week 12-final performance evaluation

Final Performance Evaluation

Today was my final performance of my choreography. I am really pleased with how I carried it out and how the process came together when performing it today.

Looking back on the overall process of my choreography I am impressed with how each week has built up to create my final piece. The starting objectives of my choreography was linking to the stimulus of the canvas (photo attached below) by using the idea of mental health to show the emptiness the stimulus shows. I planned to have 3 sections, the first section which linked to the exhaustion of having a mental illness and had slow dynamics. The second section I aimed for it to be when the person is feeling ½ energetic with middle dynamics so going from floor work to more grounded middle movement. Then the last section was planned to be my strongest where the person is putting on a front to the outside world which would include large dynamics and big, expressive movement.  At the beginning of my process I set myself goals to achieve each week from finding my music to choreographing 30 seconds of my piece. By having these goals, it allowed me to ensure I had good time management in preparation for my final performance and everything which needed to be complete by a set time was done. I noticed I worked really well with a plan and goals as it allowed me to keep on track on not fall behind which was a positive outcome of my process. Another positive aspect of my choreographing process was having a week where I did the task on researching my stimulus and generating ideas based on my idea which allowed me to expand on the movement I included and how I performed these. This task really helped my choreography as it went from basic understanding to more complex. Following on from this I believe I achieved my original aims and goals of my piece.

I faced a few challenges along the process of choreography these were being unable to create movement for the middle section of my piece. The way I overcame this was focusing on the music and what movements would be best suited and using improvisation. Also, after the studio performance one of the challenges I faced was taking on board the feedback and ended up changing a small section of my choreography. In week 9 I faced some challenges was filling in the between sections I didn’t have movement for.

If I was to perform my choreography on a stage environment, I would include lighting, setting and costume. The lighting would be darkness with one individual side light which would be an off white colour to show the darkness people experience when dealing with a mental illness. The setting will be bare minimum as I want the focus to be on the dance. The costume would also be dark or neutral colours. ( attached images below of my ideas)

In conclusion, now I am at the end of my project the one question I have is how someone who had mental health troubles would feel when watching my piece. As I have linked it to my own personal way of dealing with emotions as well as the research, I followed up previously. On the other hand, there is no further thoughts or questions that the process has left me considering.

---

Stimulus

    

Lighting 

Week 11 - vlog

Vlog -Researching Wayne McGregors impact on society 

Two quotes:
“An adventuresome experimenter with a restless mind, intent on pushing his disparate audience, his collaborators and himself” - THE NEW YORK TIMES

“A ploner in exploiting the links between his art and the scientific development that have revolutionised the 21st century life” -THE FINANCIAL TIMES


Research link:

https://waynemcgregor.com/research/

Week 11- critical review 3 Wayne McGregor Genus

Critical review on Wayne McGregor’s piece - GENUS 

Following on from previous critical reviews, in this blog I’m going to be exploring and reviewing the piece ‘Genus’ by Wayne McGregor.


In comparison to the other two dance pieces this ones style is abstract and isn’t the typical neo classical style. This is due to his creative movements and elements involved within this piece. Certain movements involved within this piece are also in the other two, however they are adapted and changed to link within the idea of this piece. In the section I’m reviewing there is only one dancer, a male who is completing a 2 minute solo, where as the other two there was more than one dancer involved in the section i analysed. One noticeable similarity between all three pieces is McGregor’s use of the LED background.This is one technique he uses to add effect and a different outlook to his piece. I really like the way he uses this in each of his pieces I have explored.

From watching this piece the end and beginning are set out the same meaning the entrance and exit of the dancer are the same. At the start of the solo the movements are dynamically slow but link with the musics tempo, this idea is the layout of this section as each movement is created to fit the music. Each movement of which the dancer executes is portrayed very technically and precise which shows how clean the choreography is. The movements involved are very sharp and set which give the impression the piece is portraying a link within this.The movements layout of this piece contrast to the ones in the other two because the movements in this piece are dynamically matched to the tempo of the music where as the other two pieces movement coincide with the music and are expressed as more flowing. The music used is instrumental with many different sound effects which add to an unknown sense and link to the abstract idea.

Additionally, I personally really like this section of this piece as it’s very intriguing as you feel like the movements the dancer is portraying are fitted perfectly to the music. Also, I love the fact all three pieces are similar yet very different to each other.

Research about the piece Genus 
The point of view which is executed by choreograph is relating to the inquiries of Charles Darwin, creation and evolution. This is used as a platform to express ideas and remind us of our own evolutionary process and thinking along with our connection and reaction to the natural.
Mcgregor also uses his aim of letting the audience interpret his pieces. I feel for this piece the way the whole piece is conveyed to the audience is very abstract. By creating this piece he has achieved a choreography which involves a well known idea of the evolutionary process created by Darwin.

Darwin’s theory of evolution- It’s a process by which organisms change overtime as a result of changes in physical or behavioural traits. The changes are what allow an organism to adapt in a positive way to it’s environment for it to survive and have more offspring.
^the research above helps you understand the main theme towards the choreography piece and gives your understanding a wider perspective.

   This picture shows the evolution theory.









References
Clip of genus- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=27fWeDjPojY
Point of view - https://nycdancestuff.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/wayne-mcgregors-genus-extracts-with-film-installation/
 Clip of live rehearsal- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LWNQK8y50SI
 Darwin’s theory - https://www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html

Bibliography-

Clip of genus -M.youtube.com. (2019). YouTube. [online] Available at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=27fWeDjPojY [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019].
Point of view - NYC Dance Stuff. (2019). Wayne McGregor’s “Genus” (Extracts with Film Installation)….. [online] Available at: https://nycdancestuff.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/wayne-mcgregors-genus-extracts-with-film-installation/ [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019].

Clip of live rehearsal-M.youtube.com. (2019). YouTube. [online] Available at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LWNQK8y50SI [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019].
Darwins theory -Than, K. (2019). What is Darwin's Theory of Evolution?. [online] livescience.com. Available at: https://www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019].

Week 10 - Studio Performance

Studio rehearsal:

The learning outcomes of the choreography assessment were:
    •critically analyse and evaluate a variety of works by a chosen choreographer within the     current dance scene
    •Demonstrate the application of theories, processes, devices, and technical dance skills to choreograph, create and design original dance to pre-selected stimuli
    • critically evaluate and reflection on personal choreographic work and the creative process used
 I believe that I have successfully completed and followed these outcomes within this assessment. These different learning outcomes I have achieved throughout the whole process of creating my choreography and are something I’ve look at through different tasks. 

Additionally, as I have completed my piece I just need to polish and clean the movement. Although during this practice there is 10 seconds of movement near the end of my choreography which I am going to adapt. However, this is a small change and will not have a huge impact on the rest of my piece. By changing this little part will allow my ending to be smooth and all the movements to flow.  I have also decided after reflecting from the video of my choreography to add the choreographic device complementary, I’m going to show this when I’m on the floor rocking sideways with my hands in my head to then change it so I’m rocking sideways with my head in my hands stood up before my climax section. By adding this I feel like it will add more variety to my piece and the audience will make a clear link between these two parts.

Reflecting on my previous creative sessions I feel as though my piece has come together from these tasks and completing these different blogs has allowed my ideas to develop further. This links in with the development of my own choreography which has helped my piece look more creative and advanced in the way the movement is set. The previous tasks have been building blocks for my choreography as they are what has got me to this point.

The feedback from the studio performance given to me: 

• Use emotions throughout the whole piece and to not let my emotions drop by the end section 
• Sharper arms in the places where I’m throwing them 
• The contrast of beginning to end was good 

Doing the whole of my choreography in the studio and getting verbal feedback was very beneficial for me. This is because I’ve been able to practice my piece full out with the music and have someone else’s perspective towards it. Also, having verbal feedback has given me something to work on further and key points to improve. In this lesson I recorded my choreography so it allows me to reflect on my work as an individual and give myself feedback by identifying parts which may need adapting or improving on. 

Some previous feedback from peers from my previous blogs to do with my choreography have been applied and used. Such as using some of the symptoms of depression in my movements to express this.Also, one piece of feedback which I looked into more detail was including gestural movement to emphasise certain emotions which will grab the audiences attention and will reflect on their own personal emotions. 

The feedback from this lesson and my previous creative blogs has been successful and been a way of improving my work further.

One of the questions given is about sustaining energy and purpose through my choreography:

Below is a graph of an energy timeline which links to my piece to give a more visual representation of my aim. 

Where as showing the emotive side of my piece will be done on my own ability to sustain my emotions to allow for them to be expressed to the audience.

Below is a small clip of my choreography:

Week 9- creative development session 3

Vlog

week 9- Critique and review piece 2

Critique and Review Wayne McGregor’s piece

The piece of Wayne McGregor’s which I’m going to critique in this blog is Woolf Works Corps. This piece was first premiered in 2015 and Virginia Woolf defied the false order of narrative conventions to depict a heightened, startling and poignant reality. However, like explained in a previous review blog on Wayne McGregor he likes to keep his pieces open to interpretation.

The dance style he is portraying is contemporary ballet so neo classical. This is shown by the movements used in the piece as he uses leaps and developes along with abstract movement which isn’t ballet related. Also, the females are wearing pointe shoes which highlights some of the movement within the piece is done on pointe.

The fist section of this clip is done with one spotlight in the center of the stage and the dancers only do the movement in the light and is like a follow on. Therefore, it links to order and chaos as its flowing but the dancers have many different movements in and out of the light at different times and with different amounts of people and its different pathways. This makes the piece look really interesting as there is so much going on but not too much so its confusing. Following on from this section it goes into a group section where there are six duets all in a line completing the same motif at first then it goes to one couple doing one motif with the rest doing another different one behind. Including a section like this explores all the different choreographic devices which draws in the audience’s attention as it makes the piece more varied. Then the dancers created two circles at both stage left and right and there was a short motif of movement. Then the two circles of people turned into spotlights with different dancers doing movement in them representing the idea of order and chaos. Next, the piece ended with four spotlights across the stage and the same idea of different dancers creating different movement in the piece.

I believe that Wayne McGregor’s aim to the audience with this piece was to show the idea of order and chaos as I think this idea links really well to the whole aspect of the piece and the layout of the piece. The impact of his work on the audience is mind blowing in the sense the movements are so clean and the way the patterns of different movements are set but the quick pace makes you wonder how its possible to create such a technical piece at a fast pace and for it to look clean.

It is very clear in dynamics that this piece is more dynamically strong with element of low beats and quicker movement in comparison to Infra which had varied dynamics but not as strong as the base of this piece. Both pieces have very different stimuli and this is shown clearly in the movement created in the pieces. The music in both pieces is also very contrasting but similar in the fact that the piece of music allows both dances to have the style of neo classical. The movement vocabulary in the pieces have similar and contrasting motifs for example both pieces have a lot of use of high leg extensions. Both pieces show a very different story/theme due to the way the movements are set as they entail different things and the intentions are different, however, his overall aim is still the same of wanting the audience to create their own interpretation.Also, I noticed in both his pieces he uses an LED patterned/ pictured background to add more elements to his piece and gives it a different outlook. This element of his work is very inspiring as he works with his audience in a way and allows them to get involved with his work.

Overall, I really like the way this piece is presented and how clever its choreographed.

https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/woolf-works-by-wayne-mcgregor

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v6-BCezkrjM

Week 8- creative development session 2

Choreography process

Following from my previous blog after today’s lesson I feel like I have made immense progress with my choreography.

I have now only got 40 seconds of my 3 minute 40 second piece left to choreography which is the section in the middle. I ended up choreographing backwards for my last minute as I knew how I wanted to finish but now how to get there. This is one of the main challenges I faced in today’s lesson as I had to reverse my choreography. Additionally, a few little challenges I faced was having several motifs that had sections between that hadn’t been choreographed, therefore I had to work on fitting these motifs together and adding extra movement where necessary so that these sections were following.

Some of the movement I’ve been starting to add relates to my stimulus such as a lot of hand gestures and movement which links to an emotion. My theory of my piece is the stages of mental health and how a person has to hide what they are feeling and my choreography works in sections linking to this (which was explained further in my previous blog). At this moment in my choreography I have included the following choreographic devices: retrograde, levels, climax and highlights. My research is starting to evolve during my process, I have been able to use my research to inspire my movement which creates a connection with my stimulus. This has quickened my choreography process as it gives me a main source of ideas coinciding with my aim. Creating movement has come from the music along with trying to link it to my stimulus and the basis of my plan. Having a plan of how I want the outcome to be like has given me the challenge of having movement which fits this criteria.

In my choreography I have linked a few movements inspired by my chosen choreography, Wayne Mcgregor. By doing this I picked out a small section of movements (2 or 3) and used these movements as a base to create my own motif from this. When developing this passage in the style of Wayne Mcgregor’s choreography it allowed me to incorporate movements which I wouldn’t think to include originally. Also, I was able to link their style of movement in with this section. The process of doing this is quicker than my process and seems to be harder as I’m having to adapt my movement to link within my chosen practitioner’s. The movements that are inspiration have slightly more detail with positioning and placement whereas with my own work I do what I feel is right. Furthermore, Wayne Mcgregor’s process was finding his music to then choreograph where as my first interpretation of choreographing has changed as I now choreograph to the parts of the music, I have been able to create movement.

Below is a video of the section of my piece which was inspired by my chosen practitioner Wayne Mcgregor:

Week 7- Creative development session 1

Start of my choreography 

Week 7-Stimulus research and develop

Developed ideas 

Following on from chosen stimulus my aim of my choreography is to show the importance of mental health and how there’s different elements. 

Mental health is a widely spread illness in young people and older people and can affect people very differently and comes in different forms. The mental illness my piece is going to focus on is depression and the way it can affect someone. The definition of depression is  when people experience low moods which are more severe than just feeling unhappy. ( link 1 below in referencing)

The reasons for having depression has various factors such as genetics, personal experiences, psychological factors or social factors.There is many ways depression can affect people, the symptoms of depression are:

depressed mood  including feelings of sadness or emptiness,loss of pleasure in previously enjoyed activities,too little or too much sleep most days,changes in appetite including unintended weight loss or gain,feelings of sluggishness,low energy or fatigue, feeling worthless or guilty,trouble concentrating or making decisions and intrusive thoughts of death or suicide. Symptoms of depression can be temporary or long term, which is why not everyone who has depression has the same symptoms as it is varied.

( link 2 below in referencing )

The reason behind my piece is wanting to make more awareness to mental health and enabling it to not become such an unknown topic. The stimulus I’ve chosen was able to give me that complexity of creating a piece which links towards mental health. I also know people who have had depression and a way of escaping the bad feelings they have by dancing. Therefore I believe that it’s a strong way to use this idea in a dance piece as for some who suffer use dance as a mechanism of coping. I believe if you dance when you have a mental health problem it gives you something to be positive towards and gives a new perspective of life and allows you to explore ways in which will help.

I’m using the idea of the blank space to create the symptom of emptiness which coincides with loneliness. Also, I’m going to incorporate the feeling of low energy and this will be portrayed in the beginning of my piece. Half of my piece I’d going to represent this and the dynamics will be slow and soft. Where as,gradually  the movements are going to become more dynamic and upbeat. Therefore by the end of the piece the dynamics will be at their highest point which is contrasting to the beginning. By the end of the piece I’m wanting to show the fight against the feelings and how they are wanting to escape the feeling. Overall, my aim of my choreography is to explore depression in greater detail and give people a insight of the way depression is common and needs to be more known to people. The observations I have made will have an impact on my piece because it will give my choreography more of a building block and a background to the piece. Also, the research I have undertaken will enhance my creative work as I will know what to look for within my piece. 

Ive attached several links which I have watched to get a wider understanding on Mental Health and Depression itself:

M.youtube.com. (2019). YouTube. [online] Available at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z-IR48Mb3W0 [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019].

This video links to depression 

M.youtube.com. (2019). YouTube. [online] Available at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z-IR48Mb3W0 [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019].

This video defines what mental health is 

References: 

Medical News Today. (2019). The effects of depression on the body and physical health. [online] Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322395.php [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019] 

Mental Health Foundation. (2019). Depression. [online] Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/d/depression [Accessed 6 Dec. 2019].

Week 6-Critique and review Wayne McGregor's piece INFRA

Critique and Review

Following on from my vlog on my chosen choreographer, Wayne McGregor, I’m going to explore one of his pieces in further detail.

The piece in which I’m exploring is “Infra” and the section within the piece is the duet. The piece is performed by The Royal Ballet and is overall 28 minutes long, but the duet I will be exploring in more depth is only 3 minutes. Infra is a piece about life beneath the surface and human interactions; however, Wayne McGregor leaves his pieces up to the audiences own interpretation towards how they would view it. The piece is mainly about inferences and it infers particular types of relationships and therefore the emotional content implies itself.

The duet is neoclassical so a blend of contemporary and ballet, the female dancer is in pointe shoes which gives the piece more dimension as she isn’t always on pointe which gives to varied effects and shows the two styles. The costumes are very plain and basic. The male is wearing a grey long sleeve top with black shorts and the female is wearing a nude top with a black half leotard and her hair is a low ponytail and makeup is natural. I believe that having a basic look to the dancers is a really good idea as it allows the audience to not get distract away from the choreography and the movements. It also links within the intention of the piece and making it as realistic so the dancers can portray this.

Additionally, within the movement both dancers start side by side showing no contact, then throughout the piece the dancers are showing contact work. This shows the audience the relationship between the two dancers and the idea of them constantly working together which I really like as it demonstrates the strengths of the movements by the way he has choreographed the section. The duet has sections where it is very static but others where there is travelling, which adds to the momentum of the piece. The movements are slow, detailed, smooth, precise, clean and complex. These elements all link to the dynamics of the duet which connect with the music used in this section, the music is a violin instrumental. The movements all coincide with the music which shows how clean his choreography is which I really like as it makes him look like a strong choreographer. One element of the duet which I dislike is the over use of high leg extensions, I feel as though its repeated to much; however, this doesn’t make me dislike the whole piece as there are other variety of movement including some abstract movements and gestures which is what makes the piece as a whole unique. There are motifs within this section where the male is leading the female in the movements, this is only in some parts. This just adds a different outlook on the piece. The piece shows a lot of emotions through the movement although both dancers use no forced facial expressions which shows the real intimacy of the dance. As their emotions are being portrayed from within which is highlighted to the audience. The music also allows you to interpret the idea of the piece as it allows you to connect the movement and the music together along with the way the dancers are performing the movement. I personally think the idea of having the emotions of the dance link to the music is strong as it allows the audience to have a clearer idea of what the piece is portraying. When watching the piece, I infer the emotions as pain and struggle as there is no elements in which I think that’s a happy section as the dancer’s faces are showing down and low emotions.

Overall, I believe that Wayne McGregor’s choreography shows many strengths which is one of the reasons he’s my chosen choreographer as he is a strong choreographer and his pieces are all clean and well-rehearsed making them more interesting to watch from the audience’s perspective. Especially from first watching the piece, the majority of the sections of the duet were easily drawn to me and I found it able to identify notes about these parts and i was able to identify the intention of the piece and what was wanting to be shown through the movement, which is what i believe is really important from an audiences perspective.

Video link of the section within the piece- final duet  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bjERnGQiJfg

Link to his ideas behind creating Infra https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4xb5fMJrVKs

Week 6 -chosen practitioner Half Term

Wayne McGregor 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EMuSSaO65mQ

https://waynemcgregor.com/

Week 6 -final idea

Final stimulus ideas

Developing my ideas from my last blog, the stimulus I have chosen to do is this one:

(canvas with blank mind)

I have several reasons for choosing this specific stimulus; however, the main reason was the way the picture is portrayed and the fact you can explore it in your own interpretation meaning there are several ways in which you can put this image into your choreography. My interpretation on the piece is linking with mental health and how in today’s society mental health is a wide concern and a worldwide problem which needs more awareness towards. The way the artist has drawn this image is by purposely leaving a blank space in the head as well as painted over eyes, this expresses to me the emptiness of how people suffering with mental illnesses feel inside.

In my choreography piece I’m wanting my piece to link to my thoughts and feelings towards mental health and my own emotions to make it more personal to me. My main idea to portray the feelings people with mental health have and how the feeling of loneliness affects them. There are many different mental illness people suffer with such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, schizophrenia and so many more. My piece is going to concentrate on Depression and I want to show the idea of emptiness and isolation as I believe these are two big main factors. I also want to show how the positivity hides the negativity like putting up a front to others and hiding the way you feel towards others but yourself. My aim is to incorporate the feeling of positivity and negativity with the movements I will use and how I portray the dynamics of each section. My theories are to have two sections of the piece. The positive section will be my start and the dynamics will be fast and upbeat linking to the positivity that is hiding the negativity as its over powering, the negative section which dynamics are slow and draining are showing the real feelings. I will ty include several of the choreographic devices to add more depth to the piece.

The research I did to create this idea was link what I originally thought to more of a stronger idea. Which then led me to research the factors of mental health and how I could interpret these factors into a piece which also connects to my stimulus. The music I will choose will either have lyrics based around my idea or be an instrumental that has two parts to it coinciding to my idea of having two sections. I’m wanting it to have a link to my choreography as it will then have a stronger impact to the audience and meaning

My choreographic process links with the choreographer Crystal Pike as she uses her emotions towards situations in the world and expresses this in her choreography.

Link to my music -https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jfz-XDWPt-M

Week 5 -Stimuli

Choreography development-Stimuli ideas

In today’s lesson we looked at the different given stimuli and develop ideas for our own choreography. We were given eight different stimuli to look into in further detail to help develop our own ideas and give us a starting base to interpret on our own choreography.

One of the stimulus photos that captured my eyes is the one of a young girl holding a gun. This photo had many ways in which you could interpret. Firstly, it shows how conflict effects even the youngest of people and also emphasis how big an impact conflict has on today's society. I think it’s a very unusual photo due it being a young girl and its not typical as it shows a switch of gender roles. A way in which you could show your ideas through the choreography is to highlight your emotions of conflict and to show the fear of how society is turning out.  Another way which you could look at it would be the idea that childhood games have changed to become reality.

A second stimulus I thought was interesting was the photo of DNA and this one photo has loads of different elements you could interpret into movement and different motifs. Firstly, one way I thought about is the building blocks are how we made and how you get 50% of characteristics of your mum and 50% of your dad. Linking to this DNA is the building blocks to our personalities and traits which we grow up to have. I feel as though a way you could interpret the 50% way is having two different motifs which are completely opposite to each other to show how the different characteristics are and then how they are blended together. Also, the picture has many intriqet shapes which you could adapt in your movement and the different patterns link to different characteristics. You can also interpret this stimulus in many different variations which allows more aspects to your choreography.

A third stimulus which really caught my eye was the canvas painting of a boy with the top part of his head is a blank space. One of the reasons I was drawn to this picture was you could link it to being whitewashed and having no mind linking to being cleaned of memories and having nothing to recall on. It can also link more towards a serious topic in todays society of Mental Health and the emptiness it makes you feel and the feeling of loneliness. Another way in which you can interpret this is the fact a vision he has seen may f been so damaging that he can no longer see it or have any memory towards it- which can also link to people who are blind and the difficulty they face. The interpretation of this stimulus can be varied which is why it appeals to me so much.

The other stimuli we looked at are below:

Week 4-Key practitioner lesson 2

Exploring choreographers and creative tasks 

 In today’s lesson we explored two different choreographers and completed one task that explored one of the choreographers processes.The choreographers we explored with Crystal Pike and Wayne McGregor.As a class we watched several videos of some of their of choreography. One of the videos we watched were Crystal Pike’s choreography of ‘Flight patterns’. From watching this we were able to explore her choreographic processes. Some of her processes are using her emotions towards situations based on a real world events as a way of expressing how she feels and is her a way of coping with the issue.  Also she uses conflict as a tool towards the subjects she is exploring and for the movements from the body. Another unusual way of choreographing is that she uses her family involvement within the choreography piece making her pieces have a lot more of a personal feeling .

 Where as Wayne McGregor uses very different processes in comparison to Crystal the two videos we watched of when McGregors choreography were ‘Genus’ and ‘Infra’.His choreographic processes for ‘Genus’ we are having inspiration such as annotations, illustrations and visualisations.This was including Charles Darwin which links science into his pieces such as equilibrium. Also, his piece ‘Infra’ he did a lot of research based task and then created his movement then found the music.

 The task we did linked to our research of one the choreographers,it was based on Wayne McGregors research and visualisation process.  We watched a video of rain and carefully explored how we could share this using movement that’s flowing and highlights to the audience the aim of the movement .
 My movement started as a single raindrop and was dynamically slow and was small,but then I increased the movement size as well as the dynamics to create more of a driblet of rain.  We started on our own and did individual movements then joined with others in our class to form more of a puddle formed by raindrops we then reverted this process (retrograding) and went from a puddle to a single raindrop these movements were all based on the one video of rain explored.

Another one of our creative tasks was incorporating our zodiac signs which had lists of words for strengths and weaknesses. We then used these words to adapt movement in order for the audience to link it to the words. My zodiac sign is Libra and a few of my words were: lazy, kind hearted, hesitant and  beautiful. The aim of my choreography for this piece was to allow the words to be expressed through my movement. To adapt this further I would add some choreographic devices to add more aspects to the movement and to create more complicated movement from simple movement.
These are my words for the zodiac:

Week 3-key practitioner Justin Peck's Process and SHAPES

Creating choreography using one of Justin peck’s processes

After researching and evaluating Justin Peck’s choreography the task we were given was to use sketching out formations and patterns, one his choreographic process to create our own choreographic elements. This will later help with our own choreography piece. As a class we all drew one shape or pattern on a piece of paper, these were random and had no real thought towards them. Some of the patterns included; straight lines, zig zag lines, circles, squares, rectangles and random swirls. We then worked on our own to evaluate how we could adapt these basics shapes and patterns into movement which would flow together to create a small piece of choreography.

To do this we thought about the different adaptions we could make: for example one of the shapes was a basic 2D square and to adapt this shape we had options such as drawing the shape with a body part, creating the shape , using the shape as an object or moving in the form of the shape. The aim was to see how something so basic could be created into movement that looks more complicated and complex towards the audience. I used my whole body to create a 2D square as an element in my piece of chorography.  Additionally, another way I adapted a pattern was a zig zag line, I imagine how I could use different body parts to allow me to create this without it looking like a zig zag line, this took a lot of thought process. However, once I created movement to each shape and pattern, I then fixed them together in order for them to flow and look like a complicated piece of choreography.

To adapt this movement further you could link other elements of choreographic processes to this one to create more complex movement with a further meaning in the piece. Adding music to these elements will also allow the audience to interpret a narrative based on the movement you’ve included in the piece.

Week 3-key practitioner lesson 1 Justin Peck's 'In Countenance of Kings'

Justin Peck’s ‘In the Countenance of Kings’

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTv_Y0Zrl4

When I first watched the piece my thoughts towards it were very mixed as it was a lovely dance with aspects which lead me to confusion towards the story line.  At the beginning of the piece I felt like it was misleading but in a positive way as it made me excited and intrigued to watch the whole piece. My interpretation is that it’s based around the idea of freedom due to the varied aspects of the dance including the fact the girl has her hair down and all the dancers are wearing trainers. It is well choreographed with many intricate formations and is based around ballet/classical movements. The patterns and the constant flow of people add to the dynamics of the piece. the patterns are also based around geometric shapes which adds to the unique concept of Justin’s choreography. No set movement and patterns highlight the idea of freedom due to varied aspects of the dance and links to the idea of order and chaos. It gives the audience the impression that this sense of freedom is to break away from stereotypes of ballet dancers as it’s not the traditional ballet style and highlights the difference in normality.

The beginning of the piece is set in a dance studio and the use of a dog being there comes away from the normality of a dance studio as it is very random. The girl looks into the mirror almost as if in daydream then the dance changes to a huge hall almost like a ballroom type with a lot more dancers and then at the end of the dance it goes back to the one girl in the studio. Before the dance begins one girl leaves the studio which the other girl is oblivious to which links to the fact, she could be daydreaming. The piece is almost under your own interpretation as there is no solid story line; however, this allows the audience to create their own ideas to what they want the dance to base on.  The choreography within the dancers includes a variety of duets/ partner work along with some solos and then core. Also, the dancers involved within the piece are very technical which comes across to the audience and it allows the piece to look well presented. Additionally, the music adds to the dynamics as its also is varied and the camera angles link to the intensity and dynamics. The music adds to my feelings towards the piece as it dynamically confuses you but also makes you curious as to what will happen next almost like a feeling of suspense.

The choreographic devices included in the piece are: Unison, Canon, Repetition, Inversion, Accumulation, Contrast, Highlight, Retrograde, Argumentation and Climax.
The technique of this critique links to Edmund.

Choreographic Process

Justin’s choreographic process: Is he listens to the music first to form ideas; his ideas are personalized and are linked to him. He uses are large cat as there are more possibilities and has no soloists as this gives an opportunity for all. Also, he uses his own body as an instrument to create certain motifs and works with the dancers so that they have some slight input. Additionally, to create his formations and patterns he sketches geometric shapes to give him the best inputs. His last process is adding the additional parts such as lightning, costume and set design.

To conclude, watching and researching about Justin Peck and his choreography allows us to be able to use his process in order to help with our own process. It also helps us with knowing what choreographic process works best for our own choreography.

Week 2 - choreographic devices

Choreographic devices 

In todays lesson we did two main tasks.

The first task we did was working in partners to piece together one of each improvisation tasks that we completed in last lesson to create a mid length choreographic element. My partner Rachel used her number piece and I used my name. Once we combined them, we then added different choreographic devices the aim of this task was to add diverse movements and to make the piece look more complicated in stylistic way. The devices we included were: unison, contrast, retrograde, embellishment, repetition and climax. These were out of seventeen given choreographic devices. I felt like we both contributed equally to creating the piece and was an enjoyable task to work together on.

The second task we did was independently using our zodiac signs to create a short piece, this was based on a list of words both strengths and weaknesses given to each zodiac sign which are used to describe the person of that sign. My zodiac sign is Libra and the words that given as strengths were: idealistic, just, strong social skills, aesthetic, charming, artistic, beautiful and kind-hearted. Then the words given as weaknesses were: hesitant, narcissistic, lazy and freewheeling.

The aim of the task was to create movement based on the words given. In my piece I used some of the words from both weaknesses and strengths to add more variety, such as: artistic, beautiful, kind-hearted, lazy and hesitant. To adapt this piece further I added in some of the different choreographic devices to make the piece more diverse and eye catching. The devices I used in my piece were: repetition, contrast, retrograde, embellishment and improvisation around a theme. I chose these devices as I was able to emphasize the change in the piece from the original to the adapted one.

This video shows the adapted piece in partners.

This video shows my original zodiac choreography.

This video shows my adapted zodiac choreography.

Below is a list of the choreographic devices and the definitions for them:

Week 1- introduction to choreography

September 11th

In today's lesson we did three improvisation tasks including several different choreographic devices.

During first task we had different pieces of music playing and we had to improvise to the music.We started this on the floor with low energy movement then gradually progressed to high energy movements in stages such as rolls,floor work,slides, stretches, kicks, turns and jumps.

The second task was inspired by using our finger to write our name, which we then changed it by using different body parts to write our name including our elbow, hips, legs and feet. This was to maximise the movements and increase the intensity of the small basic movement from using our finger. We then used an adjective to adapt the movement, this was to allow us to add feeling towards a few movements that were originally basic into something creative. To improve this task you could develop the movement such as retrograding, levels, elevation and embellishment.

The third task we did was using numbers which had set movement to create a small piece of choreography that had different elements. 

0- shunt 

1-stillness

2-jump

3-turn

4-off balance

5-roll

6-swing

7-kick

8-change direction

9-any 

We made up or used our phone numbers to create diverse choreography using the movements and allowing them to flow into one another.This gave us the inspiration of how basic movement can be altered in order to become more complex, improving the overall effectiveness of the choreography.We also added movement qualities including: impulse, impact and release. This allowed us to adapt our choreography so that we could include different variations of dynamics into our movements.To improve this you can add music to allow the movements to flow and intertwine with one another  and you could also adapt the movement using motif development or changing the movements. 

The number I used was 07411237664 and the name Abi. I will be able to adapt these movements futher to create them to more abstract and different