Choreography Solo Essay PDF

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A write up about the process of exploration for the solo choreographed and how it relates to theory and literature studied...

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Name: Jamie Gibson Student Number: 1609948

Choreography Write up about the process of exploration for the solo choreographed and how it relates to theory and literature studied. (500 words) Simpson (1989) defines ‘embodiment’ as an idea, quality or feeling which takes a tangible or visible form. Block (2001) explains that a dancer should acknowledge kinaesthetically that dance embraces exactly what it is to be an embodied subject: dance comes as a mediator for understanding our own bodily way of “being-in-the-world” (p. 14) intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Thus, being said, an opinion to be had could be that to successfully choreograph is to understand fully the embodiment of a performer. To learn to choreograph is by choreographing and experimenting, by creating and developing material. (Blom and Chaplin, 1982). Andy Goldsworthy produces site-specific sculptures and land art in natural locations; he uses basic objects such as stone, plants, and nature to construct temporary and permanent structures which illuminate the subject from its original environment (NewBrazdolph, 2009). To look at Goldsworthy work, one should realise how circular and rounded a lot of his pieces are. When creating my solo, I thought about a variety of key descriptive words to generate my research about Goldsworthy, this included simply ‘circular’, ‘twisted’, ‘colliding’ and ‘encircling’ – more personally and specifically: ‘rotating’, ‘spherical’, ‘enclosing’ and ‘reverberant’. Blom and Chaplin (1982) state that in a dance is a phrase, and a good phrase, which is particularly striking, is often repeated; this is a perfect opportunity for motif development. In my solo, I chose to repeat some movements, specifically, the movement right near the beginning where I am stood in a crossed fourth positon and my arms float Swan Lake style from waist level to above head level where the arms cross over. This port de bras motif is performed firstly with a slow dynamic, before being repeated faster with my arms landing in third position, in preparation for a pirouette. Furthermore, it is explained that a high point in a dance routine may be faster or change dynamically (Blom and Chaplin, 1982). Almost three-quarters of the way through my solo I pick up the pace drastically which I would confidently designate being my high point. It is important to play with dynamics in the choreographic process because without development, the dance is at a standstill: dynamics are executions of movement. Moreover, the 4 factors that make up the dynamics of movement are flow, space, time, and weight. (Rico, 2010). As a Ballet-specific dancer, I needed to come up with a way to choreograph a contemporary dance while still, ever-so-slightly, demonstrating my own style – and the perfect way to do this was to look at the Merce Cunningham dance technique, which predominantly was an adaption of Ballet and Martha Graham’s style of Modern dance. (Kam, 2005).

Constructive criticism is crucial, especially in Dance as it advocates the success for the specific work (Costa and Kallick, 1993). Often, I was reviewed on my lack of travel and levels, in addition to my lack of confidence. Choreographic components include a variety of actions, which includes travel, stillness, step, jump, turn and gesture (Leigh, 2015). Upon being [positively] apprised as such, I learn that critical feedback from my peers who are all on the same level and approach as me, is more than useful as it helps me see my piece through a different perspective and provides a lens which helps evaluate what I need to work on in the next choreographic process. (Costa and Kallick, 1993).

References o J. A., Simpson. (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press o B. A., Block. (2001) The Dance: Essence of Embodiment. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, (22)1, pp. 5-15 o NewBrazdolph. (2009) Andy Goldsworthy – Naturally beautiful [Online]. [Accessed 25 February 2017] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUpVf-7i75I o A. L., Costa and B. Kallick. (1993) Through the Lens of a Critical Friend. Educational Leadership, (51)2, pp. 49-51 o V, Kam. (2005) Presidential Lectures: Merce Cunningham [Online]. [Accessed 25 February 2017] Available at: ht t ps : / / pr el ect ur . s t anf or d. edu/ l ect ur er s / c unni ngham/ o L. A., Blom and L. T., Chaplin. (1982) The Intimate Act of Choreography. London: Cecil Court o A. Leigh. (2015) ACTION SPACE DYNAMICS RELATIONSHIP [Online]. [Accessed 27 February 2017] Available at: https://prezi.com/vw3-ji0iuwcg/action-spacedynamics-relationships/ o M. Rico. (2010) Contemporary Dance Terms [Online]. [Accessed 27 February 2017] Available at: http://www.contemporary-dance.org/dance-terms.html...