Sunday 27 February 2011

Second Year Performances


2011 002
Originally uploaded by c_27

Second Year Performances


2011 006
Originally uploaded by c_27

Final Score


2011 001
Originally uploaded by c_27

Freedom Falls

Having come to the end of my journey of my choreographic solo sketch I believe it was an interesting journey to take and one which has enabled me to develop many new skills as an artist.

I began with a photo as my stimulus. I decided to work with this photo as I liked how I could divide the focus of the photo into the nature in the background and the emotions of the people in the foreground. Even though I was able to divide the focus up, I noticed how both the nature and people had a similar connection through the level of freedom they had. The waterfall in the photo has a great amount of freedom in the way the water falls, the patterns it creates, the gushing sounds and rhythms it forms and the energy it provides. As a result of this photo being taken in late June, the people in the photo have a newly found freedom away from exams and the pressure of school and career choices. When I look at this photo I associate with it words such as independence, youth, summer and vibrant colours. Through this sense of freedom, I feel that nature and humans share a common relationship.

When I first began work in the studio I decided to work with a range of different body parts, including the hands and feet and then tried to link them back to the idea of the waterfall. I quickly became aware of the different rhythms I could create using just my hands and feet and I felt this worked well with exploring the sounds a waterfall makes. I played with both quieter and louder sounds as a waterfall tends to sound calm and soft at a distance, but rapid and clamorous close up.

During my feedback session with my tutor and peers, I found it surprising that it was the first half of the dance that was enjoyed more by the audience than the second half. The first part of the dance was mainly performed on the floor and I was praised for the simplicity of it. However, it was felt that I lost the meaning and purpose of the dance when I cam to me feet and began to use more space. I had expected the floor work to be perceived as too slow by the audience. In my next studio sessions I paid particular attention to the feedback I had been given and tried to explore further particular rhythms and angles that I had already created. I began to think about the different patterns that waterfalls create and tried drawing the outline of it on the walls with my feet. I was aware that overtime the patterns can change shape and direction as a result of erosion of rocks and I tried to reflect this in my work.

Overall, I feel that this piece of work has taught me to investigate different qualities that can be incorporated into choreography such as actions, time, and space. Most importantly, it has taught me to listen to my body’s response to the given task.

A Work In Progress

Performing our solos as a work in progress for the first time in front of our peers and tutor was a really good experience. It really helped to build up my confidence and showed me that no two people dance the same. The feedback I received included:

.A good use of repetition

.Use of Simplicity

.Created a sense of anticipation for the audience, which made them want to watch more

.The slide across the floor made it intriguing to watch

.Good use of rhythms and a strong focus on the feet

.To explore the rhythms a bit deeper and have a further investigation into other body parts, space and angles at which you perform.

Choreography Class

Working in groups, perform your solo and then ask questions to your audience members. Use this feedback to develop your solo.

Is it clear that I’m exploring rhythms?
Yes

Is it clear that my focus is the feet?
Yes

Should I explore another body part in addition to the feet?
Other body parts could be included to add emphases to the focus on the feet and also to make it more interesting to audience members. For example you could include swift movements of the head or an arm.

Do I explore the concept of “space” enough?
The solo is very much performed on one level and therefore you could begin to explore other levels. Gradually come up to standing through a series of movements and then find another journey into the floor again. However, remember not to loose focus when you’re on your feet!!

What did you enjoy? And what would you like to see more of?
The hand movements were interesting to watch. You should build upon this idea and explore it more as it connects to the feet and therefore adds more volume to the solo.

Interviews

Interviews



These interviews have really provided me with an opportunity to further develop my work in the studio. I still intend to use my original ideas, but this will help me explore my movements a bit deeper

Studio Session

The three videos below are of another day we spent working in the studio on our solos. As it's coming to the end of term, I'm starting to feel really tired and it's sometimes a struggle to be as creative as possible in the studio. In order to get our minds working we decided to set ourselves a ten second challenge in which we had to get from one end of the room to the other, doing a range of movements. I found this particularly interesting to see how I would attempt to judge the time as I moved, as on the day of our solo performance we have to create a dance that is between 2-4 minutes.

Next, we decided to work in pairs playing with different words. Again, we worked with a focus on time as we only improvised for 30 seconds in each pair. In my first piece I worked with the words sharp and fast and in the second soft and slow. I enjoyed watching these videos back and seeing how when two people dance two very different things, it can still look like a choreographed piece. It made us all start to think about next terms duet assessment. But for the meantime I think our solo is our main priority!

10 Second Challenge

Improvisation

Improvisation

Siobhan Davies Replay

As part of project week we looked at Siobhan Davies Replay website and built an archive scrapbook on the site. In order to build the scrapbook, we were given a number of tasks to complete. Firstly, we had to choose a piece of work that was created in the 1980's. I chose "White Man Sleeps" as I liked the intricate details of the hands and the feet throughout the performance. I also thought the dance movements were complimented really well with the staging and lighting that was created and the performance had a nice combination of solo and duet performances.

Next, I looked at the archive and selected another video from the video still option. I found this really interesting as I was able to watch the same performance only in the rehearsal stage. Juxtaposing the two, I found it easier to notice small details of the dance when it was in the rehearsal stage, such as repetition, as I wasn't distracted by staging or lighting.

The third task was to select a photograph that most interested me. I chose a photo of the dancers Scott Clark and Lauren Potter. What interested me about this photo was the various points of contact between the two dancers. They were connected through many different body parts such as a hand on the back of a leg, a hand on a head, a head on a shoulder and an arm on a stomach. I think this really linked in with my contact improvisation classes and emphasised the many different ways we can dance and still be connected to a partner. I think because there were so many different points of contact too, it helped build up the idea of a strong relationship between the two dancers.

Overall, I found this website really easy to use and enjoyed having so much dance documentation as accessible as this. It was great to have a range of videos from different decades as I was able to compare and contrast the older dance pieces with the new ones.

Movement with the poem