We began this lesson by explaining our stimuli and initial choreography ideas to the rest of the class and heard the other group’s ideas too. We separated into three pairs and each pair had to create a motif based around a word or theme from our stimulus. Devanshi and I chose to use the word ‘uncertainty’ to inspire the movement for our motif. We decided to use change of direction to show the idea of confusion or uncertainty as it makes us seem unsure of where we are going. The other pairs used the words ‘influence’ and ‘connection’.
The motif inspired by the word ‘connection’ was performed facing another person and was a series of arm movements without touching. The motif inspired by ‘influence’ was a travelling sequence performed in canon to suggest the idea of one person doing a movement and other people copying, similar to question and answer. Videos of each original motif are shown below.
We taught and learnt each motif and started to think of ways to develop them to be part of a group piece. We started by developing the ‘influence’ motif (shown below), by using canon and accumulation. We decided to make this our entrance to the stage as it is a good way to create intrigue and show confusion as the first impression from the audience.
We began to think and discuss the structure of our group piece. Our teacher read page 158 from ‘Choreography: creating and developing dance for performance’ written by Kate Flatt which says when we start choreographing work, its important to consider the world the audience is about to enter (Flatt, 2019). This led us to think about the themes we want to show in our piece, the first thing the audience will feel and sense, how the piece will start and how many dancers will be on stage and what we want the lasting impression of the piece to be.
As previously mentioned, we will begin the piece by walking on using our ‘influence’ motif which we hope will cause intrigue and confusion from the audience. We discussed idea of repeating the same motif at the end of the piece but a developed version to show individuality to reflect our stimulus. By doing this we will have shown the idea of conformity and pressure to fit into society at the start of the piece and the juxtaposition of individuality at the end of the dance.
We also created 6 gestures inspired by words related to themes of our stimulus which we developed into more complex motifs. These gestures will be used and repeated throughout sections of our dance to help make the intentions and themes obvious to the audience as they will be able to recognise the movements during the dance. I’ve included videos of each gesture and their developments below.
I think both tasks have been really successful for our choreography as it has created material which we can develop and repeat throughout our dance to make the intention and stimulus very clear to the audience.
References
Flatt, K., 2019. Choreography : Creating And Developing Dance For Performance. 1st ed. The Crowood Press, p.158.
This is a very detailed and descriptive blog, well done! I really like how you and your group created each motif. For example, changing directions to create uncertainty is a very interesting idea and it comes across clearly on the video. From discussing the book by Kate Flatt, do you have any thoughts on what you want the lasting impression on the audience to be?
ReplyDeleteThank you Caitlin. We decided that the overall message we want to portray is the idea of encouraging individuality. The lasting impression we want is to show the audience that you don't have to conform/ fit in with the standards of society.
DeleteYour ideas are interesting and very well presented! I like how your motifs were developed using choreographic devices and its really good that you've considered what emotions can be evoked from your movements.
ReplyDeleteIf you had to choose another word to create another motif, what would it be and how would you show it?
Thank you Caitlyn. I would create a motif from the word 'tension' as I feel like this word relates to the idea of conformity because there is a stress to fit in with the standards of society. I would use really simple movements such as reaching both hands to my head to imply the idea of tension/stress. I would perform this with a lot of resistance in my arms and it could be further developed to have a head roll or perhaps change levels by falling to the floor.
DeleteI really enjoyed reading this Mhairi! It’s very detailed and descriptive! Did you like the other groups motifs thay they created? Did you think it linked to the theme?
ReplyDeleteThank you Erin. Yes, I did like the other groups motifs. Both groups have very different stimuli but it was clear to see the theme in both groups from the characterisation, performance and gestures used within their choreography!
Delete