages it looked boring so
adding different speeds could create an effect of confusion or struggle- which
goes hand in hand with the idea of our piece. I would like to try sections
where I may be going fast in regards to the speed of the movements and my
partner slow, this would show individual journeys but connecting with the same
purpose.
Overall I feel like our
performance had both great aspects and places for improvements, however this
dance piece is a developing routine and I like the fact there were things we
could take further, such as maybe adding another set of solo phrases or even
adding more people to the dance. It could make the piece stronger and have more
power when performing. This is something my partner and me can take on bored if
we decide to take this dance to the next step.
Feedback from
my peers
On Thursday the 11th
of December, we watched our performance back and also got feedback from our
peers. I found this useful because it allowed us to take on board other peoples
opinion as they watched it live. Here is the feedback…
·
A good relationship between both my partner and
me.
·
Good use of facial expressions.
·
The details of our piece were imaginative, from
the hand gestures to the pointing of the feet.
·
Our movements were linked; they were meant to be
there and had a reason for being there.
·
Our piece was well developed; you could see it
had been work on and well rehearsed.
·
There was a clear story behind our piece, from
beginning to end it connected to both us as dancers but the audience also.
There was a strong link back to the stimuli; they got the idea of us struggling
for survival, which I was very pleased that it came across to them.
·
Our piece was dynamic, not one section was the
same.
·
Good timing, we listened to one another and were
able to connect in that way.
·
There was a nice use of unison and counterpoint
in our piece.
·
There was a thought process, you could see
through our movements they were trying to portray a journey.
All these positive comments gave me a good feeling, it felt
like all the work we had done had paid of. I was happy that my peers understood
a story and connected with it, the fact they were engaged worth a performance
tell me my partner and mine objective was achieved.
A good piece of advice was to
now develop a piece with different types of jumps and leaps.
Did your
performance link to your intended meaning?
In my opinion I feel like yes we
did perform our performance with meaning. I believe we took the audience on a
journey with our movements and from some of our feedback we received comments
that back this up; they understood what we were trying to get across. I feel we
were able to tell a story through both our body movements and body language,
this is something I find that is important when performing a dance piece that
has a meaning; you need to show the journey in more than one ways.
I feel like it’s clear we always
referred back to our stimuli, both my partner and me wanted to show the
development and reason behind the movements. We had a clear idea and we were
able to connect with it. I’m thrilled with this because once again not only did
we perform our piece but also the story.
Conclusion
In conclusion I feel like this
whole process, from working with a new partner and researching and using a
stimulus to perform our choreographed piece was an amazing experience, one I
look forward to doing it again. This process has taught me how to develop
something from a picture or poem to a full on dance routine. I really enjoyed
this method and I know I will use it again in the future. I learnt so much and I
look forward to taking it on board with my career, I feel like I have built a
strong relationship with my partner and that resulted in us really trusting one
another, which can be useful on any future projects we may do. So this process
has built many connections and it make me want to keep choreographing and
improving my work in dance. There is no limit or boundaries, this is something
I have learned and it will stay with me! I know now for next time is for me to
have more confidence when performing and really engage within the movements
throughout, this was something new for me but I loved every step of it, our
contemporary choreographed piece was great and I love all the work we done.
